History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c7.18

v1.c7.18

completely by Pāṭaliputra. The latter city when Hiuen Tsang visited it was in ruins and almost deserted. It had finished its rôle. Chandragupta Maurya had raised it to the position of the capital of India and Aśoka had confirmed it. Subsequent dynasties of emperors down to the Guptas respected that position, but when the Guptas moved out of it for the first time to Ayodhyā for a sort of change, its decline began, and when Harsha established the court of his empire at Kanauj, that position was finally lost by it after having thus retained it for about 800 years, *i. e.* from 300 B.C. to 500 A.D. Kanauj remained the acknowledged capital of India during the rest of the period of the early history of India. Delhi was almost a village at this time. It had shone once only during the brief reign of the Pāṇḍavas in the beginning of Indian history and had then retired into shade. It came into view again in the 10th century A.D. with Anangapāla who claimed to be a descendant of the Pāṇḍavas but remained inferior to Kanauj till the 12th century when it threw Kanauj into shade with the victory of Pṛithvirāja over Jayachand. The Mahomedans who finally conquered Pṛithvirāja made Delhi the chief seat of their rule and Delhi has since remained the capital of the Indian empire down to this day.