Conquest of Samudragupta

859
ART. XXIX.—The Conquests of Samudra Gupta By VINCENT

A. SMITH, M.B..A.S., Indian Civil Service.
CONTENTS. PAGE.
PREFATORY NOTE.
Section I. General Observations 860
II. The Kings of the South 864
III. The Kings of the North 875
IV. The Frontier Kingdoms 877
V. The Frontier Tribes 882
VI. Foreign Powers 893
VII. Conclusion 909
PREFATORY NOTE.
THE following dissertation is the second in my series of
" Prolegomena to Ancient Indian History," of which the
first was the essay entitled " The Iron Pillar of Delhi
(MihraulT) and the Emperor Candra (Chandra) " published
in this Journal in January, 1897. The article entitled
" Samudra Gupta," published, in the same number of the
Journal, gives in narrative form the history of the Emperor
Samudra Gupta. The present paper is devoted to the
detailed technical discussion of the authorities for the
statements of that narrative. I may perhaps be pardoned
for inviting attention to the proposed identification of King
Acyuta; the justification of the reading Mahendragiri as
a king's name; the probable identification of the kings
Visnugopa and Hastivarman; the certain identification of
the kingdom of Palakka; the suggested identifications of
the kingdoms of Devarastra and Kustbalapura; the probable
identification of King Candravarman; the location of the
Abhlra tribe; and the attempted identification and differ-
entiation of the Sahi, Sahanusahi, and Daivaputra kings.
V. A. SMITH,
August 23, 1897. Gorakhpur.
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860 THE CONQUESTS OF SAMUDRA GUPTA.
SECTION L—GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

Candra Gupta I (A.D. 318 to circa A.D. 345), father
and predecessor of Samudra Gupta, assumed the rank of
emperor (mahdrdjdd/nraja), and established the Gupta Era
to commemorate his assumption of supreme power in
Northern India. His capital was Pataliputra (Patna), the
ancient seat of the Maurya Empire, and his dominions
appear to have included the whole of Bihar, both north
and south of the Ganges, the eastern districts of the
North-Western Provinces, and the whole, or the greater
part, of Oudh. la other words, his territory extended
from Bhiigalpur (Campa) on the east, along the valley
of the Ganges, to Allahabad (Prayaga) and Lucknow
(Saketa) on the east.1
Our knowledge of the conquests of Samudra Gupta
rests mainly on the inscription of the Allahabad Pillar,
recorded in or about A.D. 380 by order of his son and
successor, Candra Gupta II. Other inscriptions and coins
supply a few additional details.
1
It is, I hope, hardly necessary now to repeat the proof that Pataliputra was
the capital of the first and second Gupta emperors. The subject has been fully
discussed in my various publications on the Gupta coinage. (J.A.S.B., vol. liii,
part 1, 1884, pp. 156-163 ; J.R.A.S. 1889, pp. 55, 56; J.R.A.S. 1893, p. 86.
See also Biihler, " On the Gupta and Valabhi Era," p. 13.)
The limits of the dominions of Candra Gupta I are deduced from the details
of the conquests effected by his successors, and the language of the Puranas,
which state that the Gupta territory extended from Magadha (Bihar) along the
Ganges to Prayaga, and included Saketa ("Wilson's "Vishnu Purana," 4to
edition, p. 479). The Puranic definition is altogether inapplicable to the
extended empire of Samudra Gupta, and to the still vaster dominions of his son
and successor, Candra Gupta I I . It can only be applied to the reign of Candra
Gupta I, the earliest emperor, and to the beginning of the reign of his successor.
The eastern limit of Magadha seems to have lain in the neighbourhood of Campa
(Bhagalpur).
The site of Saketa has not been satisfactorily determined. The confident
identification by Cunningham ("Reports," vol. i, p. 317) of Saketa with
Ayodhya, the ancient Hindu city near Fyzabad, is demonstrably erroneous, and
has been justly criticized by Fergusson ("Archaeology in India," appendix B.
Triibner & Co., London, 1884). Dr. Fiihrer's identification with Sanchankot
(Sujankot, Ramkot) in the Unao District of Oudh is not proved, though not,
perhaps, impossible ("Monumental Antiquities and Inscriptions in the North-
\Vestern Provinces and Oudh," p. 275). Fergusson was convinced that
Lucknow itself is the true representative of Saketa, and I agree with him that
the site of Saketa must be looked for at or near Lucknow. A full explanation
of the reasons for this opinion would require a long dissertation. The general
course of the argument is indicated by Fergusson.
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THE CONQUESTS OF SAMUDRA GUPTA. 861
The first passage in the Allahabad Pillar inscription,

which, deals with the conquests, is unfortunately mutilated.
It is, however, so far legible as to plainly record that the
emperor, with extraneous assistance, uprooted princes
named Acyuta and Nagasena, and effected the capture
of a member of the family, or clan, of the Kotas. An
allusion is made to the capital city Pataliputra, under the
well-known synonym of Pushpapura.1
Dr. Fleet's hesitation to identify " the city called Pushpa "
with Pataliputra appears to me quite unwarranted, and
I have no doubt that the phrase " taking his pleasure
at Pushpapura " refers to the fact that the royal city of
Pataliputra was the conqueror's residence and capital.
The enumeration of the more distant conquests does not
begin till line 19. The mention of the subjugation of
Acyuta, Nagasena, and the Kota prince in an earlier
verse, and in a metrical passage completely detached from
the general prose list of conquests, and coupled with the
allusion to the victor's capital city, may reasonably be
interpreted as implying that the victories mentioned in
the earlier passage were gained in regions not very
remote from the capital. The further inference that the
first-mentioned conquests were the first accomplished
likewise seems to be justified.
The name Acyuta (' unfallen, firm, imperishable') is
of frequent occurrence. I nave noted the following
examples: (1) an epithet of Visnu or Krsna (Dowson,
"Classical Dictionary," Benfey, "Dictionary"); (2) the
name Acyutappa in an inscription from Tranquebar in
the Tanjore District, probably dated A.B. 1627 (Ind. Ant.,
xxii, 116) ; (3) Acyutaraya, a king of Vijayanagara (ibid.,
xx, 306) ; (4) Aoyuta Vijaya Raghava Naikar, a king of
1
Fleet's translation of this passage is as follows:—" (1. 13)—By whom,—
having unassisted, with the force of the prowess of (his) arm that rose up so
as to paBS all bounds, uprooted Achyuta and Nagasena . . . .—(by whom),
causing him who was born in the family of the KStas to be captured by (AM)
armies, (and) taking his pleasure at (the city) that had the name of Pushpa,
while the sun . . . . the banks . . . . ; — " ( " G u p t a Inscriptions,"
p . 12).
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862 THE CONQUESTS OF SAMUDEA GUPTA.
Taujore (ibid., vii, 25) ; (5) Acyutadanti, or Acyutanti—

a warrior tribe (Pan., v, 3, 116); (6) Acyutasthala—
a place in the Parijab (Mahabh., viii, 2,062). The last two
references are given by Burgess in his valuable, though
too brief, article on "The Identification of Places in the
Sanskrit Geography of India" {Ind. Ant., xiv, 322).
The quotations show that the name was in use both in
Northern and Southern India. Certain curious and little-
known coins have suggested to me the notion that the
Acyuta, conquered by Samudra Gupta, may have been
a king of Ahichatra (Ramnagar, near Aonla in Barell
District of North-Western Provinces), the ancient capital of
Panchala. These coins, of which all the known specimens
were obtained at Ramnagar, may be described as follows :—
Type 1. Obverse. The legend ^T^T, Act/u, in bold characters,

occupying the field, in dotted circle.
Reverse. An eight-rayed wheel or sun.
Type 2. Obverse. Portrait bust of king to right; the letter
^f, A, behind king's head, and the letters ^ , cyu, in
front.
Reverse. As in type 1.
The coins are of copper, about "6 of an inch in diameter.

Weight of type No. 1, 12 to 25'5 grains. These coins
were first described by Messrs. Rivett-Carnac and Carlleyle
(J.A.S.B., vol. xlix, part 1, 1880, p. 87, pi. vii, 2 A and B).
The form of the characters on the B coin differs from that of
the characters on A. Type 2 is known only from an unique
specimen in the possession of Mr. C. S. Delmerick, who also
obtained two specimens of the A variety of type 1, one of
which he presented to me. This coin in my possession
appears to be cast, and I have no doubt that the coin is
of early date, and it may well be contemporary with Samudra
Gupta.
The legend can be read only as Acyu, and nothing else,
and the completion of the word to Acyuta seems inevitable.
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The characters closely resemble those of the Samudra Gupta

inscription on the Allahabad Pillar (Biihler, " Ind. Palaeo-
graphie," Tafel iv).
Bamnagar is distant about 430 miles in a direct line from
Patna, and about 150 miles from Lucknow. Ahichatra,
therefore, cannot have been very far from the frontier of the
dominions of Candra Gupta I, which included Lucknow.
T am inclined to believe that the rare coins above described
are those of Acyuta, a king of Ahichatra, conquered by
Samudra Gupta early in the reign of that monarch, about '
A.D. 345-350.
These coins are not mentioned by Cunningham in his work
on the " Coins of Ancient India." Ten specimens of this
type are in the Indian Museum (Cat., iii, 36) ; the highest
weight is 25-5 grains, the lowest weight of a complete coin
being 12 grains. Three specimens weigh 16 grains each.
I have failed to discover any clue to the identity of Naga-
sena. The family, or clan (kula), named Kota is equally
unknown. The late Dr. Bhagvanlal Indrajl sought to
identify the Kota clan with the tribe named Koda,
mentioned in an inscription found near Sopara in the
Thana District, Bombay, and with the Kada of the
Kadasa coins found near Saharanpur in the North-Western
Provinces (" Sopara and Padana," pamph., p. 18). But
these identifications are obviously not convincing. The
Kadasa coin obtained by Dr. Bhagvanlal Indrajl had
a legend in characters of about the Asoka period. A
specimen of the same " snake type" is described by
Cunningham, and associated with the coins of Taxila
(" Coins of Ancient India," p. 62, pi. ii, 21). Another
type of Kadasa coins characterized by a " bodhi-tree"
device appears to be of the same early age, and is grouped
by Cunningham with the Kuniuda coins of the region
near Saharanpur (ibid., p. 71, pi. v, 6). A Kota tribe still
exists in the Nllgiris in the South of India (Ind. Ant., iii,
36, 96, 205).
The principal historical passage of the inscription is con-
tained in lines 19—23, and is in prose.
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The enumeration of the emperor's victories begins with

a list of " the kings of the region of the south," whom
he "captured and then liberated," a phrase which is
clearly meant to express the fact of temporary subjugation,
as contrasted with permanent conquest.
The list of the kings of the south is as follows:—
1, Mahendra of Kosala; 2, Vyaghraraja of Mahakantara ;
>3, Mantaraja of Kerala; 4, Mahendragiri of Pistapura;
5, Svamidatta of Kottura; 6, Damana of Erandapalla;
7, Visnugopa of KaficI; 8, Nllaraja of Avamukta; 9,
Hastivarman of Vehgl; 10, Ugrasena of Palakka; 11,
Kuvera of Devarastra ; 12, Dhanamjaya of Kusthalapura.
SECTION II.—THE KINGS OF THE SOUTH.

