Maukhari dynasty

The Maukhari dynasty was a post-Gupta ruling house that controlled the Ganges-Yamuna plains of northern India from Kannauj for almost a century. The family had served the Guptas as vassals and established its independence in the middle of the sixth century under Ishanavarman, who took the title Maharajadhiraja. The Maukharis ruled much of what is now Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and their court at Kannauj became a major political and cultural centre. A marriage alliance with the Vardhana family of Thanesar linked Princess Rajyashri to Grahavarman, but Grahavarman was killed by the Gauda king Shashanka, and his brother-in-law Harsha took up his cause. Around 606 the Later Guptas reconquered much of the Maukhari territory, and the dynasty declined. The dynastic name is believed to derive from Mukhara, an eponymous progenitor, and inscriptions record the family's grants and titles. Kannauj nevertheless remained the prize of northern Indian politics for centuries, and the Maukharis are remembered as the rulers who made it a capital.