Kanauj

Small city on the Ganges River, about
fifty miles upstream from the city of
Kanpur. Kanauj is now insignificant, but
the city, formerly known as Kanyakubja,
was once one of the most important in
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Kamsa
northern India. Its existence is documented as early as the sixth century
B.C.E. The city was an important stop on
the trade route running through the
Ganges basin. It is referenced in
Ptolemy’s Geography, written around
150 C.E. Kanauj was also an important
political center; in the early seventh
century it was the capital of the
Pushyabhuti dynasty, ruled by the
emperor Harsha. In later centuries the
Pala, Rashtrakuta, and GurjaraPratihara dynasties fought over the city,
with the Gurjara-Pratihara eventually
gaining control. After suffering an attack
by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1017 C.E.,
Kanauj seems to have gone into permanent decline. Its modern legacy is being
the location of the dominant branch of
brahmins in the Gangetic Plain. They
call themselves Kanaujia brahmins.