Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c22.s6.50

c22.s6.50

⁴ *Cf.* the *Gauḍavaho* by Vākpatirāja. Banerji confounds the Gauḍas with the later Guptas. In the Harāhā Inscription the Gauḍas are associated with the sea-coast, *Samudrāśraya*, while the later Guptas, as is well-known, had their centres in the hinterland including Magadha and Mālwa. The people on the seashore were, according to the evidence of the Aphsaḍ Inscription, hostile to Jīvita Gupta I. The *Praśastikāra* of the Aphsaḍ record is expressly mentioned as a Gauḍa, a designation that is never applied to his patrons. The family of Kṛishṇa Gupta is simply characterised as *Sadvamśa* and there is not the slightest hint that the kings of the line and their panegyrist belonged to the same nationality. The fact that Gauḍa is the designation of the lord of Magadha in the days of Yaśovarman early in the eighth century cannot be taken to prove that Gauḍa and later Gupta are interchangeable terms. In this period lordship of Magadha is not inseparably connected only with later Gupta lineage. *Cf.* the passage *Magadhādhipatyamahatām jāta kule varmaṇām*, which proves the xistence of non-Gupta lines among rulers of Magadha in this age.