The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c29.164

c29.164

About ten years later the nomads, having appeared in greater force, overwhelmed the kingdom of Gandhāra, or Peshāwar; and starting from that base, as already related, penetrated into the heart of the Gangetic provinces, and overthrew the Gupta empire.³ The collapse of Persian opposition in 484 must have greatly facilitated the eastern movement of the horde, and allowed immense multitudes to cross the Indian frontier. The leader in this invasion of India, which, no doubt, continued for years, was a chieftain named Toramāna, who is known to have been established as ruler of Mālwa in Central India prior to A. D. 500. He assumed the style and titles of an Indian 'sovereign of *māhārājas*'; and Bhānugupta, as well as the king of Valabhī and many other local princes, must have been his tributaries.¹