History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c16.s3.34

c16.s3.34

139. Rudradeva was defeated and killed on the battlefield by Samudra Gupta. Rudra is the only king whose name is coupled with 'deva' in the inscription of Samudra Gupta, and we may take it to be intentional. Rudrasena was the biggest monarch in India at the time, having succeeded his grandfather who had been a true Emperor of All-India. 'Sena', in Rudrasena is really not a part of the name: as pointed out above we may compare the dropping of sena in the Nepal inscriptions where the Lichchhavi king Vasantasena is sometimes described as Vasanta-sena and sometimes as Vasantadeva. Deva is more dignified and stood for full royal dignity. The chronology proposed above makes Rudradeva succeed in 344 A.D., and Samudra Gupta's conquests are unanimously dated about 345 to 350 A.D. The Rudradeva of the inscription is thus contemporaneous with and identical with Rudrasena I (§ 64).