Gupta empire was in existence from Mid-3rd century AD to Mid-6th Century BC but it was reached to its extent during the period c. 317 AD – c. 467 AD. Gupta age was presented as the Golden age by the Nationalist school of Indian History in the counter of Colonial School of Indian History. The Gupta dynasty was founded by Sri Gupta. There were number of important events happened during the Gupta age.
Military campaigns of Samudra Gupta made Gupta empire stronger than ever. There is conflict about the existence of Rama Gupta as the ruler of Gupta empire. Skanda Gupta’s war with Hunas was one of the major reasons of decline of Gupta empire. We will discuss them in detail in this post.
Also Read : Gupta Age – Nature and Character of Administration
Gupta Age – Foundation and Political System
Military campaigns of Samudra Gupta
Samudra Gupta was a great military ruler who fought number of wars and battles and the success of these campaigns transformed the Gupta kingdom into a great empire. The Allahabad inscription, Pune inscriptions and the coins issued by Samudra Gupta, all of these throw light on the military achievements of Samudra Gupta. The Allahabad inscription was composed by Harisena, the war and peace minister of Guptas.
He wrote about the campaigns of Samudra Gupta in detail as he was the eye-witness of these achievements. He mentioned that Samudra Gupta annexed and conquered nine kingdoms of North India and followed the policy of direct rule over them. This policy was known as Prasabbohdarana. He also defeated an alliance of twelve kings of south India which was led by Vishnugopa of Kanchi but they were released when they accepted the overlordship of Samudra Gupta.
Hence, he followed the policy of indirect rule over south Indian kingdoms, this policy came to known as Grahanamokshaanugraha. Allahabad inscriptions also informed that he defeated number of forest tribes and made them servants of state. These tribes probably living in central Indian part. A number of frontier states like Nepal, Assam, Bengal and Punjab were also subjected by him.
According to inscriptions, many of republican states accepted the overlordship of Samudra Gupta voluntarily by hearing the stories of his might. He issued tiger slayer and Ashvamedha type of coins which indicates the military success of him. He adopted the title of Sarvorajochheta (annihilator of all kings) which confirm that he was a great military conqueror. Pune copper plate inscription of Prabhavati Gupta also confirmed that Ashwamedha sacrifice was performed by Samudra Gupta.
History of Rama Gupta
It was believed that Samudra Gupta was succeeded by Chandra Gupta, the second. But in 1924, R.D. Banerji put forward new theory, according to that there was king Rama Gupta between the reigns of Samudra Gupta and Chandra Gupta. Initially this theory was not taken seriously as it was based on the story of Devichandraguptam, a drama written by Vishakha Dutta in 6th century.
According to this drama, the king Rama Gupta was defeated by Shaka king of Western India and Rama made to surrender his wife, Dhruva Devi. These things were not accepted by Chandra Gupta and he attacked Shaka kingdom and killed the king and after that he return and killed Rama Gupta and married Dhruva Devi and sat on throne. Initially this was not taken seriously but later researcher found various literary and archeological evidence of existence of Rama Gupta.
The reference similar to Devichandraguptam also found in Kavyamimansa of Rajshekhar, Harshacharita of Banabhatta and Shangarprakash of king Bhoja. But form the reference of Kambe and Sangli copper plate inscriptions of Rashtrakuta king Govinda, it tells that Chandra Gupta was not cruel towards his brother and he did not marry his brother’s wife.
Recently, three Jain images and six copper coins were found. Images were found from Durjanpur (near Vidisha). At the base of these images word Rama Gupta is written. This suggested that he was a Jaina and probably because of that he lost battle to Shaka king. The script found on this epithet found on these images is similar to Eran inscriptions of Samudra Gupta and Udaigiri inscription of Chandra Gupta.
Six coins were found at Bhilsa and Eran. These coins have fragmented words such as Mgu, Ramgu, and Gupta written on them. Taking together, these words mean Rama Gupta.
Skanda Gupta’s War with Hunas
Skanda was one of the important rulers of Gupta empire. He ruled for 12 years, from c. 455 to c. 467 AD. and during his reign Hunas posed a very serious challenges to safety and security of Gupta empire. Hunas were the tribe like peoples who were from central Asia. They first India during the reign of Kumara Gupta. According to evidences, there were two major challenges emerged during the reign of Kumara Gupta, first was Hunas and other was Pushyamitras – a group of peoples living in the valley of River Narmada.
Huna invaders were defeated by Prince Skanda Gupta on the banks of River Sindh, modern historians believed that it was River Kalisindh flowing though Madhya Pradesh. According to Junagarh inscription, Skanda Gupta defeated Malechhas, a common term used for foreigners and these foreigners were identifies as Hunas. Bhittari inscription of Skanda Gupta contains title Avanivijitya, conqueror of foreigners.
According to Kathasaritsagar of Somdev, king Vikramaditya, title of Skanda Gupta, defeated Hunas. But over the time the threat of Hunas attack increased with time and the successors of Skanda Gupta also fought against Hunas. According to the Eran inscription of Gupta king, Bhanu Gupta, his commander Goparaja died while fighting against Hunas.
Thus, the Hunas continuous attacks on India posed serious challenges to Gupta empire and it was one of the main reasons of decline of Gupta empire.
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