| Gupta | |
|---|---|
| Maharaja Shri | |
 Mahārāja Shrī Gupta        ("Great King, Lord Gupta") inGupta script on theAllahabad pillar inscription ofSamudragupta, where Samudragupta presents king Gupta as his great-grandfather.[1] | |
| Gupta King | |
| Reign | c. 240 – c. 280 |
| Successor | Ghatotkacha |
| Issue | Ghatotkacha |
| Dynasty | Gupta |
| Gupta Empire 320–550 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Gupta orShrigupta (Gupta script:Gu-pta, fl. late 3rd century CE) was the founder of theGupta dynasty ofMagadha (eastern India).[2] He is identified with king Shìlìjíduō (室利笈多, believed to be the Chinese transcription of "Shri-Gupta"), who, according to the 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monkYijing, built a temple near Mìlìjiāxītābōnuó (蜜栗伽悉他鉢娜,Mṛgaśikhāvana) for Chinese pilgrims. This temple was located somewhere in eastern India: based on the identification of its location, modern scholars variously locate Gupta's territory in present-day easternUttar Pradesh orBengal region.
Gupta is not attested by his own inscriptions or coins, although some seals and coins have been wrongly attributed to him.[3] The earliest description of him occurs in his great-grandsonSamudragupta'sPrayagraaj Pillar inscription, and is repeated verbatim in several later records of the dynasty:[4]
Samudragupta theMahārājādhirāja, son of the prosperousChandragupta (I), theMahārājādhirāja, born of the MahādēvīKumāradēvī, (and) daughter's son of theLicchavi, son's son of the prosperousGhaṭōtkacha, theMahārāja and the son of the son's son of the prosperous Gupta, theMahārāja[5][6]
The Allahabad Pillar inscription names Samudragupta's ancestors asShrī Gupta (shri gu-pta),ShrīGhatotkacha, andShrīChandragupta.[4] Some earlier scholars thought that the name of the dynasty's founder was "Shri-gupta" (IAST: Śrigupta), as Gupta does not appear to be a given name. However, it is now generally agreed thatShri is an honorific title and not an integral part of the king's name; "Gupta" was the actual name of the king. TheVishnu Sahasranama mentions Gupta among the1008 names of Vishnu, which suggests that it can be used as a given name.[7] The name derives from the wordgup ("to protect").[8]
Gupta most probably ruled in the second half of the 3rd century, although his reign cannot be dated with certainty based on existing evidence. Various estimates of his reign include:[9][3]
The Allahabad Pillar inscription uses the titleMaharaja ( "Great King") for Gupta and his sonGhatotkacha, as opposed to the titleMaharajadhiraja ("king of great kings") for later rulerChandragupta I. In the later period, the titleMaharaja was used by feudatory rulers, which has led to suggestions that Gupta and Ghatotkacha were feudatory kings.[10] For example, scholarsR. D. Banerji andK. P. Jayaswal theorize that they wereKushana vassals.[11]
There is no doubt that Gupta and Ghatotkacha held a lower status and were less powerful than Chandragupta I.[10] However, there are several instances of paramount sovereigns using the titleMaharaja, in both pre-Gupta and post-Gupta periods, so the use of the titleMaharaja cannot be considered as conclusive evidence of Gupta's vassal status.[10] The sovereign kings of several contemporary or near-contemporary dynasties, including theVakatakas, used the titleMaharaja. Moreover, the Kushana Empire had already declined before the rise of the Guptas, so Gupta is unlikely to have been a Kushana vassal.[11]
The 7th century Chinese Buddhist monkYijing, in his description of the itinerary of the earlier Korean traveler (ofSilla) Hwui-lun (慧輪) alias Prajnavarma, mentions that in ancient times, king Shìlìjíduō (室利笈多) built a temple near Mìlìjiāxītābōnuó (蜜栗伽悉他鉢娜,Mṛgaśikhāvana) for Chinese pilgrims. The king endowed the temple with the revenue of 24 villages for its maintenance.[12] Only the brick foundation of this temple survived in Yijing's time.[13]
NumismatistJohn Allan read Shìlìjíduō as a transcription of Shri-Gupta.J. F. Fleet opposed this theory, pointing out that according to Yijing's writings, Shìlìjíduō flourished five hundred years before him (that is, in the second century), while Gupta ruled in the late 3rd century. Moreover, the Gupta inscriptions mention the king's name as "Gupta" (which would be transcribed asJíduō,Middle Chinese: ɡˠiɪp̚ tɑ, 笈多), not "Shri-gupta" (Shìlìjíduō). Allan argued that Yijing's statement about the king's date should not be taken literally, and that the Chinese writers visiting India often used "Shri" as an honorific.[11]
Based on available evidence, Gupta's religious affiliation is unclear. Historian A. K. Narain theorizes that he was aVaishnavite, who was tolerant of Buddhist activity in his kingdom.[14] This latter scenario would have been comparable with the later Gupta monarchs, who were predominantly Vaishnavite, but under whose regimes heterodox religious movements like Buddhism andJainism were allowed to flourish.[15]
Some scholars, such as D. C. Ganguly andR. C. Majumdar, have interpreted Yijing's description to mean that the temple was located more than 40yojanas east ofNalanda, along theGanga river, and have identified its location in present-dayBengal region.[16] Majumdar read Mi-li-kia-si-kia-po-no as a transcription of Mriga-sthapana, the name of astupa which was located in the historicalVarendra region of Bengal.[16] According to Ganguly, this suggests that the Gupta dynasty originated in Bengal, while according to Majumdar, this only proves that Bengal was a part of Gupta's kingdom.[17]
Other scholars, such asB. P. Sinha and Jagannath Agrawal, read Mi-li-kia-si-kia-po-no of Yijing's account as a transcription ofMriga-shikha-vana (IAST:Mṛgaśikhāvana), and identify it with Mrigadaya (Deer Park) inSarnath, in present-day easternUttar Pradesh.[13] Ashvini Agrawal argues that Mi-li-kia-si-kia-po-no is not an exact transcription of Mriga-sthapana: Mriga-shikha-vana is closer, and a different interpretation of Yijing's writings suggests that Mi-li-kia-si-kia-po-no was located in Sarnath.[18] Sinha theorizes that Hwui-lun erroneously mentioned its location as east of Nalanda.[19] These historians propose that the Gupta dynasty originated in eastern Uttar Pradesh.[18][19]
A Magadha (Bihar) kingdom, with its capital at Patna, emerged in the late 3rd century AD under Srigupta founder of a dynasty that lasted for 300 years. His grandson. Chandragupta 1 (305-25), created the splendid Gupta Empire.
