The Age of the Imperial Guptas c4.56

c4.56

We can deduce the limits of Samudragupta's kingdom from the Allahabad pillar and other inscriptions. No part of Southern or Western India was included in his dominions. The discovery of the Poona plates of Prabhāvatīguptā has established the fact that the Ganj and Nachna inscriptions cannot be assigned to the 7th century A.D. The mention of Vyāghra proves that Pṛthivīṣeṇa I, the grandfather of Pravarasena II, was the contemporary of Samudragupta. Nachna and Ganj are both situated in the heart of ancient Ḍabhāla or Ḍahala and therefore it seems certain that the country to the south of the Jumna was not included in the dominions of Samudragupta. The districts lying to the south Vindhyas were included in the Vākāṭaka kingdom. There is one exception to this. The Eran inscription of Samudragupta proves that the north-eastern corner of Malwa, at least, was in his occupation. According to this inscription Samudragupta established some monuments at this place, then known as Airakiṇa, now a village in the Sagar district of the Central Provinces.² We have no proof of the extension of Samudragupta's kingdom into the heart of Mālava. The countries and tribes mentioned in the Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudragupta indicate the limits of the zone of Samudragupta’s influence pretty accurately. Kings of Samaṭaṭa, Ḍavāka, Kāmarūpa, Nepāla and Karṭṛpura are mentioned as princes on the frontiers (*pratyanta-nṛpati*). Of these names only Ḍavāka cannot be definitely located; Samaṭaṭa is South-Eastern Bengal, Kāmarūpa is lower Assam, Nepāla is the valley of the same name and Karṭṛpura the Kangra valley. Therefore the empire of Samudragupta was bounded on the East by the Delta of the Ganges and Assam and on the North by the valleys of Nepāl and Kangra. Ḍavāka is generally taken to be Dacca. But according to another theory it may be the ancient kingdom of Tagaung in upper Burma. Therefore the Northern part of the Ganges Delta may have been included in the empire of Samudragupta. In the same place of the Allahabad pillar inscription a number of tribes are mentioned.—1. Mālavas, 2. Arjunāyanas, 3. Yaudheyas, 4. Mādrakas, 5. Ābhīras, 6. Prārjunas, 7. Sanakānīkas, 8. Kākas and 9. Kharaparikas. Among these tribes the Mālavas and Yaudheyas can be located correctly but others cannot be properly identified or located. The Mālavas are decidedly the Malloi of Alexander’s historians; they have given their name to more than one district and country in India, *e.g.*, Mālava and Malwa. To-day there is a Malwa in the South Eastern Punjab and the ancient Mughal Ṣubah of Mālwa is now included in the dominions of the Śindes of Gwalior and the Hoḷkars of Indore. The Mālavas are known from their copper coins to have continued to exist as a tribal republic for nearly four centuries. These copper coins are to be found over a very large area beginning from a valley of the Sutlej down to the banks of Narmadā. According to Cunningham the age of these coins range from 250 B.C., to 350 A.D. The earliest of them were issued in the name of the tribal republic of the Mālavas with the legend *Mālavānāṁ jayaḥ*¹ “Victory to the Mālavas.” Some of them use the word *Gaṇa*² denoting that they were tribal coins of the Mālava republic. Later on they seem to have elected oligarchs or tribal kings whose names only are to be found on some of their coins. Some of these coins are assigned by Smith and Rapson to 150 B.C. Some coins bear the name of the king as well as the word *Gaṇa* indicating thereby that these kings were tribal kings or executive officers of the republic.³ The Mālava tribal coinage suddenly comes to an end at the end of the 4th century.⁴