Early rulers Gupta (
Gupta script:
gu-pta, ) is the earliest known king of the Gupta dynasty. Different historians variously date the beginning of his reign from the mid-to-late 3rd century CE. Gupta founded the Gupta Empire -280 CE, and was succeeded by his son,
Ghatotkacha, -319 CE, followed by Ghatotkacha's son,
Chandragupta I, -335 CE. "Che-li-ki-to", the name of a king mentioned by the 7th century Chinese Buddhist monk
Yijing, is believed to be a transcription of "
Shri-Gupta" (
IAST: Śrigupta), "Shri" being an honorific prefix. According to Yijing, this king built a temple for Chinese Buddhist pilgrims near "Mi-li-kia-si-kia-po-no" (believed to be a transcription of
Mṛgaśikhāvana). , depicted on a gold coin|left In the
Allahabad Pillar inscription, Gupta and his successor Ghatotkacha are described as
Maharaja ("Great King"), while the next king Chandragupta I is called a
Maharajadhiraja ("
King of Great Kings"). In the later period, the title
Maharaja was used by feudatory rulers, which has led to suggestions that Gupta and Ghatotkacha were vassals (possibly of the
Kushan Empire). However, there are several instances of paramount sovereigns using the title
Maharaja, in both pre-Gupta and post-Gupta periods, so this cannot be said with certainty. That said, there is no doubt that Gupta and Ghatotkacha held a lower status and were less powerful than Chandragupta I. Chandragupta I married the
Licchavi princess Kumaradevi, which may have helped him extend his political power and dominions, enabling him to adopt the prestigious title
Maharajadhiraja. According to the dynasty's official records, he was succeeded by his son
Samudragupta. However, the discovery of the coins issued by a Gupta emperor named
Kacha have led to some debate on this topic: according to one theory, Kacha was another name for Samudragupta; another possibility is that Kacha was a rival claimant to the throne.
Samudragupta inscription
Maharaja Sri Gupta ("Great King, Lord Gupta"), mentioning the first ruler of the dynasty, king
Gupta. Inscription by
Samudragupta on the
Allahabad Pillar, where Samudragupta presents king Gupta as his great-grandfather. Dated circa 350 CE.|right Samudragupta succeeded his father around 335 or 350 CE, and ruled until . The Allahabad Pillar inscription, composed by his courtier
Harisena, credits him with extensive conquests. The inscription asserts that Samudragupta uprooted 8 kings of
Āryāvarta, the northern region, including the
Nagas. It further claims that he subjugated all the kings of the forest region, which was most probably located in central India. It also credits him with defeating 12 rulers of
Dakshinapatha, the southern region: the exact identification of several of these kings is debated among modern scholars, but it is clear that these kings ruled areas located on the eastern coast of India. The inscription suggests that Samudragupta advanced as far as the
Pallava kingdom in the south, and defeated Vishnugopa, the Pallava regent of
Kanchi. During this southern campaign, Samudragupta most probably passed through the forest tract of central India, reached the eastern coast in present-day
Odisha, and then marched south along the coast of the
Bay of Bengal. The Allahabad Pillar inscription mentions that rulers of several frontier kingdoms and tribal
aristocracies paid Samudragupta tributes, obeyed his orders, and performed obeisance before him. These polities and tribes included
Samatata,
Davaka,
Kamarupa,
Nepal,
Karttripura,
Malavas,
Arjunayanas,
Yaudheyas,
Madrakas, and
Abhiras. The inscription also mentions that several foreign kings tried to please Samudragupta by personal attendance, offered him their daughters in marriage (or according to another interpretation, gifted him maidens), and sought the use of the
Garuda-depicting Gupta seal for administering their own territories. However, this is likely an exaggeration, and Samudragupta's panegyrist appears to have described acts of diplomacy as ones of subservience. For example, the King of
Simhala is listed among these foreign rulers, but it is known that from Chinese sources that the Simhala king
Meghavarna merely sent presents to the Gupta emperor requesting his permission to build a Buddhist monastery; he did not express subservience. Samudragupta appears to have been
Vaishnavite, as attested by his
Eran inscription, and performed several
Brahmanical ceremonies. The Gupta records credit him with making generous donations of cows and gold. He performed the
Ashvamedha ritual (horse sacrifice), which was used by the ancient Indian kings and emperors to prove their imperial sovereignty, and issued gold coins (see
Coinage below) to mark this performance. The Allahabad Pillar inscription presents Samudragupta as a wise king and strict administrator, who was also compassionate enough to help the poor and the helpless. It also alludes to the king's talents as a musician and a poet, and calls him the "king of poets". Such claims are corroborated by Samudragupta's gold coins, which depict him playing a
veena. Samudragupta appears to have directly controlled a large part of the
Indo-Gangetic Plain in present-day India, as well as a substantial part of central India. His empire comprised a number of monarchical and tribal tributary states of northern India, and of the south-eastern coastal region of India.
