Tribes in Ancient India c50.161

c50.161

The greatest military achievement of Candragupta Vikramāditya was his advance to the Arabian Sea through Malwa and Gujarat, and his subjugation of the peninsula of Surāṣṭra or Kathiawaḍ, governed for centuries by rulers known as Śaka Satraps.⁶ As a result of the western expedition, Malwa and Surāṣṭra were added to the Gupta dominions. Another event of political importance was the Emperor’s matrimonial alliance with the Vākāṭaka king of the Deccan, by the marriage of the Emperor's daughter Prabhāvatī with King Rudrasena II, son of Pṛthivīseṇa I. The original capital of Magadha under Candragupta II was Pāṭaliputra, but after his western conquests, Ujjain was made a second capital. Smith says: ‘Ajodhyā enjoyed a more favourable situation and appears to have been at times the headquarters of the government of both Samudragupta and his son, the latter of whom probably had a mint for copper coins there. There is reason to believe that during the fifth century Ajodhyā rather than Pāṭaliputra, was the premier city of the Gupta empire.’¹