The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s9.45

c5.s9.45

Kanyakubja—1 Kanauj, on the west bank of the Kâlinadî about six miles above its junction with the Ganges in the Farrukhabad district, United Provinces It was the capital of the second or Southern Panchâla during the Buddhist period (Dr Rhys Davids' Buddhist India, p 27) and also in the tenth century (Râjaśekhara's Karpûramañjarî, Act III) It was the capital of Gâdhi Râjâ and birth place of Viśvâmitra (Râmâyana, Bâla K.) Buddha preached here on the instability of human existence It was visited by Fa Hian and Hiuen Tsiang in the beginning of the fifth and the middle of the seventh centuries respectively Harshavardhana or Silâditya II was the reigning sovereign, when it was visited by Hiuen Tsiang in 636 A D, he inaugurated the Varsha era in 606 A D, but according to Max Muller, Harshavardhana reigned from 610 to 650 A D He was the contemporary of Muhammad, whose flight from Medina in 622 A D gave rise to the Hijra era In his court flourished Banabhatta, the author of the Kâdambarî and Harshacharita, Dhâvaka, the real author of the Nâgânanda, and Chandrâditya, the versi-fier of the Vessantara Jâtaka The celebrated Bhavabhûti was in the court of Yaśovar-mana of Kanauj (Stein's Râjataranginî, I, p 134), he went to Kâśmîra with Lalitâditya (672 to 728 A D) after the conquest of Kanauj by the latter Sriharsha wrote the Naishadha-charita at the request of Jayachandra For the ancestors of Jayachandra, see cop-perplate grant in JASB, 1841, p 98 Kanauj had been the capital of the Maukhari kings before Harshavardhana transferred his seat of government from Thânesvara to this place The three great monasteries, in one of the chapels of which was enshrined a tooth relic of Buddha were situated to the south west of the town in what is now called Lalâ Misar Tolâ (Cunningham Arch S Rep I p 292) A celebrated temple of Vamana existed at Kanyakubja (Padma P, Srishti ch 35, Uttara, ch 53) The Rang mahal of the ancient Hindu palace is situated in the south west angle of the triangular shaped fort, the remains of which still exist; the palace is said to have been built by Ajaya Pâla who was killed in 1021 A.D., and it was perhaps from this palace that Pṛithvî Râj carried off Saṃyuktâ (Bhavishya P., Pratisarga P., pt. III, ch. 6). 2. That part of the Kâverî, on which Uragapura (Uraiyur), the capital of Pâṇḍya, was situated (see Mallinâtha’s commentary on Raghuvamśa, canto vi, v. 59) was called Kânyakubja-nadî.