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know, at any rate, from several of Harṣa's inscriptions, that that
monarch's father, and some of his ancestors, were paramaditya-
bhakta,¹ 'devoted to the supreme Aditya (Sürya),' a statement
that finds support in Bana's Harşacarita, which says of Harsa's
father Prabhākaravardhana that 'the king was by natural pro-
clivity a devotee of the sun. Day by day at sunrise he bathed,
arrayed himself in white silk, wrapt his head in a white cloth,
and kneeling eastwards upon the ground in a circle smeared with
saffron paste, presented for an offering a bunch of red lotuses, set
in a pure vessel of ruby and tinged, like his own heart, with the
sun's hue. Solemnly, at dawn, at midday, and at eve he muttered
a prayer for offspring, humbly with earnest heart repeating a
hymn having the sun as its center."
There are, besides, in the Harşacarita a number of incidental
references to sun-worship, and Hüan Tsang, the Chinese Bud-
dhist pilgrim who visited India during Harṣa's reign, has left in
his writings the account of a quinquennial religious festival held
by Harsa at Prayaga (Allahabad), and records that on the occa-
sion when he himself was present at one of these festivals, the
statues of Buddha, Sürya and Siva were made the centers of
worship on three successive days. Perhaps our poem was written
because of royal command, like the Carmen Saeculare of Horace,
and it may have been intended to grace the celebration of some
such festival as those held at Prayaga. Of course the statement
made by Anvayamukha-
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
¹ See the Madhuban Plate of Harşa, in El, vol 7. p. 157-159; the Bans-
khera Plate of Harşa, in EI, vol. 4. p. 210; and Harşa's Sonpat Seal, in CII,
vol. 3. p. 231-232; cf. also Ettinghausen, Harşa l'ardhana, p. 87, 143-151.
See Cowell and Thomas, Harşa-carita (English translation). p. 104
Cambridge, 1897.
Cf. Cowell and Thomas, Harşa-carita, p. 40, 118, 147, 156, 163, 241,
and 26.
* Ettinghausen (Harşa Vardhana. p. 48, note 4) refers, for an account
of this festival to St. Julien, Histoire de la vie de Hiouen Tsang et de ses
royages dans l'Inde, p. 254: see also Samuel Beal, Buddhist Records of
the Western World (translated from the Chinese of Hüan Tsang), vol
I. p. 233. Boston, 1885. See also Ettinghausen, op. cit., p. 92, 108, 163.
know, at any rate, from several of Harṣa's inscriptions, that that
monarch's father, and some of his ancestors, were paramaditya-
bhakta,¹ 'devoted to the supreme Aditya (Sürya),' a statement
that finds support in Bana's Harşacarita, which says of Harsa's
father Prabhākaravardhana that 'the king was by natural pro-
clivity a devotee of the sun. Day by day at sunrise he bathed,
arrayed himself in white silk, wrapt his head in a white cloth,
and kneeling eastwards upon the ground in a circle smeared with
saffron paste, presented for an offering a bunch of red lotuses, set
in a pure vessel of ruby and tinged, like his own heart, with the
sun's hue. Solemnly, at dawn, at midday, and at eve he muttered
a prayer for offspring, humbly with earnest heart repeating a
hymn having the sun as its center."
There are, besides, in the Harşacarita a number of incidental
references to sun-worship, and Hüan Tsang, the Chinese Bud-
dhist pilgrim who visited India during Harṣa's reign, has left in
his writings the account of a quinquennial religious festival held
by Harsa at Prayaga (Allahabad), and records that on the occa-
sion when he himself was present at one of these festivals, the
statues of Buddha, Sürya and Siva were made the centers of
worship on three successive days. Perhaps our poem was written
because of royal command, like the Carmen Saeculare of Horace,
and it may have been intended to grace the celebration of some
such festival as those held at Prayaga. Of course the statement
made by Anvayamukha-
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
¹ See the Madhuban Plate of Harşa, in El, vol 7. p. 157-159; the Bans-
khera Plate of Harşa, in EI, vol. 4. p. 210; and Harşa's Sonpat Seal, in CII,
vol. 3. p. 231-232; cf. also Ettinghausen, Harşa l'ardhana, p. 87, 143-151.
See Cowell and Thomas, Harşa-carita (English translation). p. 104
Cambridge, 1897.
Cf. Cowell and Thomas, Harşa-carita, p. 40, 118, 147, 156, 163, 241,
and 26.
* Ettinghausen (Harşa Vardhana. p. 48, note 4) refers, for an account
of this festival to St. Julien, Histoire de la vie de Hiouen Tsang et de ses
royages dans l'Inde, p. 254: see also Samuel Beal, Buddhist Records of
the Western World (translated from the Chinese of Hüan Tsang), vol
I. p. 233. Boston, 1885. See also Ettinghausen, op. cit., p. 92, 108, 163.