The Maukhari dynasty (

Gupta script The Gupta script (sometimes referred to as Gupta Brahmi script or Late Brahmi script)Sharma, Ram. '' 'Brahmi Script' ''. Delhi: BR Publishing Corp, 2002 was used for writing Sanskrit and is associated with the Gupta Empire of the Indian subcon ...

Maukhari (dynastic name) in the Asirgarh seal

, ''Mau-kha-ri'') was a post-

Gupta Gupta () is a common surname or last name of Indian origin. It is based on the Sanskrit word गोप्तृ ''goptṛ'', which means 'guardian' or 'protector'. According to historian R. C. Majumdar, the surname ''Gupta'' was adopted by sev ...

dynasty who controlled the vast plains of

Ganga The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

Yamuna The Yamuna ( Hindustani: ), also spelt Jumna, is the second-largest tributary river of the Ganges by discharge and the longest tributary in India. Originating from the Yamunotri Glacier at a height of about on the southwestern slopes of B ...

for over six generations from their capital at

Kannauj Kannauj ( Hindustani pronunciation: ənːɔːd͡ʒ is a city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city's name is a corrupted form of the class ...

. They earlier served as vassals of the Guptas and later of Harsha's Vardhana dynasty. The Maukharis established their independence during the mid 6th century. The dynasty ruled over much of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 195 ...

and

Magadha Magadha was a region and one of the sixteen sa, script=Latn, Mahajanapadas, label=none, lit=Great Kingdoms of the Second Urbanization (600–200 BCE) in what is now south Bihar (before expansion) at the eastern Ganges Plain. Magadha was rul ...

. Around 606 CE, a large area of their empire was reconquered by the

Later Guptas The Later Gupta dynasty ruled the Magadha region in eastern India between the 6th and 8th centuries CE. The Later Guptas succeeded the imperial Guptas as the rulers of Magadha, but there is no evidence connecting the two dynasties; these appear ...

. According to Hieun-Tsang, the territory may have been lost to King

Shashanka Shashanka (IAST: Śaśāṃka) was the first independent king of a unified polity in the Bengal region, called the Gauda Kingdom and is a major figure in Bengali history. He reigned in the 7th century, some historians place his rule between cir ...

of the

Gauda Kingdom The Gauḍa Kingdom (Gāuṛ Rājya) or Shashankas, was a classic kingdom during the Classical period on the Indian subcontinent, which originated in the region of Bengal (modern-day West Bengal and Bangladesh) in 4th century CE or possibly ...

, who declared independence circa 600 AD.

Religion

The Maukharis were staunch Hindus. They tried to enforce and maintain the traditional social order among the people.

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

received state support, but

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

also managed to remain as a prominent religion.

Army

The Maukhari army consisted of elephants, cavalry and infantry. Ishanavarman in all probability would have taken much pains to reorganize the army and make it strong and worthy. The Maukhari strategy mainly focused on deploying elephant corps to crush the enemy armies. They were used against the

Alchon Huns The Alchon Huns, ( Bactrian: αλχον(ν)ο ''Alchon(n)o'') also known as the Alchono, Alxon, Alkhon, Alkhan, Alakhana and Walxon, were a nomadic people who established states in Central Asia and South Asia during the 4th and 6th centuries C ...

and the Later Gupta armies. The Maukharis fought against the remnants of the Alchon Huns in the areas of the Gangetic Doab and

, as documented in the Aphsad inscription, while the Aulikaras repelled them in the

Malwa Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also sy ...

region. The Aphsad inscription of Ādityasena mentions the military successes of kings of the

Later Gupta dynasty The Later Gupta dynasty ruled the Magadha region in eastern India between the 6th and 8th centuries CE. The Later Guptas succeeded the imperial Guptas as the rulers of Magadha, but there is no evidence connecting the two dynasties; these appear ...

against the Maukharis, themselves past victors of the Alchon Huns: The Maukharis, rather than the

Guptas The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire which existed from the early 4th century CE to late 6th century CE. At its zenith, from approximately 319 to 467 CE, it covered much of the Indian subcontinent. This period is considered as the Gold ...

, were therefore the key actors in repelling the Hunas.

Administration

, the Maukhari capital, grew in prosperity and importance as a great cosmopolitan town. After the demise of the Maukharis, it even became the capital of

Harsha Harshavardhana ( IAST Harṣa-vardhana; c. 590–647 CE) was a Pushyabhuti emperor who ruled northern India from 606 to 647 CE. He was the son of Prabhakaravardhana who had defeated the Alchon Huna invaders, and the younger brother of Rajy ...

. Hence, the Kannauj was largely contested by imperial powers.Sen, S.N., 2013, A Textbook of Medieval Indian History, Delhi: Primus Books, The first three Maukhari kings are mentioned in the inscriptions as

Maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, a ...

, but their successors assumed more pompous titles showing the increase in power. Ishanavarman was the first Maukhari ruler to adopt the title Maharajadhiraja.

Cultural and international exchanges

The Maukhari kings were patrons of poets and writers and many literary works were composed during their reign. Various seals and inscriptions are known, such as the Asirgarh seal inscription of

Sharvavarman Sharvavarman (Brahmi script: 𑀰𑀭𑁆𑀯𑁆𑀯𑀯𑀭𑁆𑀫𑁆𑀫𑀸 , Gupta script: ''Śa-rvva-va-rmmā'', complete form: ''Śarvavarman Indra Bhattarika'') was a ruler of the Maukhari dynasty of Kannauj. He ruled circa 560-575 CE ...