I proceed to discuss in the order of the text the names
in this list of the kings of the south.
1. MAHENDRA OF KOSALA.
The above list of twelve countries and their kings is
concerned solely with " the region of the south," as dis-
tinguished from Aryavarta, or Hindustan. In other words,
the countries enumerated all lay to the south of the
Narmada (Nerbudda) river. Consequently, the country
Kosala must be the southern Kosala, and not the northern
Kosala, which corresponds roughly with Oudh.
The name Kosala is sometimes spelled with the dental
s (^fat^T), and sometimes with the palatal s (^ftifSf).
Dr. Fleet considers the dental form more correct.
The Brhat Samhitd places the Kausalaka (in text Ko°)
people in the eastern division of India, and the country
Kos'ala in the eastern division, stating that diamonds are
found there.1
1
Indian Antiquary, xxii, pp. 181, 182.
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Southern, Daksina-, or " Maha-Kosala" comprised the

whole of the upper valley of the Mahanadl and its
tributaries, from the source of the Narmada at Amarkantak
oia the north, to the source of the Mahanadl itself near
Kanker on the south, and from the valley of the Wen-
Ganga on the west to the Hasda and Jonk rivers on
the east.
But these limits have often been extended, so as to
embrace the hilly districts of Mandala and Balaghat on
the west up to the banks of the Wen-Gahga, and the
middle valley of the Mahanadl on the east, down to
Sambalpur and Sonpur. Under some of the earlier rulers
the supremacy of the king of Maha-Kosala was acknow-
ledged by the Rajas of Orissa. Thus Yayati Kesari . . . .
speaks of Siva Gupta of Mahakosala as the sovereign lord
of the whole country.1
Within its narrowest limits the province was 200 miles
in length from north to south, by 125 miles in breadth from
east to west. At its greatest extent, excluding the
tributary province of Orissa, it formed a square of about
200 miles on each side. At the time of Hiuen-Tsiang's
visit in A.D. 639, he describes the kingdom as 6,000 li, or
1,000 miles, in circuit, an extent which could have been
attained by the inclusion of . . . . the present
districts of Chanda, Nagpur, and Seonl.2
The province, therefore, comprised the southern and eastern
districts of the Central Provinces, of which the capital is now
Nagpur. The ancient capital was Srlpura (Sirpur) on the
1
Cunningham gives the erroneous date of A.D. 481 for Yayatikesarin, which
I have omitted in my quotation with reference to Dr. Fleet's observation that
'' the date of Yayatikesarin, derived from the Orissa records, is altogether
unreliable, and is too early by at least about four centuries" (" liupta
Inscriptions," p. 294).
3
Cunningham, "Archaeological Eeports," xvii, p. 68. The words which
I have omitted are " t h e great district of Vakataka on the west, comprising—."
Cunningham supposed that the country Vakataka is represented by the modern
Bhandak in the Chanda district, but Dr. Fleet shows that this identification
is a philological impossibility. He further shows that the adjectival name
Vakataka (derived from Vakata) is properly the name of a people or tribe, and
could only be used secondarily as the name of a country. The passages
in which the name has been supposed to denote a country do not bear the
construction put on them (" Gupta Inscriptions," p. 234).
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866 THE CONQUESTS OF SAMUDKA GUPTA.
MahanadI in the Raipur District. From this place Tivara-

deva, " supreme lord of Kosala," issued a grant in or about
the year A.D. 800.1
In order to attack Kosala, Samudra Gupta must have
marched from Prayaga (Allahabad) across the hills and
jungles of Eiwa. The direct distance from Allahabad to
Sirpur is about 280 miles. Nothing more is known about
King Mahendra of Kosala, who was " captured and liberated."
2. VYAGHRARAJA OF MAHAKANTARA.
The name Mahakantara means "great forest or wilderness,"

and well describes the wilder parts of the Central Provinces,
the modern districts of Baitul, Cindwara, etc., which are
probably the region designated by the inscription, bordering
on the west the kingdom of Kosala.
The name is equivalent to the term mahatavi used in the
Brhat Samhitd to designate a country in the southern division
of India.
The "kings of all the forest countries" (sandtaviknrdja),
who are alleged in the next line (1. 21) of the inscription to
have " become servants " of Samudra Gupta, must evidently
be distinguished from King Vyaghraraja of Mahakantara,
who was " captured and then liberated."
These " kings of all the forest countries " may be identified
with the rulers of the " eighteen forest kingdoms " (astada-
Sdpivirdji/a) who were subject in A.D. 527 to the Maharaja
Sarhksoba of Dahala, or Dahala, the modern Bundelkhand
and Blwa. This region, which was adjacent to the home
provinces of the empire, would naturally be permanently
annexed, as indicated by the terms of the inscription, while
1
" So far as I have been able to follow up the enquiry, all evidence seems
to point to Sirpur (or Sripura), on the MahanadI, as the ancient capital of the
country. I t is situated on the largest river in the province; it possesses the
oldest inscriptions now existing in the country ; it is said by the people to have
been the capital of Babhruvahan, one of the earliest known kings of Chedi;
while its extensive ruins prove that it must at one time have been a large city."
(Cunningham, op. cit., p. 70; Tivaradeva's grant is No. 81 of Fleet, p. 296.)
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the emperor was content with the temporary subjugation

of the more southern kingdom of Mahakantara.
No other mention of King Vyaghraraja is known. The
early coin of Yyaghra (" Coins Med. I.," pi. ii, 22) appears
to come from Northern India. Cunningham described it
with the coins of the Nagas of Narwur, but, as Mr. Hodgers
has pointed out, it seems more closely related to the coins
of Sunet in the Ludiana District of the Panjab. (See
" Catalogue of Coins in Lahore Museum," part iii, 1(30,
for a coin of Vyaghra Sena from Sunet.)
3. MANTARAJA OF KERALA.
The next name, Kerala, is a surprise, and its mention

involves the assertion that the temporary conquests of
Samudra Gupta extended to the extremity of the Indian
Peninsula.
Kerala, which is placed by the Brhat Samhita in the
southern division of India,1 is the country now known as
the Malabar Coast, the narrow strip of fertile land between
the sea and the Western Ghats. In its widest signification
the name Kerala was applied to the whole territory
extending from the Kangarote river, near Goa in North
Kanara, to Cape Comorin (Kumarin). In its more restricted
signification the name applied to the southern portion of
the coast, now comprised in the Malabar District, and in
the Cochin and Travancore States. Very little is known
of the history of the country, and no connected story has
come down to us.2 No other mention of Mantaraja has
been discovered.
1
2
Ind. Ant., xxii, pp. 180-1.
Sewell, " Lists of Antiquities, Madras," i, 240 ; ii, 195. Balfour, " Cyclo-
paedia of India," s.v. 'Kerala' and 'Malabar.'
The inscription actually and unmistakably reads Kauralaka-Mantaraja, but
Dr. Fleet is probably right in emending Kauralaka to Kairalaka in order to
make sense. The mistake seems a purely clerical one ("Gupta Inscriptions,"
p. 7, note 1). Kerala is said to mean the land of cocoanuts. The rare southern
I is used in the inscription. The word Kaurajaka, if correct, would imply the
existence of a country named Kurala, and none such is known. It is, however,
just possible that some region was named Kurala fifteen centuries ago.
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4. M A H E N D R A G I R I OF PISTAPURA.
The identification of Pistapura presents no difficulty.

The kingdom of that name is certainly represented by the
large zamindari, or chieftainship, of Pithapuram in the
Godiivarl District of the Madras Presidency. The chief
town of the same name is still the residence of a Raja,
and is marked as Pittapooram on sheet 94 of the " Indian
Atlas," in lat. 17° 6', long. 82° 18'. The town is "very
old, with abundance of sculptured buildings and other
objects of interest. How old it may be is not as yet
known, but an ancient inscription of A.D. 584 of the reign
of Satyas'raya, the elder brother of Kubja Visnuvardhana,
who established the Eastern Chalukyan sovereignty, states
that in that reign ' the fortress of Pistapura was easily
taken'" (Ind. Ant., v, 67). A Buddhist stupa has been
discovered at Timavaram within the limits of the zamindari
(Ind. Ant., xii, 34).1 Valuable inscriptions recording grants
made in the Saka years 1108, 1117, and 1124 (A.D. 1186,
1195, and 1202), and giving genealogies of the Eastern
Chalukya and Vengi kings, have been found on a pillar
at Pithapuram, but no trace of King Mahendragiri has
been found.2
The construing of the passage in question has been the
subject of some discussion, and I venture to adopt a
rendering different from Dr. Fleet's. The words are—
" Kaurahka [leg. Kairalakd] Mantaraja ;
Paistapuraka Mahendragiri;
Kautturaka Svamidatta, etc."
The above division of the words, which, of course, are
written in the original without division or punctuation, is
unquestionably the natural one, and in accordance with
the balance of the composition.
But Dr. Fleet feels a difficulty about the name Mahen-
dragiri (modern Mahendragir), because names of that form
1
" Gupta Inscriptions," p. 7, note 2. Sewell, " Lists," ii, 262, and i, 23.
2
"Progress Report of Archaeological Survey, Madras," Nos. 728, 729,
dated Sept. 28, 1894.
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THE CONQUESTS OF SAMUDRA GUPTA'. 869
appear to be nowadays restricted to Gosains, and it is

improbable that a ruling chief would be a Gosain. Dr.
Fleet, therefore, prefers to do violence to the obvious con-
struction of the text, and to link the word giri with the
following Kautturaka, and to translate the passage thus: —
" Mantaraja of Kerala;

Mahendra of Pistapura;
Svamidatta of Kottura on the hill."
I submit that this construction cannot be right. The

compound Kotluragiri would be normal, but the compound
Girikottura, though not perhaps absolutely impossible, would
be most unusual, and almost unprecedented. The derivative
compound Girikautturaka is even more awkward as an
adjective than the substantive Girikottura is.
The difficulty raised by Dr. Fleet about accepting the
compound Mahendragiri as the name of a king or ruling
chief is in reality unsubstantial. In the first place, we are
not entitled to assume that names ending in giri were already
in the fourth century A.D. restricted to Gosains; and in the
second place, even if such names were then so restricted,
a Gosain may be a secular chieftain. One of the most
famous personages in Bundelkhand in the eighteenth
century was the Gosain, Raja Himmat Bahadur. " Raja
Himmat Bahadur, who at this time begins to play a con-
spicuous part in the history of Bundelkhand, was a Gosain, who
commanded a body of troops in the pay of Shuja-ud-daulah.
at the battle of Baksar in 1763. On the flight of the Vazlr,
Himmat Bahadur entered Bundelkhand, and during the
troubles that arose attained to considerable power." The
treaty of Shahpur, concluded on the 4th September, 1803,
gave Raja Himmat Bahadur an extensive territory with
a revenue estimated at twenty-two lakhs of rupees.1
Nor was Himmat Bahadur the only powerful Gosain chief
of his time. Colonel Broughton, writing in 1809, relates
1
"Bundelkhand Gazetteer" (Allahabad, 1874), pp. 36, 31.
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that Sindhia's " army has received a considerable reinforce-

ment . . . . by the arrival of a body of Gosaeens under
Kunopta [Kamta] Gir. This chief succeeded to the command
of the corps, which consists of nearly 1,500 men, chiefly
horse, upon the death of Ram Gir, who died about a month
ago. They were both Chelas, or disciples, of Kunchun Gir,
the Chela of Himmut Bahadoor, a celebrated Gosaeen in the
service of Shumsheer Bahadur, one of the chiefs of Boondel-
khund. The Gosaeens are a religious order of Hindoo
mendicants who attach themselves to the service of particular
chiefs, and frequently, as in the case of Himmut Bahadoor,
amass great wealth, and raise themselves into consequence.
. . When they become numerous and wealthy, and
enrol themselves as a military band in the service of some
prince, their leader is termed Muhunt; they then retain but
little of their original manner and appearance, distinguishing
themselves alone by the jutta, or long matted hair folded
like a turban on the head, and having some portion of their
dress d}'ed of a kind of orange colour, called geroo, peculiar
to their sect. As soldiers, they are accounted brave and
faithful." l
The Naga and Kanphatt JogI ascetic warriors of Raja-
sthan, described by Tod and other writers, are well known.
No difficulty, therefore, need be felt in believing that
Samudra Gupta found a Gosain chief in possession of the
fortress of Pistapura.
5. SVAMIDATTA OF KoTTUKA.
Kottura being, as Dr. Fleet observes, a very common

Dravidian name, any Kottur of note might be accepted
as the representative of the principality conquered by
Samudra Gupta. Places with this name are found in the
Tanjore, Malabar, and Belgam Districts,2 and probably
elsewhere also.
1
"Letters from a Mahratta Camp," Constable's edition, p. 95.
2
Sewell, "Lists," i, 249, 273 ; Ind. Ant., xx, 69.
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The commercial importance of the Coimbatore District

in the early centuries of the Christian era, when the
beryl mines of Padiyur attracted the attention of Roman
merchants, leads me to accept as most probable the
suggestion of Dr. Fleet that the place referred to in the
inscription is the Kottur in the Ooimbatore District, marked
in "Indian Atlas," sheet 61, lat. 10° 32' N. and long.
77° 2' E. Some ancient remains exist at this place,
which is eight miles south by we»t of Pollaci, where
Roman coins of the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius have
been found. Beryls to the value of £1,200 sterling were
obtained at Padiyur in 1819-20.l No record of Svamidatta
has yet been discovered.
6. DAMANA OF ERANDAPALLA.
Neither Erandapalla nor its sovereign has yet been
identified.
A place called Edapadi, with an old Saiva temple,
exists in the Salem District, which adjoins Coimbatore.
Many places with names beginning with Era- or Eda-
occur in the Salem and Malabar Districts.8
7. VlSNUGOPA OF KANCI.
KaiicI is undoubtedly identical with the town well
known under the modern corrupt name of Conjeeveram,
which is situated in the Chingleput District, 43 miles
south-west of Madras, and 20 miles west-north-west of
Chingleput. It is one of the most ancient and sacred
cities in India, and was the capital of the Pallava dynasty
until the overthrow of that power by the Cholas in the
eleventh century A.D.3 The kingdom is called Dravida by
Hiuen-Tsiang, who visited it, and gives a favourable account
of its inhabitants.4
1
Sewell, "Lists," i, 214, 222, and references; Thurston, "Catalogue of
Coins in Government Central Museum, Madras, No. 2 , " pp. 7-11, 21. Coins
of Tiberius (A.D. 14-37) appear to be specially abundant.
2
Sewell, "Lists," i, 202, and Index.
3
1
Sewell, "Lists," i, 176; ii, 264.
Beal, " Buddhist Records of the Western World," ii, 228.
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872 THE CONQUESTS OF SAMUDKA GUPTA.
Visnugopa is, no doubt, one of the early Pallava

kings, and is probably identical with the Pallava king
Visnugopa, or Visnugopavarma, who was one of the
remote ancestors of Nandivarma.1 Visnugopa may possibly
be identical with Visnuvarma, who is mentioned in an
inscription dating probably from the fifth century A.D. as
having been killed by a Kadamba king.2
8. NlLAEAJA OF AVAMUKTA.
I am not able to offer even a conjecture as to the position

of Avamukta. The word in Sanskrit means " unyoked,
taken off."
9. HASTIVAEMAN OF VENGI.
The position of the small kingdom of Vengi is known

beyond doubt. The kingdom ordinarily extended for
about 120 miles along the coast of the Bay of Bengal
between the Krsna (Kistna) and Godavarl rivers, and
corresponded to the modern Godavarl (Machlipatnam)
District with part of the Kajamahendri District. It is
believed that the Vengi territory did not extend very far
inland. The capital was situated five or six miles NNW.
from Ellore (Elur), a short distance from the Kolar (Colair)
lake, and is now represented by the villages Pedda (or
Greater) Vegi and Chinna (or Lesser) Vegl, where there are
evidences of extensive ancient buildings.3
The ruling dynasty appears to have been a branch of
the great Pallava family or clan which also ruled at Kiinci.
At the time of Samudra Gupta's incursion the Vengi
kingdom was apparently independent, but about a century
later it seems to have been a dependency of the more
considerable KaiicI State. The ruling families both of
KancI and Vengi commonly used names ending in Varma
1
Jnd. Ant., v, 50; " South-Indian Inscriptions," ii, 343.
2
Ind. Ant., n , 22, 30, note.
3
Balfeur's "Cyclopaedia," s.v. Vengi. Sewell, " Lists," i, 36 ; ii, 239.
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THE CONQUESTS OF SAMCJDRA GUPTA. 873
or Yarman, and were probably connected by blood. The

