Pages: 490 (19 B/W and 19 Color Illustrations)


From the Jacket

The present volume comprising 12 Chapters and six Appendices discusses Gupta history, based on the latest evidence. The problems discussed critically include: the name of the first king, the bearing of Chandragupta I’s marriage with Lichchhavi princess; authorship of Chandragupta I-Kumaradevi coins; identification and chronological position of Kacha; the Nalanda and Gaya copper plates of Samudragupta; significance of the epithet Lichchhavi-dauhitra; Samudragupta’s policy towards different powers; meaning of chir=otsan=avamedh= dhartta; literary, numismatic and epigraphic evidences for the historicity of Ramagupta; marriage alliance of the Guptas with the Nagas and the Vkatakas; epigraphic and numismatic evidences for Chandragupta II’s Saka conquest; identification of Chandra of Mehrauli inscription; the date, status and chronological position of Govindagupta; Ghatotkachagupta’s marriage with a Vakataka princess his status as governor of Kumaragupta I, his rebellion against him, and his short reign in Malwa; the struggle for, and the order of, sucession after Kumaragupta I; the view of Skandagupta’s identification with Purugupta and that of the division of empire between them; name and status of Skandagupta’s mother; invasion of the Pushyamitras and the Huna ; Toramana’s occupation of Eran; identification of Prakasaditya; genealogy and chronology of Gupta kings; relationship between Prakasadharman and Yasodharman who defeated Toramana and Mihirakula, respectively; identification of Biladitya, contemporary of Mihirakula; role of the Later Guptas, Maukharis, Hunas and Yasodharman in the downfall of the Gupta empire; evidence for three Kumaraguptas; king’s name and date on the fifth Damodarpur