The University of Nalanda c9.99

c9.99

King Harṣavardhana of Kanauj appears to be the King of Central India. Hiuen Tsiang twice refers to him in connexion with the University.¹ That Harṣa had openly declared himself in favour of Buddhism is clear from Hiuen Tsiang's account.² It is no wonder, therefore, that a king like Harṣa should build a saṅghārāma for the propagation of Buddhism.³ Moreover, Harṣa was the only King of Central India who on account of his supremacy could stretch his hand of charity towards a distant place as Nālandā. No other king, of lesser position than Harṣa, dare do it. The occasion when Harṣa built the saṅghārāma etc. must have been, as suggested by Heras,⁴ after he defeated Śaśāṅka, the greatest oppressor of Buddhism after Mihirakula. The reason why Hiuen Tsiang calls Harṣa ‘the King of Central India’ and not by his real name is possibly this: the Chinese traveller, though he mentions Harṣa first and then Nālandā (as given by Beal in his translation), had in fact visited first Nālandā and then Kanauj. This is clear from the order which Harṣa sent to Kumārarājā, King of Kāmarupa which ran as follows: “I desire you to come at once to the assembly with the strange Śramaṇa, you are entertaining at the Nālandā convent.”⁵ From this it follows that Hiuen Tsiang had never seen Harṣa before and that he went to Nālandā first and then to Kanauj. Hiuen Tsiang's ignorance, therefore, about Harṣa's name is quite explicable. He must have been given to understand on his inquiring about the saṅghārāmas that one in question was built by a king of Central India; or it may be that Harṣa was better known by the title King of Central India, a title of greater importance than the mere name Harṣa.