On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c14.17

v1.c14.17

Before proceeding to the next part of our pilgrim's narrative we may add a few notes to his very interesting account of the great Harshavardhana. At the beginning of the above passage we are told that this king was of the Fei-she (吠奢) or Vaiśya caste (or stock). This statement Cunningham thinks is a mistake, the pilgrim confounding the Vaisa or Bais Rajputs with the Vaiśya caste. Cunningham may be right. But we must remember that Yuanchuang had ample opportunities for learning the antecedents of the royal family, and he must have had some ground for his assertion. Harshavardhana’s father, Prabhākaravardhana, a descendant of Puṣpabhūti king of Sthāṇeśvara in Śrīkaṇṭha, “was famed far and wide under a second name Pratāpaśīla”. To him were born two sons Rājyavardhana and Harshavardhana and a daughter Rājyaśrī, and he had also an adopted son Bhaṇḍi the son of his queen’s brother¹. The princess Rājyaśrī was evidently, as the “Harṣa-carita” represents her, an intelligent, accomplished lady, and she was apparently interested in Buddhism. She was present as a listener seated behind Harshavardhana when the Chinese pilgrim gave the latter a lecture on Buddhism. It may be noted here also that the Fang-chih represents Harshavardhana as “administering the government in conjunction with his widowed sister”, a statement which is not, I think, either in the Life or the Records. Very soon after Rājyavardhana succeeded his father on the throne he had to go away to avenge the murder of his brother-in-law, and to rescue his sister imprisoned in Kanyākubja. He was successful in battle, but he fell into a snare laid for him by the Gauḍa king, according to the “Harṣa-carita”, and was treacherously murdered. Hereupon Harshavardhana became king, and at once proceeded to rescue his sister, take revenge, and make great conquests. This is the Śīlāditya of our pilgrim’s narrative and of the Life, a very interesting and remarkable personage.