Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c25.9

c25.9

§ 93. Northern Guptas. — Three members of this branch in direct descent from Kumāragupta I Mahendra are known from the Bhitarī Seal. The name of the first is not at present certain. If read Sthira° (Bühler) it may, since Sthira is a synonym for Skanda, simply be another name of Skandagupta. If read Pura° (Hoernle) or Puru° (C.) it must be the name of a brother of Skanda°. To this ruler have been conjecturally assigned the coins bearing the title Prakāśāditya (Hoernle, JBA. 1889, p. 94; Smith, JRAS. 1889, Pl. III, 9. 10; id. 1893, p. 125). His son, the Narasiṁhagupta of the seal, has been identified with the Nara(gupta) Bālāditya of the coins (Hoernle, JBA. 1889, p. 93; Smith, JRAS. 1889, Pl. III, 11; id. 1893, p. 128); and further with Bālāditya the conqueror of the Hūṇa Mihirakula (v. inf. § 107; Hoernle, JBA. 1889, p. 93; C. CMI. p. 11. This identification has been doubted: Smith, JRAS. 1889, p. 115). There appears to be no doubt as to the identification of Kumāragupta II of the seal with Kumāragupta Kramāditya of the coins (Hoernle, JBA. 1889, p. 94; Rapson, NChr. 1891, p. 50; Smith, JRAS. 1889, Pl. II, 12; id. 1893, p. 129). All certain knowledge of the order of succession in this branch of the Gupta dynasty ends here; but it is possible that a Viṣṇugupta Candrāditya, whose coins bear a great resemblance to those of Nara(gupta) Bālāditya and Kumāragupta II Kramāditya, succeeded the last-mentioned (C. CMI. pp. 12. 19, Pl. II, 4). The last of this line was probably Śaśāṅka (**Plate IV, 15**), c. 600 A.D., the king of Kirṇa Suvarṇa, who seems also to have borne the name of Narendragupta (C. CMI. p. 12; Smith, JBA. 1894, p. 172).