Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c26.3

c26.3

Towards the close of the fifth century A.D. the empire built up by the genius of Samudra Gupta and Vikramāditya was fast hastening towards dissolution. Skanda Gupta (A.D. 455- c. 467) was the last king of the Early Gupta line who is known to have controlled the westernmost provinces. After A.D. 467 there is no evidence that the Imperial Guptas had anything to do with Surāshṭra or the major part of Western Mālwa.² Budha Gupta (A.D. 476-77 to c. 495) was probably the last prince of the family to be implicitly obeyed on the banks of the Lower Ganges as well as the Narmadā. The rulers who came after him retained a precarious hold for some time on Eastern Mālwa and North Bengal. But they had to fight with enemies on all sides, and, if a tradition recorded by Jinasena,¹ is to be believed, their power collapsed in A.D. 551 (320+231) :