Hastivarma of Samudra Gupta's inscriptions may well be
identical, as Dr. Hultzsch suggests, with Attivarma, of the
family of King Kandara, who made an early copperplate
grant, and was evidently a Pallava. Atti is the Tamil
equivalent of Hastin. The inscription of Attivarma was
obtained at Gorantta in the Guntur District south of the
Krsna river. From the same neighbourhood was obtained
a still earlier grant made in the reign of Vijayakhandavamma
(Vijayaskandavarma), who probably belonged to the same
dynasty. A grant made by King Vijayanandivarma, son
of King Candavarma, of the Salankayana family, expressly
purports to have been issued from the victorious city of
Vengl. This grant is supposed to date from the fourth
century. Hastivarma was probably grandfather, or great-
grandfather, of Vijayanandivarma. The kingdom of Vengl
seems at times to have extended to south of the Krsna
river.1
10. UGRASENA OF PALAKKA.
Though the identity of the kingdom of Palakka has not
previously been recognized, there can be no doubt that the
ancient kingdom is now represented by the division of
Palghat, in the south of the Malabar District, the name
of which is more accurately spelled Palakkadu. It was
also called Nedum-Puraiyur-nadu, or, more shortly, Purai.2
The chief town of the division, Palghatcherry, is situated
in lat. 10° 45' 49" N. and long. 76° 41' 48" E., at a height
of 800 feet above the sea, in the only gap in the line of
mountains between the TaptI river and Cape Comorin.
The Palghat Ghats extend southward a distance of about
170 miles almost to the Cape.3
The identification of Palakka is of interest as confirming
the other statements in the inscription concerning the
southern extent of Samudra Gupta's temporary conquests.
1
Ind. Ant.,v, 175; ix, 99-103.
2
Hultzsch, " On the Grant of Bhaskara Eavivarma" : Ind. Ant., xx, 285,
289,
3
291.
Balfour, " Cyclopaedia,'' s.v. ' Palghatcherry.'
J.B.A.S. 1897. 57
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874 THE CONQUESTS OF SAMUDRA' GUPTA.
11. KtTVERA OF DEVARASTRA.

The kingdom of Devarastra has not yet been identified.
Perhaps the name may be an equivalent for Deogiri, the
famous fortress known to Muhammadan historians as-
Daulatabad (lat. 19° 57' N. and long. 75° 18' E.), which,
by reason of its commanding position and natural strength,
had been from time immemorial-the principal stronghold
of the Rajas of Maharastra. It is possible, indeed, that
Devarastra may be a synonym for Maharastra—the " king-
dom of the gods," for the " great kingdom."
Deogiri is situated in the Nizam's dominions, about
twelve miles from Aurangabad, and nearly thirty miles
north of the Godavari river.
12. DHATSAMJAYA OF KUSTHALAPURA.

The position of Kusthalapura is not certainly known unless
the suggestion may be accepted that this name is an abbre-
viation, either accidental or intentional, of Kusasthalapura,
a name of the holy city Dvarika, at the extremity of the
Gujarat peninsula, in lat. 22° 14' 20'' N. and long. 69° 5' E.
" Anarta is known from the Mahabharata and the Purdnas.
It corresponds to modern Kathiavad. Its capital was
Kusasthall, the modern Dvarka." 1
The foregoing detailed examination of the southern con-

quests of Samudra Gupta leaves on my mind no doubt that
the emperor really effected the temporary subjugation of all
the leading chiefs and kings of the peninsula, inland and
along both coasts, as far as Cape Comorin (Kumarin).
His southern victorious march finds an exact parallel in
the expeditions of Malik Kafur, the adventurous general of
1
Bhagvanlal Indrajl, " T h e Inscription of RudradSman at Junagadh"
(Ind. Ant,, vii, 259). Benfey ("Dictionary"), referring to Mahabharata 2,
614, notes that the name occurs both in the neuter and feminine forms.
For the omission of the syllable, compare '' Kuraghara, which appears five
times, I would identify with the village of Kuraraghara . . . . Kura-
raghara is, of course, the etymologically correct form of the name, and Kuraghara
a corruption by a kind of haplophony, which occurs more frequently in
geographical and other names." (Biihler, "Inscriptions of Sanchi Stupa,"
Mpigraphia Indica, ii, 96.)
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'Ala-ud-din, in A.D. 1309-10, who took the fort of Warangal,

marched by Deogiri, crossed the Godavari at Paithan, and
penetrated, after a great battle, to Dvara Samudra, the
capital of Karnata, which he captured. He reduced the
whole of the eastern side of the peninsula, including
Ma'abar, on the sea-coast, as far south as Ramesvar, or
Adam's Bridge, opposite Ceylon, where he built a mosque,
which was still standing when Farishta wrote. He then
returned with vast golden treasures to Delhi.1 Like
Samudra Gupta, he might have boasted that he had " cap-
tured and then liberated " the kings of the south.
SECTION III.—THE KINGS OF THE NORTH.

Having completed his enumeration of the temporary
conquests in the south, our chronicler returns to the subject
of the more permanent conquests in Northern India, which
had already been briefly touched upon in the poetical
introduction to the inscription.
In line 21 the writer records that the emperor
" abounded in majesty that had been increased by violently
exterminating
Rudradeva,
Matila,
Nagadatta,
Candravarman,
Ganapati Naga,
Nagasena,
Acyuta,
Nandin,
Balavarman,
and many other kings of the land of Aryavarta."
The name Aryavarta is well known to be the equivalent
of the modern Hindustan, or India north of the Narmada
river. The language of the record plainly indicates that
1
Elphinstone, 5th edition, p. 396.
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in this vast region the kings named were thoroughly'

vanquished, and that their dominions were included in
the conqueror's empire.
Unfortunately, the historical documents for the early
history of Northern India are so few and meagre that it
is at present impossible to identify most of the kings
named in the inscription. The names of their kingdoms
are not stated.
Acyuta was probably, for the reasons given above (ante,
p. 862), a king of Ahichatra in Panchala, the modern
Rohilkhand. Nagasena is mentioned along with Acyuta
in the early part of the inscription, and the two princes
may be supposed to have been neighbours. Nagasena may
perhaps have been a member of the same dynasty as
Vlrasena of earlier date, whose coins are tolerably common
in the North-Western Provinces and the Paiijab.1 Naga-
datta may belong to the same dynasty as Ramadatta and
Purusadatta, whose coins are obscurely connected with
those of the Northern Satraps.2
Candravarman is probably the Maharaja of that name
whose fame is preserved by a brief inscription on the rock
at Susunia in the Bankura District of Bengal, seventeen
miles SSW. from the Banigafij railway station.3
Concerning the identity of Rudradeva, Matila, Nandin,
and Balavarman, I am at present unable to offer even a
conjecture.
The only name among the nine names in the list which
can be identified with certainty is that of Ganapati Naga.
Cunningham has shown that this prince must be one of
the dynasty of seven or nine Nagas, whose capital was
Narwar, between Gwaliar and Jhansl. Although the coins
of Ganapati, which have been found in thousands, do not
bear the word Naga, there can be no doubt that they
1
"Coins of Ancient India," p. 89; "Catalogue of Coins in Lahore
Museum," part iii, 128 ; " Catalogue of Coins in Indian Museum," iii, 32.
2
"Coins of Ancient India," p. 8 8 ; J.R.A.S. for July, 1894, p. 541;
" Catalogue of Coins in Lahore Museum," iii, 122; " Catalogue of Coins in
Indian Museum," iii, 31.
3
Proc. A.S.B. for 1895, p. 177.
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were issued by a member of the Naga dynasty. Their

practical identity in type and style with the coins which
bear the names of the Maharajas Skanda Naga, Brhas-
pati Naga, and Deva Naga leaves no room for scepticism.
The coins of all these Naga kings are found at Narwar.1
The language of the inscription which describes Ganapati
as one of the kings who were "violently exterminated"
induces me to consider him the last of his dynasty.
The "kings of the forest countries" (1. 21), who were
compelled to become the servants of the conqueror, and
are associated in the text with the "kings of Aryavarta,"
were no doubt the chiefs of the Gonds and other wild
tribes north of the Narmada. To this day there is a large
extent of forest country north of the Narmada in Bundel-
khand, Central India, and the Central Provinces.
The position of the southern forest kingdom of Maha-
kantaraka has been discussed above (ante, p. 866).
SECTION IV.—THE FEONTIER KINGDOMS.

Having completed the enumeration of the kings of the
North and the kings of the South, the author of the
inscription proceeds, in line 22, to extol the glories of his
master as exhibited in the relations of the imperial power
with the kings and tribes outside, but immediately adjoining,
the frontiers' of the empire.
He states that the frontier kings of Samatata, Davaka,
Kamarupa, Nepala, Kartrpura, and of other countries; and
the tribes known by the names of Malava, Arjunayana,
Yaudheya, Madraka, Abhira, Prarjuna, Sanakanika, Kaka,
and others, fully gratified the sovereign's commands by
obedience, by coming to perform homage, and by the
payment of all kinds of taxes.2
These names will now be discussed in order.
1
Cunningham, "Reports," ii, 307-310; "Coins of Mediaeval India,"
pp. 21-4.
2
Dr. Fleet (p. 14, note 1) needlessly, as it seems to me, suggests that an
ambiguity lurks in the term "frontier kings" (pratyanta-nrpati). I think it
plain that the meaning is that which has been adopted in the text.
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1. THE KINGDOM OP SAMATATA.
The Brhat Samhita places this country in the eastern

division of India. The name means " the country of which
the rivers have flat and level banks of equal height on both
sides," and denotes Lower Bengal.1 The Ganges and other
great Indian rivers in the upper parts of their courses
usually have a high bank on one side, that is to say, on
the concave side of each curve.2 The name Samatata is
thus descriptive of a marked difference between the appearance
presented by the country in the swamps of deltaic Bengal
and that presented by the drier regions of Bihar and the
North-Western Provinces.
The same name, Samatata, is used by Hiuen Tsiang in
the seventh century A.D., who describes the country as being
about 500 miles (3,000 li) in circuit, and bordering on the
great sea. It lay 1,200 or 1,300 li (more than 200 miles)
south of Kiimarupa, and about 900 li (150 miles) east of
the country of Tamralipti.3
These indications prove that the kingdom occupied the
delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra, of which the Jessore
District forms the central portion, and in which Calcutta
and Dacca are now included. The main stream of the
Ganges, which now separates the Patna and Faridpur
Districts, must have been the northern boundary.
In the sixteenth century this region was known as
Bhati, and the chief town was Bikrampur, in the Dacca
District.4
The Chinese pilgrim mentions that the capital city was
between three and four miles (20 li) in circumference, but
unfortunately does not mention its name, or indicate its
position with precision. The capital was probably situated
on the coast, somewhere on the tract now known as the
Sunderbans. The southern portion of this tract has long
1
Ind. Ant., xxii, 189.
2
3
Rennell, " A Bengal Atlas," p. 3.
4
Beal, "Records," ii, 199, 200.
Cunningham, " Reports," xv, 146.
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been a pestilential and almost impenetrable jungle, but old

Portuguese maps show that the early European adventurers
found live cities existing in it, and surrounded by extensive
cultivation.1
2. THE KINGDOM OF DAVAKA.

