Ancient History of the Deccan c4.s1.t2.37

c4.s1.t2.37

(6) It has always been admitted till now that the expedition of Samudra-Gupta was a very glorious one. However the inscription contains a detail which indicates the contrary : in fact, it is said that Samudra-Gupta captured the kings and afterwards released them; and it is confirmed by the fact that none of the kingdoms of the Deccan remained in the possession of the Guptas. It is probable that Samudra-Gupta first subjugated some kings, but that very soon he encountered superior forces and was therefore obliged to relinquish his conquests and return rapidly to his own state. After all those rectifications that we have just made, the expedition of Samudra-Gupta presents itself before our eyes in quite another form : it is no more a new Alexander marching victoriously through South India; it was simply the unfortunate attempt of a king from the North who wanted to annex the coast of Orissa but completely failed. About A. D. 340, Samudra-Gupta left his capital Pâṭaliputra and marched directly towards the South. First he conquered Southern Kôsala where the king Mahêndra was reigning in the vicinity of Sirpur and Sombalpur. He then crossed the forests that are to the south of Sonpur and found there the small kingdom of Mahâkântâra which means "the great forest" and where Vyâghra-râja, "the tiger king" was reigning. Then he reached the coast of Orissa. Maṇṭarâja, king of Korâḷa, Mahêndra of Pishtapura, Svâmidatta of Koṭṭûra, a citadel on the top of a hill, and Damana of Eraṇḍapali tried to stop him but were captured. Samudra-Gupta now prepared to make new conquests when he was opposed by a confederacy of all the kings that reigned near the mouths of the Gôdâvari and the Kṛishṇâ, the most powerful of them being Vishṇugôpa, the Pallava king of Kâñchî. The other kings were Nilarâja of Âvamukta, Hastivarman of Veṅgi, Ugrasêna of Palakka, Kubêra who reigned in Dêvarâshṭra and Dhanañjaya whose capital was Kosthalapura. Samudra-Gupta being repulsed by the kings of the Eastern Deccan, abandoned the conquests he had made in the coast of Orissa and returned home.