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a Pundita in the University of Nalanda, and died in Nepal. We do not know of any other great men of Siladitya’s court. Siladitya I was succeeded by Prabhadkara Vardhana probably about 580 A.D. Prabhdakara’s sister RAjyasrt was married to Grahavarman, but a war broke out with MAlava, and Prabhakara was defeated and Grahavar- man was killed. Prabhékara was succeeded by Rajyavardhana about 605 A. D. Rajyavardhana continued the war with Malava, and slew the king of that country. We know from Houen Tsang that Rajyavardhana was afterwards defeated and killed by Sasanka Narendra Gupta, ane of Karna Suvarna or Western Bengal. He was succeeded by his younger brother Siladitya II, called Harshavardhana and also Kumérataja, about (224 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK v. 610 A. D. He was a great and powerful king, and both by his conquests and by his patronage of learning revived the memories of VikramAaditya’s reign. In six years he conquered the “five Indies ;” but he could never defeat Paulakesin II, king of the Mahdrdshteas. The MAlavas were defeated and Rajyasrit was recover- ed, and Stladitya made an alliance with Bhdskaravar- man, the king of K4maraipa, who was also known as Kumérardja. A copper-seal of Harshavardhana or Silditya IL has been discovered, and. gives us his genealogy. The inscription is short, and informs us that Adityavardhana was the son of R&jyavardhana and Mahadevi; Pra- bhakaravardhana was the son of Aityavardhana and Mahasenagupta ; Rajyavardhana was the son of Pra- bhakaravardhana and Yasomatt; and Prabhdékara’s younger brother Harshavardhana was also begotten on Yasomati.* We. know from Houen Tsang that Siladitya had his capital at Kanyakubja or Kanouj, that he held every five years a great assemblage of princes and people to celebrate a religious festival, and that Houen Tsang saw him when he was holding his sixth quinquennial assembly, #4. 2., in the 30th year of his reign. This was at about 640 A.D. We also know that Siladitya was a staunch Buddhist, though he respected and honored Brahmans. ; "Corp, Ins, Ind., Vol III, Texts, & 6, p. 232. CHAP, L] VIKRAMADITYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 225. Siladitya Harshavardhana was a renowned patron of letters, and is said to be the author of Ratn4vali and the Buddhist drama Nagdnanda. But probably he was the real author of neither, though both the works were composed in his court. The Ratndvali was probably composed by Banabhatta, the author of Kadam ari and of Harshacharita, a life of the king. Dandin, the author of Dasakumara Charita, lived before. Banbahatta and after Kalidasa, and alludes to Kalidasa. It is pro- bable that Dandin was still living, when Banabhatta ‘ followed in his footsteps in the more ambitious fiction of the Kadamvart. The other well-known prose fiction in Sanscrit is the Vasavadatta of Subandhu, and he too was a contem- . porary of Bdnabhatta, though he may have writtena little earlier, as Banabhatta often quotes him. We thus approximately know the dates of the three best prose fictions in Sanscrit. The name of May‘fra is often mentioned in connexion with the name of Banabhatta, and a legend has it that Bana married Mayitira’s daughter, a Chandi, or scold. Mayiara is the author of Maytra Sataka. A more renowned name is that of Bhartrihari. In a most interesting note, * Professor Max Miiller shews, on the authority of the Chinese traveller I-tsing, that Bhartrihari died about 650 A. D., or in other words * India, &¢., p. 347, &e. RC. D., A. LIL. 15 226 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK v. that the author of the three Satakas on Love, Discipline, and Tranquility, was a contemporary of Siladitya IT. The Bhattikavya, being an easy and entertaining method of learning grammar, is better known to Hindu students than the Satakas of Bhartrihari. Commenta- tors of the Bhattikavya like Kandarpa, Vidy4vinoda and Sridhara Svamin call Bhartrihari, the author of Bhatti. The name Bhartri has frequently been called Bhatti by other commentators, and, on the whole, there is the strongest presumption that the author of the Satakas and of the Bhattikavya is the same person Bhartri or Bhatti. Professor Max Miiller adduces the testimony of the Chinese traveller named above to confirm this pre- sumption. Such was the literary activity of the time of Sil4- ditya, the great emperor of Kanouj, who assembled the kings and nations of Northern India at his quinquen- nial festivals, and swayed the destinies of all Northern India. We have seen before that the astronomer Brahmagupta also lived in the time of this potentate. Siladitya died about 648 or 650A. D. Fifty years later a weak prince reigned_on the throne of the great Siladitya. The prowess and glory of Kanouj were gone, and Yasovarman the king of Kanouj was defeated in war by the proud Lalitaditya king of Kashmir. The lamp literature, lighted in Ujjayini two centuries be- fore, still shone however in the court of Yasovarman,. and one of the greatest poets that India has produced, CHAP. L] VIKRAMADITYA AND HIS SUCCESSORS. 