Samudragupta

Samudragupta, the second ruler of the Gupta Empire, inherited his father's kingdom in the fourth century CE and through a long series of campaigns made it the leading power of northern India. Much of what is known about him comes from a single boastful eulogy carved on a stone pillar, which historians read with both gratitude and caution.

The chronology of his reign is unsettled. Gupta inscriptions count years from an era beginning around 319 CE, but scholars disagree over whether his father or he himself founded it, and the date of a Sri Lankan king he dealt with is also disputed. Estimates for his accession therefore run from about 319 to about 350; A. L. Basham, for example, proposed roughly 335 to 376, and S. R. Goyal about 350 to 375. His reign probably ended before about 380, when his granddaughter married in the time of his son. His birth year is not securely known.

He was a son of the Gupta king Chandragupta I and Queen Kumaradevi, of the prestigious Licchavi clan. Two of his inscriptions describe his father choosing him as successor before the assembled court, praising his virtue and courage, which suggests that Chandragupta stepped aside in old age. One line notes that others "of equal birth" looked crestfallen, which some read as a sign of rival princes. Coins of a ruler named Kacha closely resemble his, and scholars still debate whether Kacha was Samudragupta under an earlier name or a competitor.

The pillar inscription at Allahabad, composed by his minister Harishena, lists his conquests in rough geographical order and claims he fought a hundred battles. In the north, the land called Aryavarta, he is said to have "uprooted" a string of kings, including Naga rulers, and absorbed their territories. In the south he led an expedition down the eastern coast as far as Kanchipuram, capital of the Pallavas, listing twelve southern rulers whom he captured and then released, most likely as tributaries. A minority of scholars suspect he got no further than the Krishna River and that the release was a face-saving gloss on a retreat. Forest chiefs of central India and frontier peoples, including tribal republics in Punjab and Rajasthan, are also said to have submitted.

Historians stress that this is court praise. R. C. Majumdar's reconstruction places his direct rule between the Ravi River in the west and the Brahmaputra in the east, and from the Himalayan foothills to the Vindhya hills, with the southern kings paying tribute rather than being ruled.

The inscription also lists distant rulers who supposedly sought his favour, among them a "Daivaputra-Shahi-Shahanushahi", variously identified with late Kushan princes, the Kidarite ruler of Gandhara or even the Sasanian king Shapur II, and the king of Simhala, today's Sri Lanka. Chinese sources show that this Sri Lankan king, Meghavarna, asked permission to build a monastery for pilgrims at Bodh Gaya, which Samudragupta granted; the eulogy turned the request into submission.

Samudragupta was a devotee of Vishnu and patron of Brahmanical rites. He performed the Ashvamedha horse sacrifice, a traditional proof of supreme kingship, and issued gold coins to mark it, though his successors' claim that he revived a long-forgotten rite ignores several kings who had held it shortly before. His coinage adapted the weight standard and designs of the Kushan Empire. One gold type shows him playing a veena, supporting the inscription's claims that he was a gifted musician and a poet, though none of his verse survives.

His son Chandragupta II succeeded him and carried his expansionist policy further. Samudragupta's reputation as an undefeated conqueror rests largely on his court's own propaganda, and his son's Mathura inscription went on to hail him as the "exterminator of all kings".

Our 400 map shows the Gupta realm spanning northern India shortly after his reign; our 300 map shows the region before his conquests.