Kanauj
Kanauj
orKannauj
(both: kənouj`), town (1991 pop. 58,932), Uttar Pradesh state, N central India, on the Ganges River. It is a market center for tobacco, perfume, and rose water. A very ancient town and a center of Brahmanic culture, its name was Kanyakubja. Called Kanogiza by Ptolemy, it was important during Gupta empire (320 B.C.–A.D. c.480). Later, Kanauj was a brilliant cultural center and the capital of HarshaHarsha, b. c.590, Indian emperor (606–47). He became (606) king of a small state in the upper Ganges Valley, and by 612 he had built up a vast army with which he forged nearly all India N of the Narmada River into an empire.
..... Click the link for more information. 's empire in the 7th cent. In the 9th cent. it became the capital of the Pratihara empire. During that period, it was famous for its poets. Kanauj declined after being conquered by Turkish tribes under Mahmud of GhaznaMahmud of Ghazna
, 971?–1030, Afghan emperor and conqueror. He defeated (c.999) his elder brother to gain control of Khorasan (in Iran) and of Afghanistan. In his raids against the states of N India, Mahmud, a staunch Muslim, destroyed Hindu temples, forced conversions to
..... Click the link for more information. in 1018.