The Hunas were thrown back and kept out of the Gupta heartland for half a century.
01The Bhitari pillar
The red sandstone pillar at Bhitari, near Saidpur in Ghazipur district, carries Skandagupta’s inscription. It says that when he set out to restore the fallen fortunes of his family he spent a night sleeping on the bare earth, and that the earth was shaken by his two arms when he joined in close fight with the Hunas. Having won, he went to his mother, as Krishna went to Devaki after slaying his enemies. The pillar was raised with an image of Vishnu, Sharngin, the bearer of the bow.
02The Junagadh record
Skandagupta’s inscription on the Girnar rock at Junagadh, dated in the Gupta years corresponding to 455–457 CE, says his enemies, the Mlecchas, had their pride humbled, and goes on to describe how his governor Parnadatta and Parnadatta’s son Chakrapalita rebuilt the dam of the Sudarshana lake after it burst. The same rock carries the edicts of Ashoka and the inscription of Rudradaman.
Skandagupta held the Hunas off while the Roman west was falling to their kin; they returned in force only after his death.