Prabhakaravardhana

Prabhakaravardhana (also known as Prabhakara Vardhana)

Prabhakaravardhana
was a king of Thanesar in northern India around the time of the
decline of the Gupta Empire. According to the historian R. C. Maharaja
Majumdar, he was the first notable king of the Vardhana dynasty 4th King of Thanesar
but the fourth ruler from the family,[1] who are also referred to as Reign c. 580 – c. 605 CE
the Pushpabhutis.[2] He had been preceded by his father,
Predecessor Adityavardhana
Adityavardhana, grandfather Rajyavardhana I and great-
grandfather, Naravardhana, but inscriptions suggest that Successor Rajyavardhana
Banabhatta, the seventh-century bard and chronicler of the
Vardhanas, may have been wrong to call these earlier rulers kings Spouse Yasomati
and that they may instead have been mere feudatory rulers of Issue Rajyavardhana
minor significance.[3] Harsha
Rajyashri
Prabhakaravardhana's father, Adityavardhana, had formed an
alliance with Mahasenagupta of Magadha against the Maukhari Dynasty Pushyabhuti dynasty
dynasty.[4][2] He was married to Mahasenagupta, who was Father Adityavardhana
probably the sister of this Gupta king who bore the same name. Mother
Mahasenagupta
Through these arrangements he had much enlarged the family's
estates. It is because of this territorial expansion that, while
Adityavardhana bore the title of maharaja, his son was able to use the higher rank of maharajadhiraja.[3]
In turn, Prabhakaravardhana further extended Vardhana control, using aggressive tactics that resulted in him
probably ruling over the Punjab and part of Malwa.[1] Aside from defeating rulers in Gujarat, Gandhara
and Sind, he also resisted the invasion of the Hunas,[5] as reported by the 7th century writer
Bāṇabhaṭṭa.[6][7]

The date of death of Prabhakaravardhana is variously stated: according to Majumdar, it was in 604 CE but
some sources, such as the military historian Kaushik Roy, say 606 CE, and others state 605.[1][3][5] He was
married to Yasomati, who became sati.[8]

Prabhakaravardhana and Yasomati had three children. Their eldest son, Rajyavardhana, succeeded to the
throne and was in turn succeeded by the younger son, Harsha; their daughter, Rajyashri, married
Grahavarman of the Maukhari dynasty that ruled Kannauj.[5][a]

See also
Asigarh Fort

References
Notes

a. The marriage of Rajyashri and Grahavarman appears to have been an alliance of the two
dynasties against the king of the Malavas.[9] It was a reversal of the earlier enmity between
the Vardhanas and Maukharis.
Citations

1. Majumdar (1977), pp. 249–250

2. Sen (1999), p. 247
3. Allan, Haig & Dodwell (1934), p. 105
4. Roy (2013a), p. 82
5. Roy (2013b), pp. 21–22
6. Bāṇabhaṭṭa credits Prabhakaravardhana with a strong stance against the Hunas,
describing him as:"A lion to the Huna deer, a burning fever to the king of the Indus land, a
troubler of the sleep of Gujarat king, a billious plague to that scent-elephant, the lord of
Gandhara, a destroyer of the skill of the Latas.", Ancient Indian History and Civilization by
Sailendra Nath Sen p.253 (https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&pg=PA25
3)
7. The Cambridge Shorter History of India p.105 (https://books.google.com/books?id=9_48AA
AAIAAJ&pg=PA105)
8. Tripathi (1989), p. 73
9. Sengupta (2011), pp. 34–35

Bibliography

Allan, J.; Haig, T. Wolseley; Dodwell, H. H., eds. (1934), The Cambridge Shorter History of
India (https://books.google.com/books?id=9_48AAAAIAAJ), Cambridge University Press
Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra (1977) [1952], Ancient India (https://books.google.com/books?i
d=XNxiN5tzKOgC) (Reprinted ed.), Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 978-8-12080-436-4
Roy, Kaushik (2013a), "Kautilya" (https://books.google.com/books?id=DW2jAQAAQBAJ&pg
=PA21), in Coetzee, Daniel; Eysturlid, Lee W. (eds.), Philosophers of War: The Evolution of
History's Greatest Military Thinkers, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 978-0-313-07033-4
Roy, Kaushik (2013b), "Bana" (https://books.google.com/books?id=DW2jAQAAQBAJ&pg=P
A21), in Coetzee, Daniel; Eysturlid, Lee W. (eds.), Philosophers of War: The Evolution of
History's Greatest Military Thinkers, ABC-CLIO, ISBN 978-0-313-07033-4
Sen, Sailendra Nath (1999), Ancient Indian History and Civilization (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC), New Age International, ISBN 978-8-122-41198-0
Sengupta, Nitish K. (2011), Land of Two Rivers: A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata
to Mujib (https://books.google.com/books?id=kVSh_TyJ0YoC&pg=PA34), Penguin Books
India, ISBN 978-0-14341-678-4
Tripathi, Rama Shankar (1989) [1964], History of Kanauj: To the Moslem Conquest (https://b
ooks.google.com/books?id=2Tnh2QjGhMQC) (Reprinted ed.), Motilal Banarsidass,
ISBN 978-8-120-80404-3

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