Book Title: Political History Of Ancient India
Author(s): Hemchandra Raychaudhari
Publisher: University of Calcutta

Previous | Next

Page 559
________________ SECTION II. CHANDRA GUPTA I. The first independent sovereign (Mahārājādhirāja) 1 of the line was Chandra Gupta I, son of Ghatotkacha, who may have ascended the throne in 320 A.D., the initial date of the Gupta Era.? Like his great fore-runner Bimbisāra he strengthened his position at some stage of his career, by a matrimonial alliance with the Lichchhavis of Vaišáli or of Nepāl, and laid the foundations of the Second Magadlian Empire. The union of Chandra Gupta I with the Lichchhavi family is commemorated by a series of coins * having on the obverse standing figures of Chandra Gupta and his queen, the Lichchhavi princess Kumāradevi, and on the reverse a figure of Lakshmi, the goddess of luck, with the legend "Lichchhavayah” probably signifying that the prosperity of Chandra Gupta was due to his Lichchhavi alliance. Smith suggests that the Lichchhavis were ruling in Pāțaliputra as tributaries or feudatories of the Kushāns and that through his marriage Chandra Gupta succeeded to the power of 1 In the Riddhapur plates (JASB, 1924, 58), however, Chandra Gupta I and even Samudra Gupta are called (carelessly) simply Mahārājas. 2 JRAS, 1893, 80 ; Cunningham, Arch. Sur. Rep., Vol. IX, p. 21. The identity of the Gupta king with whom the era (Gupta prakāla, Guptānan kāla) of 320 A. D. originated, is by no means clear. The claims of Mahārāja Gupta (IHQ, 1942, 273 n) or even (less plausibly) of Samudra Gupta, cannot be altogether disregarded. 3 It is not suggested that the marriage took place after 320 A. D. The chronology of the Guptas before A. D. 380 is still in a stage of uncertainty. Nothing definite can be stated about the relative date of the marriage till we know more about the length of Chandragupta'I's reign, and the exact date of bis accession, and that of his son and successor, Samudra Gupta. Some scholars think that Chandra Gupta I's alliance was with the ruling family of Nepāl (JRAS, 1889, p. 55) or of Pataliputra (JRAS, 1893, p. 81). 4 There is difference of opinion among scholars regarding the attribution of these coins, see Altekar in Num. Suppl. No. XLVII, JRASB, III (1937), No. 2, 346, It is difficult to come to any final conclusion till the discovery of coins whose attribution to Chandra Gupta I is beyond doubt,

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714