01The city of the hundred daughters
The Valmiki Ramayana gives the name its katha. In the Bala Kanda Vishvamitra tells Shri Rama of King Kushanabha, whose hundred daughters refused the wind-god Vayu, and were bent crooked by him for it; the city was called Kanyakubja, the city of the bent maidens. Gadhi, father of Vishvamitra, ruled there. In recorded history Kannauj rises with the Maukharis in the 6th century. Harsha of Thanesar, whose sister Rajyashri had married the Maukhari king Grahavarman, made it his capital, and Xuanzang saw him hold a great assembly there in 643 CE.
02The prize of three empires
After Harsha the city became the prize in the struggle historians call the tripartite war, between the Gurjara-Pratiharas of the west, the Palas of Bengal and the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan. Nagabhata II took it in the early 9th century and the Pratiharas held it as their capital under Mihira Bhoja and Mahendrapala. The Rashtrakuta Indra III raided it c. 916. Mahmud of Ghazni came in 1018; the Pratihara king Rajyapala abandoned the city, and its temples were plundered. The Gahadavalas rebuilt its power from c. 1090, until Jayachandra fell at Chandawar in 1194.
The life of this place
- 606 CEHarsha becomes king and soon rules from Kannauj.
- 643 CEXuanzang attends Harsha’s great assembly at Kannauj.
- early 9th centuryNagabhata II of the Gurjara-Pratiharas takes Kannauj, which becomes the Pratihara capital.
- c. 916 CEThe Rashtrakuta Indra III raids Kannauj.
- 1018 CEMahmud of Ghazni takes and plunders Kannauj; Rajyapala flees (Tarikh-i-Yamini).
- c. 1090Chandradeva founds the Gahadavala kingdom with Kannauj and Kashi as its seats.
- 1194Jayachandra is killed at Chandawar fighting Muhammad Ghuri; Kannauj falls.
- 1540Sher Shah defeats Humayun near Kannauj and drives him out of India.
Kannauj is still the attar town of India, distilling rose and earth perfume in copper degs. The Raja Jaichand mounds and the archaeological museum are worth an afternoon.