, or the Haraha inscription of Isanavarman, discovered near the village of Harara in the

Barabanki district Barabanki district is one of the five districts of Faizabad division (officially ''Ayodhya division''), in the central Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh, India. Barabanki city is the administrative headquarters of Barabanki district. Total area of Ba ...

and dated to Vikrama Samvat 610 (ie 554 CE), which record the genealogy of the Maukharis.

Contacts with the Sasanian Empire

King Khosrow sits before the chessboard, while his vizir and the envoy of Qannuj are playing chess

With the end of Hunnic power, new contacts were established between India and the

Sasanian Empire The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

. Intellectual games such as

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

and

backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...

demonstrated and celebrated the diplomatic relationship between

Khosrow I Khosrow I (also spelled Khosrau, Khusro or Chosroes; pal, 𐭧𐭥𐭮𐭫𐭥𐭣𐭩; New Persian: []), traditionally known by his epithet of Anushirvan ( [] "the Immortal Soul"), was the Sasanian Empire, Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from ...

and a "great king of India." The vizier of the Indian king invented chess as a cheerful, playful challenge to King Khosrow. It seems that the Indian ruler who sent the game of chess to Khosrow was the Maukhari King Śarvavarman of

, between the beginning of Śarvavarman’s reign in 560/565 and the end of Khosrow's reign in 579. When the game was sent to Iran it came with a letter which read: "As your name is the King of Kings, all your emperorship over us connotes that your wise men should be wiser than ours. Either you send us an explanation of this game of chess or send revenue and tribute us."Canepa 2009, p. 181 Khosrow's grand vizier successfully solved the riddle and figured out how to play chess. In response the wise vizier created the game backgammon and sent it to the Indian court with the same message. The Indian king was not able to solve the riddle and was forced to pay tribute.

Succession

The Vardhana dynasty (also called "Pushyabhuti dynasty") ultimately succeeded the Maukhari dynasty, but it had originally only been a small polity around their capital Sthaneshvara (

Thanesar Thanesar city or old Kurukshetra city is a historic town and an important Hindu pilgrimage centre in Kurukshetra district of the state of Haryana in northern India. It is located in Kurukshetra district, approximately 160 km northwest of D ...

). According to

Hans T. Bakker Hans T. Bakker (born 1948) is a cultural historian and Indologist, who has served as the Professor of the History of Hinduism and Jan Gonda Chair at the University of Groningen. He currently works in the British Museum as a researcher in project ...

, their ruler Aditya-Vardhana (or Aditya-Sena) was probably a feudatory to the Maukhari ruler

. His successor

Prabhakaravardhana Prabhakaravardhana (also known as Prabhakara Vardhana) was a king of Thanesar in northern India around the time of the decline of the Gupta Empire. According to the historian R. C. Majumdar, he was the first notable king of the Vardhana dynast ...

may have also been a feudatory to the Maukhari king Avantivarman in his early days. Prabhakara's daughter Rajyashri married Avantivarman's son Grahavarman. As a result of this marriage, Prabhakara's political status increased significantly, and he assumed the imperial title ''Parama-bhattaraka Maharajadhiraja'' ("the one to whom the other kings bow because of his valour and affection").

Rulers

The known Maukhari rulers of ''madhya-desha'' include: Nalanda Clay Seals of Sharvavarman (detail)

* Harivarman * Adityavarman * Ishvaravarman (Iśvaravarman) *

Ishanavarman Iśanavarman (Gupta script: , ''Ī-śā-na-va-rmmā'') was the first independent Maukhari ruler of Kannauj. He was a very powerful king, and adopted the title of ''Maharajadhiraja''. Early life Ishanavarman was the son of the powerful Maukhari ...

(Iśanavarman), r.c. 550–574 CE *

(Śarvavarman), r. c. 574–586 CE * Avantivarman * Grahavarman, r. c. 600–605 CE

Barabar branch of Maukhari rulers

Barabar Caves Gopika Cave Inscription of Anantavarman 5th- or 6th-century CE Sanskrit in Gupta script

The Barabar Cave inscriptions attest the existence of another Maukhari branch. This branch ruled as feudatories, probably that of the

. The known rulers of this branch include: * ''Nrpa Shri'' Yajnavarman * ''Nrpa Samantachudamani Shri'' Shardulavarman * Anantavarman File:Lomas_Rishi_entrance_inscription.jpg, Lomas Rishi cave inscription of Anantavarman File:Barabar_Nagarjuni_Caves,_Anantavarman_Inscription_Sanskrit.jpg, Gopika Cave Inscription of Anantavarman File:5th_or_6th_century_Vadathika_Cave_Inscription,_Sanskrit,_Shaivism,_Anantavarman,_Gupta_script,_Ancient_Om_symbol_2.jpg, Vadathika Cave Inscription of Anantavarman

References

Bibliography

* * {{refend

External links

*Joseph Schwartzberg
The Historical Atlas of South Asia
Map of the �

��. (Pg 26). Empires and kingdoms of India Dynasties of India Former empires in Asia States and territories established in the 6th century Historical Hindu empires