Ramagupta in red sandstone,
Art of Mathura, Gupta period .
Mathura Museum Ramagupta is known from a sixth-century play, the
Devichandragupta, in which he surrenders his queen to the enemy
Sakas, forcing his brother Chandragupta to sneak into the enemy camp to rescue her and kill the Saka king. The historicity of these events is unclear, but Ramagupta's existence is confirmed by three
Jain statues found at
Durjanpur, with inscriptions referring to him as the
Maharajadhiraja. A large number of his copper coins also have been found from the
Eran-
Vidisha region and classified in five distinct types, which include the
Garuda,
Garudadhvaja,
lion and
border legend types. The
Brahmi legends on these coins are written in the early Gupta style.
Chandragupta II "Vikramaditya" According to the Gupta records, among his sons, Samudragupta nominated prince Chandragupta II, born of queen
Dattadevi, as his successor. Chandragupta II,
Vikramaditya (Brave as the Sun), ruled from 375 until 415. He married a Kadamba princess of
Kuntala and of Naga lineage (
Nāgakulotpannnā), Kuberanaga. His daughter
Prabhavatigupta from this Naga queen was married to
Rudrasena II, the
Vakataka king of
Deccan. His son Kumaragupta I was married to a Kadamba princess of the Karnataka region. Chandragupta II expanded his realm westwards, defeating the Saka
Western Kshatrapas of
Malwa,
Gujarat and
Saurashtra in a campaign lasting until 409. His main opponent
Rudrasimha III was defeated by 395, and he crushed the Bengal chiefdoms. This extended his control from coast to coast, established a second capital at
Ujjain and was the high point of the empire. Kuntala inscriptions indicate rule of Chandragupta II in
Kuntala country of
Karnataka.
Hunza inscription also indicate that Chandragupta was able to rule north western Indian subcontinent and proceeded to conquer
Balkh, although some scholars have also disputed the identity of the Gupta emperor.
Chalukya king
Vikramaditya VI (r. 1076 – 1126 CE) mentions Chandragupta with his title and states: "Why should the glory of the Kings Vikramaditya and Nanda be a hindrance any longer? He with a loud command abolished that (era), which has the name of Saka, and made that (era) which has the Chalukya counting". Despite the creation of the empire through war, his reign is remembered for its very influential style of
Hindu art,
literature,
culture and
science. Some excellent works of Hindu art such as the panels at the
Dashavatara Temple in
Deogarh serve to illustrate the magnificence of Gupta art during his reign. Above all, it was the synthesis of elements that gave Gupta art its distinctive flavour. During this period, the Guptas were supportive of thriving
Buddhist and
Jain cultures as well, and for this reason, there is also a long history of non-Hindu
Gupta period art. In particular, Gupta period Buddhist art was to be influential in most of East and Southeast Asia. Many advances were recorded by the Chinese scholar and traveller
Faxian in his diary and published afterwards. The court of Chandragupta II was made even more illustrious by the fact that it was graced by the
Navaratna (Nine Jewels), a group of nine who excelled in the literary arts. Among these men was
Kālidāsa, whose works dwarfed the works of many other literary geniuses, not only in his own age but in the years to come. Kalidasa was mainly known for his subtle exploitation of the
shringara (romantic) element in his verse.
Campaigns against foreign tribes The 4th century
Sanskrit poet
Kalidasa credits Chandragupta Vikramaditya with conquering about twenty-one kingdoms, both in and outside India. After finishing his campaign in East and West India, Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) proceeded northwards, subjugated the
Parasika, then the
Huna and
Kamboja tribes located in the west and east
Oxus valleys respectively. Thereafter, the king proceeded into the
Himalaya mountains to reduce the mountain tribes of the
Kinnaras,
Kiratas, as well as India proper. In one of his works Kalidasa also credits him with the removal of the
Sakas from the country. He wrote 'Wasn't it Vikramaditya who drove the Sakas out from the lovely city of
Ujjain?'. The
Brihatkathamanjari of the
Kashmiri writer
Kshemendra states, King Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) had "unburdened the sacred earth of the
barbarians like the Sakas,
Mlecchas,
Kambojas,
Greeks,
Tusharas,
Saka-Greeks,
Hunas, and others, by annihilating these sinful Mlecchas completely".