The situation of this kingdom is unknown, but the
insertion of the name between the names of Samatata and
Kamarupa naturally suggests the inference that Davaka
lay somewhere on the north-eastern frontier. Possibly the
kingdom actually lay between Samatata and Kamarupa,
and corresponded to the modern districts of Bogra
(Bagraha), Dinajpur, and Rajsahi. The mere position
of the name in the list must not, however, be allowed too
much significance. We have seen that in the list of the
kingdoms of the south the names are arranged without
reference to their order in geographical position.
Dr. Fleet's suggestion (in Index, s.v.) that Davaka may
be another form of Dacca, or Daka, is inadmissible. The
correct spelling of Dacca is Dhaka (<oRfl).
3. THE KINGDOM OF KAMARUPA.
Although, as is well known, the kingdom of Kamarupa

corresponds roughly with the province of Assam, it must be
remembered that the ancient kingdom and the modern
province do not exactly coincide. The kingdom sometimes
extended as far west as the Karatoya river and Lai Bazar
in the Rangpur District of Bengal, and included the State
of Kuch Bihar, Tipara, and parts of Maimansingh, as well
as the territory now known as the Province of Assam. The
ancient name is still preserved in the name of the district of
Kamrup, in the central portion of Assam, which lies between
lat. 25° 50' and 26° 53' N., and between long. 90° 40' and
92° 2' E.2
1
z
Balfour, " Cyclopaedia," s.v. ' Sunderbans.'
Martin, " Eastern India," iii, 403, 626 seqq.; Balfour, "Cyclopaedia," s.v.
' Assam,' ' Kamarupa,' and ' Kamrup.'
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Hiuen Tsiang, three centuries later than Samudra Gupta,

treats " the great river," that is, the Brahmaputra, as the
western boundary of Kamarupa. Having described the
kingdom of Pundra-vardhana, he gives details of certain
buildings in the neighbourhood of the capital, and proceeds—
" from this, going east 900 Ii or so, crossing the great river,
we come to the country of Kia-mo-lu-po (Kamarupa)." l
It is, of course, impossible to be certain, whether or not
the kingdom of Kamarupa in the time of Samudra Gupta
included the Rangpur territory west of " the great river " ;
but I consider it probable that this great river, the Brahma-
putra, was the natural frontier of the empire, which must
have included the minor kingdoms or principalities known
to Hiuen Tsiang as Pundra-vardhana, Karnasuvarna, and
Tamralipti. The first of these certainly included part of
the Dinajpur District,2 the capital of the second was at
Rangamati in the Murshidabad District,3 and the capital
of the third is represented by the decayed port of Tamliik
in the Midnapur District.4
4. THE KINGDOM OF NEPILA.
The kingdom of Nepala corresponds roughly with the

modern kingdom of Nepal or Nipal, but it is impossible
to say what its exact boundaries were in the days of
Samudra Gupta.
We know that six centuries earlier the lowlands, or
Tarai, at the foot of the hills, now included in Nepal,
formed part of the dominions of Asoka, who personally
visited that region and erected pillars as memorials of his
tour. It is probable that even the valley of Nepal was
brought under the sceptre of Asoka.5
1
Beal, " Records," ii, 195.
1
The references are given by Beal, " Records," ii, 194, note.
3
4
J.A.S.B., vol. xxii (1853), p. 281; ibid., part 1, vol. lxii (1893), pp. 315-325.
Beal, "Records," ii, 200, note. Fa-hian stayed two years at Tamliik, and
sailed
5
thence for Ceylon (ch. xxxyii).
As'oka pillars have been recently discovered at Nigllva, the site of Kapila-
vastu, and Rummindei, the site of the LumbinI Garden, the birthplace of Gautama
Buddba, north of the Basil District. There is a tradition that the valley of
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THE CONQUESTS OF SAMUDRA GUPTA! 881
But his vast empire could not be held together by

weaker hands, and in the time of Samudra Gupta the
valley must certainly have been included in the frontier
kingdom of Nepal, which lay outside the empire. The
imperial boundary probably included the whole Tarai, and
ran along the outermost range of hills.
Hiuen Tsiang apparently did not personally visit Nepala.
He describes the kingdom as lying among the Snowy
Mountains, and says that a traveller comes to it by
" crossing some mountains and entering a valley." J This
phrase shows that he did not consider the Tarai, or lowlands,
as belonging to the mountain kingdom, and I think we
may safely assume that Samudra Gupta's dominions
extended to the natural frontier of the lower hills.
The kingdom of Nepala is not mentioned by Fa-hian.
5. THE KINGDOM OF KARTKPURA.
Nothing is known positively concerning the situation

of this kingdom, which does not appear to be elsewhere
mentioned. It may have lain in the Western Himalayas,
and have corresponded roughly to the modern Almora,
Garhwal, and Kamaon.
The enumeration of the frontier kingdoms seems to
proceed in regular geographical order, beginning with
Samata^a on the coast of the Bay of Bengal, and pro-
ceeding northwards through Davaka to Nepala, and
thence westwards to Kartrpura.
The western provinces of the empire certainly marched
with the territories of the tribes, which will be considered
in the next section. The kingdoms of the forest kings
must have formed to a large extent the southern frontier,
the rest of which seems to have been formed by the
territories of certain minor tribes. The eastern frontier
Nepal was included in the dominions of As'oka. (Fiihrer, " Progress Report for
1895," p. 2 ; Oldfield, "Sketches in Nlpal," pp. 246-9.) Other pillars are
believed to exist north of the Gorakhpur District.
1
Beal, " Records," ii, 80,
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has been accounted for; and the kingdom of Nepal must

have covered a large portion of the northern frontier.
It is, consequently, difficult to find any possible position
for Kartrpura, a frontier kingdom, other than that
suggested.
SECTION V.—THE FRONTIER TRIBES.

The frontier tribes who obeyed the emperor's order
and performed homage are enumerated as follows:—
1. Malava,
2. Arjunayana,
3. Yaudheya,
4. Madraka,
5. Abhira,
6. Prarjuna,
7. Sanakanlka,
8. Kaka, and
9. Kharaparika.
These names will now be discussed in order.
1. THE MALAVA TRIBE.
The Brhat Samhitd correctly classes the Malavas in the

northern division of India.1
The tribe has given its name to a province 'which still
retains it. The modern Malwa is the extensive region
bordered on the east by the Bundelkhand districts and
part of the Central Provinces, on the north by parts of
the North-Western Provinces and Rajputana, on the west
by Rajputana, and on the south by the Narmada river.
The name is, in fact, used loosely as an equivalent for
Central India, that is to say, the group of native states,
comprising Gwaliar, Indur, Bhopal, and many others, which
1
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THE CONQUESTS OP SAMTJDRA GUPTA. 883
are under the control of the Governor-General's Agent for

Central India. In this sense Malwa is distinct from
Rajputana, which consists of the group of states under
the control of the Agent for Rajputana.
But this distinction is an arbitrary, administrative one,
based on the political arrangements rendered necessary by
the chaos of the eighteenth century. In ancient times the
Malava country comprised a large part of the vast region
now known as Rajputana, and the Malava tribe can be
traced far to the north. The Malava section of the Sikhs
is located east of the Satlaj, and the Yisnu Purana mentions
the Malavas as dwelling among the Paripatra (or Pariyatra)
mountains, which seem to be the same as the Rajputana
or Aravalli hills. These hills stretch across Rajputana,
and terminate at Delhi. There is, therefore, warrant for
supposing that the term Malwa, or the Malava country,
may at times have been understood to comprise even
Northern Rajputana. The Malava coins have been found
in vast numbers at Nagar in the Jaipur State, and this
town must certainly have been included in the Malava
territory.
But the Malava country, even in ancient times, appears
to have been more ordinarily understood to mean approxi-
mately the region which still retains the name of Malwa,
with the southern parts of Rajputana.
In this region Ujjain and Besnagar were the principal
cities. Ujjain, now in the Gwaliar State (lat. 23° 11' 10" 1ST.
and long. 75° 51' 45" E.), is one of the seven sacred cities
of the Hindus, and has been famous from the dawn of
Indian history. Besnagar, or Wessanagara, is the ruined
city adjoining Bhilsa in the BhopSl State (lat. 23° 39' N.
and long. 77° 50' E.). The famous topes of Sanci are in the
neighbourhood. Cunningham considers that Besnagar was
certainly the capital of Eastern, as Ujjain was the capital
of "Western, Malava.1
The coins to which allusion has been made deserve some
i
"Coins of Ancient India," p. 99.
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further notice here, because they throw a faint light on.

the mention of the Malava tribe in the inscription.1
These coins are found chiefly in the country about a
hundred miles north of Ujjain, in Southern Rajputana,
about Ajmer, Tonk, and Chitor. Mr. Carlleyle obtained
several thousands of them at the ancient city of Nagar in
the Jaipur State, forty-five miles SSE. of Tank. They
are almost all very small, ranging in weight from four to
nine grains, and are evidently intended to be the sixteenth
and thirty-second parts of the Indian pana of 146 grains.2
Some are circular and some are square. Their historical
value lies in the legend which occurs on many of them,
and is either simply Malavahna, " of the Malavas," or
Mdlavdhna jaya, " victory to the Malavas," the genitive
being in Prakrit (Hoernle).
This legend shows that the coinage is that of a tribe,
not of a kingdom, and furnishes an interesting confirmation
of Harisena's reference to the Malavas as a frontier tribe.
The types of the coins are very various, and some present
other legends, which have not yet been interpreted.
Another confirmation of the fact that the Malavas were
organized under some form of tribal constitution, and not
governed by monarchs, is afforded by other inscriptions.
The Mandasor (Dasor) inscription of Yasodharman and
Visnu Vardhana is dated in the year 589 "from the
supremacy of the tribal constitution of the Malavas,"
equivalent to A.D. 533-4. S
Mandasor is the chief town in the district of the same
name in Sindhia's Dominions (Gwaliar State) in Western
Malwa, and is situated on the river Siwana, in lat. 24° 3' N.
and long. 75° 8' E., about eighty-five miles north-west of
Ujjain.
1
The references for the coins are: Cunningham, "Eeports," vi, 165,
174 seqq. ; xiv, pp. 149-151, pi. xxxi, Nos. 19-25 ; " Coins of Ancient India,"
pp. 95, 96; "Catalogue of the Coins of the Indian Museum" (Eodgers),
part iii, pp. 15-27, pi. ii. A few of the coins classed by the Catalogue as
Malava are really Naga coins, e.g. Nos. 12,461 and 12,462 on page 26.
2
146 grains seem to be the true weight of the pana, rather than 144, the
figure
3
adopted by Cunningham.
This is Fleet's interpretation of the words ganasthiti-vaxat, but Eielhorn
takes them as simply meaning "according to the reckoning of."
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A later inscription at Gyarispur, twenty-four miles

north-east of Bhilsa, is dated in the " Malava era"; and
one from Kanaswa, in South-Eastern Rajputana, is dated
in the era of "the Malava lords" (MdlaveSdndm).l
Everybody now recognizes the fact that the era indicated
by these various phrases is identical with that more
familiarly known as the era of Vikrama or Vikramaditya,
roughly equivalent to B.C. 57. The earliest known dates
in this era under the later name (V.S. 428 to 898) all
occur in inscriptions from Eastern Rajputana, chiefly that
part of Eastern Eajputana which borders on, or is included
in, Malava. This fact indicates that the era, under both
names, really originated in the Malava country, which is
not surprising when it is remembered that Ujjain was the
principal seat of Hindu astronomical learning, and the
meridian from which longitude was calculated.
All attempts to connect the establishment of the era
with any definite historical event have been hitherto
unsuccessful, and scholars are now agreed that no historical
foundation exists for the common belief that the era was
founded by a king Vikramaditya. We cannot feel any
confidence that the date B.C. 57 is that of any special crisis
in the history of the Malava tribe. Professor Kielhorn
holds that the inscriptions which connect the era with
the Malavas merely " show that from about the fifth to
the ninth century this era was by poets believed to be
specially used by the princes and people of Malava, while
another era or other eras were known to be current in
other parts of India." But the inscriptions are certainly
good to prove the persistence of a tradition of the existence
of the Malavas as a tribe or nation.
The rivers Betwa and Jumna may be fairly assumed as
the eastern boundary of the frontier Malava tribe, and as
the western boundary of Samudra Gupta's empire. The
comparatively small province occupied by the Abhiras, who
1
These inscriptions are discussed by Fleet, " Gupta Inscriptions," Intr. p. 67;
pp. 79, 150 ; and by Kielhorn, Ind. Ant., xx, 404.
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will be discussed presently, seems to have formed an enclave

in the extensive territory of the Malavas.
2. THE ARJTJNAYANA TRIBE.
The position of the territory of this tribe is not known

with accuracy. The tribe is grouped in the Brhat Samhita
with the Madras, Yaudheyas, and other tribes of Northern
Itidia, but the mere collocation of names in the Brhat
Samhita lists does not, as Cunningham erroneously supposed
that it did, give any information as to the relative position
of the tribes named.
A few very rare coins with the legend Arjunayanam,
" of the Arjunayanas," in early characters have been found.
Only two or three specimens are known, of which the
exact findspot does not seem to be recorded. The type is
related to that of the Northern Satrap coins, and the
Arjunayana country may reasonably be regarded as corre-
sponding to the region between the Malava and Yaudheya
territories, or, roughly speaking, the Bharatpur and Alwar
States, west of Agra and Mathura, the principal seat of
the Northern Satraps.1 The frontier of Samudra Gupta's
empire at this point appears to have been practically the
line which now separates the British districts from the
Native States.
3. THE YAUDHEYA TRIBE.
Whether by accident or design, the enumeration of the

