Saṃskṛta-nāṭaka - Harṣavardhana (Part 1)

We know the biographical details of only a few kings who ruled ancient India.  Other than Candragupta Maurya and Aśoka, the most famous of them, we know about Harṣavardhana to a great extent; Bāṇa-bhaṭṭa’s Harṣacarita, Hiuen Tsang’s (Xuanzang) travelogues as well as the inscriptions of Harṣa and Immaḍi Pulikeśi (Pulikeśi II) are valuable sources.

Harṣa also called Śrī-harṣa was born in 590 CE to the couple Prabhākara-vardhana and Yaśomatī; his mother was the daughter of Vikramāditya Yaśodharma, the king of Mālava. Harṣavardhana had an older brother named Rājya-vardhana and a younger sister called Rājyaśrī. The older brother, who ruled the kingdom for a while, met with death at the hands of his enemies; following this, Harṣavardhana ascended the throne in about 606 CE

Harṣavardhana’s rule started with a war; right after ascending the throne, Harṣavardhana went on a conquest and won over several kingdoms in the east, west, and north. However, in the south, as Immaḍi Pulikeśi posed strong opposition, Harṣavardhana couldn’t conquer much in the direction; he did not even try his hand in the regions to the South of the river Narmadā. Nevertheless, he gained renown as Uttarāpatha-cakravartī, i.e., emperor of the northern provinces; he had sent a brāhmaṇa as an ambassador to the court of the emperor of China and also welcomed representatives from the latter’s court. A śaka was established in his name.

The country saw great peace and prosperity in the forty years that he ruled; people were content. As the king himself took great interest in dharma, creative literature, and arts prospered well. His court housed many scholars, poets, and learned men. He patronised both the bauddha and the brāhmaṇa dharmas. The Nālanda University, Divākara-mitra’s Vidyāśrama and poets such as Bāṇa, Bhartṛhari, and Bhāravi flourished during his reign. It is said that he had reserved about a quarter of the money he accumulated from the taxes he collected for the welfare of scholars and academic pursuits. Bāṇa-bhaṭṭa says the following about his qualities –

“etena ca khalu rājanvatī pṛthvī … 

Citram-idam-atyamaraṃ rājatvam | api cāsya tyāgasyārthinaḥ, prajñāyāḥ śāstrāṇi, kavitvasya vācaḥ, sattvasya sāhasa-sthānāni, utsāhasya vyāpārāḥ kīrterdiṅmukhāni, anurāgasya lokahṛdayāni, guṇa-gaṇasya saṃkhyā, kauśalasya kalā, na paryāpto viṣayaḥ |” –

Harṣacarita, ucchvāsa 2.121

Harṣa was devoted to Bhagavān Śiva[1] and Sūrya[2] just like his ancestors; he revered Buddha as well; his devotion to Buddha only increased with time, and finally, after the war at Ganjam (around 643 CE), it appears that he embraced Buddhism just like Aśoka did after the Kaliṅga War. Harṣa ruled with great intelligence and valour, lived the life of a kind patron, and breathed his last in peace (647 CE)

karmaṇā manasā vācā kartavyaṃ prāṇibhirhitam|
harṣeṇaitat-samākhyātaṃ dharmārjanam-anuttamam||
Banskhera Copper Plate Inscription

Harṣa has penned two Buddhist stotras, namely, the suprabhāta-stotra (J.R.A.S., 1903, pp. 703-22) and aṣṭamahāśrī-caitya-saṃskṛta-stotra as well as three plays – Priyadarśikā, Ratnāvalī, and Nāgānanda.[3] The copper plate inscriptions of Banskhera (circa. 628 CE) and Madhuvana (circa. 631 CE) appear to have been composed by Harṣa. Additionally, it is also said that he had written a treatise on grammar.[4]

It is rare to find kings who are also poets; therefore, it has been suspected for long that a scholar belonging to his royal court must have authored the works and attributed them to King Harṣa.[5] Mammaṭa, the author of Kāvya-prakāśa, who lived around 1100 CE, while speaking of kāvya-prayojana, i.e., the purpose of poetry, says, śrī-harṣādeḥ dhāvakādīnām-iva dhanam. Commentators such as Nāgoji-bhaṭṭa (c. 17^th Century CE) are of the opinion that the above statement hints at Harṣa offering money as a reward to Dhāvaka (or Bāṇa) for his composition of Ratnāvalī. This is the only statement that has led scholars to think that Harṣa might not be the author of the plays; the commentary appears only to overinterpret the original statement; we don’t know what else can serve as evidence. One can only say that Dhāvaka and others received money from Harṣa and nothing more. Harṣa is well-renowned as a patron of poets and the fact is indisputable. Moreover, for about three hundred to four hundred years after the composition of Ratnāvalī, nobody had expressed any doubt about the authorship of the work. We have several sources contemporary to Harṣa’s period that attest the king as the author of the works. Bāṇa-bhaṭṭa praises Harṣa’s skill in composing creative works.[6] I-tsing (Yijing), a Chinese traveller, who visited India in the late seventh Century CE, says, Śilāditya had composed a play (Nāgānanda) based on the story of Jīmūtavāhana and had even had it staged. He also says that Śrīharṣa is gīrharṣa, i.e., a person who pleases Devī Sarasvatī – the goddess of speech; I-tsing notes that he was a great king as well as a gifted poet like Vikramāditya, Muñja, and Bhoja.