The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c29.16

c29.16

¹ Fleet, *J. R. A. S.*, 1909, p. 342. A few rare coins issued by Kācha or Kacha exist which closely resemble the issues of Samudragupta in certain respects. Some authors suppose Kācha or Kacha to be identical with Samudragupta, but the better opinion regards him as a rival brother of that king. His reign, if a reality, must have been very brief, probably not exceeding a few months. Nothing whatever being known about him except that he coined some gold pieces, Samudragupta may be regarded for all practical purposes as the immediate successor of his father. His selection is vividly described in the Allāhābād inscription: ‘ “Here is a noble man!” With these words the father embraced him, with shivers of joy that spoke of his affection, and looked at him, with eyes heavy with tears and overcome with love—the courtiers breathing freely with joy and the kinsmen of equal grade looking up with sad faces—and said to him: “Protect then this whole earth” ’ (Bühler, as transl. in *Ind. Ant.*, 1913, p. 176).