Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c21.s2: Section II. Kumāra Gupta I Mahāndrāditya

Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c21.s2

Language
English

Section II. Kumāra Gupta I Mahāndrāditya

c21.s2.1

Chandra Gupta II's successor was Kumāra Gupta I¹ surnamed Mahendrāditya² whose certain dates range from A.D. 415 to A.D. 455.³ His extensive coinage, and the wide distribution of his inscriptions show that he was able to retain his father's empire including the central and western provinces.⁴ One of his viceroys, Chirātadatta, governed Puṇḍravardhana Bhukti or roughly North Bengal,¹ another viceroy, prince Ghaṭotkacha Gupta, held office in the province of Eraṇ (in Eastern Mālwa) which included Tumbavana;² a third viceroy or feudatory, Bandhuvarman, ruled at Daśapura in western Mālwa.³ The Karamadāṇḍe inscription of A. D. 436 mentions Pṛithivīsheṇa who was a *Mantrin* and *Kumārāmātya*, and afterwards *Mahā-balādhikṛita* or general under Kumāra Gupta, probably stationed in Oudh. The panegyrist of a Mālwa viceroy claims that the suzerainty of Kumāra Gupta extended over "the whole earth which is decked with the rolling seas as with a rocking girdle, which holds in its breast-like mountain altitudes the

c21.s2.2

¹ The Mandasor inscription of the Mālava year 524 suggests that Kumāra may have had a rival in his brother prince Govinda Gupta. In the record Indra (*vīrudhā dhipa*, Kumāra?, who is styled Śrī Mahendra and Mahendrakarmā on coins) represented as being suspicious of Govinda's power. *Ep. Ind.*, XIX, App. No. 7 and n. 5; Ep xxvii. 15.

c21.s2.3

² Also called *Śrī Mahendra* (on coins of the *Archer* type), *Aśvamedha Mahendra* (on coins of the *Aśvamedha* type), *Mahendrakarmā*, *Ajita Mahendra* (on coins of the horseman type and sometimes on the lion-slayer type), *Siṁha Mahendra* (on coins of the lion-slayer type), *Śrī Mahendra Siṁha* (also on coins of the lion-slayer type), *Mahendra Kumāra* (on coins of the peacock type) *Mahendra-kalpa* (Tumain Ins.), *Siṁha Vikrama* (on coins of the lion-slayer type; Allan, *Gupta Coins*, p. 80), *Vyāghra bala-parākrama* (on coins of the tiger-slayer type) and *Śrī Pratāpa*. On the swordsman type of gold coins and on copper coins of the Garuḍa and possibly siṁha-vāhinī types the emperor is simply called Śrī Kumāra Gupta. The title Mahendrāditya with the epithet *Parama bhāgavata*, 'devoted worshipper of the Bhagavat (Vishṇu-Kṛishṇa),' is found on silver coins, apparently struck in Surāshṭra.

c21.s2.4

³ The date 96 (=A.D. 415) is found in the Bilsar Inscription and the date 136 (=A.D. 455) on silver coins (*EHI*, 4th ed., pp 345-46). The Eraṇ inscription of Samudra Gupta refers to his 'virtuous and faithful wife' and many sons and son's sons of the royal pair. From this it seems probable that Kumāra Gupta and his brothers were already born during the reign of their grandfather, and that Kumāra had seen not less than some thirty five summers before his accession. As he reigned for at least forty years, he could not have died before the age of 75 (approximately).

c21.s2.5

⁴ The possession of the central disrticts in the Ganges valley is, according to Allan, confirmed by the silver coins of the peacock type (cf. the Ayodhyā coins of Āryamitra, *CHI*, I. 538 and Meghadūta I. 45.) and the inclusion of the western province by those of the Garuḍa type. Silverplaited coins with a copper core were intended for circulation in the Valabhī area, and coins of small thick fabric resembling the Traikūṭaka coinage were apparently struck in South Gujarāt (Allan, pp. xciii ff.)

c21.s2.6

¹ *Cf.* the Dāmodarpur plates of the years 124 and 128. (*Ep. xvii.* 193). The Baigram inscription of the year 128 (A. D. 447-48) refers to a *Kumārāmātya* named Kulavṛiddhi who governed a *vishaya* with its headquarters at Pañchanagarī, possibly Pañchabībī or Pañchgaḍ on the Karatoyā, *H. Standard* 14-10-47 in N. Bengal. *Ep. Ind.*, XXI, 78 ff. Year Book, ASB, 1950, 200. The Sultanpur or Kalaikuḍi Inscription (*Bangaśrī* 1350 B. S. *Baisākha*, pp. 415-51 and *Bhādra*; *IHQ* XIX. 12) of the year 120 = A. D. 439 in the Bogra district, makes mention of another officer, the Āyuktaka, Achyutadāsa of Purṇakauśikā in Śṛiṅgaveravīthī. The Natore Inscription of A. D. 432 (JPASB, 1911) is another record of Kumāra's reign found in N. Bengal.

