Towards the close of the fifth or the beginning of the sixth century A.D. the Pushyabhuti dynasty came to rule in Thaneswar when the Huna invasion, after the fall of the Guptas, created political turmoil in North India.
According to Banabhatta this dynasty was founded by Pushyabhuti. The rulers of Thaneswar were feudatory chief of the Maukharis but ultimately succeeded to assert their independence. In this way, the Pushyabhuti was the first independent ruler of this dynasty.
The third ruler ‘Adityavardhana’ married the sister of Mahasena Gupta one of the later Gupta rulers. His son and successor was ‘Prabhakaravardhana’, who assumed the title of “Maharajadhiraja”. He extended his kingdom towards the West and South.
He ruled from 580 to 605 A.D. From the epigraphs and seals, we came to know of three kings who ruled before him Maharaja Naravardhana, Maharaja Rajyavardhana and Maharaja Adityavardhana. We do not know details of the early history of the Pushyabhutis.
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Prabhakaravardhana made his capital at ‘Thaneswar’ and which became an empire. Fighting the Gujaras and the Hunas, he advanced his rule as far as Malwa and Gujarat. He married his daughter Rajyasri to the Maukhari ruler Grahavarmana and died while fighting with the Hunas in 605 A.D.
After the death of Prabhakaravardhana his elder son, Rajyavardhana occupied the throne. He reigned for a little over one year during which he was confronted with lots of problems such as the assassination of his brother-in-law, Grahavarmana and imprisonment of his sister by the Sasanka of Gauda. Although he inflicted a crushing defeat upon the Devagupta of Malwa or Malava but was himself killed by Sasanka of Gauda.