Indian Epigraphy c16.s2.27

c16.s2.27

The Imperial Guptas who extended their power over wide areas of Northern India in the 4th century A.D. at first called themselves *Mahārājādhirāja* or *Bhaṭṭāraka-Mahārāja-Rājādhirāja* the title being soon more or less stereotyped as *Paramabhaṭṭāraka Mahārājādhirāja*,⁴ while the subordinate rulers under them as well as their viceroys enjoyed the title *Mahārāja*.⁵ The Gupta emperors were also called *Rājarājādhirāja* but only in verses and this was probably not a formal title.⁶ In private records, the Gupta emperors were sometimes referred to as *Mahārāja*; but there is no doubt that, in the Gupta empire, the official designation of the paramount ruler was *Paramabhaṭṭāraka Mahārājādhirāja* and that of a subordinate ruler *Mahārāja*, although there were still smaller feudatory rulers generally called *Rājan*. Sometimes the word *bhaṭṭāraka* was suffixed to the name of an independent or a semi-independent ruler of the Gupta age.⁷