Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/341

 HARSHA BECOMES KING 299 from confinement and fled to the Vindhya forests for refuge, but no certain news of her hiding-place could be obtained. The murdered king was too young to leave a son capable of assuming the cares of government, and the nobles seem to have hesitated before offering the crown to his youthful brother. Acting on the advice of Bhandi, a slightly senior cousin, who had been edu- cated with the young princes, they ultimately resolved to invite Harsha to undertake the responsibilities of the royal office. For some reason which is not apparent on the face of the story, he hesitated to express his consent, and it is said that he consulted a Buddhist oracle before accepting the invitation. Even when his reluctance, whether sincere or pretended, had been over- come by the favourable response of the oracle, he still sought to propitiate Nemesis by abstaining at first from the assumption of the kingly style, modestly designat- ing himself as Prince Siladitya. There is reason to suppose that Harsha did not boldly stand forth as avowed king until the spring of 612 A. D., when he had been five and a half years on the throne, and that his formal coronation, or consecration, took place in that year. The era called after his name, of which the year 1 was 606-7 A. D., dated from the time of his accession in October, 606. The immediate duties incumbent upon him obviously were the pursuit of his brother's murderer and the recovery of his widowed sister. The latter task, being the more urgent, was undertaken in all haste, even at