227 Bhavabhiti lived in that prince’s court. He is almost the last of that bright galaxy of poets. who appeared in India between the sixth and the eighth centuries A.D. The Rajatarangint from which we get this information further tells us that two other writers, Vakpati and Rajyasri, also lived under Yasovarman’s patronage. They all lived in the first half of the eighth century.* If these two and a half centuries, 500 to 750 A.D, are reckoned as the brightest period in the annals of later Sanscrit literature, those centuries also mark the period of toleration and friendly rivalry between the Hindus and the Buddhists. Buddhism was dying a natural death, but from the ninth century violence and persecution were adopted to stamp out the decaying religion. The great and redoubted enemy of the Bud- dhist religion, Sankaracharya was born, according to K. . B. Pathak, in the year 788 A. D., and began his labours early in the ninth century. The age of discussions, commentaries and glosses on laws and philosophical systems was now come, and original genius seemed to be extinct. We seek in vain for worthy successors of KAlidésa and Banabhatta and Bhavabhiti after the eighth century A.D. During a period of over four centuries after the date of Bhavabhati, the Hindus still remained an independent nation } but scarcely gave any indication of literary genius. The ancient epics were no doubt retouched and considerably enlarged, and * See preface to R. G. Bhandarkar’s edition of Malatt Madhava, 228 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. voluminous Puranas in easy graceful verse were com- posed, but we see no mark of great ideas, no indication of genius. Even in science Aryabhatta and Vardha- mihira and Brahmagupta had no worthy successors for four hundred years, until we come to Bhaskaracharya in the twelfth century. We note down below the approximate dates of the kings of whom we have spoken in this chapter. A. D. Vikramaditya the Great sia we 515-550 Sitéditya I (Pratapasila) ae ee §50—-600 Prabhakara vardhana bes ++ 600—605 Rajya vardhana... ws .. 605—610 Sfléditya 11 (Harsha vardhana) a 610-650 * * * * = Yasovarman ses ae see 700730 CHAPTER II. THE VALABHIS AND THE RAJPUTS. GUJRAT was subject to the Gupta emperors during the palmy days of that dynasty ; and when in the latter half of the fifth century the Valabhis of Gujrat rose to independence and power, they naturally adopted the Gupta Era, reckoned from 319 A. D. When the power of the Guptas, then emperors of India, was slowly decaying, an enterprising military commander, Sendpati Bhatarka by name, asserted his independence in Guj- rat, and was the founder of the Valabhi dynasty of Saurdshtra. The genealogy and history of the Valabhi family are elucidated by numerous inscriptions which have been discovered. Among the earliest of them are two copper- plates which were found over fifty years ago in making’ excavations in Gujrat.* They were published by W. H. Wathen in 1835, and are of considerable import. ance, Sen4pati Bhatarka, the originator of the family, is stated to have “earned glory in hundreds of battles fought in the countries of his foes,” and must have’ * See Prinsep’s Essays. Ed, Thomas, Vol. I, p. 252, e¢ seq. 230 PAURANIK PERIOD. [BOOK V. been, like all beginners of dynasties, a great warrior and able administrator. He had four sons Dharasena, ‘Dronasinha, Dhruvasena, and Dharapatta. The first of these brothers is styled Sendpati, and had apparently not yet assumed the title of king; but his younger brother “received his inauguration to the throne from the great sovereign himself”’ (probably of Kanouj), and, is styled Sri Mah4raja Dronasinha. His two brothers are similarly styled Sri Maharaja Dhruva Sena and Sri Maharaja Dharapatta. Dharapatta’s son was Guha Sena, “the destroyer of multitudes of foes,” and his son Dhara Sena II made the gift. In the second plate published by Wathen, the successors of Dhara Sena II are called SilAditya Khara Graha, Dhara Sena III, Dhruva Sena II, Dhara Sena IV, Siladitya II, (two or three names illegible here), Khara Graha II, Siladitya ITI, and SilAditya IV. . An inscription® discovered by Mr. Hariballabha Assistant Deputy Educational Inspector of Kaira and Broach in 1878 brings down the list of kings to Sil4- ditya VII, who reigned at the close of the 8th century, We have thus in this single inscription a complete list of the kings of this dynasty for three centuries from Bhatarka who commenced the line in the latter half of the 5th century to SilAditya VII who reigned in * Corp. Ins, Indy Vol. UW. Texts, & ey p. 171, CHAP, 11] VALABHIS AND RAJPUTS, 23 the Jatter half of the 8th century. The genealogical table and dates given below will shew the names ata glance.