Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c22.s6.2

c22.s6.2

¹ Although the rulers, the names of most of whom ended in-*gupta*, mentioned in the Aphsaḍ and connected contemporary epigraphs, who ruled over the provinces in the heart of the early Gupta empire, are called "Guptas" for the sake of convenience, their relationship with the early *Gupta-kula* or *Gupta-vaṁśa* is not known. It is, however, to be noted that some of them (*e.g.*, Kumāra Gupta and Deva Gupta), bore names that are found in the earlier family, and Kṛishṇa Gupta, the founder of the line, has been identified by some with Govinda Gupta, son of Chandra Gupta II. But the last suggestion is hardly acceptable, because Govinda must have flourished more than half a century before Kṛishṇa Gupta. And it is surprising that the panegyrists of Kṛishṇa Gupta's descendants should have omitted all references to the early Guptas if their patrons could really lay claim to such an illustrious ancestry. In the Aphsaḍ inscription the dynasty is described simply as *Sad-vaṁśa* 'of good lineage'. The designation *Gupta*, albeit not "Early Imperial Gupta," is possibly justified by the evidence of Bāṇa. The Guptas and the Gupta *Kulaputra* mentioned in Bāṇa's *Kādambarī* and *Harsha-charita* may refer to the family of Kṛishṇa, if not to some hitherto unknown descendants of the early imperial line. One of the princes of the early Gupta line, Ghaṭotkacha Gupta of the Tumain inscription is known to have ruled over Eastern Mālwa and it is not impossible that Kṛishṇa Gupta was, in some way, connected with him. We must, however, await future discoveries to clear up the point.