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Siddhasena Divākara and Vikramāditya
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who, from his ancestors, inherited a huge consolidated empire abounding in prosperity.
This latter argument obviously also excludes the later Gupta rulers, none of whom can be said to have accomplished the grand feat attributed by Siddhasena to his patron, viz., of having created an empire out of a chaos of small principalities.
There is some temptation, though, to argue that perhaps Siddhasena might after all have exaggerated the deeds and merits of his patron, as is usual with authours of eulogies, and that the expression 'Harir iti' might be a direct clue to the latter's name, which could easily have been 'Harigupta', and refer to one of the later Guptas, known from a solitary copper coin142 recently discussed by Ācārya Jinavijaya143. The temptation lies in the fact that Acārya Jinavijaya has tried to identify this Harigupta of the coin with a Jainācārya Harigupta ( 'Hariutta' ), who is mentioned in Uddyotanasūri's Kuvalayamālā as one of the author's spiritual ancestors and specified as belonging to the Gupta family and being the Guru of "Torarāya' of Pavvaiya ( on the Candrabhāgā River )144. This Srāvaka king Harigupta, imagined to have renounced the world later in life and become Ācārya Harigupta, has already been assimilated by recent Jaina Historiography.145 Still, his existence can scarcely be said to be sufficiently established, as
(a) the pitcher with flowers depicted on the reverse of Harigupta's coin does not prove beyond doubt that Harigupta was a Jaina,
(b) he may not have been a king at all, but something like a provincial Governor14, and
(c)even if he was a Śrāvaka king, he would not be likely to be identical with the Ācārya of the Kuvalayamālā, as Uddyotanasūri does not say anything about the latter's having been of royal rank: a feature which he would most naturally have mentioned, had there been any such foundation for such a statement.
Again, even if the Harigupta of the coin could be proved to
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| SR No. | 001785 |
| Book Title | Charlotte Krause her Life and Literature |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Shreeprakash Pandey |
| Publisher | Parshwanath Vidyapith |
| Publication Year | 1999 |
| Total Pages | 674 |
| Language | English, Hindi, Gujarati |
| Classification | Book_English, Biography, & Articles |
| File Size | 11 MB |