The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c16.4.1

v1.c16.4.1

It is now generally agreed that the Gupta empire survived the shock of the Hūṇa invasions and continued up to the beginning of the 6th century A.D. There is evidence to show that at least in the east its disintegration began soon after that time. Thus the absence of the word Gupta, in *Mahārāja-Rājaputra-Deva Bhaṭṭāraka*, the name of the governor in the fifth Damodarpur plate may indicate that he was the son of a local *rājā* of Northern Bengal who in 543 A.D. perhaps acknowledged only a nominal suzerainty of the Gupta sovereigns.¹ The discovery of the Faridpur plates, which are referred to the 6th century A.D. reveals the presence of a line of independent rulers in Southern Bengal,² while the Vappaghoṣavāṭa inscription of Jayanāga³ seems to indicate the presence of another line of independent rulers in Karṇasuvarṇaka in the latter half of the 6th century A.D. Whether they had any connection with the Gupta governors of Northern Bengal referred to above is a question that cannot be answered in the present state of our knowledge. But that there grew up an independent power in Bengal side by side with the decadent Gupta power in Magadha is shown by the references to the clash of the Maukharis and the ‘Gauḍas living on the seashore’ in the Harāhā inscription of Iśānavarman (554 A.D.).⁴ It remained for Saśāṅka to extend the power of the Gauḍas from Kanauj in the west to Ganjam in the south.⁵ But his empire was short-lived.