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The Guptas - Part 1
1.0 INTRODUCTION
After the break-up of the Mauryan Empire, the Satavahanas and the Kushans emerged as two large political powers. The Satavahanas brought political unity and economic prosperity to the southern part of the Indian peninsula on the strength of their trade with the Roman Empire. The Kushans performed the same role in the North. However, both these Empires came to an end in the middle of the third century A.D.
On the ruins of the Kushans Empire rose the Gupta Empire, which established its way over a good part of the former dominions of both the Kushans and Satavahans.
Although the Gupta Empire was not as large as the Maurya Empire, it kept North India politically united for more than a century, from 335 to 455. The original kingdom of the Guptas comprised Uttar Pradesh and Bihar at the end of the third century A.D. Uttar Pradesh seems to have been a more important province for the Guptas than Bihar, because early Gupta coins and inscriptions have been mainly found in that state. If we leave out some feudatories and private individuals, whose inscriptions have been mostly found in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh will stand out as the most important area in respect of the find of the Gupta antiquities. Hence Uttar Pradesh seems to have been the place from where the Guptas operated and fanned out in different directions. Probably, with their centre of power at Prayag they spread in the neighbouring regions.
The Guptas were possibly the feudatories of the Kushans in Uttar Pradesh. Archaeological evidence suggests that the Guptas seem to have succeeded the Kushans without any wide time-lag. At many places in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar the Kushan antiquities are immediately followed by the Gupta antiquities. It is likely that the Guptas learnt the use of saddle, reins, buttoned-coats, trousers and boots from the Kushans. All these gave them mobility and made them excellent horsemen. In the Kushan scheme of things, chariots and elephants had ceased to be important and Horses played the main part. This also seems to have been the case with the Guptas on whose coins horsemen are represented. Although some Gupta kings are described as excellent and unrivalled chariot warriors their basic strength lay in the use of horses.
2.0 POLITICAL HISTORY
2.1 Changragupta I (reign 319-335 A.D.)
Chandragupta I, the third in the lineage of the Guptas is considered as the founder of the Gupta dynasty. Chandragupta I, is described in his inscriptions as Maha Rajadhiraja that signifies a rise in the family wealth. It is surmised that the Gupta era began on the occasion of the coronation of Chandra Gupta I. The Guptas ruled over territories which included Prayag (Allahabad), Saket (Oudh) and Magadh (south Bihar).
The gold coins issued by Chandra Gupta I honor his marital union with the Licchavi princess Kumari Devi. This strengthened the position of the Gupta dynasty and may have allowed a consequent expansion under Samudra Gupta. Records indicate that Chandragupta I reigned from 319-335 A.D. The Allahabad inscription seems to suggest that Chandragupta I had made a public announcement that Samudra Gupta would be his heir.
Coins indicating marital union of Chandragupta with Licchavi princess have been found. Some historians suggest that these coins were issued by Samudragupta to honor the marriage of his parents, while other scholars feel that Chandragupta issued them jointly with the Licchavis.
Samudragupta was proud that he was a Licchavi-dauhitra. As Chandragupta I was given the title of Maha Rajadhiraja, it is clear that he was an independent ruler. Inscriptions show that the region possibly extending from Allahabad to River Ganga in the east formed the empire of Chandragupta I. He defeated the Magha kings of Kaulambi and Kosala and brought these territories under his own kingdom. It is said that Chandragupta I got Pataliputra in dowry from the Licchavis from where he laid the foundation of his empire.
2.2 Samudragupta (335-380 A.D.)
The domains of the Gupta kingdom were extended enormously by Chandragupta I's son and successor Samudragupta (A.D.335-380).
Samudragupta's court poet Harishena wrote a glowing account of the military exploits of his patron. In a long inscription the poet enumerates the peoples and countries that were conquered by Samudragupta. The inscription is engraved at Allahabad on the same pillar as carries an inscription of the peace-loving Ashoka.
The places and the countries conquered by Samudragupta can be divided into five groups.
