Chandra Gupta II Vikramaditya
Samudra Gupta was succeeded, according to contemporary epigraphs, by his son Chandra Gupta II surnamed Vikramaditya who ruled from C. AD 380 to 413. Some writers have traced hints in literature of uncertain date and in inscriptions of the ninth and tenth centuries AD, that the immediate successor of Samudra Gupta was his son Rama Gupta, a weak ruler, who consented to surrender his wife Dhruvadevi to a Saka tyrant. The honour of the queen was saved by Chandra Gupta, younger brother of Rama Gupta, who killed the Saka, replaced his brother on the imperial throne and married Dhruvadevi. We do not know how far the story embodies genuine historical tradition. No prince named Rama Gupta is known to contemporary epigraphy, and the story shows signs of growth. The earliest version to which a definite date may be assigned is that of Bana who simply refers to the destruction of a libidinous Saka king by Chandra Gupta disguised as a female. There is no reference here either to Rama Gupta or to Dhruvadevi. The matter should, therefore, be regarded as sub judice and can only be decided when contemporary evidence confirming the story is forthcoming.
Chandra Gupta II carried on the policy of “world-conquest” pursued by his predecessor. He effected his purpose partly by pacific overtures and partly by military activity. Political marriages occupy a prominent place in the foreign policy of the Guptas as of the Hapsburgs and Bourbons of Europe. The Lichchhavi alliance of the real founder of the dynasty, and the acceptance of presents of maidens from the courts of contemporary potentates by Samudra Gupta, served to consolidate the nascent Gupta power as the Rajput marriages strengthened that of the Timurid sovereigns of a later date. A further step in the same direction was taken by Chandra Gupta II when he conciliated the Naga chieftains of the upper and central provinces by accepting the hand of the princess Kuberanaga and allied himself with the powerful family of the Vakatakas of the Deccan by giving his daughter Prabhavati in marriage to Rudrasena II. Thus strengthened, the king marched to Eastern Malwa accompanied by his minister Virasena-Saba and possibly his general Amrakarddava. He received the homage of the Sanakanika chieftain of the locality and took measures to wipe out Saka rule in western Malwa and Kathiawar. His efforts were crowned with success as we know from the evidence of coins and of Bana’s Harshacharita.
On many of his coins Chandra Gupta II receives the epithet Vikramaditya. In certain records of the Vikramaditya cointwelfth century AD he is represented as the lord of the city of Ujjain as well as Pataliputra. The cool courage he showed in going to fight with the Sakas and killing their chieftain in the enemy’s own city entitles him to the epithets “Sahasanka” and “Sakari”. These facts have led scholars to identify him with the Vikramaditya Sakari of legend, whose court is said to have been adorned by “nine gems” including Kalidasa and Varahamihira. The tradition about the nine gems is, however, late. It is uncertain if all of them actually, flourished about the same time. Varahamihira at any rate is to be placed after Aryabhata, who was born in the latter half of the fifth century AD. But if Mallinatha is to be believed, Kalidasa may have been a contemporary of Chandra Gupta II, for the great commentator mentions as one of his opponents the famous Dignagacharya who is assigned to this period.
Another notable contemporary of Chandra Gupta II was Fa Hien. The celebrated Chinese pilgrim was struck with admiration by the famous royal palace and the houses for dispensing charity and medicine at Pataliputra. He speaks highly of the system of government in the Madhya-desa and the benevolence of the people, especially the moneyed classes.
Kumara Gupta I and Skanda Gupta
The successor of Chandra Gupta II was his son Kumara Gupta I Mahendraditya, whose known dates range from AD 415 to 455. He maintained his hold over the vast empire of his forebears, which now extended from North Bengal to Kathiawar and from the Himalayas to the Nerbudda. Numismatic evidence seems to suggest that his influence at one time extended southwards, possibly as far as the Satara district of the Deccan. His achievements were sufficiently remarkable to entitle him to perform the famous rite of the horse-sacrifice. But his last days were not happy. A people known as the Pushyamitras, probably located in or near Mekala in the Nerbudda valley, developed great power and wealth and reduced the imperial government to such straits that a prince imperial had to spend a whole night on bare earth. The sovereign himself seems to have perished before the issues were finally decided in favour of the imperial family, mainly through the exertions of Prince Skanda Gupta.
