Political History of Ancient India, from the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty c26.50

c26.50

The uprising of the Pushyamitras, the invasions of the Huns and the intransigentism of provincial governors and feudatories, were not the only sources of trouble to the Guptas in the last days of their sovereignty. Along with foreign inroads and provincial insubordination we should not fail to take note of the dissensions in the Imperial family itself. The theory of a struggle amongst the sons of Kumāra Gupta I may or may not be true, but there is evidence to show that the descendants of Chandra Gupta II did not pull on well together, and the later kings who bore the Gupta name sometimes took opposite sides in the struggles and convulsions of the period. The later Imperial Guptas do not seem to have been on friendly terms with their Vākāṭaka cousins. Narendrasena Vākāṭaka, a great-grandson of Chandra Gupta II through his daughter Prabhāvatī, seems to have come into hostile contact with the lord of Mālava. Narendrasena's cousin Harisheṇa claims victories over Avantī. Inasmuch as the Guptas are associated with parts of Mālava as late as the time of Harsha, some of the victories gained by the Vākāṭakas must have been won over their Gupta cousins. In the seventh century A.D., Deva Gupta appears as an enemy of Harsha's family, while Mādhava Gupta was a friend.