A History of Sanskrit Literature c11.s1.1

c11.s1.1

UTTER obscurity attends the decline of the power of the followers of Kaniṣka in India,¹ but it is certain that in A.D. 320 Candragupta founded, as a result of a matrimonial alliance with a Licchavi princess, a dynasty with head-quarters at Pāṭaliputra, which under his son, Samudragupta (*c.* A.D. 330–75), stood out as the paramount power in northern India, while his grandson, Candragupta II, completed its success by overthrowing the Kṣatrapas and adding Mālwa, Gujarāt, and Kāṭhiāwār to the empire. His son and successor, Kumāragupta (A.D. 413–55), seems to have reigned in unbroken prosperity, and Skandagupta, his son, shortly after his reign began, won a decided success over the Hūṇa invaders who were advancing from the north-west and menacing India. But between A.D. 465 and 470 the Hūṇa advance seems to have become irresistible, and at any rate after the death of Skandagupta about 480 the greatness of the empire was irretrievably departed, though the dynasty continued to rule sadly diminished dominions for several generations. By 499 Toramāṇa, leader of the Hūṇas, was established as ruler of Mālwā, while his successor, Mihiragula, had his capital at Siālkōṭ in the Panjāb. The expulsion of the Huns seems to have been the result about 528 of a victory won by Yaçodharman, a ruler of central India, and the Gupta Bālāditya of Magadha, but the records are curiously unsatisfactory. At any rate Mihiragula retreated to Kashmir, where he won an unenviable reputation,² and shortly after 550 the Turks conquered the Hun kingdom on the Oxus.