Tribes in Ancient India c55.3

c55.3

The fight with the Maukharis seems to have brought the Gauḍas into the forefront of Eastern Indian politics. At first the Gupta-Maukhari struggle effected the serious discomfiture of the Guptas; in fact they were obliged to give up Magadha to their enemies and retire to Mālava.¹ During the reign of Rājyavardhana of Kanauj, the king of Mālava was Devagupta,² and the king of the Gauḍas was Śaśāṅka who was also the king of Karṇasuvarṇa, according to Hsüan Tsang. Devagupta allied himself with Śaśāṅka, and defeated and killed Grahavarman, the Maukhari king, who had married Rājyaśrī, sister of Rājyavardhana and Harṣavardhana. Rājyavardhana, who came to the rescue of his widowed sister, and succeeded in defeating Devagupta, was treacherously slain by the latter's ally, Śaśāṅka, king of Gauḍa¹ (606 A.D.). Though the murdered king's brother Harṣavardhana sought to avenge his death, Śaśāṅka is known to have been still in power as late as the year 619; but his kingdom probably became subject to Harṣa at a later date.²