Immadi Pulakeshi defeated Harsha on this day 1403 years ago on the banks of Narmada river .

Milind Dharmasena

This full moon day of December ,1403 years ago , Chalukya emperor Pulakeshi II (Immadi Pulakeshi ) inflicted a crushing defeat on Northern India Emperor Harshavardhana on the banks of river Narmada .
This war , usually called as battle of Narmada, was an interesting incident in history ,in which a battle was fought between war elephants of both empires.

After successfully conquering whole of North India , Harshavardhana wanted to invade south india. But pulakeshi II efficiently guarded the passes of the Narmada that Harsha was compelled to accept the river as the demarcation and retire from battlefield after losing most of his elephant force.

Scholars Shreenand L. Bapat and Pradeep S. Sohoni date the battle to the winter of 618–619 CE. These scholars note that the Bijapur-Mumbai grant inscription, dated to 4 April 619 CE, mentions Pulakeshi’s victory over Harsha, which proves that the conflict definitely took place sometime before this date. The earlier Satara inscription of Pulakeshi ‘s brother Vishnuvardhana, issued during his 8th regnal year (618 CE) does not mention the conflict. Based on this, Bapat and Sohoni theorize that the conflict took place in winter of 618 CE .
From the sources of many historians it’s evident that the battle took place on full moon day of December .

The cause for this war is still uncertain . Many scholars believe that Pulakeshi‘s subjugation of North indian kingdoms such as Malwa , Lata (Southern Gujarat ) and the Gurjaras attracted Harsha’s attention.
Harsha marched from kanauj with a big force to conquer South India and camped at borders of Narmada river. Pulakeshi II met Harsha’s army with a huge force of Elephants . Chalukyan military forces were known for their strength of Elephants and archers . The Chalukyan army was called ‘ Karnata Bala’ ( Force of Karnata, old name for karnataka) .
The battle which started in early hours ended on the same evening when Harsha saw massive death of his elephants by Chalukyan elephants which rushed against his army as if they had gone wild with thirst of tasting victory.
Harsha immediately retired from the battle field and entered a treaty with Pulakeshi II making Narmada river as their boundary
Pulakeshi II who was known as ‘ Dakshinapatheshwara’ ( Lord of south ) till then became Lord paramount of India after this victory .

On Buddha Poornima ( Vesak Poornima ) of 619 CE Pulakeshi II commissioned a copper plate commemorating his victory over Harsha .