Kannauj Kingdom
c. 510 CE–c. 606 CE
Coin of King Iśanavarman of the Maukhari of Kannauj, successors of the Guptas in the Gangetic region. Circa 535-553 CE. The ruler faces to the left, whereas in Gupta coinage the ruler faces to the right. This is possibly a symbol of antagonism and rivalry, as also seen on some similar coins of Toramana.[1]
MORIS South-Asia 550-600 CE PRATIHARAS PANDYAS CHOLAS CHERAS SAMATATAS GAUDAS VARMANS PALLAVAS NEZAKS ALCHONS GONANDAS TAANK KALACHURIS NALAS KALINGAS HEPHTHALITES TOCHARIANS MAITRAKAS AULIKARAS RAIS LATER GUPTAS PUSHYA- BHUTIS CHALUKYAS SASANIAN EMPIRE ◁ ▷ Map of Maukharis territory, with neighbouring polities, circa 550-600 CE, after the retreat of the Alchon Huns.[2]
Capital	Kannauj
Common languages	Sanskrit
Religion	Hinduism Buddhism
Government	Monarchy
Maharajadhirajas
Historical era	Classical India
• Established	c. 510 CE
• Disestablished	c. 606 CE
Preceded by Succeeded by Gupta Empire Alchon Huns Later Guptas Pushyabhuti dynasty Gauda Kingdom

The Maukhari dynasty (Gupta script:

Religion

The Maukharis were staunch Hindus. They tried to enforce and maintain the traditional social order among the people. Hinduism received state support, but Buddhism also managed to remain as a prominent religion.^[6]

Army

The Maukhari army consisted of elephants, cavalry and infantry. Ishanavarman in all probability would have taken much pains to reorganize the army and make it strong and worthy. The Maukhari strategy mainly focused on deploying elephant corps to crush the enemy armies. They were used against the Alchon Huns and the Later Gupta armies.^[6] The Maukharis fought against the remnants of the Alchon Huns in the areas of the Gangetic Doab and Magadha, as documented in the Aphsad inscription, while the Aulikaras repelled them in the Malwa region.^[7] The Aphsad inscription of Ādityasena mentions the military successes of kings of the Later Gupta dynasty against the Maukharis, themselves past victors of the Alchon Huns:^[7]

The Aphsad inscription of Ādityasena

"The son of that king (Kumaragupta) was the illustrious Dâmôdaragupta, by whom (his) enemies were slain, just like the demons by (the god) Dâmôdara. Breaking up the proudly stepping array of mighty elephants, belonging to the Maukhari, which had thrown aloft in battle the troops of the Hûnas (in order to trample them to death), he became unconscious (and expired in the fight)."

— Line 8 of the Aphsad inscription of Ādityasena.^[8]

The Maukharis, rather than the Guptas, were therefore the key actors in repelling the Hunas.^[9]

Administration

Kannauj, the Maukhari capital, grew in prosperity and importance as a great cosmopolitan town. After the demise of the Maukharis, it even became the capital of Harsha. Hence, the Kannauj was largely contested by imperial powers.^{[10]: 20 [6][11]}

The first three Maukhari kings are mentioned in the inscriptions as Maharaja, but their successors assumed more pompous titles showing the increase in power. Ishanavarman was the first Maukhari ruler to adopt the title Maharajadhiraja.^[6]

Cultural and international exchanges

Asirgarh seal inscription of Sharvavarman, Maukhari dynasty, 6th century .^[12][13]

The Maukhari kings were patrons of poets and writers and many literary works were composed during their reign.^[6] Various seals and inscriptions are known, such as the Asirgarh seal inscription of Sharvavarman,^[14] or the Haraha inscription of Isanavarman, discovered near the village of Harara in the Barabanki district, Uttar Pradesh and dated to Vikrama Samvat 610 (ie 554 CE), which record the genealogy of the Maukharis.^[15]

Contacts with the Sasanian Empire

Sasanian Empire King Khosrow I sits before the chessboard, while his vizir and the Indian envoy of Kannauj are playing chess. Shahnama, 10th century CE.^[16]

The Harahara inscription of Ishanavarman. The inscription, dated to Vikrama Samvat 610 (ie 554 CE), record the genealogy of the Maukharis.^[17]

With the end of Hunnic power, new contacts were established between India and the Sasanian Empire. Intellectual games such as chess and backgammon demonstrated and celebrated the diplomatic relationship between Khosrow I and a "great king of India." The vizier of the Indian king invented chess as a cheerful, playful challenge to King Khosrow. It seems that the Indian ruler who sent the game of chess to Khosrow was the Maukhari King Śarvavarman of Kannauj, between the beginning of Śarvavarman’s reign in 560/565 and the end of Khosrow's reign in 579.^[16][18] When the game was sent to Iran it came with a letter which read: "As your name is the King of Kings, all your emperorship over us connotes that your wise men should be wiser than ours. Either you send us an explanation of this game of chess or send revenue and tribute us."^[19] Khosrow's grand vizier successfully solved the riddle and figured out how to play chess. In response the wise vizier created the game backgammon and sent it to the Indian court with the same message. The Indian king was not able to solve the riddle and was forced to pay tribute.^[19]

Succession

The Vardhana dynasty (also called "Pushyabhuti dynasty") ultimately succeeded the Maukhari dynasty, but it had originally only been a small polity around their capital Sthaneshvara (Thanesar). According to Hans T. Bakker, their ruler Aditya-Vardhana (or Aditya-Sena) was probably a feudatory to the Maukhari ruler Sharvavarman. His successor Prabhakaravardhana may have also been a feudatory to the Maukhari king Avantivarman in his early days. Prabhakara's daughter Rajyashri married Avantivarman's son Grahavarman. As a result of this marriage, Prabhakara's political status increased significantly, and he assumed the imperial title Parama-bhattaraka Maharajadhiraja ("the one to whom the other kings bow because of his valour and affection").^[20]

Rulers

The known Maukhari rulers of madhya-desha include:^[21]

Maukhari design on a Nalanda Clay Seal of Sharvavarman.

• Harivarman^[22]
• Adityavarman
• Ishvaravarman (Iśvaravarman)
• Ishanavarman (Iśanavarman), r.c. 550–574 CE
• Sharvavarman (Śarvavarman), r. c. 574–586 CE
• Avantivarman
• Grahavarman, r. c. 600–605 CE

Barabar branch of Maukhari rulers

The Gopika Cave Inscription of Anantavarman (left half).

The Barabar Cave inscriptions attest the existence of another Maukhari branch. This branch ruled as feudatories, probably that of the Later Guptas. The known rulers of this branch include:^[23]

• Nrpa Shri Yajnavarman
• Nrpa Samantachudamani Shri Shardulavarman
• Anantavarman