हिंदीOn this day
Photo: CNG Coins · CC BY-SA 3.0
Ruler

Samudragupta

Gupta conqueror, poet and vina player

Reigned c. 335–375 CE

Samudragupta, son of Chandragupta I and the Licchavi princess Kumaradevi, conquered more of Bharat than anyone since Ashoka. His court poet Harishena carved the list of his victories on the very pillar Ashoka had raised, now standing in the Allahabad fort.

01Harishena’s list

The Prayag prashasti sorts the conquered by how they were treated. Nine kings of Aryavarta, among them Rudradeva, Nagasena, Achyuta and Ganapatinaga, were uprooted and their lands taken. Twelve kings of Dakshinapatha, from Mahendra of Kosala to Vishnugopa of Kanchi, were captured and then released to rule as his vassals. The forest kings were made servants. Frontier states, Samatata, Davaka, Kamarupa, Nepala and Kartripura, paid tribute and came to court. Further off, the Kushan Shahis, the Shakas and the king of Simhala sent gifts and asked for his seal.

02Kaviraja on his coins

Harishena calls him kaviraja, king of poets, and says his skill in music shamed Narada and Tumburu. His gold coins agree: one type shows him seated on a couch playing the vina. Another shows a horse before a yupa, the sacrificial post, with the legend of one who performed the Ashvamedha, the first such rite since the Shungas. An inscription at Eran in Madhya Pradesh names him too, and the Chinese record that Meghavarna of Lanka sent an embassy asking leave to build a monastery for Lankan pilgrims at Bodh Gaya.

Licchavis of Vaishali (Vajji gana)
Dynasty · c. 6th–5th century BCELicchavis of Vaishali (Vajji gana)The Licchavis were the leading clan of the Vajji confederacy, a gana ruled by an assembly of rajas meeting at Vaishali. Magadha under Ajatashatru broke them, but the name lived on: Chandragupta I of the Guptas married a Licchavi princess and was proud of it.Read →

Battles

Samudragupta’s digvijaya

Samudragupta’s court poet Harishena listed his victories on Ashoka’s pillar: nine kings of the north uprooted, twelve of the south captured and released, the frontier kingdoms paying tribute.

c. 335–375 CE

Places

PataliputraExcavated
The Maurya Empire

Pataliputra

Capital of Magadha, of the Nandas, the Mauryas and the Guptas, on the Ganga where the Son once joined it. Under modern Patna lie the timber palisade Megasthenes described and the pillared hall of the Mauryas.

Kanchipuram, city of learningStanding
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Kanchipuram, city of learning

One of the seven Mokshapuris and the Pallava capital, whose ghatika, a college of Vedic learning, drew students from across the south. Shaiva, Vaishnava, Jain and Buddhist teachers all taught here.

Eran (Airikina)Ruined
The Gupta Age

Eran (Airikina)

A bend of the Bina river in Sagar district where the Guptas and their governors set up a Garuda pillar, Vishnu temples and a colossal stone Varaha covered with rishis. An inscription here of 510 CE is the earliest dated record of a sati.

Mahabodhi Temple, Bodh GayaStanding
The Gupta Age

Mahabodhi Temple, Bodh Gaya

The place under the Bodhi tree where Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment, the holiest site of the Buddhist world. Hindus who count the Buddha among Vishnu’s avatars come here too, and Hindu monks of the Giri order kept the temple for centuries.

Prayagraj, Triveni SangamStanding
The Age of Great Kingdoms

Prayagraj, Triveni Sangam

Tirtharaj, the king of tirthas, where the Ganga, the Yamuna and the unseen Sarasvati meet. The Kumbh Mela here is the largest gathering of people on earth.

Evidence

The Chandragupta–Kumaradevi coinCoin
4th century CE

The Chandragupta–Kumaradevi coin

A gold coin showing Chandragupta I with his Licchavi queen Kumaradevi, both named, with the word “Licchavayah” on the back.

Allahabad pillar prashasti of SamudraguptaInscription
c. 350–375 CE

Allahabad pillar prashasti of Samudragupta

Harishena, minister and poet of Samudragupta, carved a long Sanskrit eulogy of his king onto a pillar that already bore Ashoka’s edicts.

Samudragupta’s Ashvamedha coinCoin
c. 350–375 CE

Samudragupta’s Ashvamedha coin

A gold dinar struck to mark Samudragupta’s horse sacrifice: the consecrated horse stands before the sacrificial post.

Gupta gold dinarsCoin
c. 320–550 CE

Gupta gold dinars

The gold coins of the Gupta emperors, which their own inscriptions call dinaras: portraits of kings as archers, horsemen and lion-slayers, with Lakshmi on the back.

Eran inscriptionsInscription
4th–6th century CE

Eran inscriptions

A small town that kept records of three turning points: Samudragupta’s rule, the Huna Toramana’s arrival, and the earliest dated sati memorial.

On the timeline

  • c. 335–375 CE

    Samudragupta’s campaignsWar

    He uprooted the kings of Aryavarta and marched south to Kanchi, freeing the southern kings after defeat. His Ashvamedha coins show the sacrificial horse before the yupa.