A History of Agriculture in India v1.c36.6

v1.c36.6

Harsha spent the early years of his reign in campaigning the country with an army of five thousand elephants, twenty thousand horses and fifty thousand infantry. Pedigree horses were imported for Harsha's cavalry from Vanayu (Waziristan), Aratta (Vahika or Punjab), Kamboja (Pamir region), Bharadvaja (northern Gadhwal), Sindhu-desa (Sindh Doab), and Parasika (Sassanian Iran). Bana mentions horses of six different colours in the King's stables. The tanagana type of horses, famous for their smooth and steady gait, are believed to have been obtained from northern Gadhwal. Their riders, the khakkatas, have been identified with an ancient tribe of the central Punjab. Bana refers to horses of especially good breeds and describes their build, habits, and distinguishing features.¹ Horses were maintained by the feudal chiefs, who brought them to the battlefield along with their soldiers. These feudal chiefs were rewarded by grants of land. The elephants were not unharnessed nor the soldiers unhelmeted for six years, during which period Harsha conquered the Punjab, Kanyakubja, Gauda (Bengal), Mithila and Orissa. Malwa, Gujarat and Kathiawar were also included in his kingdom. His advance to the Deccan was checked, A.D. 620, by the Chalukya king, Pulakesin II. Jalandhar in the Punjab was the boundary of Harsha’s empire in the north, and Ganjam in the east, and the Narmada in the south.