EXAMINE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PRAYAG ASSEMBLY OF HARSHAVARDHAN'S TIME

Prayag was an important town where Harsha used to hold his quinquennial assemblies. It was one of the great nerve centers of Hinduism. The assemblies at Prayag, where he distributed all his wealth among the Buddhists, the Brahmans and the poor people, after performing religious rites of Buddhism and Hinduism, stand unparalleled in the history of the world.

After the conclusion of the special assembly at Kanauj, Harsha invited Hiuen Tsang to attend his sixth quinquennial assembly of distribution of alms (Mahamokshaparishad) and religious festivities at Prayag at the sacred confluence of the Ganges and the Yamuna in 643 A.D. Harsha had held five such assemblies earlier. On such occasions, he distributed among the poor and religious all the accumulated wealth. The assembly of 643 A.D. was attended by Dhruvasena II of Valabhi, Baskaravarman of Assam and several other subordinate kings and a huge crowd of 500,000, belonging to different religions. The assembly was opened with an impressive procession and the proceedings lasted for seventy-five days in the vast sandy plain between the rivers.

The proceedings at the Prayag assembly curiously manifested the eclectic blend of mind. On the first day the image of Buddha was set up in one of the temporary shrines built upon the sands and was worshipped with costly offerings and lavish distributions. On the second day the image of Adityadeva (Sun) was worshipped and on the third day the idol of Siva was adored. On the fourth day, generous gifts were distributed to ten thousand select Buddhist monks. Each received one hundred gold coins, a pearl, a cotton garment, besides food, drink, flowers and perfumes. During the next twenty days the Brahmins received royal gifts. Jains and members of other sects were similarly given gifts for the next ten days. They were followed by mendicants for equal number of days. It took a month to distribute alms to the poor, destitute and orphans. This generous and lavish distribution exhausted Harsha’s accumulated wealth for the last five years. Finally, Harsha even gave up his personal belongings. At the end of the assembly, Harsha offered worship to the Buddha of the ten regions. Shortly after the end of this spectacular Prayag assembly Hiuen Tsang took leave of Harsha and returned to China with 657 volumes of rare manuscripts.