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Kādambarī as a source for contemporary administrative history1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Extract

Unfortunately, not much evidence is available regarding the administrative system of Harṣa. Although we have direct sources like the travel accounts of Huien-Tsiang, the Harṣacarita of Bāṇabhaṭṭa, the Baṇskhérā and Madhubana copper-plate grants, and inscriptions of contemporary rulers, these fail to provide a comprehensive account of Harṣa's government and the political set-up of his time. We therefore supplement our knowledge with the records of the Gupta rulers. This lacuna can be filled, to some extent, if a careful study of Bāṇa's Kādambaī is made. The late V. S. Agrawala's study on Kādambaī in Hindī has a cultural bias rather than a political one. On going through the pages of Kādambaī, it appears that it is complementary to the Harṣacarita. For example, while in the Harṣacarita the picturesque account of the royal palace is mainly confined to its entrance and first block, in Kādambaī the remaining parts are dealt with at length. Similarly, while in the Harṣacarita a detailed account of all the rites which are performed on the eve of a campaign is given, in Kādambaī we get merely an indication of these activities. Thus several scenes which could not be described in the Harṣacarita owing to its limited scope, have been skilfully incorporated by the poet in Kādambaī, thus avoiding duplication. An attempt, therefore, has been made in this paper to study the political and administrative information in Kādambaī.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1978

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References

NOTES

2 Rājvataḥ sarvaḥ kṛyāḥ.

3 cf. Fleet, J. E., CII, III, 1888, 11.Google Scholar

4 cf. Epigraphia Indica, I, 1892, 180;Google Scholar and Mookerji, R. K., Harsha, London, 1926, 93.Google Scholar

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7 Kādambarī (Vārānsī, ed., 1950), 20.Google Scholar

8 ibid., 355.

9 ibid., 356.

10 cf. Allāhābad Pillar inscription, 1. 21.

11 ibid., 1. 22: praṇāmāgaman. Cf. Harṣacarita, ed. Agnihotrī, B. S., Vārāṇasī, 1968; and Cowell, E. B. (tr.), The Harṣa-carita of Bāna, London, 1897, 194.Google Scholar See also Agrawala, V. S., Harshacharita ek Samskṛtik adhyayan (in Hindḫ), Patnā, 1953, 126;Google Scholar and idem, Kādambarī ek Saṁskrtik adhyayan (in Hindī), Vārāṇasī;, 1957, 11.Google Scholar

12 Kādambarī, 13.

13 ibid.: vimanīkṛta rājahaṁsa maṇḍala. Cf. Agrawala, , Kādambarī, 17.Google Scholar

15 Kādambarī, 10: pratapānurāgavata.

16 ibid., 11.

17 cf. Agrawala, , Harshacharita, 45.Google Scholar

18 cf. Fleet, , op. cit.: Mehrauli iron pillar.Google Scholar

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20 ibid., 211.

21 See Epigraphia Indica, XV, 142 f.Google Scholar

22 cf. Raychaudhuri, H. C., Politcal history of ancient India, 6th ed., Calcutta, 1953, 626 f.Google Scholar

23 ibid., 217.

24 Harṣacarita, 217.Google Scholar

25 Kādambarī, 316.Google Scholar

26 ibid., Uddāmadarpa.

27 ibid., 317.

28 ibid., 316.

30 ibid., 318: na kula kramamanuvaraté.

31 ibid., 317–8.

32 ibid., 318. It probably indicates the Hūṇa invasion.

34 ibid.: gandharva nagara lékha.

35 ibid., 320.

36 ibid., 327: bandhujanamapinābhijānanti.

37 ibid., 328.

38 ibid., 331.

39 ibid., 321.

40 ibid., 335.

41 cf. Mookerji, , op. cit., 166.Google Scholar

42 Kādambarī, 336.Google Scholar

44 ibid., 351.

45 ibid., 357.

46 Agrawala, , Kādambarī, 221;Google Scholar cf. Raghuvaṇṣa, 4, 26,Google Scholar and Mallinātha.

47 Kādambarī, 344–5.Google Scholar

48 Harṣacarita, 159.Google Scholar

49 ibid., 152.

50 Kādambarī, 360.Google ScholarCf.Agrawala, , Kādambarī, 129–30.Google Scholar

51 Kādambarī, 358.Google Scholar

52 ibid., 227–8.

53 ibid., 229–33.

54 cf. Watters, T., On Yuan Chwang's travels in India, London, 19041905, 154–5.Google Scholar

55 ibid., 340 ff.

56 Kādambarī, 151.Google Scholar

58 cf. Agrawala, , Kādambaī, 60. In Mṛcchakatika Vasanta Sena's house has seven apartments.Google Scholar

59 Kādambaī, 151: Vāhyodyān.Google Scholar

60 cf. Agrawala, , Harshacharita, Plates 25–8;Google Scholaridem, Kādambaī, Appendix 2.

61 Kādambaī, 261;Google ScholarAgrawala, , Harshacharita, 39 ff.Google Scholar

62 cf. Kādambaī: Sarva deśāntarāgataiḥ dūta maṇḍalaiḥ.Google Scholar

63 ibid., 263.

65 ibid., 266.

67 ibid., 267.

69 ibid., 268.

70 ibid., 279.

71 ibid., 283.

72 ibid., 175.

73 ibid., 174: bhuvanarājya bhārnau karṇadhāraḥ.

74 ibid., 177.

75 ibid., 174–5, 177.

76 ibid., 177.

77 ibid., 37.

78 ibid., 173.