The Forgotten King of Bengal ; Shashanka

When it comes to the history of Bengal, there is one forgotten ruler about whom we don't know much. His name was Shashank. Shashank was the first known ruler of Bengal who expanded his boundaries far beyond the geographical limits of this region. In this video, we will talk about the early life of Shashank, how he became the ruler of Bengal and the most crucial aspect of his reign, his rivalry with Harshvardhan. In ancient sources, Shashank is called the king of Gaud. Gaud in ancient times was the region of present day North and West Bengal. When it comes to the early life of Shashank and how he became the king of Gaud, there is a great debate. What we are certain of is that before he established himself as an independent ruler, he was a feudatory. But we do not know he was a feudatory of which king. There are scholars who have argued that Shashank was the feudatory of a Gaud king whose name was Jainag. Others claim that he was the feudatory of Maukhari rulers and his base was the region of Magad from where he expanded into Bengal. There are even some scholars who argue that Shashank was the feudatory of the later Guptas. The fact that we have no agreement about Shashank's early life tells us how scarce our sources of this period are. But broadly, in order to understand the rise of Shashank, we have to go back to the middle of 6th century AD when the Maukharis had driven out the later Guptas from Magad. After being driven out from Magad, the later Guptas had come to occupy the region of Bengal. But here in Bengal, the rule of the later Guptas didn't last for long. By the end of 6th century AD, their hold over this region had considerably weakened which allowed Shashank to establish his rule over Gaud. It was around 603-604 AD, Shashank became the ruler of Gaud. Around this time, west of Gaud in the region of Magad, the Maukhari power had considerably weakened. Seizing this golden opportunity, Shashank marched with his army towards Magad and gained a sound victory over the Maukharis. The conquest of Magad brought immense glory to Shashank's name. But for the Maukharis, the loss of Magad propelled them to look for allies which they found in the form of Pushyabhutis. The Pushyabhutis under their king Prabhakar Vardhan had gained considerable power during this time. And for the Pushyabhutis, the alliance with the Maukharis who were still the premier power of northern India was an excellent prospect. To formalize this alliance, Prabhakar Vardhan gave his daughter Rajshri to the Maukhari ruler or soon to be the Maukhari ruler, Grahvarman. The fact that two mighty powers of northern India, the Pushyabhutis and the Maukharis were uniting was a terrifying prospect for Shashank. It was obvious for him that after this marriage, the Maukharis with the help of the Pushyabhutis will launch an attack to regain their possession of Magad. In order to safeguard his dominion of Magad, Shashank also began to look for allies. He found one in the form of the Malav ruler. The Malav ruler had also an axe to grind with the Pushyabhutis. We know that the Pushyabhuti ruler Prabhakar Vardhan had launched an attack over the Malavas and he had brought two princes as hostage in the court of Thanesar. So because of this animosity towards the house of the Pushyabhutis, the Malav ruler joined hands with Shashank. Thus, around the start of 7th century AD, we see the beginning of a struggle for supremacy in northern India where the Maukharis and the Pushyabhutis stood against the king of Gaud and the ruler of Malwa. Both of these sides were looking for an opportunity to strike against their enemy. This opportunity came in the form of a death. This was the death of Prabhakar Vardhan. The death of Prabhakar Vardhan gave Shashank and the ruler of Malwa a great opportunity to strike at the centre of Pushyabhuti-Maukhari alliance. This was the city of Kannauj. Following the death of Prabhakar Vardhan, the ruler of the Malavas who has been identified with Devgupt launched an attack over the city of Kannauj. This attack of Devgupt came as a surprise to the Maukharis and in the ensuing battle, the ruler of the Maukharis, Grahavarman was killed. His queen, the Pushyabhuti princess Rajshri was captured and thrown into prison. When Shashank heard about this attack, he also began his march towards Kannauj in order to help his ally. Meanwhile, in Kannauj, Devgupt had grown overconfident because of his quick victory over the unprepared Maukharis. So, he decided to launch a surprise attack over the capital of the Pushyabhuti, Sthaneshwar. He had hoped that if he was able to defeat the Pushyabhutis as well without taking any assistance from Shashank, he would be the sole master of this great realm. But this great strategy of Devgupt didn't go as planned. On his way to Sthaneshwar, Devgupt was met by the Pushyabhuti army which was led by Rajyavardhan, the eldest son of Prabhakar Vardhan. Rajyavardhan was on his way to Kannauj in order to avenge the killing of his brother-in-law and the imprisonment of his sister. Fortunately for Rajyavardhan, he did not have to go all the way to Kannauj. The encounter with the Pushyabhuti army took the Malav ruler Devgupt by surprise. And in the ensuing battle, Rajyavardhan got his revenge