Harṣhavardhana

In north India, a remarkable ruler, Harṣhavardhana, came to the throne in 606 CE at Kannauj. He belonged to the Puṣhyabhūti (or Vardhana) dynasty, whose earlier capital was Sthāneśhvara (today's Thanesar in Haryana).

From Kannauj (anciently Kānyakubja, in today's Uttar Pradesh), Harṣha spread his rule over large parts of northern and eastern India, though we don't know its exact extent. Notice the capital has moved west from Pāṭaliputra, where the Mauryas and Guptas ruled.

We even have his signature! A copper plate found at Banskhera, written in the Nagari script (an early form of Devanagari), reads: 'By my own hand, the great king of kings, Śhrī Harṣha.'

Harṣha was also a fine poet and playwright. He is believed to have written three plays in Sanskrit, mixing love stories with court life, and themes of sacrifice and high values.

These are stories, but historians still use them: a story has to be set in a world its readers recognise, so the background — how the court worked, what people ate and wore, what tools they used — tells us about real life at the time.

Harṣha supported scholars like Bāṇabhaṭṭa (Bāṇa), who wrote Kādambarī, one of the world's first novels, and Harṣhacharita, a biography of Harṣha. Kādambarī tells the love story of a prince of Ujjayinī and Kādambarī, a heavenly being, across different lives, dreams and divine worlds, with stories inside stories. Bāṇa died before finishing it; his son completed it.

Inscriptions show Harṣha as a devotee of Śhiva; other sources say he was also deeply attached to Buddhism. He respected all schools of thought and belief.

Harṣha tried to push his empire south beyond the Narmada river, but was stopped by Pulakeśhin II of the powerful Chālukya dynasty. He dreamed of uniting north India but had only mixed success; he made an alliance with the Varman dynasty of Kāmarūpa (today's Assam), but wars with neighbours went on.