The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c29.60

c29.60

The son thus selected, who probably had been associated as Crown Prince (*yuvarāja*) with his father in the cares of government, assumed the name of his grandfather, in accordance with Hindu custom, and is therefore distinguished in the dynastic list as Chandra-gupta II. He also took the title of Vikramāditya ('Sun of Power'), and has a better claim than any other sovereign to be regarded as the original of the mythical king of that name who figures so largely in Indian legends. The precise date of his accession is not recorded, but it cannot be far removed from A. D. 375; and, pending the discovery of some coin or inscription to settle the matter, that date may be assumed as approximately correct. So far as appears, the succession to the throne was accomplished peacefully without contest, and the new emperor, who must have been a man of mature age at the time of his accession, found himself in a position to undertake the extension of the wide dominion bequeathed to him by his ever-victorious father. He did not renew Samudragupta's southern adventures, preferring to seek room for expansion towards the south-west.¹