History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c14.36

c14.36

But our extraneous evidence for Harṣa’s literary attainments seems to be more definite and conclusive. Thus Bāṇa states eulogising Harṣa: “In poetical contests he poured out a nectar of his own which he had not received from any foreign source;”¹ and again “his poetical skill finds words fail.”² We must, however, note that Bāṇa’s testimony is always to be taken with a certain amount of reserve owing to his tendency to lavish all sorts of praise on his hero. Next, Soḍḍhala, who wrote in the 11th century A. D. mentions Harṣa in his *Udaya-sundarī-kathā* along with other literary monarchs, as an instance of a poet-king and patron of literature (cf. “kavīndraiśca Vikramāditya-Srī Harṣa-Muñja-Bhojadevādi-bhūpālaiḥ”—p. 150). And in another passage he punningly refers to him as the illustrious Harṣa, whose joy was in diction (gīr-harṣa). It runs thus: