Harsha

Harsha

Harsha (c. 590–647 CE), also known as Harshavardhana, was an Indian emperor who ruled North India from 606 to 647 CE. He was a member of the Vardhana dynasty; and was the son of Prabhakarvardhana who defeated the Alchon Huna invaders, and the younger brother of Rajyavardhana, a king of Thanesar, present-day Haryana. At the height of Harsha's power, his Empire covered much of North and Northwestern India, extended East till Kamarupa, and South until Narmada River; and eventually made Kannauj (in the present Uttar Pradesh state) his capital, and ruled till 647 CE. Harsha was defeated by the south Indian Emperor Pulakeshin II of the Chalukya dynasty in the Battle of Narmada when Harsha tried to expand his Empire into the southern peninsula of India.The peace and prosperity that prevailed made his court a centre of cosmopolitanism, attracting scholars, artists and religious visitors from far and wide. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Harsha has received more than 1,252,474 page views. His biography is available in 42 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 38 in 2019). Harsha is the 2,222nd most popular politician (up from 2,357th in 2019), the 67th most popular biography from India (up from 72nd in 2019) and the 20th most popular Indian Politician.

Harsha is most famous for his literary work, Harshacharita, which is a biography of the Hindu king Harsha.