After the death of Prabhakarvardhan, Rajyavardhan should have been the natural successor. But it is stated that at the time of the death of Prabhakarvardhan, he was not present. He had gone to fight with the Hunas. Messengers were sent to bring him back but he returned only after he had achieved the victory. On hearing the news of the death of his father, he was much over-whelmed with grief that he resolved to renounce the world and become an ascetic. He asked his younger brother Harshavardhan to become the king.

With both the brothers were requesting each other to accept the throne, they received news that Malava king had killed their brother-in-law. Grah Varman and made Rajyasri a prisoner. In his `Harshacharit`, Bana has described the news said in the following words:-

"Hearing this news Rajyavardhan left the idea of renouncing the world and made up his mind to destroy the dynasty of the Malava king. He immediately set out to defeat the Malava king. Rajyavardhan fought with the king of Malava to avenge the death of his brother-in-law. But Sasanka, the king of the Gaud killed him treacherously.