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Harishena (Vakataka)

Harishena was the last strong king of the Vakatakas, the son of Devasena, in the late 5th or early 6th century. An inscription at Ajanta names Andhra and Kalinga among the lands he conquered. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil thought he may have interfered in the Andhra country between the Godavari and the Krishna. Vincent Smith, as reported by Sewell and Aiyangar, made the Vishnukundin king Madhavavarman his son-in-law, who won Vengi with his help. A note in the same book suggests that Harishena's 'Andhra' was the old Salankayana country west of Vengi.

Harishena was the last strong king of the Vakatakas, who ruled north of the Telugu country.12 An inscription at Ajanta counts Andhra among the lands he conquered.1 Historians link him with the rise of the Vishnukundin kings in Vengi.34

Who he was

Harishena was the son of Devasena.1 G. Jouveau-Dubreuil (1920) wrote that Devasena’s minister, Hastibhoja, probably dug the Ghatotkacha cave near Ajanta.1 He dated Harishena’s reign to about 500–530.1 The table of Vakataka kings in Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar’s book (1932) gives him about 465–500.2

Andhra and Kalinga

The Ajanta inscription, as Jouveau-Dubreuil reported it, names many conquests of Harishena.1 They are Kuntala (the Kadamba kingdom), Avanti (Malwa), Kalinga, Kosala, Trikuta, Lata and Andhra.1 Jouveau-Dubreuil dated these wars to about 500–515.1 He linked them with a war between Indra of Kalinga and Indra the Vishnukundin.1 Harishena, he thought, may have had to interfere in the affairs of Kalinga and Andhra, “between the Godavari and the Krishna”.1

The Vishnukundin marriage

The Chikkulla plates of the Vishnukundins call the king Vikramendravarman one “whose birth was embellished by the two families of the Vishnukundins and Vakatas”.5 Sewell and Aiyangar report Vincent Smith’s view of this link.3 In it the Vishnukundin chief Madhavavarman married a daughter of Harishena.3 With his father-in-law’s help he won the Vengi country, south of the Godavari, and settled at Dendalur near Vengi.3 See Madhavavarman.

Where the sources disagree

  • The Vakataka bride. Vincent Smith, as reported by Sewell and Aiyangar, made her Harishena’s daughter.3 Jouveau-Dubreuil thought she was a daughter or granddaughter of the queen Prabhavati.4
  • What “Andhra” means. Jouveau-Dubreuil took it to be the country between the Godavari and the Krishna.1 A note in Sewell and Aiyangar’s book suggests that it may mean the country once ruled by the Salankayanas, further west than Vengi.3
  • His dates. About 465–500 in the 1932 table, and about 500–530 in Jouveau-Dubreuil.21 A note to the table says that V. S. Sukthankar thought these Vakataka dates too early.2

Footnotes

  1. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (1920), p. 76 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12

  2. Sewell and Aiyangar, Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 398, table of the Vakataka kings (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. Robert Sewell and S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (1932), p. 20 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  4. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (1920), p. 74 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  5. F. Kielhorn, “Chikkulla Plates of Vikramendravarman II”, Epigraphia Indica IV (1896–97), p. 197, translation (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Dynasties

Vakatakas

c. 275–530 CE

The Vakatakas ruled in the northern Deccan and central India from about the 3rd to the 6th century. Their main territory was Vidarbha (Berar), north of the Telugu country. Their kings married into the Gupta imperial family, and a Vakataka princess married the Vishnukundin king Madhavavarman. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil (1920) thought the Vakatakas ruled almost the whole area of the later Hyderabad State and placed the first Vishnukundin on Vengi's throne. A history of Telangana published in 2022 includes only the Adilabad, Nizamabad and Karimnagar regions in their territory. The Ajanta inscription credits their last great king, Harishena, with conquering Andhra.

References

Sources (3)
  1. G. Jouveau-Dubreuil, Ancient History of the Deccan (opens in a new tab), The author, Pondicherry (translated by V. S. Swaminadha Dikshitar), 1920, pp. 74–76. [Public domain]
  2. Robert Sewell (ed. S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar), The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (Collected till 1923) and Outlines of Political History (opens in a new tab), University of Madras, 1932, pp. 20, 398. Paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  3. F. Kielhorn (articles); E. Hultzsch (ed.), Epigraphia Indica, Vol. IV (1896–97) (opens in a new tab), Archaeological Survey of India, 1897, pp. 197. F. Kielhorn, Chikkulla plates of Vikramendravarman II. [Public domain]

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