Faxian Faxian, a Chinese
Buddhist monk, was one of the pilgrims who visited India during the reign of the Gupta emperor
Chandragupta II. He started his journey from China in 399 CE and reached India in 405 CE. During his stay in India up to 411 CE, he went on a pilgrimage to
Mathura,
Kannauj,
Kapilavastu,
Kushinagar,
Vaishali,
Pataliputra,
Kashi, and
Rajagriha, and made careful observations about the empire's conditions. Faxian was pleased with the mildness of administration. The penal code was mild, and offences were punished by fines only. From his accounts, the Gupta Empire was a prosperous period. His writings form one of the most important sources for the history of this period. Faxian on reaching
Mathura comments––"The snow and heat are finely tempered, and there is neither hoarfrost nor snow. The people are numerous and happy. They have not to register their households. Only those who cultivate the royal land have to pay (a portion of) the gain from it. If they want to go, they go. If they want to stay on, they stay on. The king governs without decapitation or (other) corporal punishments. Criminals are simply fined according to circumstances. Even in cases of repeated attempts at wicked rebellion, they only have their right-hand cut off. The king's bodyguards & attendants all have salaries. Throughout the whole country, the people do not kill any living creature, not drink any intoxicating liquor, nor eat onions or garlic."
Rev:
Garuda standing facing with spread wings. Brahmi legend:
Parama-bhagavata rajadhiraja Sri Kumaragupta Mahendraditya. Chandragupta II was succeeded by his second son
Kumaragupta I, born of
Mahadevi Dhruvasvamini. Kumaragupta I assumed the title,
Mahendraditya. He ruled until 455. Towards the end of his reign a tribe in the
Narmada valley, the
Pushyamitras, rose in power to threaten the empire. The
Kidarites as well probably confronted the Gupta Empire towards the end of the rule of Kumaragupta I, as his son
Skandagupta mentions in the
Bhitari pillar inscription his efforts at reshaping a country in disarray, through reorganisation and military victories over the Pushyamitras and the
Hunas. He was the founder of
Nalanda University which on 15 July 2016 was declared as a
UNESCO world heritage site. Kumaragupta I was also a worshipper of
Kartikeya.
Skandagupta Skandagupta, son and successor of Kumaragupta I is generally considered to be the last of the great Gupta emperors. He assumed the titles of
Vikramaditya and
Kramaditya. He defeated the Pushyamitra threat, but then was faced with invading
Kidarites (sometimes described as the
Hephthalites or "White Huns", known in India as the
Sweta Huna), from the northwest. He repelled a
Huna attack around 455 CE, but the expense of the wars drained the empire's resources and contributed to its decline. The Bhitari Pillar inscription of
Skandagupta, the successor of Chandragupta, recalls the near annihilation of the Gupta Empire following the attacks of the
Kidarites. The Kidarites seem to have retained the western part of the Gupta Empire. Following Skandagupta's death, the empire was clearly in decline, and the later Gupta coinage indicates their loss of control over much of western India after 467–469. It appears from inscriptions that the Guptas, although their power was much diminished, continued to resist the Huns. The Hun invader Toramana was defeated by
Bhanugupta in 510. The Huns were defeated and driven out of India in 528 by King
Yashodharman from Malwa, and possibly Gupta emperor
Narasimhagupta. These invasions, although only spanning a few decades, had long term effects on India, and in a sense brought an end to
Classical Indian civilisation. Soon after the invasions, the Gupta Empire, already weakened by these invasions and the rise of local rulers such as
Yashodharman, ended as well. Following the invasions, northern India was left in disarray, with numerous smaller Indian powers emerging after the crumbling of the Guptas. The Huna invasions are said to have seriously damaged India's trade with
Europe and
Central Asia. The last known inscription by a Gupta emperor is from the reign of Vishnugupta (the
Damudarpur copper-plate inscription), in which he makes a land grant in the area of
Kotivarsha (
Bangarh in
West Bengal) in 542/543 CE. This follows the occupation of most of northern and central India by the
Aulikara King Yashodharman . The coinage of the Maukharis and Pushyabhutis followed the silver coin type of the Guptas, with portrait of the ruler in profile (although facing in the reverse direction compared to the Guptas, a possible symbol of antagonism) and the peacock on the reverse, the Brahmi legend being kept except for the name of the ruler. In the western regions, they were succeeded by
Gurjaradesa, the
Gurjara-Pratiharas, and later the
Chaulukya-
Paramara dynasties, who issued so-called
Indo-Sasanian coinage, on the model of the
coinage of the Sasanian Empire, which had been introduced in India by the Alchon Huns. == Military ==