History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c19.30

c19.30

We have already seen that Ājīvikas were to be found in Southern India, and Harṣa’s personal interest in the South is well established. Travellers from the Deccan were frequent in the north. The *Rājatarangiṇī* quotes a song, said to have been sung at Harṣa’s court, in which a traveller from the Deccan is told of the King’s desperate love for Caṇḍalā.² It is said that the fame of Harṣa’s liberality reached the court of Parmāṇḍi, where the poet Bilhaṇa, hearing of it, longed to return to his native country.³ A few years after Harṣa’s death we find the Gāhaḍavāla King Govindacandra patronizing a Buddhist monk Vāgīśvararakṣita, who came from the Coḷa country.⁴ Legends state that Rāmānuja visited Kashmir.⁵ Much evidence may be found to indicate close cultural and religious contacts between Kashmir and the Deccan at this period.