Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c20.s3.3

c20.s3.3

It was the aim of Samudra Gupta to bring about the political unification of India (*dharaṇi-bandha*) and make himself an *Ekarāṭ* or sole ruler like Mahāpadma. But his only permanent annexation was that of portions of *Āryāvarta* in the upper valley of the Ganges and its tributaries, together with certain districts in Central and Eastern India. Following his “ *Sarvakshatrāntaka* ”¹ predecessor, this *Sarva-rājo-chchhettā*, “ exterminator of all kings,” uprooted Rudradeva, Matila, Nāgadatta, Chandravarman, Gaṇapati Nāga, Nāgasena, Achyuta, Nandi, Balavarman, and many other **kings of Āryāvarta**, ² captured the scion of **the family of Kota** and made all the kings of forest countries (*āṭavika-rāja*) his servants. Rudradeva has been identified by Mr. Dikshit with Rudrasena Vākāṭaka. But the Vākāṭakas can hardly be regarded as rulers of Āryāvarta, and they were far from being uprooted in the time of Samudra Gupta.³ Equally untenable is the identification of Balavarman with a prince of Assam, a province that was then looked upon as a border state (*Pratyanta*) and not as a part of Āryāvarta. Matila has been identified with a person named “ Mattila ” mentioned in a seal found in Bulandshahr in the **Central Doāb**. The absence of any honorific title on the seal leads Allan to suggest that it was a private one. But we have already come across several instances of princes being mentioned without any honorific. Chandravarman has been identified with the king of the same name mentioned in the Susunia ⁴ inscription, who was the ruler of Pushkaraṇa and was possibly the founder of Chandravarman-koṭa mentioned in the Ghugrahātī grant. Some scholars identify Pushkaraṇa with Pokran or Pokurna in Mārwār, and further equate Siṁhavarman, the name of the father of Chandravarman, with Siṁhavarman of the Mandasor family. But there is very little to be said in support of this conjecture. No mention of Chandravarman, or reference to his exploits, is found in any epigraphic record of the Varman family of Western Mālwa. Pushkaraṇa is really to be identified with a village named Pokharan on the Dāmodar river in the Bankura District, some 25 miles to the north-east of Susunia Hill.¹