History of Kanauj to the Moslem Conquest c9.s1.t3.19

c9.s1.t3.19

On the other hand, Mr. N. Ray tries to prove in the *Calcutta Review* that the Maukharis belonged to the *Somavaṃśa* or Lunar race.³ He draws this conclusion from the following passage in the *Harṣacarita*: “Rājyaśrī has at length united the two brilliant lines of Puṣpabhūti and Mukhara, whose worth, like that of the Sun and Moon houses, is sung by all the world to the gratification of wise men’s ears.”⁴ The learned writer argues that the Puṣpabhūtis were of the Solar race, as they were mostly Sun-worshippers (*paramā-dityabhakta*), and they had such names as Ādityavardhana and Prabhākaravardhana. Granting this—it is contended—Bāṇa’s manner of description would necessarily imply that the Maukharis belonged to the *Somavaṃśa*. But the hypothesis is gratuitous, since there are grounds to hold that the Vardhanas were not of the Solar line. Besides the suffix *bhūti*, indicating that Puṣpabhūti, the founder, was a Vaiśya, we have the explicit testimony of Yuan Chwang that Harṣa was a Vaiśya (Fei-she caste). Curiously, this obtains confirmation from the *Mañjuśrī-* Mūlakalpa, which describes the Thanesvar ruling family as Vaiśya.¹ It appears, therefore, that in the above passage Bāṇa was not actually connecting the two dynasties with the Sun and Moon respectively, but he was merely comparing them with the two well-known Kṣatriya houses, that are famous in history and legend alike. Thus though we cannot be certain as to who was the progenitor of the Maukharis, at least this much seems probable from the evidence of the Haraha inscription, as also from the termination varman, that they were Kṣatriyas. But in after times they appear to have gone down in the social scale, for in an interesting letter, quoted by Mr. Aravamuthan, Mr. K. P. Jayaswal observes, "I think that the modern Mauhari caste, almost solely located in the Gaya district, are their representatives. They are Baniyas, i.e. Vaiśyas now."² Was this degradation due to loss of sovereignty and subsequent change of occupation?