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Harshavardhana (; 4 June 590 – 647) was an emperor of Kannauj from April 606 until his death in 647. He was the king of Thanesar who had defeated the Alchon Huns,India: History, Religion, Vision and Contribution to the World, by Alexander P. Varghese p.26 and the younger brother of Rajyavardhana, son of Prabhakaravardhana and last king of Thanesar. He was one of the greatest kings of the Kingdom of Kannauj, which under him expanded into a vast realm in Hindustan.
At the height of Harsha's power, his realm covered much of northern and northwestern India, with the Narmada River as its southern boundary. He eventually made Kannauj (present-day Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh state) his imperial capital, and reigned until 647 CE.International Dictionary of Historic Places: Asia and Oceania by Trudy Ring, Robert M. Salkin, Sharon La Boda p.507 Harsha was defeated by the Emperor Pulakeshin II of the Chalukya dynasty in the Battle of Narmada, when he tried to expand his empire into the South India of India.Ancient India by Ramesh Chandra Majumdar p.274
The peace and prosperity that prevailed made his court a centre of cosmopolitanism, attracting scholars, artists and religious visitors from far and wide. The Chinese traveller Xuanzang visited the imperial court of Harsha and wrote a very favourable account of him (as Shiladitya), praising his justice and generosity. His biography Harshacharita (" The Life of Harsha") written by the Sanskrit poet Banabhatta, describes his association with Thanesar, besides mentioning a defensive wall, a moat and the palace with a two-storied Dhavalagriha (white mansion).
At the time of Xuanzang's visit, Kannauj was the imperial capital of Harshavardhana, the most powerful sovereign in Northern India.
K.P. Jaiswal in Imperial History of India, says that according to a 7–8th century Buddhist text, Mañjuśrī-mūla-kalpa, Harsha was born of King Vishnu (Vardhana) and his family was of Vaishya varna. This is supported by some more writers.
Pulakeshin II repelled an invasion led by Harsha on the banks of Narmada in the winter of 618–619. Pulakeshin then entered into a treaty with Harsha, with the Narmada River designated as the border between the Chalukya Empire and that of Harshavardhana.
Xuanzang describes the event thus:
In 648, Tang dynasty emperor Tang Taizong sent Wang Xuance to India in response to emperor Harsha having sent an ambassador to China. However once in India, he discovered that Harsha had died and the new king Aluonashun (supposedly Arunāsva) attacked Wang and his 30 mounted subordinates. This led to Wang Xuance escaping to Tibet and then mounting a joint expedition of over 7,000 mounted infantry and 1,200 Tibetan people infantry and attacking Indian state on June 16. The success of this attack won Xuance the prestigious title of the "Grand Master for the Closing Court." He also secured a reported Buddhist relic for China. 2,000 prisoners were taken from Magadha by the Nepali and Tibetan forces under Wang. Tibetan and Chinese writings document describe Wang Xuance's raid on India with Tibetan soldiers. Nepal had been subdued by the Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo. The Indian pretender was among the captives. The war happened in 649. Taizong's grave had a statue of the Indian pretender. The pretender's name was recorded in Chinese records as "Na-fu-ti O-lo-na-shuen" (Dinafudi is probably a reference to Tirabhukti).See
Xuanzang mentions that Harsha waged wars to bring "the Five Indias under allegiance" in six years. Xuanzang uses the term "Five Indias" (or "Five Indies" in some translations) inconsistently, variously applying it to refer to Harsha's territories in northern India or to the entire subcontinent, grouped around Central India in the four directions. Based on this statement, historians such as R.K. Mookerji and C.V. Vaidya have dated Harsha conquests to 606–612 CE. However, it is now known that Harsha engaged in wars and conquests for several more years. Moreover, whether Xuanzang used the term "Five Indias" to describe Harsha's territory in a narrower or wider sense, his statement is hyperbole it cannot be used to make conclusions about Harsha's actual territory. While Harsha was the most powerful emperor of northern India, he did not rule the entire northern India.
Harsha's play Nagananda tells the story of the Bodhisattva Jīmūtavāhavana, and the invocatory verse at the beginning is dedicated to Buddha, described in the act of vanquishing Māra (so much so that the two verses, together with a third, are also preserved separately in Tibetan translation as the *Mārajit-stotra). Shiva's consort Parvati plays an important role in the play, and raises the hero to life using her divine power.
According to the Chinese Buddhist traveler Xuanzang, Harsha was a devout Buddhist. Xuanzang states that Harsha banned animal slaughter for food, and built monasteries at the places visited by Gautama Buddha. He erected several thousand 100-feet high on the banks of the Ganges river, and built well-maintained for travellers and poor people on highways across India. He organized an annual assembly of global scholars, and bestowed charitable alms on them. Every five years, he held a great assembly called Moksha. Xuanzang also describes a 21-day religious festival organized by Harsha in Kannauj; during this festival, Harsha and his subordinate kings performed daily rituals before a life-sized golden statue of the Buddha.
Since Harsha's records describe him as a Shaivite Hindu, his conversion to Buddhism would have happened, if at all, in the later part of his life. Even Xuanzang states that Harsha patronised scholars of all religions, not just Buddhist monks. According to historians such as S. R. Goyal and S. V. Sohoni, Harsha was personally a Shaivite Hindu and his patronage of Buddhists misled Xuanzang to portray him as a Buddhist.
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