Group one includes princes of the Ganga-Yamuna doab who were defeated and whose kingdoms were incorporated into the Gupta Empire.
Group two includes the rulers of the eastern Himalayan states and some frontier states such as princes of Nepal, Assam, Bengal, etc., who were made to feel the weight of Samudragupta's arms. It also covers some republics of Punjab. The republics, which flickered on the ruins of the Maurya Empire, were finally destroyed by Samudragupta.
Group three includes the forest kingdoms situated in the Vindhya region and known as atavika rajyas; they were brought under the control of Samudragupta.
Group four includes twelve rulers of the eastern Deccan and south India, who were conquered and liberated. Samudragupta's arms reached as far as Kanchi in Tamil Nadu, where the Pallavas were compelled to recognize his suzerainty.
Group five includes the names of the Shakas and Kushans, some of them ruling in Afghanistan. It is said that Samudragupta swept them out of power and received the submission of the rulers of distant lands. The prestige and influence of Samudragupta spread even outside India. According to a Chinese source, Meghavarman, the ruler of Sri Lanka, sent a missionary to Samudragupta for permission to build a Buddhist temple at Gaya. This was granted and the temple was developed into a huge monastic establishment. If we believe the eulogistic inscription from Allahabad, it would appear that Samudragupta never knew any defeat, and because of his bravery and generalship he is called the Napoleon of India. There is no doubt that Samudragupta forcibly unified the greater part of India under him, and his power was felt in a much larger area.
2.3 Chandragupta II (380-412 A.D.)
The reign of Chandragupta II was the high watermark of the Gupta Empire. He extended the limits of the Empire by marriage alliance and conquests. Chandragupta married his daughter Prabhavati with a Vakataka prince who belonged to the brahmana caste and ruled in central India. But the prince died early and Prabahvati became the successor. Some of the land charters of this time show that she managed the affairs of her father Chandragupta. Thus Chandragupta exercised indirect control over the Vakataka kingdom in central India. This afforded a great advantage to him. With his great influence in this area, Chandragupta II conquered Western Malwa and Gujarat, which had been under the rule of the Shaka Kshatrapas for about four centuries by that time. The conquest gave Chandragupta the Western sea coast, famous for trade and commerce. This contributed to the prosperity of Malwa, and its chief city Ujjain. Ujjain seems to have been made the second capital by Chandragupta II.
The exploits of a king called Chandra are glorified in an iron pillar inscription fixed near Qutb Minar in Delhi. If Chandra is considered to be identical with Chandragupta II, it will appear that he established Gupta authority in North-Western India and in a good portion of Bengal. This epigraphic eulogy however maybe exaggerated.
After his victories, Chandragupta II adopted the title of Vikramaditya, which had first been used by an Ujjain ruler in 57 B.C. as a mark of victory over the Shaka Kshatrapas of Western India. The court of Chandragupta II at Ujjain was adorned by numerous scholars including Kalidasa and Amarasimha.
It was in Chandragupta's time that the Chinese pilgrim Fa-hien (399-414) visited India and wrote an elaborate account of the life of its people.
2.4 Fall of the Empire
Chandragupta II's successors had to face an invasion by the Hunas from Central Asia in the second half of the fifth century A.D.
Although in the begining the Gupta king Skandagupta tried effectively to stem the march of the Hunas into India, his successors proved to be weak and could not cope with the Huna invaders, who excelled in horsemanship and possibly used stirrups made of metal. They could move quickly, and being excellent archers they seem to have attained considerable success hat only in Iran but also in India.
The decline of the Gupta Empire started during the period of Skandagupta's rule. Though Skandagupta had some great military success against the Pushyamitra and the Huns, the heavy pressure and constant war had deeply pressed the resources of the Empire. The picture of this financial drain can be testified from the debased coinage and lack of variety of coins during Skandagupta's reign. The Gupta Empire was no longer in its past glory. The Gupta Kingdom was declining with the passage of time it became weak and inefficient. After the death of Skandagupta, Purugupta reigned for a shorter period, but during this period the decline of the empire became further steady. Buddha Gupta, the last great independent empire of the dynasty arrested the declining process of Gupta Empire for some time, but for Western India he had no commendable influence whatsoever. During this period the feudatories of the Bundelkhand region assumed semi-independent status.
