Biography of Samudragupta and his Rule in Ancient India
Samudragupta (r. 335/350 – 370/380 CE) was the first significant ruler of the Gupta dynasty. Having come to the throne, he decided to
extend the boundaries of his empire to cover the
multiple kingdoms and republics that existed outside its pale. Known as the
'Napoleon of India' for his conquests, he was also a man of many
talents and laid a firm foundation for the empire. The rise of the Gupta Empire and the beginning of its prosperity are
attributed to him, his military conquests and policies.
Samudragupta
succeeded his father Chandragupta I
(r. 319 – 335 CE). Some historians, however, state that he was preceded by
Kachagupta or Kacha who was Chandragupta I’s eldest son. Kacha’s identity is
yet to be established, as only some coins bearing the name have been found and
no other evidence of his rule has been discovered so far. The fact that
Chandragupta I actually nominated Samudragupta to the throne shows that he was
not his eldest son. Therefore, it could be possible that the historians are
justified in saying that Kacha was the eldest son who succeeded his father as
according to the ancient Indian custom of male primogeniture (his father’s own
wishes on the matter notwithstanding). Thus, Chandragupta could
only nominate his younger son based on his abilities, but was not
able to actually make him king.
It is not clear as to whether
Samudragupta opposed him or that Kachagupta’s end was natural and he was
succeeded by his sibling because he had no other heir. As to why Samudragupta
opposed Kachagupta, if he did so at all, no information is available. What is
known is that he was ultimately able to claim the throne.
Details of
Kachagupta’s reign are hardly mentioned in the historical evidence existing for
the Gupta period, and hence most historians place Samudragupta as the successor
of Chandragupta I, stating that Kacha was none other than Samudragupta himself;
“Perhaps Kacha was the original or personal name, and the appellation
Samudragupta was adopted in allusion to his conquests” (Tripathi, 240).
Historian R.K. Mukherjee correctly explains that the title Samudragupta “means
that he was ‘protected by the sea’ up to which his dominion was extended” (19).
Referring to Samudragupta’s accession, historian H.C. Raychaudhuri says that
“the prince was selected from among his sons by Chandra Gupta I as best fitted
to succeed him. The new monarch may have been known also as Kacha” (447). The
grounds for such an assertion is an epithet implying “uprooter of all kings”
used for Kacha in his coins, which was used only for Samudragupta as no other
Gupta emperor ever made such extensive conquests. Had Kacha existed before
Samudragupta and made such conquests, there would have been no need for the
latter to make them! Kacha would have thus been included in the official Gupta
records in glorified terms as well, which is not the case. As regarding Kacha’s
coins, “the attribution of the coins bearing the name Kacha to Samudra Gupta may
be accepted” (Raychaudhuri, 463).
Though
not validated by historical sources, another theory maintains that Chandragupta
I managed to override the male primogeniture law and made his
favourite Samudragupta the king. Enraged at his supersession as the eldest son,
Kacha never reconciled with his brother and rebelled against him for the throne
but was defeated.
Conquests: The 'Indian Napoleon'
Samudragupta is known chiefly
for his numerous military campaigns. The British historian Vincent Smith (1848
– 1920 CE) was the first to dub him as 'the Indian Napoleon'. His many
conquests have been alluded to in the Allahabad pillar inscription, composed by
a high-ranking official named Harishena, who was also a skilled author and
poet. This inscription is the chief (if not the only) source for his campaigns
and conquests, and hence is regarded as crucial for studying Samudragupta’s
reign, “if we believe the eulogistic inscription from Allahabad, it would
appear that Samudragupta never knew any defeat, and because of his bravery and
generalship he is called the Napoleon of India” (Sharma, 153).
Initially, Samudragupta concentrated on the areas bordering the existing
Gupta Empire at the time. According to lines 14 - 21 of this inscription, he
attacked the ruler of the upper Ganga valley
and destroyed many other kings, notably Rudradeva, Matila, Nagadatta,
Chandravarman, Ganapatinaga, Nagasena, Achyuta, Nandin and Balavarman. The
identities of some of these rulers and the kingdoms they ruled are still not
clear. It has been surmised, however, that most of these kingdoms lay in the
state of present-day Uttar Pradesh and were annexed to the empire.
