Samudragupta

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Samudra Gupta was the second ruler of the famed Gupta Empire and one of Indian history’s greatest military minds. 




 Allahabad Pillar | Wikimedia Commons

Samudra Gupta (reigned c.330 – c.380) was the second ruler of the Gupta dynasty, the golden period of Hinduism. He was appointed by his father Chandra Gupta I to succeed him. The coins of an obscure prince, Kacha, suggest that his accession to the throne did not go unchallenged.  

A detailed record of Samudragupta’s reign is preserved in the Allahabad pillar inscription composed by his court poet and minister Harisena. The inscription is engraved on a pillar erected by Asoka six centuries before him. In the inscription he is mentioned to have "violently uprooted" no less than nine kings of Northern India, and to have annexed their kingdoms to his own. 

Samudra Gupta possessed domains from Assam to the borders of Punjab. He performed Ashvamedha Yajna. This was the first Ashvamedha after Pushyamitra Sunga, the founder of the Sunga dynasty, performed this sacrifice after usurping the Mauryan throne.

Samudra Gupta is known to have granted permission to the Sri Lankan king Meghavarna to build a Buddhist monastery at Bodhgaya. He was a patron of poetic arts and a poet himself. This earned him the title of Kaviraja from Harisena.

  

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