English
Alberuni wrote in the trth century that the Gupta Era was posterior to the Saka Era by 241 years, or in other words, the Gupta Era begins with 319 A. D. ‘All the facts collected during recent years confirm this statement, and we can now read the dates in the Gupta coins and inscrip- tions, remembering that we have to add 319 to them to find out the dates of the Christian Era. Mr. Fleet, with a pardonable partiality for his own labours, main- tains that the Mandasor inscription which he has dis- covered finally settles the controversy. Scholars are pretty well agreed on this point, and the Mandasor inscription probably confirms the conclusion, . We give below a list of the Gupta kings with their coin and inscription dates and the corresponding years of the Christian Era :— Coin and Inecription A.D. Dares. ; (Maharaja) Gupta, Ghatotkacha, Chandra Gupta I (or Vikramaditya.) 64 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [book IVT Coin and Inscription A.D. : Dates, Samudra Gupta. Chandra Gupta II 401, 407, {or ey 82, 838,. 93, 95. { 412, 4Ig. Kumara Gupta 415, 417, (or Mahendraditya) 96, 98, 129, 130, te 449. Suna Gupte 6 tee 137, 138, 141, 144, 455) 456, 4575 460, . 145, 146, 148, 149. 468, 464, 465, 467, 468, Buddha.Gupta ... 165, 175, 180 + 484, 494, 499. Bhanu Gupta. It will be seen from the list given above that Samu- dra Gupta reigned in the latter end of the 4th century. The famous Gupta inscription on the Allaha- bad Lé¢ of Asoka throws much light on the extent of this great king’s power and influence. Whose great good fortune was mixed with, so as to be increased by, his glory produced by the favour shown in capturing and then liberatiig Mahendxa of Xasala, VySghraraja Mahédkénidra, Mantaraja of Acraa, Mehendra of Pishtapura, Svamidatta of Kottura on the hill, Damana of Erandapalla, Vishnugopa of Kéucht, Nilarija of Avamukia, Hasti- varman of Vengi, Ugrasena of Falakka, Kuvera of Devardshtra, Dhananjaya of. Kusthalapura, and all other kings of the region of the South ; Who abounded in majesty which had been increased by violently exter- minating Rudradeva, Matela, Nagadatta, Chandravarman, Ganapatiniga, Nagasena, Achyuta, Nandin, Balavarman, and many other kings of Arydvarta, who made all the Kings of the forest countries to become his servants 5 : Whose imperious commands were fully gratified by the payment of taxes and the execution of his orders by the frontier kings (Pratyanta Nripati) of Samatata,; Davika, Kimaripa, Neptla, Kartripura, and other countries; and by the M/éfavas, Arjundyanas, Yaudheyas, Midrahas, CHAP. V.] GUPTA KINGS. 65 Abhiras, Frdjunas, Sanakénikas, Kékas, Kharaparikas, and other . & tribes ; 4 Whose tranquil fame pervading the whole world was generated by establishing again many royal families fallen and deprived of sovereignty, whose binding’ together of the whole world, by means of the ample vigour of his arm, was effected by acts of respectful service, such as offering themselves as sacrifices, bringing presents of maidens, giving Garuda tokens, surrendering the enjoyment of their own terri- tories, soliciting his commands, &c.—— rendered by the Darvaputras, Shahis, Shahanushahis, Sakas, Murundas, and by the people of Szhala, and all other dwellers in islands, Here we have an elaborate and perhaps somewhat exaggerated account of the immense power of one of the early Gupta emperors. We learn that he con- quered the kings of Kanchi, Kerala, and other countries in Southern India ; that he exterminated the kings of ,Arydvarta or Morthern India ; that frontier kings of Samatata (East Bengal), Kamardpa (Assam), Nepal, and other places, and nations like the Mélavas, Madra- kas, and Abhiras obeyed his orders and paid him tribute ; and that even the Shahs and Shahinshahs of western countries, and the people of Ceylon sent him tribute in offcrings and gifts, and handsome , maidens from their lands. We are told towards the close of this inscription that this great king was “the son of the son’s son of the Mahdardja the illustrious Gupta,”"— “the son’s son of the Maharaja the illustrious Ghatot. kacha,’—“the son of Maharajadhiraja the glorious Chandragupta ”—* begotten on the Mah&devi Kumara- devi,” a daughter of the Lichchavi royal house. R.C. D., A. LIL. 5 66 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK Iv. Samudragupta was succeeded by his son Chandra- gupta II, and among his inscriptions there is a short one found at Sanchi, which makes a grant of a village to Buddhist monks,—the “Arya Sangha in the holy great Vihdra of KAkanddabota.” Elsewhere in an in- scription on a stone found in Mathura, Chandragupta gives us his mother’s name,—describing himself as the son of the Maharajadhiraja Samudragupta “ begotten on the Mahadevi Dattadevi.” Chandragupta IT was succeeded by his son Kuméara- gupta, who in an inscription found in Bilsad, in Eta District, N.