frontier tribes by Harisena appears to be made with, some
regard to their order in geographical position. He begins
with the Malavas at the south-west frontier, proceeds
northwards to the Arjunayanas, and goes on in the same
direction to the Yaudheyas and the Madrakas. He then
1
One of the coins is very clearly engraved in Prinsep's "Essays" (Thomas),
pi. xliv, 2. Cunningham had another specimen, which is badly figured in
" Coins of Ancient India," pi. viii, 20. A specimen in the cabinet of the Asiatic
Society of Bengal maybe that figured by Prinsep.
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THE CONQUESTS OP SAMUDRA GUPTA. 887
seems to return to the south-west corner, and beginning

with the Abhira tribe (No. 5), to proceed eastward along
the southern frontier.
We have seen that although the list of southern kingdoms
is erratic, the enumeration of the frontier kingdoms appears to
be made in the order of geographical position. The portion
of the inscription now under discussion is in prose, and its
author, being untrammelled by the difficulties of verse,
would naturally follow in his mind the frontier lines when
enumerating the frontier kingdoms and tribes.
The position of the Yaudheya tribe is known with
sufficient accuracy. The name, which is Sanskrit, means
' warrior,' and is mentioned by Panini (circa B.C. 300)
as that of a tribe in the Pafijab.1 It still survives in the
form of Johiya-bar, the name of the tract on the border
of the Bahawalpur State, along both banks of the Satlaj.2
The findspots of the coins, which are all of copper or
brass, with one exception, indicate that the extensive
territories of the tribe comprised the southern portion
of the Pafijab, including the Sikh States and the
northern parts of Rajputana. Either the Bias or the
Ravi river was probably the north-western boundary of
the tribal territory, which abutted on the territory of the
Madrakas in the Central Pafijab. The cities of Lahor,
Bahawalpur, Bikanlr, Ludiana, and Delhi roughly indicate
the limits of the tribal position.
The tribe appears to have been of an active and aggressive
temper. The Satrap Rudradama of Surastra, in A.D. 150
(72 Saka), records that "he annihilated the Yaudheyas,
who had become arrogant and disobedient in consequence
of their receiving from all Ksatriyas the title of ' the
heroes.' " 3
A quantity of votive tablets bearing the proud legend
"of the Yaudheyas, who know how to devise victory,"
was found a few years ago at Sunit in the Ludiana
1
Bhandarkar in Jnd. Ant., i, 23.
2
Cunningham, "Eeports," xiv, 140.
3
" sarvva-kaatravi?krta-vira s'abda " (Ind. Ant., vii, 262).
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District. These seem to date from the third century A.D.,

and to be contemporary with the coins of the Warrior Type.
The coins occur in several divergent types, and certainly
extend over a period of several centuries. Their dates
may be roughly defined as extending from B.C. 100 to
A.D. 400. The tribe must have been included within the
limits of the extended empire of Candra Gupta II,
the son and successor of Samudra Gupta, and the tribal
coinage probably then ceased.
One class of coins, which may be conveniently called
the " Warrior Type,'' is closely related to the coinage of
the great Kusan kings Kaniska and Huviska, and exhibits
the legend Jaya Taudheya ganasya, " victory of the
Yaudheya tribe." These coins are designed and executed
with remarkable boldness and skill, and seem to date for
the most part from the third century A.D. Some may
possibly be as late as the time of Samudra Gupta. Certain
coins of this class have in the obverse field the syllable
dvi (apparently a contraction of dvitlya, 'second'), or, more
rarely, the syllable tr (a contraction for trtiya, ' third').
These syllables are usually interpreted to mean that the
coins in question were issued respectively by the second
and third sections of the tribe.1 The similar coins without
any numeral may have been struck by the first section.
Another class of coins, more rudely executed and
perhaps later in date, exhibit on the obverse the six-
headed effigy of the god Kartike}'a, and the name of
a chief, SvamI Brahmana Yaudheya.
The earliest coins are small brass pieces, with an elephant
on one side and a humped bull on the other, accompanied
by Buddhist symbols.2 Probably the tribe, in common
with the rest of India, gradually abandoned Buddhism
and reverted to orthodox Hinduism.
1
Biihler agrees with Cunningham in this interpretation (" Origin of Brahtnl
Alphabet," p. 46).
* The best published account of the Yaudheya coins is that in Cunningham's
"Reports," xiv, 139-145. The account in "Coins of Ancient India,"
pp. 75-9, is more confused, but the plate in that work is better than that of the
"Reports." I possess a fine set of Yaudheya coins. The seals, or votive
tablets, are described by Hoernle in Proc. A.S.B. for 1884, p. 137.
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THE CONQUESTS OF SAMUDEA GUPTA. 889
4. T H E MADRAKA TKIBE.
The Madraka tribe is plainly the same as that called

Madraka or Madra in the Brhat Sarhhita1 and the Mahd-
bharata. The capital of the country was the famous city
Sangala, or Sakala, the Sagala of the Milinda Panha. The
tribe seems also to have been known by the names Jartika
and Bahika. The tribal territory is still known as Madra-
des, the country between the Ravi and Canab rivers.
According to some authorities, Madra-des extended on the
west to the Jhelam and on the east to the Bias river. In
the narrower signification the country so named is equiva-
lent to the Rlchna Duab only. In the wider signification
it comprises also the Bar! Duab between the Bias and R,avi,
and the Caj Duab between the Canab and Jhelam. The
Madrakas were, therefore, the immediate neighbours of the
Yaudheyas, and occupied the central parts of the Panjab.
Cunningham's identification of the Madraka capital, San-
gala or Sakala, with a hill called Sangla Tibba in the
Gujranwala District, was undoubtedly erroneous. The true
site of the city is probably either Chuniot or Shahkot in the
Jhang District, east of the Ravi, in the Barl Duab. The
Bias, ^therefore, may be accepted as the boundary between
the Yaudheyas east of that river and the Madrakas to
the west.2
The Jalandhar Duab, between the Satlaj and the upper
course of the Bias, was probably included in Samudra
Gupta's empire, of which the Bias would have been the
frontier. The Madrakas would thus be in the strict sense
a frontier tribe.
1
* Cunningham's arguments in favour of his identification of Sakala with the
petty hill Sangala Tibba will be found in " Beports," ii, 192-200. Those
arguments were avowedly opposed to the data given both by the historians of
Alexander and by Hiuen Tsiang, and have recently been conclusively refuted by
Mr. C. J. Eodgers (Proc. A.S.B., June, 1896). I am indebted to that gentle-
man for the information that either Chuniot or Shahkot is probably the true site
of Sakala. The formidable White Hun chief Mihirakula is known to have
resided at Sakala, and his coins are numerous at both Chuniot and Shahkot.
I possess a good set collected by Mr. Eodgers at those places.
Cunningham quotes Lassen for the mention of the Madra tribe in the
Mahabharata.
J.K.A.S. 1897. 58
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890 THE CONQUESTS OP SAMUDEA GUPTA.
5. THE ABHIRA TRIBE.
The name of the Ahir caste is the phonetic equivalent of

Abhira, and this caste is so widely spread and numerous in
Northern and Western India that the correct location
of Samudra Gupta's frontier tribe appears at first sight
a matter of some difficulty. But the fact that the tribal
territory lay on the frontier of the empire gives the clue'
to the solution of the problem.
A very early inscription at Nasik, NNE. of Bombay,
mentions an Abhira king, and we know that the peninsula
of Gujarat was in ancient times largely occupied by
Ahlrs.1 Ptolemy's province of Abiria was on the western
coast, and the country between the Tapti river and
Devagarh was known as Abhira.2 But the Abhiras of
the Bombay districts lay too far westward to be counted
as a frontier tribe in the time of Samudra Gupta, whose
south-western frontier appears to have been the river
Betwa, and these western Abhiras cannot be the tribe
referred to.
The small tract called Ahraura, near Chanar in the
Mirzapur District of the North-Western Provinces, cannot
be the region in Harisena's mind. That tract, an
unimportant pargana, was according to tradition originally
occupied by Kols. Except the name there is nothing to
connect it with the Abhiras.3 Moreover, the whole of
the Mirzapur District must have been included within
the limits of the empire.
One region, and one only, exactly suits the conditions of
the problem, and can be identified with confidence as the
seat of the Abhira frontier tribe in the days of Samudra
Gupta. This region lies west of the Betwa river, and
1
No. 12, "-Buddhist Cave Temples" (Archaeological Survey of Western
India, vol. iv), p. 104, pi. liii. This inscription of the Abhira king Is'varasena
may date from about A.D. 200.
2
Quoted in Elliot's " Baces of the North-Western Provinces" (ed. Beames),
s.v. 'Ahir.'
3
See Beames, op. cit., and the Gazetteer of the Mirzapur District, s.v.
'Ahraura.'
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still hears the name of Ahlrwara. The Ahirs dwelling

in this region still occupy a prominent position. Cunning-
ham's description of Ahlrwara is as follows:—
" With the accession of the Moguls, the domains of the
Khichis were largely extended on the east by the accession
of the two districts of Jharkon and Bahadurgarh, the
former lying to the west and the latter to the east of the
Sindh river. These two districts originally formed part
of the ancient Sindu province of Ahlrwara, which extended
from Ranod on the Ahirpat river to Sironj on the south, and
from the Pdrbatl river on the west to the Betwa on the east.
Within these limits the Ahirs still form the mass of the
population, and the land is chiefly held by Ahir semindars.
During Jay Singh's long war with the Mahrattas, the
Ahirs asserted their independence, and were not subdued
until Baptiste was sent against them." l
The province of Ahlrwara thus described lies south of the
British District of JhansI, and north of Bhllsa, being, for
the most part, included in Sindia's Dominions or the Gwaliar
State.
I think no doubt can be felt that the frontier tribe of
Abhlras in the reign of Samudra Gupta occupied this
province of Ahlrwara, and formed, as already observed,
an enclave, or inset, in the extensive Malava country.
Sir Walter Elliot, a very competent authority, regarded
the Ahirs as the northern section of a great pastoral race,
formerly holding an important place in the political con-
stitution of India, of which the southern section was known
as the widely-spread Kurumbar race.
For some hundred years before the seventh century,
a period which includes the age of Samudra Gupta, the
country, from the base of the tableland to the Palar and
Pennar rivers, was occupied by the Kurumbars. They
appear to have formed a sort of Confederate State, under
chiefs of their own, each of whom resided in a fortified
stronghold, having a district of greater or less extent under
1
Cunningham, " Reports," ii, 300. The italics are mine.
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its jurisdiction, the largest of which districts was recognized

as the head of the Union. Each of these twenty-four
districts (kottams) was further subdivided into lesser
jurisdictions called nddus and nattams. The tribe was
successful in commerce both by land and sea, and skilled
in mining, and produced notable works in literature,
architecture, and sculpture. The prevailing religion of the
Kurumbars was the Jaina, and this circumstance added
bitterness to the hostility of the Hindu sovereigns of the
Cola kingdom, who in the eighth or ninth century
succeeded in crushing the Kurumbar confederation, and
incorporating its lands in the Cola (Chola) territories.1
The above brief description of the Kurumbar organization
and of its overthrow by the southern monarchy appears
to me to throw considerable light on the organization and
fate' of the similar tribes who in the fourth century covered
the western frontier of Samudra Gupta's empire.
6. THE PRARJUNA TRIBE.
We have now laboriously traced the eastern, northern,

and western frontiers of Samudra Gupta's empire, and have
reached a point at which the southern extension of the
dominions directly under his sway must have terminated,
or very nearly terminated. We have seen that the
kingdoms and tribes on the frontier are enumerated by
Harisena, so far as possible, in the order of geographical
position. The Bhilsa country, which lies south of Ahirwara,
certainly lay within the Malava territories, and the inference
necessarily follows that the Prarjuna tribe, which is the
next enumerated, should be looked for to the east or
south-east of Ahirwara. Assuming that the Narmada
formed the southern boundary of the empire, the Prarjuna
tribe may be provisionally placed in the Narsifihpur
District of the Central Provinces.
1
Sir "VV. Elliot, "Coins of Southern India" (Intern. Num. Or., vol. in,
part 2), pp. 36, 89 ; and the authorities cited in the notes.
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7. THE SANAKANIKA TRIBE,

8. THE KAKA TRIBE, and
9. THE KHARAPARIKA TRIBE.
The exact position of any of these three tribes is not

known, but we may safely assume that they lay near the
Prarjuna territory, and probably in the Central Provinces,
or possibly in Central India, just south of the Malava
country.
The name Kaka (' crow') may be locally associated with
Kakanada (' crow's voice '), the ancient name of Sanci, the
celebrated Buddhist site 5J miles south-west of Bhllsa.1
The name SanakanIka, or Sanakanika, is connected with
the same region by the fact that one of the inscriptions at
Udayagiri near Bhilsa records the dedication of certain
sculptures by a Sanakanika chieftain.2
The Kharaparika tribe may have occupied the Seoni or
Mandla District of the Central Provinces. The circuit of
the boundaries of the empire is thus completed.
SECTION VI.—FOREIGN POWERS.

