Epigraphia Indica Vol 14

SR No.: 032568
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sten Konow, F W Thomas
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1917
Total Pages: 480
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 24 MB

Page 438

No. 29.)
KING CHANDRA OF THE MEHARAULI INSCRIPTION.
369
about the beginning of the Gupta dynasty. The opening line of this record mentions Samudragupta's kinsmen, who seem to have had done something about the beginning of his reign. Then, the list of kings and countries conquered by Samudragupta gives us a good idea of the states surrounding the parent state of the Gupta Empire, 1.6. Magadha, and the rigid silence of Harishēņa about the achievements of Chandragupta I in these regions proves that that monarch secured his own independence and did little else. The first mention of Chandragupta I is to be found in the Mathură fragmentary inscription of the time (P) of his grandson Chandragupta II. Neither the Allahabad nor the Erant inscription mentions him, a fact which leads us to believe that the kingdom of Magadha was acknowledged as the paramount power in India only during the time of Samudragupta and the title of Maharajadhiraja was probably bestowed on Chandragupta I by his descendants. Chandragupta I may have been the real founder of the kingdom of Magadha and freed it from the yoke of the Scythian foreigner. Beyond this nothing can be said about Chandragupta I.
Mr. Basak questions : "Where is the evidence that Bengal had ever been in the possessio. of Chandravarman P" But he does not pause to think what evidence there is of the possession of Bengal by Chandragupta I. Copper-plate grants of the time of Kumāragupta and Budhagupta have been discovered in Northern Bengal. These are the Dhanaidaha and Damodarpar grants of Kumāragupta I and the Damodarpar grant of Budhagupta. But it does not seem to have struck Prof. Basak that these copper-plates cannot prove that Chandragupta I had any hold over any part of Bengal.
Another argument adduced by Mr. Basak in favour of his theory about the inclusion of Bengal in the kingdom of Chandragupta is the discovery of the coins of the Emperors of the early Gupta dynasty in Eastern and Western Bengal. Only one or two coins of Chandragupta I have been found in Bengal, and these coins too are not regarded by Allan, the latest anthority on the subject, as being genuine issues of Chandragupta I, but as medals strack in memory of his parents by his son Samudragupta. Coins of Chandragupta II, Kumāragupta I and Skandagapta have been found in large numbers and indicate that probably Eastern and Western Bengal were included in the Empire of the Guptas in the fifth century A.D.
To sum up; it is not possible to admit that Chandragapta I of the early Gupta dynasty had a long reign; therefore he cannot possibly be the same person as king Chandra of the Maharanlı inscription. Then, the existing evidence in both the Epigraphic and the Numismatic fields is insufficient to prove that Bengal was included in the kingdom of Chandragupta I, the first monarch of the Gupta dynasty, or that he campaigned in the Indus Delta. Finally Paurinio evidence, as quoted by Mr. Pargiter, proves very distinctly that Bengal was not included within the dominions of Chandragupta I. Mr. Pargiter says: "The Guptas are mentioned as reigning over the country comprised within Prayāga, Sakata and Magadha." Mr. Pargiter concludes very correctly that this was "exactly the territory which was possessed at his death by Chandragupta I, who founded the Gupta dynasty in A.D. 319-20 and reigned till 326 or 330 (or even till 335 perhape), before it was extended by the conquests of his son and successor Samudragupta." It is, therefore, almost certain that Bengal was never included within the dominions of Chandragupta I. In order to reconcile this directly hostile piece of evidence to his own theory Mr. Basak states: "Or it may be supposed that the Magadhs of the Puranas probably included portion of Bengal conquered," & statement which need not be taken seriously.
Fleet's Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, Vol. III, p. 6.
Ibid., pp. 26-27. • Ibid., pp. 6-10.
• Ibid., p. 20.
Ind. Ant., Vol. XLVIII, p. 101. • J. 4. 8. B., New Series, Vol. V, pp. 460-61, pl. ix. 1 . Chanda's" Indo-Aryan Racer," p. 278. • Pargiter's Dynasties of the Kali 496, p. xll. . Md. Ant., Vol. XLVIII, p. 102.