Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c22.s6.40

c22.s6.40

In or about A.D. 608 the Guptas seem to have lost Vidiśā to the Kaṭachchuris. Magadha was held a little before A.D. 637 by Pūrṇavarman. **Mādhava Gupta**, the younger or youngest son of Mahāsena Gupta, remained a subordinate ally of Harsha of Thanesar and Kanauj and apparently resided at his court. In the period 618-27, Harsha "punished the kings of four parts of India" and in 641 assumed the title of King of Magadha.¹ After his death the Gupta sovereignty in Magadha was revived by **Ādityasena**, a prince of remarkable vigour and ability, who found his opportunity in the commotion which followed the usurpation of Harsha's throne by Arjuna (?). For this "Later Gupta" king we have a number of inscriptions which prove that he ruled over a wide territory extending to the shores of the oceans. The Aphsaḍ, Shāhpur and Mandāra inscriptions recognise his undisputed possession of south and part of east Bihār. A Deoghar inscription, noticed by Fleet,² describes him as the ruler of the whole earth up to the shores of the seas, and the performer of the *Aśvamedha* and the other great sacrifices. He renewed contact with the Gauḍas as well as the Maukharis and received a Gauḍa named Sūkshamśiva in his service. A Maukhari chief, Bhogavarman, accepted the hands of his daughter³ and presumably became his subordinate ally. The Dēo-Baraṇārk inscription refers to the *Jayaskandhāvāra* of his great-grandson Jīvita Gupta II at *Gomatīkoṭṭaka*. This clearly suggests that the so-called Later Guptas, and not the Maukharis, dominated about this time the Gomatī valley in the *Madhya-deśa*. The Mandāra inscription applies to Ādityasena the imperial titles of *Parama-bhaṭṭāraka* and *Mahārājādhirāja*. We learn from the Shāhpur stone image inscription that he was ruling in the year A.D. 672-73. It is not improbable that he or his son Deva Gupta (III) is the *Sakalottarā-patha-nātha*, lord of the whole of North India, who was defeated by the Chalukya kings Vinayāditya (A.D. 680-96) and Vijayāditya.¹