"We now pass from the enumeration of conquered pro-
vinces, frontier kingdoms, and frontier tribes, to a list of the
independent foreign States at a distance with which Samudra
Gupta maintained intercourse and friendly relations.
The passage of the inscription (1. 23) dealing with these
foreign powers is thus literally translated by Fleet:—
" Whose binding together of the (whole) world, by means
of the amplitude of the vigour of (his) arm, was effected
by the acts of respectful service, such as offering themselves
1
The name occurs in inscriptions of the As'oka period (" Gupta Inscriptions,"
p. 31 ; Epigraphia Indica, ii, 87, 366, 396).
2
The spelling Sanakanika is used in the Allahabad inscription, and the
spelling Sanakanika in the Udayagiri inscription dated G.E. 82 in the reign of
Candra Gupta II (" Gupta Inscriptions," p. 25). At that date the Sanakanika
chief had become a subject of the empire.
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as sacrifices, bringing presents of maidens, (giving) Garuda-

tokens,1 (surrendering) the enjoyment of their own
territories, soliciting (his) commands, etc., (rendered) by
the Daivaputras, Sahis, Sahanusahis, Sakas, and Murundas,
and by the people of Simhala and all (other) dwellers in
islands."
The arrogant language of this passage of course exag-
gerates the deference paid to the subject of the panegyric,
and may fairly be interpreted to mean nothing more than
the exchange of complimentary embassies and gifts between
the emperor of Northern India and the powers named.
Samudra Gupta's victorious raid into the Peninsula would
naturally arouse the fears of the Sinhalese princes, and no
doubt an embassy from Ceylon really visited his Court.2
The identification of the powers intended by the titles
Daivaputra, Sahi, Sahanusahi, Saka, and Murunda, presents
a difficult problem. I cannot pretend to solve this problem
with absolute certainty, but venture to think that a reason-
ably probable solution may be offered with some confidence.
1. THE MURUNDA KING.
The Murundas may possibly have been settled in the

hill country of Eiwa, along the Kaimur range, or, more
probably, further south in the Vindhyas or Northern
Dakhan, or possibly in Chutia Nagpur. This conjecture
is based merely on the occurrence of the name Murundadevi,
or Murunda-svamini, in inscriptions dated G.E. 193 and 197
found near the village of Khoh in the Nagaudh State.
The princess so named was the consort of the Maharaja
Jayanatha of Uccha-kalpa, in the neighbourhood of
Nagaudh. Her name seems to indicate that she belonged
to the Murunda clan, the territory of which was probably
1
The meaning of " Garuda-tokens" (garudmat-anka) is obscure. Fleet
supposes it to refer to gold coins, bearing, among other emblems, a representation
of the Garuda standard, the Gupta equivalent of the Koman eagle. I believe
that the term is used in the sense of "standards."
2
I formerly treated the allusion to Ceylon as "mere rhetoric," but think
the interpretation now placed on the passage is preferable.
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liot very remote from the petty principality ruled by her

husband.
Only one other certain mention of the Murundas has
rewarded my search, but this is sufficient to show that
they were a notable tribe, clan, or reigning family, worthy
to be ranked with the Guptas themselves among the rulers
of India. The passage referred to is in the Jaina Purana,
called Harivamka, composed by the poet Jinasena in the
Saka year 705 (A.D, 637), and runs as follows:—
Verse 83. "And at the time of the nirvana of Vira,
King Palaka, the son of (the king of) Avanti, (and) the
protector of the people, shall be crowned here on earth.
(84) His reign (shall last) sixty years. Then, it is said,
(the rule) of the kings of the country shall endure for a
hundred and fifty-five years. (85) Then the earth (shall be
the) undivided (possession) of the Murundas, for forty years;
and for thirty, of the Pushpamitras (or Pushyamitras);
and for sixty, of Vasumitra and Agnimitra. (86 and
87) (Then there shall be the rule) of the 'Ass-kings' for
a hundred years. Next, (the rule) of Naravahana for forty
years. After (these) two, (the sway) of Bhattubana (shall
last) two hundred and forty (years); and the illustrious rule
of the Guptas shall endure two hundred and thirty-one
years. This is declared by chronologists."
Mr. K. B. Pathale, who published the above passage,
quotes a couplet from the Pdrsvdbhyudaya to- show that
Vatsaraja, the lover of Vasavadatta, was a Murunda.1
The chronology of the Jaina Purana is, of course, like
that of all Puranas, confused, and no statement in a docu-
ment of this class can be accepted with confidence. But
the passage quoted has certainly so much value, that it
proves the existence in the seventh century A.D. of a dis-
tinct tradition that the Murundas for a period of forty years
ranked among the leading ruling races of India.
If the Murundas were identical with the Murandas, my
conjecture as to the position of the Murunda kingdom must
1
Ind. Ant,, xv, 142.
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be abandoned. The Muranda people is said to be identical

with the Lampaka people, the inhabitants of Larapaka, or
Lamghan, a small country lying along the northern bank
of the Kabul river, bounded on the west and east by the
Alingar and Kunar rivers. In the time of Hiuen Tsiang
the local royal family had been extinct for several centuries,
and the country was one of the dependencies of Kapisa.1
2. THE SAKA KING.
The Sakas of India were undoubtedly a race of foreign

origin, which entered India, like so many other races,
across the north-western frontier; and Cunningham may
be right in identifying them with the Su tribe, who were,
in or about B.C. 125, forced into the province of Kipin
or Kophene by the pressure of the advancing Yu-chi
(Yue-ti), who included the famous Kusan clan. It is
certain that the geographer, Isidorus of Charax, writing
probably in the first century of our era, locates the Sakas
in Drangiana, which he calls Sakastene.2 Drangiana was
the ancient name of the country along the Helmand river,
and seems to have been included in Kipin. We must
assume, therefore, that the Sakas entered India proper by
the Qandahar route.
Isidorus of Charax called the inhabitants of Sakastene
Saka-Scythians. The author of the " Periplus," writing
1
Beal, " Records," ii, 90. The note quotes Mahabharata, vii, 4,847, besides
Cunningham,
2
Reinaud, and Lassen.
" La Sakastene ou le Sakast&n tirait Son nom des Sahas, qui avaient occupe
toute l'ancienne Arachosie, et peut-£tre aussi la vallee du Kaboul, pendant le
premier siecle avant notre ere ; ils en avaient ete chasses par lea Kouchans vers
I'an 30 av. J . - C , mais le nom de la contree y avait ete1 conserve, et il est reste
jusqu'a nos jours sous la forme Seiistan (Sagastene, Segistan, Sedjistan). Les
grands Yue-tehi en ont ete maitres pendant plusieurs siecles. D'apres Agatbias,
le Sakastan fut conquis sur eux par Bahrain II (276-294), qui confera le titre
de sakanshah on prince des Sakas a son fils Bahrain I I .
"L'historien latin Vopiscus nous dit qu'au moment oil Carus [emperor A.D.
282-3] traversa PEuphrate dans sa guerre contre les Perses, Bahrain II etait
occupe sur les frontieres de l'lnde, c'est a dire de 1'Afghanistan et du Kaboul.
Le Sakastan, ainsi enlev£ aux Kouchans, resta en la possession des Sassanides."
—Drouin, " Monnaies des grands Kouchans": Kev. Num. 1896, p. 160.
M. Drouin quotes Isidorus in edition of C. Miiller, sec. 18. I have not been
able to verify the reference to this author.
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about A.D. 89,* calls the countries at the mouth of the Indus
" the seaboard of Scythia," and states that Parthians were
the rulers of Indo-Scythia. Probably the terms Parthian
and Saka were loosely used as interchangeable. The
Parthian rulers at the mouths of the Indus were doubtless
connected with the Parthian kings of the Western Panjab
and Afghanistan, of whom Gondophares, about A.D. 30, is
the best known. The kings Maues (Moas) and Azes, of
slightly earlier date, who are known almost exclusively
from coins, are generally considered to be Sakas, though
the proof that they were really such does not seem to me
satisfactory.2
The Satraps of Mathura and Northern India, who seem
to have reigned in the century before and in the century
following the Christian era, betray a Persian origin, both
by their official title and by their personal names. The
official title indicates at least the recollection of a real
connection with the Persian empire, which certainly existed
before the conquests of Alexander, and the names of
Hagana and Hagamasa, both Satraps, are unmistakably
Persian. The name of the Satrap Sodasa, too, appears to
be an Indianized form of the Persian name Zodas.
The late Bhagvanlal IndrajT, therefore, decided to call
these Satraps Pahlavas, or Persians. He was certainly
quite justified in doing this.3 But Dr. Biihler, who calls
them " the Saka Satraps of Mathura," is also justified in
his nomenclature.
The Lion Capital of Mathura is covered with dedicatory
Buddhist inscriptions of members of the ruling Satrap
family. One of these is recorded " in honour of the whole
1
Cunningham gives the erroneous date " ahout A.D. 160." See McCrindle's
edition of the " Periplus."
2
Cunningham (" .Reports," ii, 47) helieved that " t h e Su or Sakas, heing the
descendants of Soytho-Parthian Dahae, were not distinguishable from true
Parthians either in speech, manners, or in dress. Their names also were the
same as those of the Parthians."
3
J.K.A.S. 1894, p. 549. " T h e Northern Kshatrapas." The coins of
these Satraps are also discussed in " Coins of Ancient India," pp. 85-90, pi. yiii.
But the published accounts of the coins are far from exhaustive.
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Sakastane," or Saka country, and it is reasonable to infer

that the ruling family was connected with that country.1
I am not aware of any other proof that the Northern
Satraps were Sakas. If it be assumed that they were
Sakas, it appears plain that the Saka tribe had a close
connection with Persia, and might properly be described
as Persians (Pahlavas), and that they were also sometimes
regarded as identical with Parthians.
Mathura was certainly included in the dominions of
Samudra Gupta, and the rule of the semi-Persian Northern
Satraps seems to have terminated long before his day.2
Consequently, even if it prove to be the case that the
Northern Satraps were Sakas, they cannot be the foreign
power in alliance with Samudra Gupta.
It is possible that in his reign Saka settlements may
still have existed in Seistan, the Qandahar country, and
along the Indus, but the ruling powers of the north-
western frontier seem to be fully accounted for by the
terms Daivaputra, Sahi, and Sahanusahi, which will be dis-
cussed presently, and Seistan appears to have been included
in the Persian dominions (Drouin, op. cit., p. 161). The
Saka king of the inscription, therefore, cannot be the ruler
of Seistan.
The Brhat Samhita classes the Sakas in the Western
Division of India, along with the Aparantakas, Haihayas,
Jrhgas, Mlecchas, Paratas, Santikas, Vaisyas, and Vokkanas.
The country Aparanta corresponded with the modern
£onkana, the district extending from Gokarna, in the
Karwar collectorate, to the Daman Ganga, the frontier
river of Gujarat, or perhaps even further north to the
1
J.E.A S. 1894, " T h e Mathura Lion Pillar Inscriptions," pp. 530, 531, 640.
Sakastana (Sakasthana) is identical with the Sakastene of Isidorus. •
2
The coins of the Northern Satrapa, many of Which I possess, are all of early
date, and probably none are later than A.D. 100. An inscription of the reign of
Candra Gupta I I dated G.B. 82 ( = A . D . 400) has been found at Mathura
("Gupta Inscriptions," p. 25), and another inscription dated " i n the fifty-
seventh year" is probably to be referred to the Gupta era (Buhler, Epigraphia
Indica, ii, 198, 210). If this is correct, the date will fall in the reign of
Samudra Gupta.
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THE CONQUESTS OF SAMUDBA GUPTA. 899
Tapl (TaptI). The capital was Surparaka, tlie modern

