WI: King Harsha of Pushyabhuti has a competent heir

What if Harsha Vardhana, king of the Pushyabhuti dynasty who at one point controlled all of northern India, had a surviving and competent heir? I hear theories that his lack of issue is something that weakened the Pushyabhuti empire, if we take into account the assumption that he did have a spouse.
What would a continuing Pushyabhuti empire look like? It is oftenly stated that Harsha's empire was feudalistic in nature (public officials and bureaucrats were paid in land grants rather than money, the main capital city wasn't used by the sovereign all the time, etc.), so, what would be the development of this empire's political makeup?
Assuming that they manage to survive till the Muslims come a-knocking, how would they react?

Here is an article that might help: http://www.historydiscussion.net/history-of-india/main-features-of-harshas-administration/2523
 
Last edited:
Indian history as we know it is butterflied.

The end of Harsha's empire marked the end of the Aryan Kshatriya class as we know it. The internecine conflict which marked the collapse of the Pushyabhuti Vardhanas is said to have inspired the legend of Parashurama in which the kshatriyas were vanquished.

The resulting power vacuums allowed foreign 'Mlechha' Kings such as the Hepthalites, tribal Bhil chieftains and many local strongmen to rise to claim the mantle of kingship, resulting in the formation of the Rajputs. These resulted in the Solankis, Parmars and Chauhans respectively.

With the continued rule of a Pushyabhuti kingdom we can easily see the continued flourishing of Buddhism on the Indian-mainland as well the nucleizing of a new cultural and political centre around Kanyakubja, giving the Janapada of Panchala the power Magadha had held since the Mauryan period.
 
Would Harsha's heir decide to avenge his father and invade the south of the subcontinent again?

Maybe. It's hard to tell but I doubt he would have had much success given that the man who defeated Harsha was none other Pulakeshin II. And even if Pulakeshin had by that time been succeeded by his son Vikramaditya, an able ruler in his own right, Harsha's succesor would have needed to pull a Peter the Great and properly feudalise the entire structure of his realm to mirror the superior and more efficient bureaucracies like those in the south. The old Magadhi system was no longer viable in this more modern time, a relic from the past.

Up until this point a 'feudatory' in India wasn't really that; they were more governors for the supreme authority in Magadha for the north or whatever place was reigning supreme south of the Narmada. The Chalukyas changed this in that they didn't pay their governors with monetary sums but land grants in what was at the time an extremely sparsely populated Deccan plateau. Any heir of Harsha would need to be able to quickly implement this new and revolutionary feudal system.

Remember that within 80 years the first Arab raiders will already have overthrown Sindh under Muhammad bin Qasim in OTL. This was only slightly reversed by Yashodharman of Kannauj and Lalitaditya of Kashmir so th next two generations of Vardhanas are going to need to establish a strong and only mildly decentralised realm in which they can provide aid to their vassals.
 
Top