Prabhakaravardhana

Prabhakaravardhana
Maharaja
4th King of Thanesar
Reign	7th venture CE
Predecessor	Adityavardhana
Successor	Rajyavardhana
Spouse	Mahasenagupta, Yasomati
Issue	Rajyavardhana, Harsha, Rajyashri
Dynasty	Pushyabhuti (Vardhana)
Father	Adityavardhana

Prabhakaravardhana (also known as Prabhakara Vardhana) was a king of Thanesar in northern India around the time of the decline of the Gupta Empire. According to the historian Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, he was the first notable king of the Vardhana dynasty but the fourth ruler from the family, who are also referred to as the Pushpabhutis. He had been preceded by his father, Adityavardhana, grandfather Rajyavardhana I and great-grandfather, Naravardhana, but inscriptions suggest that Banabhatta, the seventh-century bard and chronicler of the Vardhanas, may have been wrong to call these earlier rulers kings and that they may instead have been mere feudatory rulers of minor significance.

Prabhakaravardhana's father, Adityavardhana, had formed an alliance with Mahasenagupta of Magadha against the Maukhari dynasty. He was married to Mahasenagupta, who was probably the sister of this Gupta king who bore the same name. Through these arrangements he had much enlarged the family's estates. It is because of this territorial expansion that, while Adityavardhana bore the title of maharaja, his son was able to use the higher rank of maharajadhiraja. In turn, Prabhakaravardhana further extended Vardhana control, using aggressive tactics that resulted in him probably ruling over the Punjab and part of Malwa. Aside from defeating rulers in Gujarat, Gandhara and Sind, he also resisted the invasion of the Hunas.. The 7th century writer [Bāṇabhaṭṭa]] credits Prabhakaravardhana with numerous victories, describing him as:

"A lion to the Huna deer, a burning fever to the king of the Indus land, a troubler of the sleep of Gujarat king, a billious plague to that scent-elephant, the lord of Gandhara, a destroyer of the skill of the Latas.

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