Sopara, near Bassein (Vasai) in the Thana District.1
The Parata, or Parada country, must have been the
Surat District north of Aparanta.2
The Haihayas occupied the upper course of the Narmada,
in the region now known as the Central Provinces.3
The Jrngas, Santikas, Vaisyas, and Vokkanas have not,
so far as I know, been identified.
Mleccha is a general term corresponding to the Greek
y3a/j/3apo?, and is sufficiently explained by the following
passage from the Visnu Purana, which relates how Sagara
made " the Yavanas shave their heads entirely; the Sakas
he compelled to shave (the upper) part of their heads;
the Paradas wore their hair long ; and the Pahlavas let
their beards grow; in obedience to his commands. Them
also, and other Ksatriya races, he deprived of the
established usages of oblations to fire and the study
of the Vedas, and, thus separated from religious rites,
and abandoned by the Brahmans, these different tribes
became Mlecchas." *
Manu, too, classes the Sakas with the Dravidas and certain
other tribes as degraded Ksatriyas.5
The date of the Brhat Samldta is known to be about
the middle of the sixth century A.D. These passages show
that at that date the Sakas were known as a foreign
people settled in Western India near the Paradas and
Pahlavas, or Persians, from whom they were distinguished
by a different mode of wearing their hair. The contempt
of these foreign settlers for the niceties of Hindu caste
and ritual excited the disgust of Brahmanical writers, who
1
Ind. Ant., xiv, 259 ; xxii, 189.
* R§abhadatta's Nasik inscription, No. 5, names the rivers Iba, Parada,
Damana, Tapl, Karabena, and Dahanuka. The Parada is the Paradi, or Par,
river in the Surat District ("Archaeological Survey of "Western India," iv, 100,
note 2).
3
Cunningham, "Reports," ix, 77.
4
" Vishnu Purana " (ed. Wilson), B. iv, ch. iii, vol. iii, p. 294; quoted by
Fleet in Ind. Ant., xxii, 185.
5
Manu, x, 44; quoted in "Archaeological Survey of Western India,"
iii, 55, note.
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900 THE CONQUESTS OF SAMITDKA GUPTA.
grouped all such unclean foreigners under the comprehensive

title Mleccha, while giving them a place in the Hindu
system by inventing the fiction that the strangers were
degraded Ksatriyas.
The Saka king of the Allahabad inscription should, in
accordance with the above indications, be looked for in
Western rather than in Northern India.
It seems to me hardly possible to doubt that the Saka
prince referred to in the Allahabad inscription was one
of the Saka Satraps, who " held sway, from the last
quarter of the first century A.r>. to the end of the fourth,
over a large territory in Western India, which may be
said, generally speaking, to have comprised Malwa, Sind,
Kacch, Kathiawar, Gujarat proper, and the northern
Konkan . . . . Surastra was one province only of
x
the kingdom."
These powerful princes are now commonly termed the
Western Satraps, to distinguish them from the Northern
Satraps of Mathura and Upper India.
It is certain that all the dates of the Western Satraps
are recorded in the Saka era, and Bhagvanlal Indrajl
thought it probable that this era was instituted in A.D. 78
by Nahapana, the first Satrap, to commemorate his victory
over the Satakarni, or Andhra king. Most writers ascribe
the foundation of the era to the Kusan sovereign Kaniska.
TJsavadata (Rsabhadatta), the son-in-law of the Satrap
Nahapana, appears to expressly call himself a Saka in
one of the Nasik inscriptions, which series of records
contains several other references to the Sakas collectively,
and to individual members of the race.2
Nahapana was succeeded by Chastana, a member of
a different family though probably also a Saka, in or
about A.D. 111. " He was probably to some extent con-
temporary with Nahapana, and, like him, the general of
1
Bhagvanlal Indraji and Eapson, "The Western Kshatrapas," in J.R.A.S.
1890, Vol. XXII, N.S., p. 640.
a
"Archaeological Survey of Western India," iv, pp. 101 (note 3), 104,
109, 114.
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some Saka sovereign; but, while Nahapana held Surastra

and the adjacent districts, Chastana would seem to have
conquered a great part of Western Ilajputana and to
have established himself at Ajmere, where the greater part
of his coins are found. Subsequently he seems to have
conquered • the kingdom of Malwa and fixed his capital at
TJjjain; there can be no doubt that he is identical with
the TiaaTavos mentioned by the geographer Ptolemy as
ruling in this capital. After the death of Nahapana, who
had no son, Chastana seems to have succeeded to his
dominions; and the Ksatrapa kingdom for the future may
be described as comprising the territories conquered by
their first two Satraps." 1
That kingdom of the Western Satraps had probably before
the time of Samudra Gupta absorbed a large portion of the
tribal territory of the Malavas. The kingdom was itself
conquered and absorbed into the empire by Samudra Gupta's
son and successor, Candra Gupta II, and remained incor-
porated with it until the collapse of the imperial Gupta
power near the end of the fifth century.
Samudra Gupta, whose direct conquests had reached the
borders of Malwa, must necessarily have been in commu-
nication with the Saka Satraps of the West, and I have
no doubt that those Satraps are the Sakas referred to by
Harisena.
The Satrap Rudradaman describes himself in the year
A.D. 150 as " lord of Eastern and Western AkaravatI, Anu-
padesa, Anarta, Surastra, Svabhra, Maru, Kaccha, Sindhu,
Sauvira, Kukura, Aparanta, and Nisada." This prince is
also said to have <f exterminated" the Yaudheyas, and to
have twice defeated the Satakarni, or Andhra, king of the
south.2 These details justify the description of the Satrap
kingdom in modern terms, as given by Bhagvanlal Indrajl.
The twenty-sixth and penultimate Western Satrap was
Rudrasena, son of Rudradaman. His coins, which are
1
J.E.A.S. 1890, p. 644.
a
Jnd. Ant., vii, 258, 259, 262. Dr. Biihler identifies the various countries
named.
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numerous, bear dates ranging from 270 to 298, equivalent

to A.D. 348 and 376.1 Rudrasena was, therefore, the con-
temporary of Samudra Gupta, whose reign extended approxi-
mately from A.D. 345 to A.D. 380, and must have been the
Saka prince who sent embassies to Samudra Gupta.
3. THE DAIVAPUTRA KING.
The words Daivaputra- Sahi-Sahanusahi in the inscription,

which are, of course, after the Indian manner, written
without any marks of division or punctuation, present many
difficulties of interpretation, and have been differently
interpreted.
Cunningham regarded the three words as forming a single
compound title, designating a king of the Kusan tribe
reigning in the Pan jab and Afghanistan. His words are:
—"At this very time, A.D. 358, the Kusans were still in
the height of their power, as the Samudra Gupta inscription
on the Allahabad pillar mentions the presents sent by the
Devaputra Sahi Sahanusahi to the Indian king. As these
were the peculiar titles assumed by the great Kusan kings,
the presents must have been sent by one of them." 2
But it seems to me very unlikely that in the enumeration
Daivajputra-Sdhi-Sahanusahi-Saka-Murundaih the first three
words are to be taken as referring to a single king. The
triple title would be extremely cumbrous and unusual, and
this interpretation appears to destroy the balance of the
sentence. It is much more natural to take each title as
referring to a single sovereign.3 It would be difficult to
find any example of the use in a single inscription or coin
1
J.R.A.S. 1890, p. 661.
2
3
Num. Chron. 1893, p. 176 ; " Reports," iii, 42.
M. Drouin takes the same view, and writes: '' Les souverains qui les ont
£mises [soil, monnaies] sont ceux que Samudra-Gupta a vaincus vers Fan 390
de J . - C , et qui sont designes sur le pillier d'AMhabSd sous ies noms de Daiva-
putras, Shdhis, Shdhdnushdhis, et Sakas" (" Monnaies des Grands Kouchans,"
in Rev. Num. 1896, p. 158). I do not think that the word vaincus is justified
by the terms of the inscription, or by the probabilities of the situation.
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THE CONQUESTS OF SAMUDRA GTJPTA. 903
legend of the cumbrous complex title Daivaputra - sdhi-

sdhdnusdhi, although it is true that all three titles were
used by the Kusan kings, and two of them may be found
combined. The Sakas also used the titles Sdhi and Sdhd-
nusdhi, and it would be as justifiable to connect those
words in the inscription with Saka as with Daivaputra.1
It is just possible that the cognate titles Sdhi and Sdhdnu-
sdhi ought really to be treated as a single compound title,
but with this reservation I have no hesitation in rejecting
the interpretation approved by Cunningham, and preferring
that adopted by Fleet, who translates the passage in
question by the words—" the Daivaputras, Sahis, Sahanu-
sahis, Sakas, and Murundas." It is, however, still better to
treat each term as singular, and to translate—" the Daiva-
putra, the Sahi, the Sahanusahi, the Saka, and the
Murunda," the word ' king' being understood in. each case.
I think this translation is the most correct. The passage
unquestionably refers to monarchical powers.
The Sanskrit title Daivaputra could only apply to a
sovereign ruling in India or on the confines of India.
It is probably of Chinese origin, being the literal
translation of the Chinese emperor's title, ' Son of Heaven'
(Tien-tse)? "Whatever be the correct interpretation of
the words Sahi and Sahanusahi, the application of the
title Daivaputra is not open to question. It was the
chosen and, so far as is known, peculiar title of the
Kusan kings of Peshawar and Kabul—the kingdom of
Gandhara.
This title Devaputra (Daivaputra) was that specially
affected by the great Kusan kings Kaniska, Huviska
(Huksa or Huska), and Vasudeva (or Vasuska). The
1
""We find a late, but very distinct, reminiscence of these Scythic titles in
the Jain legend of Kalakacarya, which calls the princes of the Sakas—the
protectors of the saint—Sahi, and their sovereign lord Sahanusahi."—-Stein,
"Zoroastrian Deities on Indo- Scythian Coins" (Ind. Ant., xvii, 95 ; quoting
Jacobi in Zeitschrift of German Or. Soc, vol. xxxiv, p. 255).
a
" A Record of the Buddhist Religion," by I-tsing (ed. Takakusu, Oxford,
1896), p. 136, note 3. The Chinese influence on Northern India in the early
centuries of the Christian era was considerable.
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Jaina inscriptions from Mathura and the Sanci records offer

numerous examples, of which a few may be quoted :—
" In the year 5 of Devaputra Kaniska."1
" In the year . . . of Devaputra Huviska."
"of Devaputra Huksa."8
"of the Rajatiraja Devaputra Sahi Vasuska."3
It will be observed that in the first two quotations Kaniska
and Huviska call themselves simply Devaputra, whereas
the later Vasuska, in the year 78 ( = A.D. 156), adds the
Persian title Sahi and the Indian title Rajatiraja, the
equivalent of Sahanusahi. He does not, however, actually
combine Sahi and Sahanusahi.
Fa-hian, travelling about A.D. 403, distinguishes the
region of Gandhara from the Peshawar country, which
lay four days' journey further south, but does not note
whether or not both districts were under the same govern-
ment.4 At the time of Hiuen Tsiang's visit, about A.D. 631,
Peshawar was the capital of Gandhara, which was then
ruled by a governor sent from Kapisa, north of Kabul, the
local royal family of Gandhara having become extinct.5
In the interval between the two Chinese pilgrims the
irruption of the White Huns had effected a revolution in
all political arrangements.
The names of the successors of Yasudeva are known
from coins only. The coins struck in the Panjab and
Afghanistan agree closely in form, standard, and style
with those of the famous kings Kaniska, Huviska, and
Yasudeva. Some of the names are monosyllables in the
Chinese fashion, such as Mi and Bhu. Others have been
Indianized, and a prince, who probably ruled about A.D. 300,
assumed the purely Indian name Samudra. The coins occur
in four metals—gold, silver, brass, and copper or bronze.
Some of these pieces may have been struck by provincial
1
Epigraphia Indica, i, p. 382, inscription No. 1.
2
Ibid., ii, p. 206, Nos. xxv and xxvi.
3
Ibid., ii, p. 369 ; a Sanci inscription.
4
Chapters x-xii.
6
Beal, "Records," i, 97.
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governors or viceroys of Gandhara or Peshawar, and some

were probably issued by the greater Kusan sovereign whose
capital was at or near Kabul.1 One of these Kusan kings
is the Devaputra of the inscription.
4. THE SAHI KING.

Subject to the reservation already noted that the words
Sahi and Sahanusahi may possibly be interpreted as
forming a compound title referring to one king, though
preferably interpreted as referring to two distinct sovereigns,
I now proceed to attempt their interpretation on the latter
supposition.
The title Sahi was, as we have seen, used by the
Devaputra Kusan kings of Gandhara in the first and
second centuries A.D. It continued in use on the north-
western frontier of India up to the beginning of the
eleventh century.2 The problem before me is to ascertain
the prince to whom the title was considered specially
applicable in the fourth, century.
Contemporary documents of that period are clearly the
best available evidence, and the only strictly contemporary
documents at present accessible are coin legends, on which,
therefore, my argument will be based.
It seems to me that the Sahi king of the inscription
was one of those Kidara Kusan princes who took the
simple title of Sahi without addition, and whose money
is approximately contemporaneous with Samudra Gupta.
1
These coins of the so-called Later Indo-Scythians, or Later Great Kusans,
are descrihed and discussed by Cunningham (Numismatic Chronicle for 1893,
pp. 112 seqq.); V. A. Smith (Journ. As. Soc. Bengal for 1897, part i, p. 5) ;
E. Drouin (Revue Numism. for 1896, p. 154). M. Drouin observes (p. 160):
" L a capitale ou une des capitales des grands Yue-tchi ou grands Kouchans
(car ce vaste empire, qui s'etendait encore, a l'epoque Sassanide, de la mer
Caspienne a l'lndus, devait avoir plusieurs residences royales) etait Kaboul."
2
Alberuni, " Indica " (Sachau's translation, ii, 10 ; quoted by Stein, "Zur
Geschichte der Cahis von Kabul"). The last of the Turkish Sahi kings of
Kabul was Laga-Turman. These kings were succeeded by a Hindu dynasty,
who also took the title of Sahi, and lasted till A.D. 1021 (A.H. 412), when
Trilocanapala was killed. See also " Coins of Mediaeval India," p. 55.
Cunningham follows Thomas in reading Al Kitorman instead of Laga-Turman.
In Kas'mir the title Sahi lingered till A.D. 1100. Cunningham saya that Trilo-
canapala was alive in A.D. 1027 (V.S. 1084).
J.B.A.S. 1897- 59
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Two silver coins issued by one of these princes are thus

described by Cunningham :—
" Kidara Sahi.

