Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c19.s3.29

c19.s3.29

The revived power of the Śakas of Western India did not last long, being finally destroyed by the Guptas. Already in the time of Samudra Gupta the Śakas appear among the peoples who hastened to buy peace by the offer of maidens and other acts of respectful submission. The Udayagiri Inscriptions of Chandra Gupta II testify to that monarch’s conquest of Eastern Mālwa. One of the Inscriptions commemorates the construction of a cave by a minister of Chandra Gupta who “came here, accompanied by the king in person, who was seeking to conquer the whole world.” The subjugation of western Mālwa is probably hinted at by the epithet “*Siṁha-vikrānta-gāmini*,” resorting to (as a vassal of) Siṁha Vikrama, *i.e.*, Chandra Gupta II, applied to Naravarman of Mandasor.¹ Evidence of the conquest of Surāshṭra is to be seen in Chandra Gupta’s silver coins which are imitated from those of Śaka Satraps. Lastly, Bāṇa in his *Harsha-charita* refers to the slaying of the Śaka king by Chandra Gupta : *Ar(l ?) ipure cha para-kalatra kāmukam kāminī-veśaguptaścha Chandra Guptaḥ Śaka-patim aśātayaditi*.¹