The Age of the Imperial Guptas c7.4

c7.4

In the troublesome period which followed the death of the Emperor Skandagupta and which is occupied by the ephemeral reigns of the three shadow Emperors, we get only two inscriptions, both of which belong to the reign of the infant emperor Kumāragupta II. Only one of them is dated and that is a Buddhist inscription recording the erection of an image of Buddha in G.E. 154 during the reign of the Emperor Kumāragupta II by a Buddhist monk named Abhayamitra.¹ The great seal of Kumāragupta II discovered at Bhitari in the Ghazipur district is much bigger than the seal of Samudragupta attached to the Gayā plate of G.E. 9. It bears the complete genealogy of the Gupta Emperors from Śrī-gupta to Kumāragupta II and is distinctly Vaiṣṇava on account of the presence of the figure of Garuḍa in the upper part and the term *Parama-bhāgavata* applied to Candragupta II.²