The Age of the Imperial Guptas c4.175

c4.175

We know that a number of minor kings succeeded Budhagupta and Bhānugupta in North-Eastern India. They are known solely from their coins discovered in Bengal. The oldest of these coins belong to Candragupta III, *Dvādaśāditya* which were discovered at Kalighat near Calcutta during the *regime* of Warren Hastings as Governor of the Presidency of Bengal and were sent to England. The next king was Viṣṇugupta Candrāditya. The British Museum possesses three coins of Candragupta III and fifteen coins of Viṣṇugupta, most of which came from the Kalighat hoard. The Indian Museum at Calcutta possesses only two coins of Viṣṇugupta. The coins of Jayagupta Prakāṇḍayaśā belong to a later period, apparently the end of the 6th century A.D. During the rule of these rois faineants the distant provinces of the Gupta empire gradually became independent. A general named Bhaṭakka or Bhaṭārka became practically independent in Kathiawad in Gujarat and was able to make the governorship hereditary. He was succeeded in turn by four of his sons named Dharasena I, Droṇasiṃha, Dhruvasena and Dharapaṭṭa. Bhaṭārka and his eldest son Dharasena I were content with the modest title of Senāpati, but the remaining three sons assumed the title of Mahārāja. Assumption of the Imperial right of issuing grants of land was assumed by the sons of Bhaṭārka from 502 or 526 A.D. This shows that Kathiawad remained loyal during the life time of Budhagupta but the mask of loyalty was cast aside early in the reign of Bhānugupta and even in the life time of that emperor, Dhruvasena I and his successor openly issued grants of land without even mentioning the name of the reigning emperor. A comparison with the grants issued by royal officers of the Imperial Guptas such as the Indor plate of the reign of Skandagupta of G.E., 146 or the Damodarpur plates of the time of Budhagupta at once proves the difference in the attitude. In the Indore plate the Viceroy Śarvanāga of the country between the Ganges and the Jumna mentions the emperor Skandagupta explicitly. So also in the Damodarpur plates the Viceroy of Puṇḍravardhana mentions the emperor Budhagupta. We find a complete change in the Bhamodra Mohota plates of Mahārāja Droṇasiṃha, who ushers himself simply by the phrase “ Who meditated on the feet of the Great king of kings.” The Bhamodra Mohota plates were issued after the last known date of Budhagupta and before the earliest known date of Bhānugupta.¹