Violent
destruction was not the only means adopted by Samudragupta. He made the kings
of the forest states (atavika rajya) in central India his servants. For some
other kings, it was considered sufficient if they paid tribute and gave
obeisance to the Gupta emperor. Line 22 of the Allahabad inscription gives the
details. These kings were ruling the areas of Samatata (present-day Bengal
state), Devaka and Kamarupa (present-day Assam state), Nepala (present-day
country of Nepal) and Kartripura (parts of present-day Punjab and Uttarakhand
states).
The chiefs of various republics too were added to this list of kings.
These republics included those of the Malavas, Arjunayanas, Yaudheyas,
Madrakas, Abhiras, Prarjunas, Sanakanikas, Kakas and Kharaparikas. These
covered many areas of north-west India, including parts of the present-day
states of Rajasthan and Punjab.
Samudragupta also captured and released several other kings, whose names
and kingdoms are given in lines 19 and 20. These included kings from the
present-day states of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and
the eastern and south-eastern coasts of India:
- Mahendra of
Kosala
- Vyaghraraja of
Mahakantara
- Mantaraja of
Kairala or Kaurala
- Mahendra of
Pishtapura
- Svamidatta of
Kottura
- Damana of
Erandapalla
- Vishnugopa of Kanchi
- Nilaraja of
Avamukta
- Hastivarman of
Vengi
- Ugrasena of
Palakka
- Kubera of
Devarashtra
- Dhananjaya of
Kusthalapura
Some
other subdued kings were given the task of rendering all kinds of service to
the emperor, using the official Gupta seal and entering into matrimonial
alliance with the Imperial dynasty if they so chose. These included the Kushana
rulers and the Scythians (Shakas and Murundas) as well as the King of Sri
Lanka.
Conquests: Strategy
Samudragupta’s strategy
was guided by the prevailing political and economic conditions. He realized
that he could not control directly a vast empire from his capital and hence
focused on annexing those kingdoms which lay on his borders. For the rest, only
an acceptance of suzerainty was needed while their own kings would be left to
deal with issues of governance and administration. At the same time, being
subordinate, they would not create challenges for the Guptas. The geographical
location of the kings thus determined what category they would be placed in. As
historian Raychaudhuri puts it, “In the north he played the part of a digvijayi or
“conqueror of the quarters,” of the Early Magadhan type. But in the south he
followed the Epic and Kautilyan ideal of a dharmavijayi or
“righteous conqueror,” i.e., he defeated the kings but did not annex their
territory. He may have realised the futility of attempting to maintain
effective control over these distant regions in the south from his remote base
in the north-east of India” (Raychaudhuri, 451).
Therefore, unlike the Mauryas (4th century BCE to 2nd century BCE), the
Gupta empire under Samudragupta did not directly control many of the
constituents of the empire. Samudragupta, thus, despite his conquests, did not
create an all-India empire. Using his military power, he instead built up the
political machinery in such a way that the Gupta suzerainty and paramountcy
came to be acknowledged over most of the subcontinent and many kingdoms and
republics regarded themselves as subordinate to the Gupta emperor.
Given the time, with feudalism making rapid inroads,
this was probably the best way to create a widespread empire. Direct control
and a centralized system as under the Mauryas were no longer tenable. In the
changed circumstances, the Guptas could not hope to exercise a monopolistic
control over the economy and
hence would not have had the vast resources necessary to run a bureaucratic
empire with a vast military. The best idea, then, was to build a military
mighty enough to cow down the enemy and keep him cowed. Able to garner
suzerainty in such a manner, Samudragupta believed he could create and keep the
peace necessary for his empire to prosper.
Extent of the Empire
At
his succession, Samudragupta seems to have possessed an empire that included Magadha and its adjoining areas
from the present-day states of Uttar Pradesh and Bengal. In the north, the
boundaries of this empire stretched to the Himalayan foothills. His annexation
of the territories of some of the defeated kings led to the extension of the
borders of the Gupta Empire. Thus, the Ganga-Yamuna valley including the cities of Mathura in the east and
Padmavati in the west came to be included in the Gupta Empire.
