The Vardhan dynasty, also known as the Pushyabhuti dynasty ruled in northern India during the 6th and 7th centuries. The dynasty reached its zenith under its last ruler Harsha Vardhana (c. 590 – c. 647 CE). The empire of Harsha covered much of north and north-western India, extending till Kamarupa (Assam) in the east and Narmada River in the south. The peripheral states also acknowledged his sovereignty. The dynasty initially ruled from Sthanveshvara (Thanesar district, Haryana), but Harsha later made Kanyakubja (modern Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh) his capital, from where he ruled until his death. Two major literary sources of information on the administration of the Vardhan dynasty are the Harshacharita, a biography of Harshavardhana written by Banabhatta who was his court poet, and the travelogue of the Chinese pilgrim Hsuan Tsang who visited India in the 7th century. The inscriptions of the Harsha speak of various taxes and classes of officials.^[1] Banabhatta’s Sanskrit novel, Kadambari also shed light on administrative history of Vardhan dynasty. ^[2]

Harsha was an effective administrator who took an active interest in state issues and frequently toured his kingdom to view things with his own eyes. He governed his empire largely like the Guptas but the administrative structure of was empire was more feudalized and decentralized. Hsuan Tsang, a Chinese pilgrim, tells us that Harsha’s revenue was divided into four parts. The king was allotted one portion for his personal use, scholars were given another, the third share goes to government employees as their salary, and the final portion was set aside for religious purposes. However, it is to be noted that from Harsha times, the feudal practice of rewarding and paying officers with grants of land began. Thus, most of the ministers and officers of the Harsha Empire were endowed with land as their salary.^[3] While feudatories known as Samantas ruled their territory by their own administrative setups, on the other hand, the territory ruled directly by the king was divided into administrative units for good governance. On the whole, the empire of the Vardhan dynasty under Harsh was one of the most well-governed territories in ancient India.