The Age of the Imperial Guptas c7.2

Language: English

c7.2.1

The monarchs of the Gupta dynasty will be remembered for ever for the great reformation they brought about in Orthodox Hindu society and religion. From their inscriptions, coins, and seals they are distinctly Vaiṣṇavas. In the majority of their inscriptions and coins they are styled *Parama-Bhāgavata*. The emblems on their personal and official seals, Garuḍa and Lakṣmī, the vehicle and consort of Viṣṇu, also indicate that they were ardent Vaiṣṇavas. There is no indication of any of the kings from Candragupta I to Bhanugupta having leant towards any other Indian faith. They are clearly different from the Vardhanas of Thanesar in this respect. The inscriptions of the dynasty clearly indicate a revival of Hinduism or the Orthodox Brahmanical religion and a corresponding decline in the two remaining religions of India. From other inscriptions we learn that Jainism was still lingering in Mathurā but that the days of its prosperity were finally over. As no other material is available for the study of the religious history of the Gupta Empire we must return to a further study of the inscriptions of the period. There is no indication of a leaning towards any particular sect in the Allahabad pillar inscription save and except that Hariṣeṇa was a Hindu and probably a Śaiva. The fragmentary condition of the Eran pillar makes it difficult to assign it to any Hindu sect, but the sense is sufficiently clear to mark it as Hindu. The new Mathurā inscription of G.E.

c7.2.2

61 of the reign of Candragupta II is Śaiva. The Udayagiri cave inscription of G.E. 82 is clearly non-sectarian but the carvings of the cave, which are contemporary, prove that the donor, the Sanakānīka chief, whose name is mutilated, was a Vaiṣṇava. The undated Udayagiri cave inscription of the time of Candragupta II records the dedication of a Śaiva cave-temple by his minister Virasena of Pāṭaliputra. The fragmentary Gaḍhwa inscription of G.E. 88 is distinctly Hindu, though the sect can not be determined. The only Buddhist inscription of the reign is the Sanchi pillar inscription of the year 93. No Jain inscriptions of the time of Samudragupta or Candragupta II have been discovered so far. The two inscriptions from Gaḍhwa, belonging to the reign Kumāragupta I, though fragmentary, are distinctly Hindu and the Bilsad pillar inscription in the Eta district of the U.P. is also Hindu. It refers to some work by a Brāhmaṇa named Dhruvaśarman in a temple of the god Mahāsena or Kārtikeya in G.E. 96. In G.E. 113=432-3 A.D. a Jain image was dedicated by a Jain lady named Sāmāḍhyā at Mathurā. This is the earliest known Jain inscription of the Gupta period.. In G.E. 129 an image of Buddha was dedicated at Mankuwar in the Karchhanā Tahsil of the Allahabad district by a Buddhist *Bhikṣu* named Budhamitra. Three known inscriptions belonging to the reign of Kumāragupta I are on copper plates discovered in Bengal.

c7.2.3

The earliest of them, discovered at Dhanaidaha in the Rajshahi district, is very fragmentary, but is dated G.E. 113. The references to Brāhmaṇas leave no doubt about the fact that the object of the record was some contract between Hindus.¹ The first and second Damodarpur plates of G.E. 124 and 129 are distinctly Hindu or Brahmanical as they refer to *Agnihotras* and *Mahāyajñas*. The great Junagaḍh rock inscription of Skandagupta is distinctly Vaiṣṇava as it opens with an invocation to the god Viṣṇu. The second part of this inscription records the erection of a temple of Viṣṇu by Cakrapālita, son of the Viceroy Parṇadatta. The inscription on the stone pillar at Kahāum in the Deoriya Tahsil of the Gorakhpur district is the second Jain record of the Gupta period. It records the erection by a man named Madra of a pillar with five images of the *Ādikartṛs* or *Tīrthaṅkaras* in G.E. 141. The last inscription of the time of Skandagupta is Hindu. In the copper plate discovered at Indor Khera in the Bulandshahr district, a Brāhmaṇa, named Devaviṣṇu, records the gift of some money for the maintenance of a lamp in a temple of Sūrya in G.E. 146.