Most of northern India barring Kashmir, western Punjab, most of
Rajasthan, Sindh (now in Pakistan) and Gujarat became part of his empire, which
also came to include the highlands of central India and many areas on the
eastern coast. The borders of the Gupta Empire were ringed by kingdoms which
were subordinated to Gupta rule and recognized its primacy. The king of Sri
Lanka and the Kushana and Scythian kings acknowledged his suzerainty. The kings
of southern India, though not a part of the empire directly or indirectly, had
been humbled (or cowed) through the military conquests and hence were seen as
not posing any kind of threat to the peace and prosperity of the empire.
Warrior & commander
Samudragupta
and the princes were supposed to be matchless warriors themselves, like his son
prince Chandragupta II. Samudragupta took a personal interest in all his wars
and campaigns which were not left to the discretion of his ministers and
generals. He personally took part in the battles, often leading from the front.
“All his conquests the king achieved by his personal leadership and fighting in
the front-line as a soldier (samgrameshu-svabhuja-vijitah)” (Mookerjee, 39). The
inscriptions state that he relied a lot on his personal might and that he was a
fearless fighter who had fought a hundred battles (samarashata)
which left on his body their scars (vrana)
as marks of decoration (shobha)
and glowing beauty (kanti), caused by
different kinds of weapons of war.
Patron of Art
Samudragupta was as devoted to
the arts of peace as to war. He was a great musician and played the vina,
an Indian stringed instrument resembling the lyre or lute, with great aplomb. He was a highly intellectual
person and an accomplished poet. He was always depicted as an able and
compassionate ruler, who cared a lot for the welfare of his subjects,
particularly the poor and the destitute. He granted permission to the Sri
Lankan king to build a Buddhist monastery
and rest house for Sri Lankan pilgrims at Bodhgaya.
Coins
A
lot of information about Samudragupta both as a king and a person has been made
available through his gold coins.
His coins represent him both as a warrior and a peace-loving artist, with
relevant suitable titles. They are classified according to the object or weapon
the emperor is holding i.e., a battle-axe, vina or
bow, or the animal represented on the coin, i.e. a tiger. “The archer and battleaxe coin types of
Samudragupta predictably advertise his physical prowess, while the lyrist type,
which shows him playing the vina, represents a completely different aspect
of his personality” (Singh, 55).
The various titles used by
the monarch have become known through the coins. Thus parakramanka (“marked
with prowess”) is found on the reverse of coins of the standard type, apratiratha (“unparalleled chariot warrior” or “great warrior”)
on the archer type, kritantiparashu (“axe
of death”) on the
battle-axe type and the vyaghra-parakrama (“like
a tiger in strength”) on the tiger type of coins. He is also depicted as having
carried out the ashvamedha sacrifice, which was traditionally carried
out by ancient Indian kings to display their prowess and conquests, and thus
their supremacy over other kings.
The obverse side on the standard type bears witness to his extensive
conquests through the legend samara-shata-vitata-vijayo jita-aripuranto-divam-jayati or
“The conqueror of the unconquered fortresses of his enemies, whose victory was
spread in hundreds of battles, conquers heaven”.
The following types of Samudragupta's coins have been
discovered:
Standard type
· Obverse legend: Samara-shata-vitata-vijayo-jita-ripurajito-divam-jayati.
Translation: "The unconquered one who has conquered his enemies [and] has
continuously attained victories in a hundred battles, wins heaven"; Alternative
translation: "The conqueror of the unconquered fortresses of his enemies,
whose victory was spread in hundreds of battles, conquers heaven".
·
Reverse legend: Prakramah
Archer type
· Depicts Samudragupta
standing fully dressed with a bow on his left hand and an arrow on his right hand.
· Obverse legend: Apratiratha
vijitya kshitim sucharitair (or avnipatir) divam Jayati. Translation:
"Unopposed by hostile chariots, conquering the earth, he conquers heaven
by his good deeds".
· Reverse legend: Apratirathah
Battle-axe type
· Obverse legend: Kritanta-parshur-jayatyajitarajajetaji-tah.
