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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.
