The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c17.176

c17.176

Harṣa was something of an eclectic. In spite of his strong Buddhist sympathies, he honoured Brâhmaṇas and offered worship to Brahmanic gods. He invited Brâhmaṇa scholars to the Mokṣapariṣad and other functions and bestowed valuable gifts on them. But it appears that the lion's share of his charities went to Buddhists. At the sixth Mokṣapariṣad a man attempted the life of the king and, when arrested and closely cross-questioned by the latter, replied, "Great king, you have assembled the people of different countries and exhausted your treasures in offerings to the Śramaṇas, and cast a metal image of the Buddha; but the heretics (Brâhmaṇas) who have come from a distance have scarcely been spoken to. Their minds therefore have been affected with resentment and they procured me . . . to undertkae this unlucky deed."²