Convention and Beyond Convention: A Study of Ascetic Images in the Harṣacarita

The early medieval period of Indian history was for a long time considered as the age of decline and decay.
The Gupta age (4th–5th century) was labelled as the zenith of political and socio-cultural development and its decline resulted in a period of gradual decadence and deterioration. However, studies during the last half a century have provided an all together different picture of the early medieval period. The integrative and processual approach also read the traditional sources with a new perspective of continuity and change. According to this approach, instead of decline, the early medieval period brings a complex syncretism and newness to the early historic religious and cultural processes. Brahmanical ideas and ideals were spreading. Regional cults, rituals, and practices were coming to the fore. Different religious sects were getting divided into various subsects. Tantra and occult practices were developing and different sects were getting influenced by them. Thus, the early historic processes did not only continue in the early medieval period but they also intensified and blended with equally intensified regional ideas and practices.