Tag: the period of harshavardhana ( 600- 650 a.d. )

As North India reverted to small republics and small monarchical states ruled by Gupta rulers after the fall of the prior Gupta Empire, Harsha united the small republics from Punjab to central India. He established an empire that brought all of northern India under his control. The peace and prosperity that prevailed made his court a center of cosmopolitanism, attracting scholars, artists and religious visitors from far and wide.

His biography Harshacharita ("Deeds of Harsha") written by Sanskrit poet Banabhatta, describes his achievements during his reign. The Chinese traveler Hieun Tsang visited the court of Harsha, and wrote a very favorable account of him, praising his justice and generosity.

In the year 643 A.D., Harsha held a great religious assembly in his capital at Kannauj on the bank of the river Ganges. The purpose of the assembly was to highlight the teachings of Buddha. 

The Kannauj Assembly was followed by another spectacular assembly at Prayaga in the same year. While the Kannauj Assembly was a religious assembly to highlight Mahayanism, the Prayaga Assembly was an assembly of universal character for offerings of royal charities to all classes of people. It was known as the Maha Moksha Parishad.