bestowed charitable alms on them. Every five years, he held a great assembly called Moksha. Xuanzang also describes a 21-day religious festival organized by Harsha in Kannauj; during this festival, Harsha and his subordinate kings performed daily rituals before a life-sized golden statue of the Buddha. Since Harsha's own records describe him as Shaivite, his conversion to Buddhism would have happened, if at all, in the later part of his life. Even Xuanzang states that Harsha patronised scholars of all religions, not just Buddhist monks. According to historians such as S. R. Goyal and S. V. Sohoni, Harsha was personally a Shaivite and his patronage to Buddhists misled Xuanzang to portray him as a Buddhist. Literary prowess Harsha is widely believed to be the author of three Sanskrit plays Ratnavali, Nagananda and Priyadarsika. While some believe (e.g., Mammata in Kavyaprakasha) that it was Dhāvaka, one of Harsha's court poets, who wrote the plays as a paid commission, Wendy Doniger is "persuaded, however, that king Harsha really wrote the plays ... himself." In popular culture A 1926 Indian silent film, Samrat Shiladitya, about the emperor was directed by Mohan Dayaram Bhavnani. See also Surasena Kingdom History of India Bhaskar Varman References Further reading Reddy, Krishna (2011), Indian History, Tata McGraw-Hill Education Private Limited, New Delhi Price, Pamela (2007), Early Medieval India, HIS2172 - Periodic Evaluation, University of Oslo "Conquests of Siladitya in the south" by S. Srikanta Sastri Ancient Indian dramatists and playwrights People from Kurukshetra district 6th-century Indian monarchs 7th-century Indian monarchs Pushyabhuti dynasty Indian male dramatists and playwrights Indian Buddhist monarchs