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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XV.
to take this emperor's name to be Bhanu-gupta, whose sovereignty may have continued at least till 214 G.E., i.e. 533-34 A.D., if not still later. Whatever may have been the personal name of this Gupta monarch, whose rule continued in the north-eastern provinces of the early Gupta empire till some time after the first quarter of the sixth century A.D., it is now known that he also, like his predecessors, bestowed his royal favours upon the governor of the bhukti of Punḍravardhana, who used the usual title of uparika-mahārāja, but who in this case appears to be the emperor's own son (Rajaputra-deva-bhaṭṭāraka). This royal governor, in keeping with the administrative system prevalent under the early Guptas, appointed Svayambhūdēva as the vishayapati of Kotivarsha. It is evident then that so late as 533-34 A.D. the early Gupta rule continued intact in the eastern province of the empire. But the emperor's appointment of his own son as governor of Pundravardhana may be supposed to point to the fact that the time was a troublous one for the empire,-many parts of which, especially in the west, had by this time already been lost. It cannot be said with any degree of certainty what was the attitude of the contemporary Gupta ruler (perhaps Narasimha-gupta) of the branch line towards the main branch represented by Bhanu-gupta. In the absence of definite facts it also cannot be exactly known when and how Bhanu-gupta, or his predecessor, lost sway in the western Gupta provinces. We have seen before that in the Gupta year 165 Budha-gupta wielded supremacy over the vast tract of land between the Yamuna and Narmadā under whom his own governor Suraśmichandra Matrivishnu was the vishayapati of Airikina. But we have also seen that this Mätrivishnu's younger brother, Dhanyavishnu, owed allegiance to the Hupa mahārājādhirāja, Toramapa (whose first regnal year is mentioned in the Eran Boarinscription1), and not to any Gupta ruler who may have been on the imperial Gupta throne at that time. So it is quite reasonable to think that towards the close of Buha-gupta's reign (circa 180 G.E., according to Professor Pathak) the Hapas, though once utterly defeated about half-a-century before by Skanda-gupta,-they may have continued from time to time to disturb the Gupta rulers-made a fresh attack in the west under their chief Tōramāṇa, who succeeded in establishing himself in Malwa and Surashtra. It was perhaps during this time that the old Gupta province of Surashtra became independent of Gupta allegiance under Bhaṭārka of the Maitraka clan, who may have paid tribute to the Hñpa chief. But the Gupta sovereign had still some supremacy over the central provinces of the empire; for in the Majhgawan copper-plate inscription of mahārāja Hastin, dated in 191 G.E. (510-11 A.D.), and in the Khoh copper-plate inscriptions of Hastin's son, Samkshobha, dated in 209 G.E. (528-29 A.D.), reference is made to the fact that the early Guptas were still enjoying sovereignty. In the Eran posthumous stone pillar inscription Bhanu-gupta is mentioned as "the bravest man on the earth, a mighty king, equal to Partha, exceedingly heroic" (jagati pravīrō rājā mahan Partha-samo-ti-surah, 1. 5), and it is recorded there that Goparāja (undoubtedly a feudatory of Bhanu-gupta) fought a "very famous battle" [y(u)ddham sumahatprak(a)sam, 1. 6] by the side of Bhanu-gupta, but was killed in the action, and that Gōparāja's wife accompanied her husband, cremating herself on his funeral pyre. The pillar which bears this inscription was set up as a memorial at the very place where the battle was fought. Nothing, however, can be known from this record as to who was the enemy against whom Bhanu-gupta and his feudatory Goparaja, in the company of their other allies (mitträni, 1. 6), fought, nor is it mentioned whether the emperor and his party were at all defeated. It is only stated that Goparaja was killed in the action. It may be reasonably supposed that this enemy must have been the Hapas, who were now probably led by Mihirakula, but who had already under that chief's father, Toramaņa, succeeded in bringing under their occupation Malwa and other tracts of land in the west. Considering the fact that 18 years after this "very
1 Fleet, C. I. I., Vol. III, No. 36. Ibid, No. 25.
2 Ibid, No. 23. Ibid, No. 20.
