The Age of the Imperial Guptas c7.7

c7.7

During the reign of Budhagupta the empire was once more re-united. The earliest inscription of Budhagupta’s reign is Buddhist. It records the erection of an image of Buddha by the same Buddhist monk Abhayamitra in G.E. 157. The Damodarpur plates of the time of Budhagupta are distinctly Hindu. The third plate of G.E. 163 records the sale of some land for the settlement of some Brāhmaṇas in G.E. 163 to a village-elder named Nābhaka. The fourth plate records the sale of some *Vāstu* and *Khila* land to the Nagara-śreṣ- thin Ṛbhupāla for building two temples for the gods Kokāmukha-svāmin and Śveta-Varāha-svāmin and the attached store-rooms. The last known inscription of the reign of Budhagupta records the erection of a flag-staff of Viṣṇu in G.E. 165 by the *Mahārāja* Mātṛviṣṇu and his brother Dhanyaviṣṇu. The fifth Damodarpur plate is also a Hindu record because by it a religious trust was created in favour of the god Śveta-Varāhasvāmin in the forest of Koṭivarṣa by Amṛtadeva of Ayodhyā in G.E. 224. The Eran pillar inscription of the reign of Bhānugupta is non-sectarian. There remain a number of dated records which do not mention the names of the Emperors, but which can be referred to the reigns of well known Emperors of the Imperial Gupta dynasty. The Udayagiri cave inscription of G.E. 106 must be referred to the reign of Kumāragupta I and is a Jaina inscription. The Sanchi inscription of G.E. 131 is a record of the reign of Kumāragupta I and is a Buddhist record. It commemorates the gift of fifteen gold coins from the interest of which one Bhikṣu was to be fed daily and three lamps to be lighted in the sanctum (*Ratnagṛha*) by the lay worshipper Harisvāminī. The Mathurā image inscription, if it is to be referred to the Gupta era, of the year 135 falls within the reign of Kumāragupta I and is a Buddhist inscription. Similarly the Kosam image inscription of the *Mahārāja* Bhīmavarman of G.E. 139 must be referred to the reign of Skandagupta. So also the Gadhwa inscription of G.E. 148 must be referred to the reign of the same Emperor.