The Age of the Imperial Guptas c4.53

c4.53

After emerging from the forest Samudragupta defeated Maṇṭarāja of Koraḷa and another Mahendra of Piṣṭapura; then he proceeded south and defeated Svāmidatta of Koṭṭura hill, modern Kothoor in the Ganjam district. Ugrasena of Pālakka in the Nellore district, Hastivarman of Veṅgī and Viṣṇugopa of Kāñcī were still far away, but Damana of Eraṇḍapali and Kuvera of Devarāṣṭra in the Vizagapatam district were close neighbours of Svāmidatta of Kothoor and Mahendra of Pittapuram. It appears that Samudragupta was opposed by a confederacy of Pallava kings headed by Viṣṇugopa of Kāñcī, and Hastivarman of Veṅgī. M. Jouveau-Dubreuil is of opinion that “Samudragupta first subjugated some kings, but that very soon he encountered superior forces and was therefore obliged to relinquish his conquests and return rapidly to his own state.”¹ It is not possible to corroborate this statement. Samudragupta’s southern campaign was of the nature of a *Dig-vijaya* and therefore the question of the capitulation of conquered territories does not arise. On the other hand it is quite probable that Samudragupta advanced as far as Veṅgī and Kāñcī and defeated Hastivarman and Viṣṇugopa. M. Jouveau-Dubreuil has succeeded in proving that Samudragupta never went beyond Kāñcī and his supposed conquest of the Coimbator and Malabar districts of the Madras Presidency and the Mahārāṣṭra and Khandesh are myths. The Allahabad pillar inscription does not supply us with any other materials except the names of Samudragupta’s neighbours and some traits of his personal character. This inscription does not mention one important event of the king’s reign. After his conquests the great king performed the Aśvamedha ceremony; but we know of this event from his coins and one inscription of one of his successors. Special coins or medals were struck by Samudragupta, more probably for distributions among the Brāhmaṇas attending or taking part in that ceremony. On these coins the king styles himself *Aśvamedha-parākramaḥ*,¹ “Powerful enough to have performed the ceremony of the sacrifice of the horse.”