The victorious prince had soon to deal with a more formidable enemy, the Huns. But he succeeded in repelling their early invasions and recovering most of the imperial provinces, which were placed under special Wardens of the Marches. In one inscription the goddess of royal fortune is said to have chosen him as her lord, having discarded the other princes. The full import of this passage is somewhat obscure. It is, however, certain that the superior ability and prowess of Skanda Gupta in a time of crisis led to his choice as ruler in preference to other possible claimants. The choice of Harsha in the seventh century apparently furnishes a parallel.
Proud of his success against the barbarians Skanda Gupta assumed the title of Vikramaditya. The memory of his achievements is popularly preserved in the story of Vikramaditya, son of Mahendraditya, narrated in the Kathasaritsagara. The reign of Skanda Gupta probably terminated about AD 467.
The Last Days of the Gupta Empire
The history of the ensuing period is obscure. Inscriptions prove that the Gupta sovereignty was Gupta dynasty statueacknowledged in the Jabbalpur region in the Nerbudda valley as late as AD 528, and in North Bengal till AD 543-544.
A Kumara Gupta is known to have been ruling in AD 437-474, a Budha Gupta from AD 476-477 to C. A.D. 495, a Vainya Gupta in or about AD 508 and a Bhanu Gupta in AD 510-511. Bhitari and Nalanda seal inscriptions disclose the names of four kings, Puru Gupta, son of Kumara Gupta I; Narasimha Gupta (Baladitya), son of Puru Gupta; Kumara Gupta, son of Narasimha, and Vishnu Gupta, son of Kumara Gupta, who must be assigned to this obscure period. Narasimha Baladitya has been identified with the conqueror of Mihiragula, a Hun tyrant, whose power was finally broken before AD 533-534. But the existence of several Baladityas renders this identification doubtful. Another theory splits up the Gupta dynasty into two rival branches, one of which consisted of the kings mentioned in the Bhitari and Nalanda seals. The other included Kumara Gupta of AD 473-474, Budha Gupta and Bhanu Gupta. But Budha Gupta is now known to have been a son of Puru Gupta, and the incontrovertible facts of his reign render the theory of a partition of the empire in the closing years of the fifth century AD unworthy of credence. A more plausible conjecture identifies Kumara, son of Narasimha, with the Kumara Gupta who ruled in AD 473-474. The only difficulty in accepting this view is the abnormal shortness of the period assignable to Puru Gupta and his son Narasimha (AD 467-473). But the difficulty is not insuperable, and we know of other instances, of short reigns in the later days of an imperial dynasty.
Inscriptions make it clear that the Gupta empire maintained some sort of unity till the days of Budha Gupta (476-495) though it might have lost some of its western most provinces. After Budha Gupta the Huns, under Toramana and Mihirakula or Mihiragula, undoubtedly pushed their conquests deep into the Indian interior as far as Eran in Eastern Malwa. But the Huns received a check in the time of a king named Baladitya who may have been identical with Bhanu Gupta, the hero of a “very famous battle” fought in the region of Eran. The Hun imperial power was finally shattered by Yasodharman, an energetic and ambitious chief of Mandasor in Western Malwa before AD 533-534. Yasodharman seems to have made use of his victory to establish his own supremacy. But the Gupta power undoubtedly survived in North Bengal till AD 543-544. Even in later times we find a king whose name ended in Gupta fighting on the banks of the Brahmaputra. Other “Gupta” princes who are associated with Malwa and Magadha came into contact with the rising power of the Pushyabhuti family of Thanesar and Kanauj in the latter half of the sixth and first half of the seventh century AD. These “Later Guptas” restored the glory of the line to a certain extent, and used titles indicative of imperial rank. They disappeared in the eighth century when Magadha became the battle-ground of the rival empires of Yasovarman of Kanauj and an unnamed king of Gauda lineage. Whether the Later Guptas were connected in any way with the Imperial Guptas is not known.
