The Age of the Imperial Guptas c4.96

c4.96

Candragupta II seems to have spent the first few years after his accession in consolidating his conquest of Mathurā and is the first emperor of the Gupta dynasty whose record has been discovered in that city. His coins, specially his silver coins, are very plentiful all over the Eastern Panjab as far as the banks of the Chenab. There cannot be much doubt about the fact that the final extension of the western frontier of the Gupta empire was due to Candragupta II. His inscriptions prove that he conquered the whole of Mālava and his silver coins indicate that he destroyed the later Western Satraps of Kathiawad. His earliest inscription is a record in a cave near Udaygiri in the Bhilsa district of the Gwalior State, which was excavated in the year 82 by his subordinate, a chief of the Sanakānīka tribe with the title of *Mahārāja*. This record proves that practically the whole of North Eastern Mālava had been conquered by Candragupta II before 401-2 A.D. The third inscription comes from Gadhwa in the Allahabad district and adds nothing to our knowledge except a date in the reign of Candragupta II. Two other inscriptions also come from Mālava, only one of which is dated. The Sanchi inscription of the year 93=412-13 A.D., records a donation by Amrakārdava, a dependant of Candragupta II at Kākanādaboṭa. But it supplied us with an important detail that the more familiar name of Candragupta was Devarāja,¹ Another inscription in a cave at Udaygiri near Bhilsa records its excavation by one Vīrasena alias Śāba, who was one of the ministers of Candragupta II. The year 93 of the Sanchi inscriptions is the last known date of Candragupta II. He died and was succeeded by his eldest son Kumāragupta I some time between G. E. 93 and 96 (413-16 A.D.)