South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

neighbours, i.e. the Maukharis,^[1] while they were mends of the Later Guptas who ruled on the further side of the Maukhari dominions.^[2]

The Later Guptas were similarly enemies of the Maukharis^[3] but friends of the Gauḍas and again enemies of the Kāmarūpa kings.^[4] It is very probable that the Bhauma kings of Kāmarūpa were likewise friends of the Maukharis. At least this is suggested by the haste with which Bhāskaravarman of Kāmarūpa offered friendship to Harshavardhana as soon as the latter came to be the successor of the last Maukhari king Grahavarman. Harshavardhana belonged to the family of the Pushyabhūtis of the Eastern Punjab and the neighbouring region. That family also became powerful after the decline of the Imperial Guptas. At first the Pushyabhūtis were matrimonially allied with the Later Guptas ;^[5] but, when the throne of the Later Gupta king Mahāsēnagupta, who was probably the maternal uncle of the Pushyabhūti king Prabhākaravardhana, passed to the usurper Dēvagupta, they contracted matrimonial relations with and became friends of the Maukharis.^[6] Some of the known facts of history indicating the political relations among the above powers were discussed by me elsewhere.^[7]

^[1] According to the Haraha inscription of Vikrama Samvat 611=553 A.D. (above Vol. XIV, pp. 115 ff. ; JRASB, Letters, Vol. XI, p. 69, n. 4), Maukhari Īśānavarman defeated the Gauḍas, while the Harshacharita, supported by the accounts of the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen-tsang, describes how the king of Gauḍa (Śaśāṅka) led an expedition jointly with king of Mālava (apparently Dēvagupta against the Maukhari king Grahavarman and was responsible for the death of the latter’s brother-in-law Rājyavardhana, the Pushyabhūti king of Thanesar (Tripathi, History of Kanauj, pp. 63-68). Earlier success of the Gauḍas against the Maukharis at least in Bihar is suggested by the fact that Śaśāṅka seems to have been originally a viceroy under the Gauḍa king with his headquarters at Rohtasgarh in the Shahabad District (cf. Corp. Ins. Ind., Vol. III, p. 284). The fact that according to the Aphsad inscription, king Mahāsēnagupta of Mālava (probably a friend of the Gauḍa king) led an expedition against king susthitavarman of Kāmarūpa without encountering Maukhari opposition seems to indicate the same state of things. It is probable that the encounter between Mahāsēnagupta and Susthitavarman and between the Gauḍas and the latter’s sons were two phases of the same war resulting from a joint Gauḍa-Mālava invasion of Kāmarūpa.
^[2]The Gauḍa king Śaśāṅka was a friend of the Later Gupta ruler of Mālava (Dēvagupta) who usurped Mahāsēnagupta’s throne. They fought together against the Maukharis and their Pushyabhūti relatives. As indicated above, Mahāsēnagupta also was possibly a friend of the Gauḍas and led his Kāmarūpa expedition as an ally of the contemporary Gauḍa king.

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^[3] The Later Gupta king Kumāragupta defeated Maukhari Īśānavarman and extended his power upto Prayāga (Allahabad) in the east, but the same Maukhari king defeated and killed Kumāragupta’s son Dāmōdaragupta and he himself or his son Śarvavarman extended Maukahri power in Bundelkhand (cf. Bhandarkar’s List, No. 25 ; above, Vol. XIX, pp. 17 ff.). Śarvavarman’s grandson Grahavarman was defeated and killed by the Mālava king (Dēvagupta) with the help of the king of Gauḍa (Śaśāṅka).
^[4] Mahāsēnagupta defeated the Kāmarūpa king Susthitavarman on the banks of the Lauhitya or Brahmaputra probably in alliance with the Gauḍas.
^[5] It is usually believed that the Pushyabhūti king Prabhākaravardhana’s mother Mahāsēnaguptā was a sister of Mahāsēnagupta of the Later Gupta dynasty. After the usurpation of Mahāsēnagupta’s throne by Dēvagupta, his sons Kumāragupta and Mādhavagupta fled to Prabhākaravardhana’s court for protection. According to the Harshacharita, Kumāra was installed as king by Prabhākaravardhana’s son Harshavardhana (IHQ, Vol. XIX, p. 278, n. 2), although the country where he was installed is not specified. He may have been given merely the position of the king of Mālava at the Pushyabhūti court ; of. The case of the Stuart Pretenders at the French court. Mādhavavarman may have been established by Harsha as his viceroy over some parts of Bihar where his son Ādityasēna carved out a powerful kingdom after Harsha’s death.
^[6] Prabhūkaravardhana’s daughter Rājyaśrī was married to Maukhari Grahavarman. After the death of Grahavarman at the hands of the Mālava king (Dēvagupta) supported by the Gauḍa king (Śaśāṅka), Prabhākaravardhana’s eldest son and successor Rājayavardhana came to fight with the enemies of his brother-in-law. But he was soon killed by Śaśāṅka. Then Rājyavardhana’s younger brother and successor Harshavardhana took the field against the Later Guptas and Gauḍas. He succeeded in clearing the Maukhari kingdom of the enemies and ultimately annexed it to his own dominions. He transferred his capital from Thanesar to Kanauj possibly because the latter had been the capital of Grahavarman.
^[7] JRASB, Letters, Vol. XI, pp. 69-74.