The Coinage of the Gupta Empire and its Imitations c6.7

c6.7

Ghaṭotkacha's son and successor, Chandragupta I, was the real founder of the greatness of his house. His matrimonial alliance with the Lichchhavis, a princess of whose family named Kumāradevī was his crowned queen, helped his rise to the imperial position. The Gupta and the Lichchhavi kingdoms were amalgamated as a consequence of this union and a compact block of Mithilā and Bihar was thus formed. With his resources thus increased, Chandragupta extended his sphere of influence and soon annexed Oudh and that portion of the Gangetic valley which extended from Buxar to Allahabad. When the kingdom was thus expanded to more than double its size, Chandragupta decided to assume the imperial title Mahārājādhirāja, at a formal coronation celebrated sometime in c. 320 A. D., when he seems to have started the Gupta era as well as the Gupta coinage. After nominating his son Samudragupta, born of the Lichchhavi princess Kumāradevī, as his successor, Chandragupta died in c. 330 A. D.