History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c16.s4.58.3

c16.s4.58.3

Samudra Gupta's reign coincides with a new social system on Hindu lines in Funan under Śrutavarman.² About the same time in the Hindu colony of Western Java we find inscriptions being written in Sanskrit in the script of 'the fourth or fifth century A.D.' And Sumatra gets so much of orthodox Hindu culture just before the arrival of Fa Hien that he found: 'various forms of error and Brahmanism flourishing while Buddhism in it is not worth speaking of' (Fa Hien, p. 113). We have the evidence of Fa Hien that Tāmralipti, which, as we have seen, became a Guptan port by annexation in Samudra Gupta's time, was a brisk port for regular communication between India and Ceylon. To Tāmralipti the traveller had to go from Champā [Bhagalpur], which was a capital in his time--a fact fully corroborating the statement of the Purāṇas on the Gupta organisation of the Province of Champā-Tāmralipti. Fa Hien found a large merchant-ship sailing for Ceylon which he calls Simhala [just as in Samudra Gupta's inscription], and embarked for that island. The connection between Ceylon and India had been easy and constant enough to compel the Saimhalaka King to accept the imperial position of Samudra Gupta. Tāmralipti was also the chief port in Northern India for Further India. Its annexation to the Province of Champā was with a view to come in close touch with the colonies in Further India and to control the sea-trade.¹ There was here a well-considered and well-calculated policy.