c21.s2.7

² Tumain in the Guna district of the Gwaliar state, about 50 miles to the north-west of Eraṇ. M. B. Garde, *Ind. Ant.*, xlix 1920, p. 114, *Ep. Ind.* xxvi (1941), pp. 115 ff; Tumain Inscription of the year 116, *i.e.*, A. D. 435. The identity of the prince mentioned in the record, with Śrī Ghaṭotkacha Gupta of seals and Ghaṭo Kramāditya of coins is uncertain (Allan, xvi, xl, liv) Hema Chandra (in the *Pariśishṭa parvan*, xii. 2-3) places Tumbavana in the Avantideśa, 'the ornament of the western half of Bhārata' in Jambūdvīpa.

c21.s2.8

³ Mandasor Inscription of A. D. 437-38. Bhide suggests (*JBORS*, VII, March, 1921, pp. 33 f) that Viśva-varman of Gupta Ins. No. 17 is an independent king, who flourished a century before his namesake of ins. No. 18, who is a governor (*Goptṛi*) of the Guptas. S. Majumdar points out that even Viśvavarman of Ins. No. 17 must be later than Naravarman of V. S 461 (= A. D. 404-05). In the Bihar Kotra (Rājgaḍh state, Mālwa) Ins. (*Ep. Ind.* xxvi. 130 ff) of Mahārāja Naravarman of the year 474 (*i.e.*, A. D., 417—18) the king is styled 'aulikara', thus establishing his connection with Vishṇuvardhana of the Mālava Era 589 (A. D. 532-33).

c21.s2.9

*Ihaiva Jambūdvīpe 'pāg Bharatārdhā vibhūshaṇam*
*Avantīriti deśo' sti svargadeśīya ṛiddhibhiḥ*
*tatra Tumbavanamiti vidyate sanniveśanam*

c21.s2.10

founts of the vivifying liquid, and smiles with the flowers of its forest glens."

c21.s2.11

Like his father, Kumāra was a tolerant king. During his rule the worship of *Svāmī Mahāsena* (*Kārttikeya*), of Buddha, of Śiva in the *liṅga* form and of the sun, as well as that of Vishṇu, flourished peacefully side by side.¹

c21.s2.12

¹ *Cf.* the Bilsaḍ, Mankuwar, Karamadaṇḍe and Mandasor inscriptions. Śiva appears to have been the favourite deity of many high ministers, Vishṇu of the most powerful ruling race and the sun of traders and artisans in the early Gupta period. The expression *Jitaṁ Bhagavatā* appears to have been popularised by the king. His example seems to have been followed by Mādhava Gaṅga of Penukonda plates (Ep. Ind. XIV. 334), Vishṇuvarman I Kadamba of Hebbata grant (Mys. A. S., A. R., 1925. 98), Nandivarman Pallava of Udayendiram (Ep. Ind., III. 145) and other kings of the south. The popularity of the cult of Kārttikeya is well illustrated not only by the sanctuaries erected in his honour, but also by the names Kumāra and Skanda assumed by members of the imperial family, and the issue of the peacock type of coins by the emperor Kumāra Gupta I. The Gupta empire reached the zenith of its splendour before its final decline in the time of the originator of the 'peacock' coins, as a later empire did in the days of the builder of the peacock-throne.

c21.s2.13

The two notable events of Kumāra's reign are the celebration of the horse sacrifice, evidenced by the rare *Aśvamedha* type of his gold coinage, and the temporary eclipse of the Gupta power by the Pushyamitras. The reading Pushyamitra in the Bhitarī inscription is, however, not accepted by some scholars because the second syllable of this name is damaged.² Mr. H. R. Divekar in his article—"*Pusyamitras in the Gupta Period*"³ makes the plausible emendation *Yudhy* = *amitrāṁś* = *ca* for Dr. Fleet's reading *Pusyamitrāṁs* = *ca* in the Bhitarī Pillar Inscription.⁴ It is admitted on all hands that during the concluding years of Kumāra's reign the Gupta empire "had been made to totter." Whether the reference in the inscription is simply to *amitras* (enemies), or to Pushyamitras, cannot be satisfactorily determined. We should, however, remember in this connection that a people called Pushyamitra is actually referred to in the *Vishṇu Purāṇa* and a Pushyamitika-Kula in the Jain *Kalpasūtra*.¹ The Purāṇa text associates the Pushyamitras, Paṭumitras, Durmitras and others with the region of Mekala near the source of the Nerbudda.² References to the warlike activities of Mekala and the neighbouring realm of Kosala that had once been overrun by Kumāra’s grandfather, are found in inscriptions of the Vākāṭaka relations of Kumāra Gupta. Bāṇa relates the tragic story of a ruler of Magadha who was carried off by the ministers of the lord of Mekala. A passage in the Mankuwar stone image inscription of the year 129 (A.D. 449) where the emperor Kumāra Gupta I is styled simply *Mahārāja Śrī* instead of *Mahārājādhirāja Śrī* has been interpreted by some scholars to mean that he was possibly deprived by his enemies of his status as paramount sovereign. But the theory is rendered improbable by the Dāmodarpur plate of about the same date where Kumāra is given full imperial titles. It may be noted in this connection that in several inscriptions, and on certain coins, his immediate predecessors, too, are simply called *Rājā* or *Mahārāja*.