The Vakataka invasion of Malwa reduced his authority in that region also. When Buddha Gupta died the fall of the Gupta empire was further eminent and within next three generations it succumbed totally.
The most important cause of the downfall of the Gupta Empire was the dissention within the royal family. Possibly after the death of Kumar Gupta I, his sons fought among themselves for the throne. His second son Skandagupta ascended the throne by defeating his two other brothers, Purugupta and Ghatotkachagupta II. We find another war of succession when after the death of Puru Gupta, the empire was virtually partitioned among Bhanugupta in the west, Narsimhagupta in the centre and Vinyagupta in Bengal in the east. Of course our knowledge about these wars of succession and its real extent are still miger for paucity of adequate information's. Yet this is true that these wars of successions had tremendously weakened the hold of the central authority over the various provinces and the feudatories.
The second fundamental cause of the fall of the Gupta Empire was the invasions of the Vakatakas of Deccan. Samudragupta's victorious march into Deccan East left the Vakataka power of Western Deccan unscathed. The Vakatakas were the western neighbor of the Guptas and they could easily put the empire in trouble by dint of their geographical position. In order to avert of any possible clash with the Vakatakas Chandragupta II made a matrimonial alliance with them by giving marriage of her daughter Prabhavati Gupta with the Vakataka king Rudrasena II.
But Chandragupta II's successors maintained no peaceful relation with the Vakataka rulers. That was why during Budhagupta's rule the Vakataka king Narendrasena invaded Malwa, Kosala and Mekala. His invasion considerably weakened the authority of the Gupta Kingdom over the vast tract of Central India and Bundelkhand. In later years Vakataka king Harishena further conquered Malwa and Gujrat from the Imperial Guptas.
Similarly, the Hun invasions heavily disturbed the stability of the Gupta Empire. During the rule of Skandagupta in the 5th century A.D., the Huns invaded the North-Western gate of India, but they were beaten back. But in Sixth Century, they successfully occupied Punjab, Gandhara, Gujarat and Malwa. Yasodharman of Mandasore first defeated the Hun chief Mihirakula. Narsimhagupta also crushed the Hun power totally. Though there is debate among historians the Hun invasion was the root cause of the downfall of the Gupta's, it cannot be denied that these Huns had greatly weakened the authority of the Gupta's over the regions where they attacked. Their repeated attack must have taxed the royal treasury too.
As the central authority became weaker day by day and kept the military might of the Gupta Empire occupied, the feudatories and hereditary governors took the opportunity to declare local independence. This is evident when Yasodharman made a sweeping conquest over the Northern India. This was indeed a death blow over the Gupta Empire. The power and prestige of the Gupta's were shattered. Soon Isanavarman of the Maukharis of U.P. revolted followed by the Maitrakas of Vallahi in Saurastra. They all became independent rulers. There were independent chiefs in Southern, Western and Eastern Bengal. The later Gupta's rose to power in Magadha only.
The later Guptas embraced Buddhism while their predecessors were staunch Hindus. The change of religion had reflection over their political and military activities. It is true due to non-violent pacific influence of the Buddhism the late Gupta's did not care to follow a strong and vigorous military and foreign policy. The lack of militant spirit of the later Gupta's simply paved the ground for the unscrupulous enemies and powerful feudatories to hit hard the dying Gupta Empire. The Gupta Kingdom was on the declining trend.
Narsimhagupta and his successors ruled in diminished glory in Magadha, Northern Bengal and part of Kalinga. We are not yet very sure exactly when and how the Gupta empire breathed its last. However, the Maukharis ultimately overthrew the Gupta rule from Magadha, sometimes in or about 554 A.D.
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