The State in Ancient India: A Study in the Structure and Practical Working of Political Institutions in North India in Ancient Times c18.2

c18.2

Neither Bāṇabhaṭṭa nor Yuan Chwang nor any of the contemporary inscriptions refers to any wife of Harṣavardhana, or to the fact of his marriage. It is certain that he died childless. When it is remembered that his sister Rājyaśrī is often mentioned, one is inclined to think that the emperor was a celibate all his life. If so, it is interesting to notice that while big seraglios were the rule in aristocratic circles in ancient India, there were occasional exceptions. On the death of Harṣa about 648 A.D. his empire split up into the fragments which had only loosely held together for a few decades. The throne at Kanauj was usurped by a minister of the late king.¹ It is a proof of the great power wielded by ministers that several Hindu empires—the Mauryan, Śuṅga, Kāṇva and Vardhana—ended with ministerial usurpations. From the latter half of the 7th to the 11th century A.D. the history of North India loses unity and clarity. Thanks to Kalhaṇa's Rājatarangiṇī, a connected account of the history of Kāśmīr can be constructed. But of the rest of the country only fragmentary glimpses can be obtained through coins, inscriptions, and literature. Towards the ninth century the Gūrjara-Pratihāra ascendancy certainly recalled the glories of Harṣavardhana but it was short-lived. Besides, the Gûrjara-Pratihâra dominion was held together even more loosely than the Gupta or Vardhana empire. On the whole, then, it may be laid down that the four centuries preceding the Muslim invasions under Mahmûd of Ghaznî were a period of small and, historically, obscure states. The political facts about them, so far as modern research has been able to recover them, are well summarised in the fourth edition of Vincent A. Smith's Early History of India (pp. 366- 438), and in a few recent papers notably those of D. R. Bhandarkar and R. C. Majumdar. It is needless to recapitulate them here. All that need be stated is that during the period, the chief states in the north were Kanauj, Kâshmîr, Sindh, Magadha, Kalinga or Orissâ, Bengal, Kâmarûpa or Assâm, Mâlwâ and later, Ajmere, Delhi, Gwalior, Jejâkabhukti and Chedi. Besides them and generally below them lay a huge congeries of petty principalities.