c21.s2.14

² *Cf.* Fleet, CII, p. 55 n.

c21.s2.15

³ *Annals of the Bhandarkar Institute*, 1919-20, 99 f.

c21.s2.16

⁴ *CII*, iii, p. 55.

c21.s2.17

¹ SBE, XXII, 292 *Cf.* the legend *Pusamitasa* found on Bhīṭā seals in characters of the Kushān period or a somewhat earlier date (JRAS, 1911, 138).

c21.s2.18

² *Vish.*, IV, 24. 17; Wilson, IX, 213. “Pushyamitra, and Paṭumitra and others to the number of 13 will rule over Mekalā.” The commentary, however, distinguishes the 13 Pushyamitra-Paṭumitras from the 7 Mekalas. But from the context it is apparent that the position of the Pushyamitras was between the Māhishyas (people of Māhishmatī ?) and the Mekalas in the Nerbudda-Son valleys if not in a part of the country of the Mekalas themselves. *Cf.* Fleet, JRAS, 1889, 228, *cf.* also Bhīṭā seals. For Mekalā see also *Ep. Ind.* xxvii 138 f.

c21.s2.19

The assumption of the title *Vyāghra-bala-parākrama* “displaying the strength and prowess of a tiger”, on coins of the *tiger-slayer* type, by Kumāra may possibly indicate that he attempted to repeat the southern venture of his grandfather and penetrate into the tiger-infested forest territory beyond the Nerbudda. Expansion towards the south is also indicated by a find of 1,395 coins in the Satara District.¹ But the imperial troops must have met with disaster. The fallen fortunes of the Gupta family were restored by prince Skanda Gupta who may have been appointed his father's warden in the Ghāzīpur region, the Aṭavi or Forest Country of ancient times.²

c21.s2.20

¹ Allan, p. cxxx. *Cf.* also the Kadamba inscription referring to social relations between the Kadambas of the fifth century and the Guptas.

c21.s2.21

² *Cf.* the Bhitarī Inscription.

c21.s2.22

The only queen of Kumāra I named in the genealogical portion of extant inscriptions is Anantadevī. He had at least two sons, *viz.*, Puru Gupta, son of Anantadevī, and Skanda Gupta the name of whose mother is, in the opinion of some scholars, not given in the inscriptions. Sewell, however, suggests that it was Devakī.³ This is not an unlikely assumption as otherwise the comparison of the widowed Gupta empress with Kṛishṇa's mother in verse 6 of the Bhitarī Pillar Inscription will be less explicable. Hiuen Tsang calls Buddha Gupta (*Fo-to-kio-to*) or Budha Gupta,⁴ a son (or descendant ?) of Śakrāditya.⁵ The only predecessor of Budha Gupta who had a synonymous title was Kumāra Gupta I who is called Mahendrāditya on coins. *Mahendra* is the same as *Śakra*.

c21.s2.23

³ *Historical Inscriptions of Southern India*, p. 319.

c21.s2.24

⁴ The name *Fo-to-kio-to* has been restored as Buddha Gupta. But we have no independent evidence regarding the existence of a king named Buddha Gupta about this period. The synchronism of his successor's successor Bālāditya with Mihirakula indicates that the king meant was Budha Gupta, *cf.* also *Ind. Ant.*, 1886, 251 n.

c21.s2.25

⁵ That Śakrāditya was a reality is proved by a Nālandā seal (H. Sastri, *MASI*, No. 66, p. 38). To him is ascribed an establishment at Nālandā, the far-famed place, which grew into a great university in the seventh century A. D. The pilgrim was not indulging in mere fancy as suggested by Śrī N. Sāstrī in a treatise on Nālandā.

c21.s2.26

The use of terms conveying the same meaning as titles and epithets was not unknown in the Gupta period. *Vikramāditya* was also called *Vikramāṅka*. Skanda Gupta is called both *Vikramāditya* and *Kramāditya*, both the words meaning "puissant like the sun" or "striding like the sun." If Śakrāditya of Hiuen Tsang be identical with Mahendrāditya or Kumāra I, Buddha Gupta¹ was closely related to Kumāra. Another member of Kumāra's family was possibly Ghaṭotkacha Gupta.²

c21.s2.27

¹ Recent discoveries show that Budha Gupta was really a grandson (*not a son*) of Kumāra Gupta I. The Chinese pilgrim may have failed to distinguish between a son and a grandson. Cf. The Kopparam plates where Pulakeśin II is represented as a grandson of Kīrtivarman I. But he was really the son of the latter. It is also possible that Śakrāditya was an epithet of Purugupta, the father of Budha.

c21.s2.28

² The Tumain Inscription referred to by Mr. Garde; *cf.* also the Basārh seal mentioning Śrī Ghaṭotkacha Gupta. The exact relationship with Kumāra is, however, not stated in the inscription.

Linked texts (12)