Harsha: A New Political Biography

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In this work Professor Shankar Goyal studies the political life of Harsha with a new multidisciplinary approach. A new assessment of the original sources specially of the motivations and reliability of Bana and Yuan Chwang and the inner contradictions in various versions of the testimony of the latter (the Si-Yu-Ki, Life, Shi-Kia-Fang-Che, correspondence of Yuan Chwang with the Indian monks, etc.) social origins and early history of the Pushyabhutis, reign of Rajyavardhana II, formative influences on the character and personality of Harsha, his claim to the Maukhari throne, chronology of his campaigns, his political relations with the various regions of India and also with Iran, China, etc., the nature of the organisation of his empire, causes of his failure in establishing a permanent imperial structure, impact of religious policies on his political activities-on all these and other problems Shankar Goyal has either thrown new light or has offered new cogent solutions for them. Goyal has also raised several such controversies which have been touched by other scholars only rarely, if at all. Everywhere he has studied political events of the reign of Harsha against the background of various factors and forces operating in society at that time-an approach which he has so brilliantly used in many of his works. He also seeks to look upon the culture of the age of Harsha not only as an aggregate of the data found in the works of Bana and other contemporary writers, but as the cultural situation which marked the end of 'classicism' of the Gupta age and the beginning of the early 'medievalism'.

Shankar Goyal, M.A., Ph.D., D. Litt., is the retired Professor of History, Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, and one of the well known authorities of ancient Indian history and historiography. Apart from numerous articles published in reputed journals, he has authored Recent Historiography of Ancient India, Marxist Interpretation of Ancient Indian History, Contemporary Interpreters of Ancient India, Ancient India: A Multidisciplinary Approach, 175 Years of Vakataka History and Historiography, The 'Medieval'Factor and the Age of Harsha: A Cultural Study, Harsha Revisited: A Re-interpretation of Existing Data, The Significance of Yuan Chwang in the Context of the Seventh Century: A Critical Assessment, State, Society and Culture: Early India 300 AD to 900 AD and, more recently, The Classical Age: A Study in Feudalization. His books and many articles brought him encomiums from scholars such as Professors R.N. Dandekar, G.C. Pande, R.S. Sharma, Irfan Habib, Romila Thapar, R. Champakalakshmi, Shireen Moosvi, Kumkum Roy, A.M. Shastri, Bardwell L. Smith (Minnesota, U.S.A.), Walter M. Spink (Michigan, U.S.A.), Maurizio Taddei (Napoli, Italy), P.K. Mitra (Rajshahi, Bangladesh) and others. In 2009 Professor Goyal presided over the Cultural History Section of the XXIX Annual Session of the South Indian History Congress, in 2012 he was elected General President of the XXXVII Annual Congress of the Epigraphical Society of India, and in 2016 he was invited to preside over the Historiography Section of the XXIII Annual Session of the Tamilnadu History Congress. Recently in December 2017 he presided over Section I (Ancient India) of the 78 th Session of the Indian History Congress held at Jadavpur University, Kolkata (Bengal). He was also invited by the Organising Committee of the 16th World Sanskrit Conference, 2015, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, to participate in the deliberations of their Epigraphy Section to promote Indian epigraphical studies on the world forum. He has also travelled extensively in China, Australia, United States, Canada, Europe, Sudan and Egypt.

The age of Harsha is decidedly one of the most well-documented periods of ancient India. Since the nineteenth century it has attracted the attention of modern scholars and has been the subject of numerous monographs and hundreds of research papers. Despite this fact I am seeking the indulgence of learned scholars to present this work before them because I am hoping that it will be found different from other monographs on this ruler. Firstly, it is the first work which gives a detailed and critical account of the history of history writing on Harsha and his times. In other words, it delineates and critically examines various phases and trends through which the historiography of the age of Harsha has passed. Secondly, its approach is basically different. It is concerned not merely with 'what' and 'when' questions of the history of Harsha and his age; it raises 'how' and 'why' questions as well regarding the political events and developments of the period. In other words, I have tried to look upon the political histroy of the age of Harsha as an integral study of political life and institutions with a multidisciplinary approach. Needless to say that this approach has been adopted only rarely so far. Thirdly, in the present work I have looked upon the culture of the period not only as an aggregate of the data found in the works of Bāņa and other contemporary writers, but as the cultural situation which marked the end of the 'classicism' of the Gupta age and the beginning of the early 'medievalism'. When looked with the help of these two peep-holes the classical culture of the Gupta period and the medieval culture of the Rajput age the works of Baņa, Yuan Chwang and their contemporaries appear to yield new meaning and shed new light. I hope, therefore, that this work will be able to attract some attention of the scholarly world.

My researches in the history of the age of Harsha commenced in the middle of the eighties of the last century. Since then I have, so far, published over sixty research papers and several monographs dealing directly or indirectly with the history of this monarch and his times. Some of them were, however, published recently, after obtaining my D.Litt. degree, include, The Medieval' Factor and the Age of Harsha: A Cultural Study (Jodhpur, 2016), Harsha Revisited: A Re-interpretation of Existing Data (Delhi, 2018), Significance of Yuan Chwang in the Context of the Seventh Century: A Critical Assessment (Delhi, 2018), The Classical Age: A Study in Feudalization (New Delhi, 2022) and State, Society and Culture: Early India 300 AD to 900 AD (New Delhi, 2022). All these are enumerated in the Bibliography.

This work is substantially my D.Litt. dissertation on Political History as an Integral Study of Political Life and Institutions: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Harsha and His Times, supplicated to and approved by the Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur, and prepared under the advisorship of Professor P.S. Bhati. I am greatly indebted to Professor Bhati for the constant help, advise and encouragement given to me during the period of my research work.

During the last three decades or so I have had the good fortune and exceptional privilege of having been in academic contact with a large number of Indologists of India and other countries who gave direct or indirect help in my researches. Among those who belong to foreign universities special mention may be made of Professors Frederick M. Asher (University of Minnesota), David Pingree (Brown University), Walter M. Spink (University of Michigan), J.P. Sharma (University of Hawaii, Honolulu) and A.K. Narain (University of Wisconsin, Madison) (all of the United States of America), David N. Lorenzen (El Colegio de Mexico), A.K. Warder (University of Toronto, Canada), Lore Sander (Museum of Indian Art, Berlin, Germany) and J. Gonda (University of Utrecht, The Netherlands).

Among Indian scholars with whom I have been in close academic contact are included Professors G. C. Pande (Allahabad), Romila Thapar, R. Champakalakshmi and Kumkum Roy (New Delhi), R. S. Sharma and V.K. Thakur (Patna), Irfan Habib (Aligarh), S. K. Maity (Kolkata), K. V. Ramesh (Mysore), K. V. Raman (Chennai), S. V. Sohoni and V. N. Misra (Pune), K.K. Thaplyal (Lucknow) and M.V. Singh (Varanasi).

But some of the savants who have been for a long time a source of inspiration and help to me in my academic projects, specially in my present venture, are, alas, no more. While writing this Preface I remember with a heavy heart Professors V. S. Pathak (Gorakhpur) and (Mrs.) D. Devahuti (New Delhi), both great authorities on Harsha, who, when alive, always treated me with great affection. Among other great savants who are now no more but who gave me valuable academic suggestions in general and/or on the age of Harsha in particular are included Professors Jagannath Agrawal (Chandigarh), B. P. Sinha (Patna), B.N. Puri (Lucknow), K. D. Bajpai (Sagar), Lallanji Gopal (Varanasi), A. M. Shastri (Nagpur) and Upendra Thakur (Bodh-Gaya).