Early Tibet-India and Sino-Indian Relations continues.....

By the time this second mission reached India, however, Harshavardhana had passed away, and since he had no son there was a period of disorder during which one of Harsha’s ministers, named Arjuna, seized the throne. This Arjuna was not well disposed towards Buddhism, and when the Chinese mission, under the Chinese envoy Wang Hiuen-tse reached his palace, it was attacked and the envoy’s man escort killed. Only the envoy himself and one of his ministers escaped and reached Nepal, which had come under Tibet during the reign of Songtsen Gampo. Songtsen Gampo, the founder of Lhasa, was the first of the ‘Three Religious Kings’ of Tibet, who were responsible for introducing state Buddhism into Tibet. His two most influential wives were his Nepali queen Bikruti and his Chinese queen Wengshen.

When the Chinese envoy’s message reached Songtsen Gampo, he retaliated against Arjuna by sending a force of 12,000 Tibetan troops and 7,000 Nepali troops, which met Arjuna’s army at Hirahati in Tirhut (part of modern Bihar) and defeated it after a short battle. Arjuna was captured and sent to China as a prisoner. With the usurper deposed, the Buddhism-inclined King of Kamrup in Assam, probablyYasovarman, was enthroned at Kanauj. He thereafter maintained diplomatic relations with China. Both Tirhut and Nepal remained subject to Tibet until 703 CE.

To be continued.....