[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924) › c29.52 # The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c29.52 The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c29.52 - **Language:** English ### [c29.52](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c29.52) It was presumably after his return from the south that Samudragupta determined to celebrate his manifold victories and proclaim the universality of his dominion by reviving the ancient rite of the horse-sacrifice (\*aśvamedha\*), which had remained long in abeyance, and probably had not been performed in Northern India since the days of Pushyamitra. The ceremony was duly carried out with appropriate splendour, and accompanied by lavish gifts to Brahmans, comprising, it is said, millions of coins and gold pieces. Specimens of the gold medals struck for this purpose, bearing a suitable legend and the effigy of the doomed horse standing before the altar, have been found in small numbers. Another memorial of the event seems to exist in the rudely carved stone figure of a horse which was found in Northern Oudh, and now stands in the Lucknow Museum with traces of a brief dedicatory inscription incised upon it, apparently referring to Samudragupta.¹ - [Previous: c29.51](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c29.51) - [Next: c29.53](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c29.53) - [Up: c29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c29) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c29.52](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.smith-1924.c29.52) · Pramāṇa