Harshavardhana ruled northern India from 606-647 AD after becoming king at age 14. He faced early challenges from neighboring kings but conquered much of northern India, establishing an empire that stretched from Bengal to Punjab. His greatest military achievement was a stalemate against Pulakesin II of the Chalukyas after two years of fighting. Harshavardhana strongly supported education, reserving a quarter of the empire's income for the renowned Nalanda University, which had over 10,000 students during his reign. The Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang visited India during Harshavardhana's rule and studied at Nalanda before returning to China and writing an account of his travels

2. Vardhana Dynasty –
Harshavardhana ( 606–647)
Personal details
•Ruling period : 606ad-647ad
•Father name: Prabhakara
Vardhana
•Brother: Rajavardhana
•Sister: Rajashree
•Titles : Uttar Patheshwar, Emperor
of five Indies.
•Capital city: Thaneswar

3. • He came throne he was just 14 years old .
Early Difficulties
• Taking this advantage many neighbouring kings had palnned
to attack on Harsha’s empire.
• He wanted save his sister Rajashree who lost her husband.
• He had planned to attack on Shahshanka who killed his
brother Raja Vardhana.
• During that he had with huge financial problems.

4. Harsha Vardhana

6. Harsha’s conquests.
• Harsha defeated Shashanka of Begal and
saved his Sister.
• He occupied the entire north India including
Bihar,Bengal and Orissa in the east.
• Conquered Punjab and Sind in the west and
received title of Emperor of Five Indies.
• He also has friendly relationship with the King
of Kamarupa and Srilanka.

8. The greatest military achievement of
Harsha
• war against Pulikesin II (Emperor of Chalukyas
and Badami).
• Both emperors met each other on the bank of
Narmada in 620 a.d.
• The war continued for two years but no one won
the war.
• Finally they came treaty and became good friends
and returned back their capital by receiving the
titles of Uttara Patheshwar and Dakshina
Patheshwar.

10. Nalanda University.
• Nalanda University was one of the leading universities
in the Ancient World.
• It was founded by Kumara Gupta of Gupta ruler.
• Nalanda reached on its peak during Harsha Vardhana’s
reign and became the best university on earth.
• Harsha reserved ¼ of the income of empire to the
development of the Nalanda University.
• It had a huge building with 400 acre of campus.
• Dharma chakra was its symbol of Nalanda University.
• It had 10,000 students and 1,500 teachers. The ratio
between the teacher and the students was 1:7.

11. • It had got separate three storied building for library.
• It had Lotus Lake in the center of the building.
• There was a huge auditorium where every day had many
cultural programmes and performances.
• It had students of Srilanka, Japan, China, Nepal, Malaya,
Combodia, Jawa and Sumatra.
• Students had to pass three rounds of entrance exams to
seek the admission in the university.
• There were 40 different subjects were taught in the
university.
• Most interesting fact was- it was free residential university.

12. Hieun Tsang (Xuan Zang)
• Hieun Tsang was a Chinese pilgrim who had come
to India during Harsha’s reign.
• He is known as ‘Prince of pilgrims’.
• He was Buddist monk who had dreamt to visit the
holy places of Budshism in India.
• After a long journey he reached Kashmir The king
of Kashmir treated him like an ambassador and
he guided him to meet his emperor Harsha.
• Harsh welcomed him and provided all facilities
for his stay.
• Soon he visited all holy places which were related
to Buddha’s life (Lumbini, Kapilavastu, Bodh Gaya,
Sarnath and Kushinar).

13. • He was very much attracted with the Nalanda University
and he joined as the student of Nalanda University. He
learnt Sanskrit and studied all Buddhist scripts thoroughly.
Later he served in Nalanda as a teacher.
• He also visited to Harsha’s friend Pulikesin Kingdom
(Badami) and he went to Kanchi to see the Kanchi
university.
• Later Hieun Tsang left India. Harsha presented a golden
Buddha while he was leaving.
• He went China and started an Ashram called ‘Hung Pttu’ .
• He had written all his experiences of India in a book called
‘Si-Yu-Ki’. In that books he expressed that ‘he wished to
take re-birth in India ‘.