History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c19.4

c19.4

The chronicler relates that this king was, from his youth, strongly influenced by the customs of Southern India. He was the contemporary of the Cālukya Vikramâditya VI Tribhuvanamalla, whose court poet was Bilhaṇa the Kashmīrī,² and who is mentioned in the chronicle by his *biruda* Parmāḍi or Parmāṇḍi. Harṣa is said to have fallen deeply in love with Candalā, the queen of Parmāḍi, and to have vowed to win her by force; it appears that he actually contemplated an expedition against the Cālukya for this purpose.³ One of his youthful friends was a southerner, Keśin the Karṇāṭa, who was killed in a fruitless *coup d’état* against Harṣa’s father, King Kalaśa.⁴ The poet further states that Harṣa favoured southern fashions, and introduced coin-types from Kārṇāṭaka.⁵