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Bana : Bāṇabhaṭṭa was the court-poet of King Harshavardhana of the Pushyabhūti dynasty of Thāneshwar & Kanauj. His work Harsha-charita, written about AD 620, is a contemporary account of the deeds of Harsha during the earlier years of his reign. His other work the Kādambari is a famous classic of Sanskrit literature [S. Bhattacharya, p.112] “Bāṇa’s Harsha-charita provides the best account of the killing of the Śaka king tyrannising the people of western Mālwā & Kāṭhiāwād by the Gupta emperor Chandra Gupta II who, on many coins, receives the epithet Vikramāditya. In certain records of the 12th century, he is represented as the lord of Ujjain as well as Pātaliputra in Magadha, the capital of the Gupta Empire. The cool courage he showed in fighting the Śakas & killing their chieftain in the enemy’s own city entitles him to the epithets Sāhasāṅka & Śakāri. These facts have led scholars to identify him with the Vikramāditya Śakāri of legend, whose court is said to have been adorned by nine gems including Kālidāsa & Varāhmihira. .... The province of Sindh figures in the narrative of Bāṇa as one of the territories overrun by Prabhākarvardhana & his more famous son Harsha. …. A list of the important religious sects that flourished at the close of the Gupta age is given in Bāṇa’s Harsha-charita. It mentions the Jains, both Digambaras (sky-clad, that is naked) & Śvetāmbaras (white-robed), Vaishnavas, both Bhāgavatas & Pancharātras – perhaps the worshippers of Vāsudeva & Nārāyaṇa respectively, Saugatas or Buddhists, Mashkarins, possibly identical with the Ājivikas, & adherents of various schools of philosophy including the Sāṅkhya, the Lokāyatika, the Vaiśeshika, the Vedānta & the Nyāya. .... The 7th century saw the composition of poetic works of Bāṇa, Mayūra, Bhartŗihari, Subandhu & the royal poets, Harsha, & Mahendravarman. .... The most notable among the post-Gupta period literary works were Harsha-charita of Bāṇa, Rāma-charita of Sandhyākara, Vikramānka-charita of Bilhaṇa, & Rājataraṅginī of Kalhaṇa.” [Advanced History of India, R.C. Majumdar et al, 3rd Ed., MacMillan India 1973-74:141-2, 153, 171, 194, 198, 201]