Translation: "Wielding the axe of Kritanta (the god of death), the unconquered
conqueror of unconquered kings is victorious"
· Reverse legend: Kritanta-parashuh
Tiger-slayer type
· Depicts the king
wearing turban and waist-cloth, and trampling a tiger
· Legend: Vaghra-prakramah.
Translation: "Having the prowess of a tiger".
Lyrist type
· Depicts Samudragupta
wearing waist-cloth and seated cross-legged on a couch, playing a veena that lies on his knees.
· Legend: the king's
name
Ashvamedha type
· Obverse legend: Rajadhirajah
prithvim avitva divam jayatyahritavaji-medhah ("the overlord of
kings, who has performed the horse-sacrifice, having protected the earth,
conquers the heaven") on the reverse.
Some coins have an alternative legend: Rajadhirajah
prithvim avitva divam jayatya-prativarya-viryah ("the overlord of
kings, of irresistible valour, having protected the earth, wins heaven").
· Reverse legend: Ashvamedha-prakramah ("possessing
the valour to perform the horse sacrifice")
Numismatist John Allan believed
that the gold coins bearing the portraits of Chandragupta and Kumaradevi were
issued by Samudragupta to commemorate his parents, but the later scholars have
attributed the issue of these coins to Chandragupta.
Reorganization
of the Gupta military
Since
the military played a huge role during Samudragupta’s reign, it is quite
probable that the emperor took stern measures to increase its size and
efficiency. Increased contact with the Scythians (Shakas and Kushanas) in India
caused many of their military equipment and clothing to be adopted by the
Guptas; “it was the Kushan army, well clad and equipped, that became the
prototype on which the new military uniform of the Guptas was based” (Alkazi,
99). Samudragupta is seen wearing a Scythian-type costume on his coins.
The soldiers mostly abandoned the complex turban that had been usually
worn earlier and wore their hair loose or tied back with a fillet or skull caps
and simple turbans, with tunics, crossed belts on the bare chest or a short,
tight-fitting blouse. This was accompanied by a typically Indian loose lower
garment worn in the drawer style or Scythian-inspired trousers with high boots,
helmets and caps.
There was even a kind of camouflage clothing made by applying tie-dye
techniques to cloth. The cavalrymen wore coats and trousers, which were often
very colourful and gaily decorated. The elephant warriors were dressed in
decorated blouses and striped drawers. The elites commanding the army or other
officials, along with coats and trousers, wore armour (especially of metal). Other classes of crack troops
were similarly well-furnished.
Shields were rectangular or curved and often made from rhinoceros hide
in checked designs. Many kinds of weapons such as curved swords, bows and arrows,
javelins, lances, axes, pikes, clubs and maces were used.
In ancient India, initially,
the army was fourfold (chaturanga),
consisting of infantry, cavalry, elephants and chariots. By the time of the
Guptas, the chariots were going into disuse, and the onus was falling on the
other three arms. Each arm had its own head (or commander). The chief of the
army was called as the baladhikarananika or baladhikarana. The head of
the infantry and the cavalry was the bhatashvapati.
The head of the elephants was known as the mahapilupati.
The army consisted of the standing army of the state (maula),
mercenaries (bhrita), allied forces (mitra) and those furnished
by corporate guilds (shreni).
Legacy
Through
his carefully guided strategy for conquests, Samudragupta created a model for conquest and governance well
suited to the changed political and economic conditions of ancient India in the
4th century CE. The large number of gold coins that he issued bear witness to
the prosperity of the Gupta empire in his time. “As a ruler, he was known for
his vigorous and resolute government” (Mookerjee, 38). Despite his wars and
conquests, Samudragupta thus left no other aspect of governance
unattended.
According to the evidence of the coins, he was succeeded by his son
Ramagupta, who being weak and immoral, was deposed (and perhaps killed) by his
brother who became famous as Chandragupta II Vikramaditya (before 381 CE-
413-14 CE). He proved to be an able ruler and conqueror and was the next
well-known ruler of the dynasty with many achievements to his credit. He
carried on the legacy of Samudragupta; not only he, but the Gupta empire
itself, owed much to the efforts of Samudragupta in building and sustaining an
extensive empire that carved out an impressive place for itself in
history.
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Ashvamedha type coin |
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| A gold coin of Samudragupta |
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| Lyrist type coin |
