Historical Geography of Ancient India c8.400

c8.400

Pāṭaliputra was the capital of later Śiśunāgas, the Nandas and also the great Maurya emperors, Candragupta and Aśoka, but it ceased to be the ordinary residence of the Gupta sovereigns after the completion of the conquests made by Samudragupta (V. A. Smith, *Early History of India*, 4th ed., p. 309). During the reign of Candragupta Vikramāditya it was a magnificent and populous city and was apparently not ruined until the time of the Hūṇa invasion in the 6th century. Harṣavardhana, who was the paramount sovereign of Northern India in the 7th century A.D., made no attempt to restore it (V. A. Smith, *Early History of India*, 4th ed., p. 310). Śaśāṅka Narendragupta, king of Gauḍa and Karṇasuvarṇa destroyed the Buddha's footprints at Pāṭaliputra and demolished many Buddhist temples and monasteries (S. C. Vidyābhūṣaṇa, *History of Indian Logic*, p. 349). Dharmapāla, the most powerful of the Pāla kings of Bengal and Bihar took steps to renew the glory of Pāṭaliputra (V. A. Smith, *Early History of India*, 4th ed., pp. 310-11).