Kādambarī as a source for contemporary administrative history

Abstract

Unfortunately, not much evidence is available regarding the administrative system of Harṣa. Although we have direct sources like the travel accounts of Huien-Tsiang, the Harṣacarita of Bāṇabhaṭṭa, the Baṇskhérā and Madhubana copper-plate grants, and inscriptions of contemporary rulers, these fail to provide a comprehensive account of Harṣa's government and the political set-up of his time. We therefore supplement our knowledge with the records of the Gupta rulers. This lacuna can be filled, to some extent, if a careful study of Bāṇa's Kādambaī is made. The late V. S. Agrawala's study on Kādambaī in Hindī has a cultural bias rather than a political one. On going through the pages of Kādambaī, it appears that it is complementary to the Harṣacarita. For example, while in the Harṣacarita the picturesque account of the royal palace is mainly confined to its entrance and first block, in Kādambaī the remaining parts are dealt with at length. Similarly, while in the Harṣacarita a detailed account of all the rites which are performed on the eve of a campaign is given, in Kādambaī we get merely an indication of these activities. Thus several scenes which could not be described in the Harṣacarita owing to its limited scope, have been skilfully incorporated by the poet in Kādambaī, thus avoiding duplication. An attempt, therefore, has been made in this paper to study the political and administrative information in Kādambaī.