" Obv. Bust of the king to the front, with bushy hair
on both sides of the face, like the Sassanian kings; crown
with triple ornament; long earrings. Indian inscription
in early Gupta letters, Kidara Kusdna Sahi, the last letter,
hi, being close to the face on the right.
"Rev. Fire-altar, with two attendants carrying drawn
swords, or perhaps the barsom. Below the altar are three
characters, which I take for numerals. They are the
same on all my three specimens, although the coins are
from different dies. I read them as 339, which if referred
to the Saka era would be 339 + 78 = A.D. 417." l
The weight of each of the two specimens described in
detail was 56 grains, and the diameter 1*10 inch. These
coins, which have a very Persian appearance, in spite of
the Indian legends, appear to me to be probably the
coinage of the Sahi dynasty with which Samudra Gupta
had relations. The coins of which I have quoted the
technical descriptions are evidently the earliest of a long
series which ultimately merges into the coinage of the
kingdom of Kasmlr. The kings of Kasmlr intermarried
with the Sahi dynasty of Kabul. In the above quoted
description Cunningham gives the date read on the coins
as 339, but from a passage a few pages earlier it is plain
that he really read the date as 239, and adopted the date
a century later in deference to supposed historical necessities.
He says: " The reverse has the Sassanian fire-altar, with
three letters or numerals on the base, and the usual
attendant priests at the side. I read the three characters
as numerals forming 239, or perhaps 339, which, referred
to the era of A.D. 78, would give either A.D. 317 or 417.
The latter is the preferable date, as the period of Kidara
can be fixed with some certainty in the first half of the
1
Num. Chron. 1893, p. 199, pi. vi (xv), 1, 2.
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fifth century A.D." 1 He then proceeds to determine the

date according to his interpretation of Chinese authorities,
the correctness of which interpretation I shall not now
stop to discuss- Cunningham does not explain his reasons
for reading the three characters as the numerals 239, and
I am unable to read them; all I can say is, that no two
of the characters seem to be identical.
Kidara is supposed to be identical with the Ki-to-lo of
the Chinese writers. The word is evidently a family or
dynastic title. A Ki-to-lo chief of the Little Yuchi
(Kusans) established himself at Peshawar about A.D. 430.*
But, in the time of Samudra Gupta, the Devaputra dynasty
of Kusan (Greater Kusan) princes was still reigning in
the Northern Pafijab, and the Sahi Kidara (Ki-to-lo) must
apparently be placed further south, somewhere in the
direction of Qandahar. The Sahi Kidara princes were
probably subordinate to the kings who took the higher
title of Sahanusahi.
5. THE SAHANUSAHI KING.

The Sahanusahi, or King of Kings, with whom Samudra
Gupta had diplomatic relations, was probably the Sassanian
king of Persia, Sapor, or Shahpur II, whose long reign
(A.D. 309 to 380 or 381) was almost exactly conterminous
with that of Samudra Gupta.
The relations of Sapor I I with the Kusan princes on
the Oxus and on the Indian frontier were close and
intimate. Sapor's predecessor, Hormazd II, married the
daughter of a Kusan king, and has left numismatic
memorials of his pride in the alliance. He struck coins
in which he described himself as " the Mazdean, divine
Hormazd, of the royal family of the Great Kusans, king
of kings [soil, of Iran]." Another coin of his presents the
1
2
Op. cit., p. 184. The italics are mine.
This is the date adopted by Stein in his pamphlet " Zur Geschichte der
C^ahis von Kabul," p. 4 (Stuttgart, 1893). He quotes Von Gutschmid,
" Geschichte Iran's." Cunningham (op. cit., p. 184) takes the date as A.D.
42o-i30.
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obverse device used by his contemporary Basana [Basana],

coupled with the Sassanian fire-altar as reverse device.1
When Sapor II besieged Amida, the modern Diarbekir,
on the Tigris, in A.D. 359, about the middle of the reign of
Samudra Gupta, his victory over the Roman garrison was
won with the aid of Indian elephants and Kusan troops.
The aged Grumbates, king of the Chionitae, occupied
the place of honour in the army of the Great King, and
he was supported by the Segestani, or Sakas, of Sakastene,
or Seistan.
Cunningham is almost certainly right in interpreting
the term Chionitae as the Greek translation of Tushara or
Tukbara (Tokhari), an alternative name of the Kusans,
with the meaning " men of the snows." 2
The term Sahanusahi in the inscription may possibly
designate not the Great King of Persia, but the Great
King of the Kusans on the Oxus. We have seen that the
Persian sovereign was so proud of his alliance with the
Kusan royal family that he struck coins specially to com-
memorate the event, and claimed to have become a member
of his wife's clan. The Kusan and the Persian sovereigns
appear to have met on equal terms, and both assumed the
title of " King of Kings." Certain coins found near the
Oxus, though of purely Sassanian style and fabric, have
purely Indian reverse devices, and the ordinary Indo-Kusan
obverse device; that is to say, the obverse, like the coins
of Kaniska, exhibits the king throwing incense on a fire-
altar, and the reverse exhibits the figure of Siva and his
1
Cunningham's readings and translations (Num. Chron. 1893, p. 179,
pi. xiii (iv), figs. 2, 6) are corrected by M. Drouin ("Monnaies des grands
Kouchans," Rev. Num. 1896, p. 163). Neither Horraazd nor any other
Sassanian sovereign was ever "king of kings of the Kusans," and Hormazd,
consequently, could not have assumed that title, as Cunningham supposed him to
have done. The late historian Mirkhond, or Khondamlr (fiehatsek's translation,
ii, 340), ia the only "writer who mentions the marriage of Hormazd with the
Kusan princess, but, as M. Drouin observes, the coins prove that Mirkhond had
good authority for his statement. I have not had the opportunity of verifying
the reference to Mirkhond. The Basana coin has been published by the writer
in J.A.S.B. 1897.
2
Num. Chron. 1893, pp. 169-177. Gibbon (ch. xix) gives A.D. 360 as
the date of the siege of Amida; Cunningham adopts the date A.D. 358. Gibbon
notes a certain amount of confusion in the chronology of the original authority,
Ammianus. Drouin gives A.D. 359.
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THE CONQUESTS OF SAMUDB.A GUPTA. 909
bull, with other Indian symbols. The legends of these

coins are in corriipt Greek. Cunningham supposed that
these pieces (e.g. his No. 12, op. cit.) were, struck by the
Sassanian kings after the conquest of a province from the
Kusans. M. Drouin rejects this hypothesis, and denies
the supposed conquest. He prefers (op. cit., p. 168) to
suppose that the Kusan kings adopted Persian names along
with Persian costume and headdress, just as in India
Kusan princes adopted Indian names, such as Samudra.
The coins in question bear the title Sahanusahi in a corrupt
Greek form. Whether the Kusan king on the Oxus was
identical with or distinct from the Kusan king of Kabul,
I cannot pretend to affirm.
SECTION VII.—CONCLUSION.
The weary reader will probably welcome a concise
summary of the principal historical results of the foregoing
dissertation. In some points my conclusions do not exactly
agree with those set forth in the article on the history of
Samudra Gupta. The opinions now enunciated are the
outcome of further study, and are believed to be more
correct.
Pataliputra (Patna) was the capital of Samudra Gupta's
father and predecessor, Candra Gupta I (A.D. 318 to 345),
the first independent sovereign of the Gupta family. The
dominions of that prince, though considerable, were of
moderate extent. They appear not to have extended
farther east than Bhagalpur (Campa), and not much
farther west than Lucknow. They comprised the whole
of Bihar, both north and south of the Ganges, Oudh,
and the eastern districts of the North-Western Provinces,
the northern boundary being probably the first range of hills.
Samudra Gupta (A.D. 345 to 380) devoted his reign to
the enlargement of his father's boundaries. He found
Pataliputra no longer suitable as a permanent residence,
and after the early part of his reign his headquarters
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910 THE CONQUESTS OF SAMTJDEA GTJPTA.
were probably fixed most often either at Ayodhya or

Kausambi, which latter city was not very far from
Allahabad.1
In the course of a long reign, which must have lasted
at least thirty-five years, Samudra Gupta reduced to
complete subjection nine kings of Northern India, and
incorporated their dominions in his empire. He brought
under his control the wild chiefs of the forest tribes along
the Narmada river and in the recesses of the Vindhya
mountains, and so extended his sway that his empire was
bounded on the east by the Brahmaputra, on the north
by the Himalaya, on the west by the Satlaj, Jamna, and
Betwa, and on the south by the Narmada. Beyond these
limits he held in subordinate alliance the frontier kingdoms
of the Gangetic delta, and those of the southern slopes of the
Himalaya, as well as the free tribes of Malwa and Rajputana.
A brilliant and successful raid brought his victorious armies
to the extremity of the Peninsula, and effected the humilia-
tion and temporary subjugation of twelve kingdoms of the
south. On his north-western frontier the Indian emperor
maintained close diplomatic relations with the Kusan princes
of Kabul and Qandahar, and probably with the Great King
of Persia. The fame of the southern raid penetrated to
Ceylon and other islands, and brought to the victor's court
embassies and complimentary presents from many strange
and distant lands.
1
Kausambi is usually identified with Kosam, a village about twenty-eight
miles west of Allahabad. The identification is in this sense correct that Kosam
has been believed by local residents since at least A.D. 1824 to be the ancient
Kaus'ambi (Epigraphia Indica, ii, 244). But Kosam is not the Kaus'ambi visited
by Hiuen Tsiang, which lay much farther south. Bharhut corresponds fairly
well with the position of Kaus'ambi as described by Hiuen Tsiang. The
proof of these observations, which attack a cherished belief, must be reserved
for another Prolegomenon.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X0002503X

Conquest of Samudragupta

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859

ART. XXIX.—The Conquests of Samudra Gupta By VINCENT

SECTION L—GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

The first passage in the Allahabad Pillar inscription,

Taujore (ibid., vii, 25) ; (5) Acyutadanti, or Acyutanti—

Type 1. Obverse. The legend ^T^T, Act/u, in bold characters,

The coins are of copper, about "6 of an inch in diameter.

The characters closely resemble those of the Samudra Gupta

The enumeration of the emperor's victories begins with

SECTION II.—THE KINGS OF THE SOUTH.

Southern, Daksina-, or " Maha-Kosala" comprised the

MahanadI in the Raipur District. From this place Tivara-

The name Mahakantara means "great forest or wilderness,"

the emperor was content with the temporary subjugation

The next name, Kerala, is a surprise, and its mention

The identification of Pistapura presents no difficulty.

appear to be nowadays restricted to Gosains, and it is

" Mantaraja of Kerala;

I submit that this construction cannot be right. The

that Sindhia's " army has received a considerable reinforce-

Kottura being, as Dr. Fleet observes, a very common

The commercial importance of the Coimbatore District

Visnugopa is, no doubt, one of the early Pallava

I am not able to offer even a conjecture as to the position

The position of the small kingdom of Vengi is known

or Yarman, and were probably connected by blood. The

11. KtTVERA OF DEVARASTRA.

12. DHATSAMJAYA OF KUSTHALAPURA.

The foregoing detailed examination of the southern con-

'Ala-ud-din, in A.D. 1309-10, who took the fort of Warangal,

SECTION III.—THE KINGS OF THE NORTH.

in this vast region the kings named were thoroughly'

were issued by a member of the Naga dynasty. Their

SECTION IV.—THE FEONTIER KINGDOMS.

1. THE KINGDOM OP SAMATATA.

The Brhat Samhita places this country in the eastern

been a pestilential and almost impenetrable jungle, but old

2. THE KINGDOM OF DAVAKA.

3. THE KINGDOM OF KAMARUPA.

Although, as is well known, the kingdom of Kamarupa

Hiuen Tsiang, three centuries later than Samudra Gupta,

4. THE KINGDOM OF NEPILA.

The kingdom of Nepala corresponds roughly with the

But his vast empire could not be held together by

5. THE KINGDOM OF KARTKPURA.

Nothing is known positively concerning the situation

has been accounted for; and the kingdom of Nepal must

SECTION V.—THE FRONTIER TRIBES.

1. THE MALAVA TRIBE.

The Brhat Samhitd correctly classes the Malavas in the

are under the control of the Governor-General's Agent for

further notice here, because they throw a faint light on.

A later inscription at Gyarispur, twenty-four miles

will be discussed presently, seems to have formed an enclave

2. THE ARJTJNAYANA TRIBE.

The position of the territory of this tribe is not known

3. THE YAUDHEYA TRIBE.

Whether by accident or design, the enumeration of the

seems to return to the south-west corner, and beginning