Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c25.16

c25.16

Regarding the possibility of a king of Mālava carrying his arms to the banks of the Lauhitya, attention may be invited to the Mandasor inscription of Yaśodharman. In the case of Mahāsena Gupta a careful student of the Aphsaḍ inscription cannot fail to note that the way before him had been prepared by his immediate predecessors. Kumāra Gupta, his grandfather, had pushed to Prayāga, while Dāmodara Gupta, father of Mahāsena Gupta, claims to have "broken up the proudly stepping array of mighty elephants, belonging to the Maukhari"¹—the same power which we have already seen, held control of Magadha a little before Harsha's conquest of the Province. The Gauḍa expansion had already been stopped for a time by the victories of Iśānavarman Maukhari. What was there to prevent the son of Dāmodara Gupta (who must have assumed command after the *death* of his father on the battle-field)' from pushing on to the Lauhitya?