by utterly destroying the Malav army. It is generally believed that in this battle, Devgupt, the Malav ruler was also killed. After achieving this victory over Devgupt, Rajyavardhan continued his march towards Kannauj. In Kannauj, Shashank had taken hold of this great city. He had come to Kannauj to help his ally Devgupt but before his arrival, Devgupt had already left for Thanesar. Most likely, the news of Devgupt's defeat and Rajyavardhan's attack on Kannauj reached Shashank because we know that Shashank and Rajyavardhan met each other. If we are to believe the biography of Harshvardhan and the Chinese traveller Zhuanzhang's accounts of this meeting, it appears that Rajyavardhan came to the camp of Shashank. And in his camp, Shashank treacherously murdered Rajyavardhan. Now why Rajyavardhan was foolish enough to go to his enemy's camp without any proper escort has not been mentioned by Ban, the biographer of Harshvardhan. If we look at the account of Zhuanzhang who blames Shashank for murdering Rajyavardhan, he also does not provide us the reason why Rajyavardhan went to Shashank's camp. If we look at the inscription of Harshvardhan where the death of Rajyavardhan has been mentioned, here also we see that the reasons are not discussed. We are just told that Rajyavardhan died at his enemy's camp owing to his adherence to a promise. The fact that these three accounts are vague when it comes to the circumstances under which Rajyavardhan died makes it hard for us to conclusively say what happened when Shashank and Rajyavardhan met. At least this is what scholars like R. C. Majumdar argues. Their argument shifts the blame away from Shashank and towards the ministers of Rajyavardhan which they argue conspired against Rajyavardhan. They also point out that in Aryamanjushri Mool Kalp, Rajyavardhan's death was not because of Shashank. Whatever the case may be, we know that for Harsh, it was Shashank who was responsible for the death of his elder brother and in order to punish Shashank, he decided to march his army towards Kannauj. When the news of Harsha's march on Kannauj reached Shashank, most likely he withdrew from Kannauj. This was a sound strategy as his base was far away in Bengal and the extended supply lines meant that he could not hold the Pushyabhutis for long. Shashank also had to worry about the ruler of Kamrup who had sent an ambassador to Harsha for an alliance. If Harsha accepted this alliance, which we know he did, then Shashank would have been exposed to serious danger from both front and rear. From Harsha's biography, we learn that Harsh had sent his commander in pursuit of Shashank while he himself went to rescue his sister. Most likely, this commander of Shashank did not venture far in pursuit of Shashank. If there was an encounter between these two forces, the result was probably indecisive. To soundly defeat Shashank, Harsh would have to lead his army himself. But this was not the right time because for Harsh, the most urgent thing to do was to rescue his sister and to ensure that the Pushyabhutis would not lose the control of Kannauj. Harsh successfully managed to rescue his sister from the Vindhya forest. But to gain the control of Kannauj and the Maukhri realm, it took around 6 years. Only then, he decided to launch a campaign against this great rival of his. The target of this campaign was the region of Magadh. It was in the second decade of the 7th century AD, Harsh marched his army towards Magadh. This campaign was a great success as Shashank was driven out of Magadh. What remained of Shashank's domain now was Bengal. Based on the limited sources that we have, it appears that Harsh launched a campaign to conquer Gaud as well. But this was not successful. Shashank kept intact the autonomy of Bengal through his sword up to his last breath. While he had lost Magadh to Harsh, he did manage to conquer the region of northern Odisha, thus extending his kingdom to the south. It was only after his death that Gaud came under the rule of Harsh. The exact date of Shashank's death is not known. But it is generally believed that Shashank died between 620 AD and 636 AD. The end of Shashank was followed by a period of anarchy in Gaud. A Buddhist text, Aryamanjushri Mool Kalp, gives us a glimpse of Gaud following the death of Shashank. Here, Shashank is called Som. And we are told, After the death of Som, the Gaud political system was reduced to mutual distrust, raised weapons and mutual jealousy. One king for a week, another for a month, then a republican constitution, such will be the daily condition of the country on this bank of the Ganga. It is highly likely that Harsh didn't rush to take control of Gaud following the death of Shashank. Most likely he was busy in different parts of his empire. When Juenchang met Harsh in 643 AD, Harsh had already taken control of Karn Suvarn, the capital of Shashank's Gaud, which has been identified with Rangamati, 6 miles southwest of Birhanpur in the Murshidabad district. The successors of Shashank could not contain the forces of Harsh. And with the capture of Gaud, one of the great rivalries of ancient India came to an end. Now, if you want to know about the history of Harshvardhan and how he became the ruler of Kannauj, do watch this video. Thank you for watching.