Virasena Saba was the foreign affairs, peace and war minister of the
Gupta emperor Chandragupta II, and held the office by hereditary right. He was the emperor's favourite minister and an accomplished poet. • (Inscription No. 6, L.4) : Hailing from
Pataliputra he was
Chandragupta II's (320 - 335 AD) minister for peace and war by hereditary right and accompanied the king on his far-reaching military expeditions.
Pāṇini refers to
Senānta names in his Astadhyayi. U.N. Roy conjectures the possibility of the composition of the
Prasasti inscribed on the
Meharauli Iron Pillar Inscription by Śāba alias Virasena who was an accomplished poet. It is possible that he outlived his patron and when during a
Dharmayatra he revisited the spot where the lofty banner had been raised as a mark of homage to
Lord Vishnu after the victory over the
Vahlikas, was moved to compose and inscribe this
Prasasti on the
Mehrauli Pillar.
Udayagiri Cave Inscription of
Chandragupta II (A.D. 375-414) mentions
Virasena, the child of Kotsa, the minister for peace and war under Chandragupta II, who knew the meanings of the words, and logic, and (the ways of) mankind, who was a poet and who belonged to (the city of) Pataliputra ==References==