PDA

View Full Version : Harshvardhan of Kanauj - online book



ravichaudhary
May 2nd, 2003, 02:34 AM
Harshvardhan of Kanauj lived in the first half of the seventh century AD. Born in 590 AD, he ruled from 606 Ad to 657 AD.


He was a Jat.

He is thought to be of the Virk Gotra by some, and of the Bains, or Vais Gotra by others.

One of his profound and far reaching achievement was the uniting of the Jat clans from the Punjab to Central India to Uttar Pradesh. These clans generally operated as independent republics, known as Khaps, governed by their council of Five, the Panchayat.

The United Khaps, were known as the Sarv Khap (literally All - Khaps) and governed by the Sarv Khap Panchayat from Shoron near Muzzafarnagar.

The Sarv Khap acknowledged and anointed Harshvardhan as Emperor, and he ruled with their consent. The Sarv Khap had an all khap meeting every five years.


This tradition continued down to 1857, when the British and the power of the Sarv Khap
was emasculated

Harshvardhan was the last great Hindu Emperor to rule In India. Tolerant of all religions he supported Buddhism and Jainism.
He was also a man of letters. At least two works are attributed to him - Rathnavali and Priyadarskika.

His court poet or Bhat (as they were known), was Bana.

Bana composed a work the Harshcharita, which along with Huen Tsang book's of his travels in India gives an insight of the life at the times of the great emperor.

The Harshcharita is now available online at the link below.

http://www.mssc.edu/projectsouthasia/literature/primarydocs/Harshacarita/index.htm
Harsha-carita of Bana (1897 E. B. Cowell and F. W Thomas translation)


„h Chapter I
„h Chapter II
„h Chapter III
„h Chapter IV
„h Chapter V
„h Chapter VI
„h Chapter VII
„h Chapter VIII

lrburdak
May 2nd, 2003, 04:19 PM
Ravi ji, Namaskar !
It is very good on line history about Kanauj. While reading chapter I, It is mentioned that out of 11 sons one was Jatavedas.Does this name has any correlation with jat?
regards,

ravichaudhary
May 2nd, 2003, 09:47 PM
Jatveda- a Jat name could be. It is also found in the Rig-Veda.

We have been discussing this on the Jathistory list, URL below.

Tne problem I have is how to read the word or words, is it a hard sound like in our JAT or the soft as in Jath, Jathi.

The other problem is how was it pronounced in the 6th century CE at the time of Harsha or earlier and how was it pronounced recorded in later times.

How were the words pronounced?

Were they recorded faithfully at the time the inscription was made?

In the case of Bana's Harshcharita . The manuscript must first have been an oral composition. and later reduced to writing.

Many original words would have got pronounced, translated differently by later writers and interpreters.

The same for the words in the Vedas, many of them refer to Jats and their clans.

The study of these and other manuscripts was in the hands of people who had their own bias, when it came to studying them or writing them or interpreting them.

By Bias I do not mean a bad or a good bias.

Simply a bias brought on by upbringing, culture, and education.

The British historians had their own bias, and their knowledge of the ancient languages came from a narrow section of Indians who had the knowledge, and Jats did not take to and maintain their literature, preferring to abdicate the responsibility to the caste of Pandas or Kayasths.

It is then with pleasure that I see people like Dr Yajanveer Singh Dahiya, and the late Omanand Sarasvati being scholars in our ancient languages and history

If they are looked at from a Jat perspective, and by some one, who has an understanding of our Jat history and culture, much of Indian history will and should be rewritten.

For starters why not pose the question to Dr Dahiya, if he consent to accommodate it, within his busy schedule.

Ravi

abhishek
May 6th, 2003, 09:54 PM
While going through travel accounts of chinese traveller Tsien Xang who came during the rule of Harshwardhan I came through a statement made by him that the king(Harshwardhan)was of Vaishya.
Now I have been reading posts which claim Harshwardhwan was a Jat.
Now these two statements are contradictory,it would be wonderful if someone can give some information regarding this.

ravichaudhary
May 7th, 2003, 12:27 AM
Abhishek Dhama (May 06, 2003 12:24 p.m.):
While going through travel accounts of chinese traveller Tsien Xang who came during the rule of Harshwardhan I came through a statement made by him that the king(Harshwardhan)was of Vaishya.
Now I have been reading posts which claim Harshwardhwan was a Jat.
Now these two statements are contradictory,it would be wonderful if someone can give some information regarding this.
*********
What you are reading is the translation by Watters or whoever.

They in turn are translating from the Chinese characters.

Remember the translators came from an English culture, translating into English, something about an Indian culture, written by a Chinese traveler some 1500 years go.

So when the English versions says Vais, Vaish or Vaishya. Either of theses could apply, and the printer could change the exact form when the print- type is set up.

and finding a word similar to Vaish, vasiya, take it as the caste Vaishya- Laziness and taking the easy way.

Dilip Singh Ahlawat goes into this, and states the term is actually Vais. Vais is a Jat gotra from the Punjab and he traces Harshvardhan's clan to the Punjab.

Cunningham takes the term to be “Bains” another Jat Gotra, and since the B and V are interchangeable you effective have the same gotra.

Dahiya and others trace Harshvardhan’s gotra to be Virk, from Vishnuvardhan /Yashodharaman of Mandsor.

On the Jat history list, URL below I have some files with the inscriptions. Some are on this site too.

Vaishya, would a trader class, and would not be warrior/ruler. Alternatively Vaish- ya would be an agricultural class.

Harshavardhan was not casteist, and supported Buddhism, more so than Brahminism, so I wonder how much the caste system would have applied to him anyway. The renaissance of the noveau Hindu religion had not yet taken place- that happens with the Sankaracharya, some two/three centuries later.

When you add to this the Sarv Khap tradition, that they crowned him king and the Sarv Khap was formed after being united by him, then you are fairly clear about whether he was a Jat or not. Unlikely that teh Jats would have crowned not one of their own king, and that too someone from the trading profession.


Huen Tsang would have known the difference between as Kshatriya, a Brahmin and a Vaisya. The ruler, in the Brahminic system would be known as a Kshatriya.

Huen Tsang would have got his information primarily from other Buddhist monks, and he would not have degraded and assigned a lower caste to his benefactor.

He is then referring to Vais as the Gotra, not varna


I would support Ahlawat and Cunningham, that his gotra was Vais/ Bains. I am having some difficulty in getting the chronological descent from the Virks of Mandsor to Kanauj. Can some one help?


Later Indian historians have no interest in showing Harshvardhan or (anyone else for that matter )to be a Jat. They are to be Rajputs and followers of the Noveau Hindu tradition, anything but Jat.

So much easier to cloud the issue.



Ravi

vinodks
December 28th, 2006, 10:08 AM
Jatveda- a Jat name could be. It is also found in the Rig-Veda.Ravi
:-)))

जातवेदा:

-विनोद