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

Previous | Next

Page 629
________________ Section VI. THE LINE OF Krishna Gupta. The name of the Gupta emperor in the Dāmodarpur plate of A.D. 543-44 is unfortunately lost. The Aphsad inscription, however, discloses the names of a number of “Gupta” kings,' the fourth of whom, Kumāra Gupta (III), was a contemporary of Īśānavarman Maukhari who is known from Harāhā inscription to have been ruling in A.D. 554.? Kumāra Gupta III, and his three predecessors, viz., Kộishņa, Harsha and Jivita, should probably be placed in the period between A.D. 510, the date of Bhānu Gupta, and 554, the date of Išānavarman. It is possible, but by no means certain, that one of these kings is identical with the Gupta emperor mentioned in the 1 Although the rulers, the names of most of whom ended in--gupta, mentioned in the Aphsad and connected contemporary epigraphs, who ruled over the provinces in the heart of the early Gupta empire, are called "Guptas" for the sake of convenience, their relationship with the early Gupta-kula or Gupta-vamśa is not known. It is, however, to be noted that some of them (e.g.. Kumāra Gupta and Deva Gupta), bore names that are found in the earlier family, and Krishņa Gupta, the founder of the line, has been identified by some with Govinda Gupta, son of Chandra Gupta II. But the last suggestion is hardly acceptable, because Govinda must have flourished more than half a century before Kộishņa Gupta. And it is surprising that the panegyrists of Krishna Gupta's descendants should have omitted all references to the early Guptas if their patrons could really lay claim to such an illustrious ancestry. In the Aphsad inscription the dynasty is described simply as Sad-vamsa 'of good lineage.' The designation Gupta, albeit not "Early Imperial Gupta," is possibly justified by the evidence of Bāņa. The Guptas and the Gupta Kulaputra mentioned in Bāņa's Kādambari and Harsha-charita may refer to the family of Krishna, if not to some hitherto unknown descendants of the early imperial line. One of the princes of the early Gupta line, Ghatotkacha Gupta of the Tumain inscription is known to have ruled over Eastern Malwa and it is not impossible that Krishna Gupta was, in some way, connected with him. We must, however, await future discoveries to clear up the point. 2 H. śāstri, Ep. Ind., XIV, pp. 110 ff.

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 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