Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c26.37.3

c26.37.3

The distinct statement in the Harāhā Inscription that the Gauḍas were on the seashore clearly suggests that the Bengal littoral and not Oudh, was the seat of the people in the sixth century A.D. In the next century, their king Śaśāṅka is found in possession of Karṇasuvarṇa near Murshidābād. In the century that follows a Gauḍa appears, in the *Gauḍa-vaho* of Vākpati-rāja, as the occupant of the throne of Magadha. The zenith of Gauḍa power is reached in the ninth century when the Gauḍa dominion extends over the Gangetic Doāb and Kanauj. About the early kings of the Gauḍas our information is meagre. Certain copper-plate inscriptions, discovered in the Faridpur and Burdwan⁵ Districts, disclose the existence of three kings—Dharmāditya, Gopachandra⁶ and Samāchāradeva, who are described as overlords of Navyāvakāśikā, Vāraka-maṇḍala, and, in one case, of Vardhamāna-*bhukti* (Burdwan Division). The Vappaghoshavāṭa inscription introduces to us a fourth king, viz., Jayanāga, who ruled at Karṇasuvarṇa. These kings are, however, not expressly referred to as Gauḍas. The earliest king, to whom that epithet is applied is the famous Śaśāṅka, the great rival of Rājya-vardhana of Thanesar and his brother Harsha. The title *Mahārājādhirāja* assumed by the Bengal kings mentioned above, leaves no room for doubt that they no longer acknowledged the suzerainty of the Guptas and set themselves up as independent sovereigns.