The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c29.123

c29.123

The golden age of the Guptas comprised a period of a century and a quarter (A. D. 330–455), covered by three reigns of exceptional length. The death of Kumāragupta I, which can be fixed definitely as having occurred early in 455, marks the beginning of the decline and fall of the empire. Even before his death, his kingdom had become involved, about the year 450, in serious distress by a war with a rich and powerful nation named Pushyamitra, otherwise almost unknown to history.² The imperial armies were defeated, and the shock of military disaster had endangered the stability of the dynasty, which was ‘tottering’ to its fall, when the energy and ability of Skandagupta, the Crown Prince, restored the fortunes of his family by effecting the overthrow of the enemy. A small detail recorded by the contemporary document indicates the severity of the struggle; for we are told that the heir-apparent, while preparing to retrieve the calamities of his house, was obliged to spend a night sleeping on the bare ground.