Draft:Gauda-Gupta invasion of Kannauj

Hans Bakker argues that the army that set out to attack the Maukharis in Kanyakubja was more of a confederation of all those who held a grudge, and that it was led by Shashanka.

Alliance and Background
The use of the word 'Mandaan' in this counection is vety significant, and if it is to be interpreted in the light of the 'Artha- Sistra, it would mean the circle of states headed by Shashanka. In atny case, it means the rising importance of this king in the political horizon even before the death of Prabhakaravardhana. This would strengthen the view that there was an alliance between Shashanka and the Malwa king against the Maukharis and the Pushyabhutis. If there was any connection between the Malwa king Mahasena- gupta and him in his early career, the almost simultaneous inarches of a Malwa king and of Shashanka indicate sonmething like a joint operation, which was not perhaps accidenta!. But the important point against this view is that in the Harshacharita Rajyavardhana received the news of the death of the Kannauj king Grahavarman, his brother-in-law, caused by the Malava king who was advancing to wards Thaneswar, and he at once started with 10,000 horsemen to meet thee only enemy

Gauda-Gupta invasion of Kanyakubja
The tripartite struggle for power in the region became four-sided when Shashanka, ruler of the Gauda kingdom in Bengal, took an interest. There had been rivalry between the Maukharis and rulers in Bengal for around fifty years, and Shashanka was concerned about the strengthening of the Maukhari position through the marriage alliance. He allied with the Malavas and launched what was probably a surprise attack on the Maukhari capital at Kannauj, which was overwhelmed. He killed Grahavarman and imprisoned Rajyashri.

Conflict with Pushyabhutis
was the Malwa king and Banabhatta does not at all allude to the activities of Shashanka. . The next news from Kannauj was that though the Malwa army had been easily routed, Rajyavardhana was allured to confidence by false civilities on the part of the king of Gauda, and then weaponless, confiding, and alone, despatched in his own quarters". It is also clear from the Harshacharita that Rajyavardhana found Kannauj besieged by Shashanka, as the Gauda trouble has been definitely mentioned by Banabhatta. The march of Shashanka on Kannauj from Karnasubarna must have taken a long time, and there was a concerted actioi, it seems that the Malwa king was earlier to arrive at the scene of action and did not wait for his ally, But it must also be said that. the court of Thaneswar was unaware of any such joint actiot1, and Rajyavardhana after defeating the Malwa army sent the trusted general Bhandi with the booty and a part of his army and himself proceeded towards Kannauj wvithout any knowledge of the impending danger from the Gauda king. This would indicate that the actions of Shashanka and Malwa king were not connected in any way.

Myths about Shasanka-Rajyavardhana's Confrontation
The Shashanka-Rajyavardhana episode has been discussed by many scholars and two sets of opinions have come out of previous discussions. Mr. C. V. Vaidya, Dr. R. G. Basak and Dr. D. C. Ganguli accept the statement of Bāna (, who further says that the death of Rajyavardhana was due to careless- ness on his part. In this connection he cites the examples of some careless kings of ancient times and their dealings with women. These scholars fnd collabration of Bapa, when Sanikara, one of the commentators of the Harshacharita in the fourteenth century, explains those passages by introducing Shashanka's marriage proposal of his datughter to Rajyavardhana and says that he was murdered, while enjoying a feast in the former's camp.