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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Biography of Indian emperor Harsha by Banabhatta}}<br />
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The '''''Harshacharita''''' ({{lang-sa|हर्षचरित}}, {{IAST|Harṣacarita}}) (''The deeds of Harsha''), is the [[biography]] of [[India]]n emperor [[Harsha]] by [[Banabhatta]], also known as Bana, who was a [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]] writer of seventh-century CE India. He was the ''Asthana Kavi'', meaning ''Court Poet'', of Harsha. The ''Harshacharita'' was the first composition of Bana and is considered to be the beginning of writing of historical poetic works in the Sanskrit language.<br />
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The ''Harshacharita'' ranks as the first historical biography in Sanskrit although it is written in a florid and fanciful style. Bana's detailed and vivid descriptions of rural India's natural environment as well as the extraordinary industry of the Indian people exudes the vitality of life at that time. Since he received the patronage of the emperor Harsha, his descriptions of his patron are not an unbiased appraisal and presents the emperor's actions in an overly favourable light.<ref name="keay">{{cite book|last =Keay|first =John|title =India: A History| publisher =Grove Press| year =2000|location =New York|pages = 161–162|isbn = 0-8021-3797-0}}</ref><br />
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== Contents ==<br />
The ''Harṣacharita'', written in ornate poetic prose,<ref>{{cite book |first=A. L. |last=Basham |author-link=A. L. Basham |year=1981 |orig-year=1954 |title=The wonder that was India |location=Calcutta |publisher=Rupa & Co. |page=433}}</ref> narrates the biography of the emperor Harsha in eight ''ucchvāsa''s (chapters). In the first two ''ucchvāsa''s, Bana gives an account of his ancestry and his early life. He was the great emperor.<br />
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== Commentaries ==<br />
The only commentary available is the ''Sanketa'' written by Shankara, a scholar from [[Kashmir]]. It seems that Ruyyaka also wrote a commentary known as the ''Harsacaritavartika'', which has not yet been found.{{citation needed|date=February 2015}}<br />
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The work was translated into English by [[Edward Byles Cowell]] and [[Frederick William Thomas (philologist)|Frederick William Thomas]] in 1897.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rapson|first=E. J.|title=The Harṣa-carita of Bāṇa by E. B. Cowell; F. W. Thomas|journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|date=April 1898|pages=448–451|jstor=25208004}}</ref> The military historian Kaushik Roy describes ''Harshacharita'' as "historical fiction" but with a factually correct foundation.<ref>{{cite book |title=Philosophers of War: The Evolution of History's Greatest Military Thinkers |chapter=Bana |first=Kaushik |last=Roy |editor1-first=Daniel |editor1-last=Coetzee |editor2-first=Lee W. |editor2-last=Eysturlid |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-313-07033-4 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DW2jAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA21 |pages=21–22}}</ref><br />
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This work was translated into [[Telugu language|Telugu]] prose by M. V. Ramanachari (Medepalli Venkata Ramanacharyulu) of Maharajah's College, Vizianagaram in 1929.<ref>{{cite book |last1=M. V. Ramanachari |title=Andhra Harsha Charitramu |date=1929 |location=Vizianagaram |url=https://archive.org/details/ANDHRAHARSHACHARITAMUBYM.V.RAMANACHARIIN1929TELUGU/mode/2up |access-date=17 June 2020 |language=te}}</ref><br />
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== See also ==<br />
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* [[Ashokavadana]]<br />
* [[Prithviraj Raso]]<br />
* [[Akbarnama]]<br />
* [[Raja Vikramaditya]]<br />
* [[Bharat ka veer yoddha Maharaja pratap]]<br />
* [[Shahjahannamana]]<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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== Further reading ==<br />
* Ashok Kaushik. ''Harsh Charita by Bann Bhatt'' (in Hindi), Diamond Pocket Books, Delhi<br />
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== External links ==<br />
* {{cite book| title = The Harsa-carita of Bana |author=Banabhatta |translator=[[Edward Byles Cowell|E. B. Cowell]] |translator2=[[F. W. Thomas]] |url=https://archive.org/stream/harsacaritaofban00banaiala#page/n7/mode/2up |location=London |publisher=Royal Asiatic Society |year=1897}}<br />
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[[Category:Indian biographies]]<br />
[[Category:Sanskrit literature]]<br />
[[Category:7th-century Indian books]]<br />
[[Category:Biographies about royalty]]<br />
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{{royal-bio-book-stub}}</div>Ajay Kumar