Harsha or Harsha Vardhana or Harshvardhan (Hindi: हर्षवर्धन) (c. 590—647) was an Indian emperor who ruled northern India from 606 to 647. He was the son of Prabhakara Vardhana and the younger brother of Rajya Vardhana, a king of Thanesar, Haryana. At the height of his power his kingdom spanned the Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bengal, Orissa and the entire Indo-Gangetic plain north of the Narmada River.
After the downfall of the prior Gupta Empire in the middle of the 6th century, North India reverted to small republics and small monarchical states ruled by Gupta rulers. Harsha was a convert to Buddhism. He united the small republics from Punjab to central India, and their representatatives crowned Harsha king at an assembly in April 606 giving him the title of Rajaputra when he was merely 16 years old.
Read more about Harsha: Ancestry, Ascension, Wars and Reign, Patron of Buddhism and Literature, Aftermath, Harshacharita Harsha's Biography