Which of the following is NOT correct regarding king Harshavardhana?
- A.Harshavardhana ruled nearly about 1400 years ago
- B.Xuan Zang spent a lot of time at Harsha's court
- C.Harshavardhana's court poet was Harishena
- D.Harshacharita is a biography written on Harshavardhana
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is C, because Harshavardhana's court poet was Banabhatta, not Harishena. Harishena belonged to an earlier century altogether: he was the court poet of Samudragupta and composed the Prayag Prashasti, the Allahabad Pillar Inscription. The statement is therefore the one that is not correct, which is what the question asks for.
Option A is correct, because Harsha ruled from 606 CE to about 647 CE, which is roughly fourteen hundred years before our own time. Option B is correct, because the Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang, written in older books as Hiuen Tsang, travelled in India between 629 and 645 CE and spent several years at Harsha's court, leaving his account in the Si-yu-ki. Option D is correct, because the Harshacharita is the biography of Harsha written by Banabhatta and is regarded as the first historical biography in Sanskrit.
Read the full article: Harsha and the South Indian Kingdoms: Rulers and PYQs
Practice Questions
View allKing Shashanka, against whom Harshvardhana declared war, was a ruler of the ________ kingdom.
- A.Kanyakubja
- B.Junagarh
- C.Magadha
- D.Gauda
Show answer
Shashanka was the king of Gauda, the region of Bengal with its centre at Karnasuvarna. He killed Harsha's elder brother Rajyavardhana, and it was to avenge that killing, and to recover his sister Rajyashri, that Harsha declared war and allied with Bhaskaravarman of Kamarupa.
Read the full explanation →Which one of the following books was authored by Harshavardhana?
- A.Harshacharita
- B.Kadambari
- C.Ratnavali
- D.Gitagovinda
Show answer
Harshavardhana was a dramatist as well as a king, and three Sanskrit plays are credited to him: Ratnavali, Priyadarshika and Nagananda.
Read the full explanation →'Banabhatta', well known for his literary works, flourished during the reign of _______.
- A.Ashoka
- B.Bindusara
- C.Chandragupta II
- D.Harshavardhana
Show answer
Banabhatta was the court poet of Harsha in the seventh century CE. He wrote the Harshacharita, the biography of his patron and the first historical biography in Sanskrit, and the prose romance Kadambari, which was completed by his son Bhushanabhatta.
Read the full explanation →The Aihole inscription, which records the defeat of Harshavardhana, was composed by the court poet of which ruler?
- A.Narasimhavarman I
- B.Pulakeshin II
- C.Dantidurga
- D.Mahendravarman I
Show answer
The Aihole inscription was composed in Sanskrit by Ravikirti, the Jain court poet of the Chalukya king Pulakeshin II of Badami.
Read the full explanation →Harshavardhana shifted his capital from Thanesar to which city?
- A.Pataliputra
- B.Kannauj
- C.Ujjain
- D.Prayag
Show answer
Harsha inherited Thanesar in modern Haryana from the Pushyabhuti family. When his sister Rajyashri's husband Grahavarman, the Maukhari king of Kannauj, was killed, Harsha united the two realms and moved his seat to Kannauj on the Ganga, which then became the symbol of paramountcy in northern India for the next…
Read the full explanation →