History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c7.s3.2.3

v1.c7.s3.2.3

Rājya and Kumāra both being subsequently killed treacherously by Śaśānka Harsha became king of Thanesar and came and took from Bhandi the charge of the booty and prisoners and the army of elephants of the Mālava king. It seems probable that for the great crime of Deva Gupta the kingdom of Mālava was seized by Harsha for a time at least and not given to Mādhava to whom it properly belonged. It appears so clearly from the Harsha-Charita where Bāṇa says : अथालोच्य तत्सर्वमवनिपतिः स्वीकृत्य यथाधिकारमादिदेशाध्यक्षान् which means that the booty including the throne or सिंहासन was taken possession of by Harsha and handed over to his officers and not to Mādhava who must have been retained by Harsha as his companion during all the time he conquered Northern India and founded his empire. Subsequently, as Emperor, Harsha must have put Mādhava in possession of some eastern kingdom on the bank of the Ganges for the Aphsad inscription of Ādityasena and other inscriptions seems to indicate that Ādityasena’s country lay in Bengal. Since this family in Bengal had nothing to do with Deva Gupta his name does not appear in the genealogy of Ādityasena. For, as Mādhava did not succeed to Deva Gupta, his half-brother, at all, Deva Gupta’s name has properly been omitted. In the kingdom of Ujjain when Hiuen Tsang visited it there was a Brahmin king ruling.