Dig-Vijaya: Circle of Kings (Wonder of India Book 1)

In the 6th and 7th centuries AD, after the passing of the glorious Gupta empire, and before the coming of the Rajput states and Delhi Sultanates, northern India had one last glimpse of classical empire. There were Indian kings at this time who by choice, or lack of it, were content to concentrate on the administration of territory they inherited. But generally speaking, however large a bequeathed state, the newly enthroned monarch would wish to extend his domain to the farthest natural limits of the country. This was accomplished by means of the “Dig-Vijaya,” the march-in-force through the encircling territories until all neighbors were either subordinated or defeated.
Harsha Śīlāditya Vardhana gained the throne of Thanesar (Sthānvīśvara), a small principality in east Punjab (reckoned to be in modern India), in 606 CE and ruled till his death in ca. 647. He was moved to launch an extensive military campaign, not only because of his ambition, but to redeem his family honor. Contemporaries could be forgiven for believing that the “righteous” Harsha was attempting to subjugate the rest of India as he had the North by showing his sword to those who would not submit. One such was the Maitraka, Dhruva Sena II. His capital, Valabhi, in modern Gujurat, was attacked sometime between CE 630-34.
Southern India at this time was also evenly divided between several dynasties, one of which would rise to prominence during Harsha’s reign and even threaten his domination of the north. The Chalukya, Pulakesin II (who reigned in upland Karnataka and extended their dominion to most of South India), was to the south what Harsha was to the north. The clash of these two kings, attempting to be sole emperor of all they surveyed, shaped the destiny of 7th century India. Not all men are happy under a Great King.
The division of the book is into the basic stages or ashrams of a classically ideal Hindu life: BRAHMĀCHĀRYA (Student); GRIHASTA (Householder); VĀNAPRASTHA (Forest-stage, where one retires to contemplate); SANYĀS (Renunciation of family, caste and society to pursue “Moksha”, or liberation, from the wheel of life). I have taken great liberties with the historical record in positing that my main protagonists lived under the clan system at this time with caste (Brahmans / Priestly; Kshatriya / Royal, Warrior; Vaishya / Merchant, Farmer, Artisan; Sudra / Laborer) only a sometimes visible issue – but I believe that the ancestors of the medieval Rajputs, the Huns and others, were indeed a society that had more traces of an open, nomadic life in their cultures than the fixed picture of Indian village life we have today. I owe my knowledge of the period to M. Devahuti’s Harsha and Romila Thapar’s many scholarly endeavors, in particular, her Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. Much of Aditya’s poetry is borrowed from Ramanujan’s magnificent translations of Tiruvāymoli and Nammalvār. The other verse is my own poor understanding of various bhajans I have heard and attempts to versify the war scenes in the Mahabharata and the Ramayana from the translations of C. Rajagopalachari.