-W. P., gives us the entire genealogy of the ‘ family from the first Gupta. And he describes himself as “begotten on Mahddevi Druvadevi of the Maharaja- dhiraja the glorious Chandragupta ”. Another ‘inscription of Kum4ragupta in Mankuwar, in Allahabad District, was discovered by Dr. Bhagwanlal : Indraji in t870. The inscription is under an image of Buddha seated, and we are informed that the image was installed by Kumaragupta in the year 129(448 A. D.) The celebrated Mandasor inscription discovered by Mr. Fleet was not engraved by order of the Gupta kings, but has reference to Kuméragupta, and may therefore be spoken of here. It is on a stone slab in front of a temple of Mah4deva in the village of Dasa- ‘pura, in Scindia’s dominions. The inscription in- forms us that some silk weavers immigrated to this place from Gujrat, and that. a portion of them formed a crap. V.] GUPTA KINGS. , 67 flourishing guild. At the time “when Kuméragupta- was reigning over the whole earth,” there was a ruler: named Visvavarman, and his son Bandhuvarmar was ruling in Dasapura when the guild of weavers built ‘a temple there, which was completed “in the season when the sound of thunder is pleasing, when 493 years had” elapsed from the tribal constitution of the Malavas.” _ “ Malavanaém gana-sthity& yate sata chatushtaye Trinavatya-dhikabdan&m ritau sevya-ghana-svane,” And we are further informed in this inscription that the temple was repaired in the year when 529 years of the same Era had elapsed. Mr. Fleet maintains that the particular Kumara- gupta alluded to in this inscription of the Dasapura weavers is Kumdragupta of the Gupta line, and that the Era alluded to in this inscription is the Era of the Mdlavas, now known as Vikramaditya’s Samvat Era beginning with 56 B.C. The temple was therefore . built in (493—56) = 437 A.D., and repaired in (529— 56)=473 A. D. This is a startling discovery ; for if Mr. Fleet's sup- - position be correct, then the true origin of the Semvat Era is discovered. The Era was not founded bya Vikramaditya who reigned in 56 B. C., as was supposed by earlier scholars.. Nor was the Era fixed in 544 A,D. by a VikramAditya then reigning, and thrown backwards _ by six centuries, as has been supposed by Dr, Ferguson,* * See Vol. J, pp. 35 to 37. 68 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK Iv. The Era was originally a national era of the Mélava tribe, and came subsequently to be connected with the name of Vikramaditya who about the 6th century A. D. raised the MA4lavas to the rank of the first nation in India. Kumiaragupta’s son Skandagupta succeeded -him ; and his inscription on the pillar discovered in Ghazipur District, and known as the Bhitari Lat, gives us the genealogy of the Gupta kings given before, and con- tinues it to Skandagupta. More important is the in- scription found in Junagarh, in the Bombay Presidency. After an invocation to Vishnu, it tells us that Skanda- gupta,—who had subdued the whole earth as far as the seas, and whose fame was acknowledged even by his enemies “in the countries of the Mlechchhas,”— appointed Parnadatta to govern his kingdom of the SaurAshtras. Parnadatta appointed his son Chakrapé- lita. In the year 136 (Gupta Era, z.¢, 455 A. D.), the lake at the foot of Girnar burst its embankment in con- sequence of excessive reign, and the restoration of the breach after two months’ work was effected in 137, and is the cause of the inscription. , Skandagupta. appears to have been the last great king of the Gupta line. There is an inscription of Buddhagupta in Eran, in the Central Provinces, and . dated 165, 2.¢., 484 A.D. It informs us that Surasmi- ‘ chandra, the feudatory of Buddhagupta, governed the country between the Kélind? and the Narmada... The object of the inscription is to record the erection _ CHAP, V.] GUPTA KINGS, . 69 of a column to the god Vishnu under the name of Janardana. ; Another inscription in Eran alludes to Bhanugupta, and informs us that a chieftain or noble Goparaja accompa- nied him, and fought a battle and was killed. | Goparéja’s “ devoted, attached, beloved, and beauteous wife, in close companionship, accompanied him into the funeral pyre.” This is one of the earliest instances on record of a widow following her husband to the pyre. Weare not told to what race Goparaja belonged, and among what’ races the practice first prevailed in India. It wasa Scythian custom, and it first comes to notice in Indian history among the Rajputs who are believed to be de- scended from Scythian settlers in India. The almost entire silence of the classical authors of the Pauranik Period on this practice would shew that the practice was not adopted by Hindu races generally even in the . Pauranik Period. The destruction of the powerful. dynasty of the Guptas, which held the supreme power in India for over a century, has formed the subject of much contro- versy. Dr.