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CAUSES OF DECLINE OF GUPTA EMPIRE 627 by Jinasena, is to be believed, their power collapsed in A.D. 551 (320 +231) :
Guptānām cha śata-dvayam eka-trimsachcha varshāni kāla-vidbhir udāhritam.?
The supremacy over Aryāvarta then passed to the houses of Mukhara (cir. A.D. 554)3 and Pushyabhūti (family of Harsha, A.D. 606-47) under whom the centre of political gravity shifted from Magadha to Kanauj and that neighbourhood. Attempts were no doubt made by a line of so-called later Guptas to restore the fallen fortunes of their family, but these were not crowned with success till after the death of Harsha.
The causes of the decline of the early Gupta Empire are not far to seek, though a detailed presentation of facts is impossible in view of the paucity of contemporary records. The broad outline of the story is, however, perfectly clear. The same causes were at work which proved so disastrous to the Turki Sultanate of Delhi in the fourteenth century, and to the so-called Mughul Empire in the eighteenth, viz., outbreak of rebellions within, devastating invasions from without, the growth of a class of hereditary governors and other officials who commanded enormous influence in local centres, and assumed the titles of Mahärāja and Mahārājādhiraja, and dissensions in the imperial family itself.
Already in the time of Kumāra Gupta I, the stability of the empire was seriously threatened by a turbulent people whose name is commonly read as Pushya-mitra. The danger was averted by the crown prince Skanda Gupta. But a more formidable enemy appeared from the steppes of Central Asia. Inscriptions discovered at Bhitarî, Kura, Gwalior and Eran, as well as the records of several Chinese pilgrims, prove that shortly after the
1 Harivansa, Ch. 60... 2 Ind. Ant., 1886, 142 ; Bhand. Com., Vol., 195.
3 Ep. Ind., XIV, pp. 110-20 ; JRAS, 1906, 843 f. About this time (A. D. 554 or A. D. 564) as pointed out by Drs. Bhattasali and Sircar, king Bhūtivarman of Assam is found arrogating to himself imperial titles by the performance of an Ašvamedha sacrifice, Cf. Bhāratavarsha, Ashādha, 1348, p 83 etc.
