North Indian Inscriptions

POLITICAL HISTORY

clear that the Gupta power over Eastern India continued at least till Gupta year 209, that is, two years prior to Gupta year 211, the date of Vishṇugupta furnished by the last Dāmōdarpur plate. What seems to have happened after the defeat of Mihirakula by Bhānugupta (=Narasiṁhagupta-Bālāditya) in Gupta year 191 may be reasonably guessed as follows. As Yuan Chwang has told us, Mihirakula had to beat a hasty retreat to Kashmir, as the Hūṇa capital Śākala had been seized upon by his brother. But Mihirakula was a sturdy warrior. Soon after he made his position in Kashmir secure, he came down south and must have wrested Śākala from his brother who was a usurper. Thereafter he must have come down still further south with a view to conquer not only Central but also Eastern India. But, as ill-luck would have it, a terrible foe to him arose in the shape of Yaśōdharman-Vishṇuvardhana, who did exactly what Mihirakula had intended doing. The former inflicted a hollow defeat upon the latter and forced him to return to Kashmir as before and instead spread his own might not only in Central and Eastern India but also North India, conquering territories, some of which were never under the sway of even the Hūṇas or the Guptas. The Aulikara supremacy, however, came to an end soon, and what happened thereafter to North India we do not know. Most probably the foreign hordes who followed in the wake of the Hūṇas occupied the different parts of India and established their might there. Such were the Maitrakas, the Pratihāras, the Chāhamānas and so forth. But it is not at all improbable that he was one of those rulers who issued coins of Gupta types. How long Gupta power even with this shorn luster lasted after Vishṇugupta cannot definitely be ascertained.

        The following is the chronological statement that may be tentatively put up as descripttive of this troublous period.
      Gupta year 165=483-84 A.D., the last date of Budhagupta furnished by his inscription.
      485-500 A.D., the reign of Tōramāṇa.
      500-515 A.D., the reign of Mihirakula.
      Gupta year 191=509-10 A.D., the date of Bhānugupta and Hastin, when          Mihirakula was
        driven away from the Magadha kingdom by Narasiṁhagupta-Bālāditya          with the help
          of his vassals.
      515 A.D., the approximate date when Yaśōdharman overthrew Mihirakula          and expelled
         him from North and Central India.
      516 A.D., the approximate date when Yaśōdharman temporarily eclipsed          the glory of the
       Gupta power.
      Gupta year 191-98=509-16 A.D., the reign of Narasiṁhagupta-Bālāditya.
      515-25 A.D., the reign of Yaśōdharman.
      Gupta year 199-208=517-26 A.D., the reign of Kumāragupta III.
      526-34 A.D., of which 533-34 A.D.=Vikrama 590 is his actual date, the reign of Vishṇu
         vardhana, alias of Yaśōdharman.
      Gupta year 224=542 A.D., the date of [Vishṇu ? -] gupta.