The Age of the Imperial Guptas c4.150

c4.150

A period of anarchy and misrule begins with the death of Skandagupta. He was succeeded on the throne by his younger brother, probably a step-brother, Puragupta. Puragupta is known to be the son of Anantadevī who was not the mother of Skandagupta and Skandagupta's mother is deliberately omitted in all official genealogies of the Gupta dynasty. The name of Skandagupta is also omitted from the genealogy in the official seal of Puragupta's grandson Kumāragupta II discovered at Bhitari in the Ghazipur district. In many other cases where a brother succeeds instead of a son the names of both brothers are mentioned if relations are cordial. The best known examples are the Banskhera¹ and Madhuban² plates of Harṣavardhana and the Manahali plate³ of Madanapāla of Bengal. Even if we compare a seal with a seal and place the Sonpat seal of Harṣavardhana by the side of the Bhitari seal of Kumā- ragupta II then we are forced to admit that the name of Skandagupta was intentionally omitted from the latter. The find-spots of coins of the three later Gupta emperors, Puragupta, Narasimhagupta and Kumāragupta II indicate very definitely that these three monarchs had very little authority outside Bengal, Bihar and the Eastern districts of United Provinces; such as Mirzapur and Basti. From these facts we can glean that the Imperial authority was limited to the metropolitan districts of the Gupta empire and that Puragupta was not on good terms with his elder brother and predecessor Skandagupta. It would be natural to surmise that during the third Hūṇa war Puragupta had set himself up as a rival emperor in Magadha and thus became the cause of Skandagupta's defeat and death. It is this treachery on the part of his younger nephew which seems to have made Govindagupta disobedient in Mālava.