History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c5.6

v1.c5.6

But within a year there was a sudden change in the fortunes of Prabhākaravardhana though not of his people or country. The Huns suddenly invaded the northern boundaries of his dominions and he had time only to send his elder son Rājyavardhana to oppose and chastise them. The Maukharis of Kanauj also appear to have fought with the Huns often, probably in conjunction with the forces of Thanesar²; but there was no time to call in their aid. Rājyavardhana, the elder son of Prabhākara, was a youthful prince of about nineteen or twenty at this time and must probably have been anxious to save his father the trouble of proceeding against the Huns in person, which he had often done before. Rājyavardhana proceeded with all haste towards the Huns of the Panjab, and his younger brother Harsha followed him as a matter of exercise and hunted in the jungles at the foot of the Himalayas. Rājyavardhana decisively defeated the Huns and drove them away and came back in triumph to Thanesar only to find the capital immersed in grief by the sudden death of his father.