________________
MISPLACED CLEMENCY OF BĀLĀDITYA 635
engage in sacrifices involving the slaughter of living beings, the later kings or at least some of them, e.g., Budha (Buddha) Gupta, Tathāgata Gupta and Bālāditya had Buddhist leanings. As in the case of Asoka after the Kalinga war and Harsha after his intimate relation with the Chinese Master of the Law, the change of religion probably had its repercussions on the military and political activities of the Empire. In this connection it is interesting to recall a story recorded by Hiuen Tsang. When "Mahirakula,” the Hun tyrant ruling at Sākala, proceeded to invade the territory of Bālāditya, the latter said to his ministers, "I hear that these thieves are coming, and I cannot fight with them (their troops); by the permission of my ministers I will conceal my poor person among the bushes of the morass." Having said this he withdrew to an island with many of his subjects. Mihirakula came in pursuit but was taken alive as a captive. He was, however, set free and allowed to go away on the intercession of the Queen Mother. We do not know how far the story is authentic. But it seems that Indians of the seventh century A.D. from whom the Chinese pilgrim must have derived his information, did not credit the later Buddhist rulers of the Gupta dynasty with the possession of much courage or military vigour, though they bear testimony to their kindness and piety. The misplaced clemency of Bālāditya and his mother helped to prolong the tyrannical rule of Mihirakula and gave Yasodharman and the succeeding aspirants for imperial dominion, viz., Išānavarman and Prabhākara-vardhana, an opportunity of which they were not slow to take advantage and thereby seal the doom not only of the Hun (Yetha), but also of the Gupta domination in Northern India.
1 Beal, Si-yu-ki, I, 168 f. ; Watters, 1, 288-89.
