The Age of the Imperial Guptas c7.74

c7.74

That Buddhism was flourishing is proved beyond doubt by the great mass of decorative sculpture and number of images discovered at Sarnath alone of all places. There cannot be any doubt about the fact that Sarnath or Buddhist Benares was included in the empire of the early Guptas up to the end of the reign of Bhānugupta. Therefore it cannot be explained for what reasons the Gupta era and the names of most of the Gupta emperors, with the exception of Kumāragupta II and Budhagupta, are omitted in the votive inscriptions of Benares while Candragupta II is mentioned by name and Gupta era is used in the Sanchi inscription of the year 93³ and the Gupta era used without the name of the reigning emperor Kumāragupta I in the Sanchi inscription of 131.⁴ Even the Mankuwar Buddha discovered in the Allahabad district mentions Kumāragupta I as the ruling emperor in the year 129.¹