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MAHASENA GUPTA
625
very probably lay on his frontier and Rādhā and Vanga or Mithila and Varendra were included in his kingdom." Anything in the nature of a proof he failed to give, but we were asked to accept his surmise because "in this case only is it possible for Mahāsena Gupta to have fought with Susthitavarman of Assam."
Regarding the possibility of a king of Mālava carrying his arms to the banks of the Lauhitya, attention may be invited to the Mandasor inscription of Yasodharman. In the case of Mahāsena Gupta a careful student of the Aphsad inscription cannot fail to note that the way before him had been prepared by his immediate predecessors. Kumāra Gupta, his grandfather, had pushed to Prayāga, while Dāmodara Gupta, father of Mahāsena Gupta, claims to have "broken up the proudly stepping array of mighty elephants, belonging to the Maukhari" --the same power which we have already seen, held control of Magadha a little before Harsha's conquest of the Province. The Gauda expansion had already been stopped for a time by the victories of Išānavarman Maukhari. What was there to prevent the son of Dāmodara Gupta (who must have assumed command after the death of his father on the battle-field) from pushing on to the Lauhitya ?
1 Cf. Fleet, Corpus III, pp. 203. II 206. Cf. also Viraśayyā motif. 0. P. 90—79
