Campaigns of Samudragupta and the Allahabad pillar prashasti
Samudragupta, son of Chandragupta I, made the Gupta kingdom the leading power of northern India. His courtier Harishena recorded his wars in a Sanskrit eulogy carved on an Ashokan pillar now at Prayagraj (Allahabad): the kings of the north were ‘uprooted’ and their lands annexed, twelve southern kings as far as Kanchi were captured and released as tributaries, and frontier kingdoms and tribal republics paid homage.
- Date
- between 330 and 353 – between 370 and 376exact date unknown: an interval is given · duration: ≈ 32 years
- Place
- Allahabad pillar, Prayagatoday: Allahabad Fort, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India · South Asia
- Route
- Pataliputra (the reputed Gupta capital) → Pishtapura (Pithapuram) → Vengi (Pedavegi) → Kanchi (Kanchipuram)
- Participants
- Samudragupta, Gupta Empire, Pallava dynasty, Sirimeghavanna
- Threads
- South Asia (1st–5th c.)
- Also known as
- Prayag Prashasti; Allahabad pillar inscription; Allahabad prashasti; Harishena; Harisena; Праягская прашасти; Аллахабадская надпись; Харишена
The inscription, known as the Prayag prashasti, was carved below Ashoka’s edicts on a polished sandstone pillar that now stands in the Allahabad Fort; whether the pillar was brought there from Kaushambi or has always stood at Prayaga is disputed. Its author, the minister and poet Harishena, lists the conquests in mainly geographical order. In Aryavarta, the north, Samudragupta ‘forcibly uprooted’ many kings — eight are named, among them the Naga rulers Ganapatinaga and Nagasena and Achyuta of Ahichchhatra — whose lands were apparently annexed; the kings of the forest country, probably in central India, became his servants. In Dakshinapatha he captured and then released twelve kings of the eastern coast, among them Mahendra of Kosala and the Pallava ruler Vishnugopa of Kanchi — probably on a march through the forests of central India to the coast of Odisha and then south along the Bay of Bengal. Samatata, Davaka, Kamarupa, Nepala and Kartripura on the frontiers, and republics such as the Malavas and Yaudheyas, paid tribute and did obeisance. More distant rulers — the ‘Daivaputra-Shahi-Shahanushahi’, the Shaka lords and the kings of Simhala (Sri Lanka) and ‘all the islands’ — are said to have offered their services, daughters and requests to rule under the Gupta Garuda seal. Historians see the late Kushans of the Punjab, the Kidarite Kidara or the Sasanian ‘king of kings’ behind the first title, and behind Simhala an embassy of King Meghavarna, known from Chinese sources, which asked leave to build a monastery for Sri Lankan pilgrims at Bodh Gaya.
The eulogy speaks of hundreds of battles and of a body covered with hundreds of scars, but its claims must be treated with caution: the southern kings kept their thrones as tributaries, and some scholars have even argued that the southern expedition turned back at the Krishna. The territory under his direct rule probably stretched from the Ravi to the Brahmaputra and from the Himalayan foothills to the Vindhyas; at Eran in central India his inscription seems to follow that of a local Shaka ruler, whom he may have ousted. He performed the horse sacrifice (ashvamedha) and issued gold coins to commemorate it, as well as coins showing him playing the veena. The dates of his reign are uncertain: its beginning is placed between about 330 and 353 (by some scholars as early as about 319), its end around 370–376. V. A. Smith called him the ‘Indian Napoleon’.
Connections
Causes and preconditions
- Chandragupta I, ‘great king of kings’, and the beginning of the Gupta erabetween 318 and 320 · South AsiaChandragupta chose Samudragupta as his heir
Related events
- Junagadh rock inscription of Rudradaman Ic. 150 · South AsiaRudradaman’s Junagadh inscription was the prototype of Gupta prashastis such as Harishena’s
- Kushano-Sasanians in Gandhara: Sasanian claims reach Peshawarbetween 240 and 262 · South Asiathe later Kushans of the Punjab are thought to be among the rulers who, the eulogy says, sought Samudragupta’s favour
- The Buddha’s tooth relic is brought to Sri Lankabetween 309 and 371 · South AsiaSirimeghavanna (Meghavarna) sent an embassy to Samudragupta; Harishena’s eulogy names Simhala among the island kingdoms that sought his favour
- Reign of Shapur II309–379 · Middle East and Egyptsome scholars take the “shahanushahi” of the Allahabad inscription for the Sasanian king of kings
- Mayurasharma founds the Kadamba kingdom of Banavasic. 345 · South AsiaMayurasharma may have exploited the Pallavas’ defeat by Samudragupta
- Zhu Zhantan, the ‘Indian’ king of Funan, offers tamed elephants to the Jin court357 · Southeast Asia and OceaniaLévi’s hypothesis: a Kushan branch displaced by Samudragupta’s conquests took power in Funan
- Reign of Chandragupta II Vikramadityabetween 375 and 381 – between 412 and 415 · South AsiaChandragupta II continued his father’s expansion
- The yupa inscriptions of King Mulavarman at Kutaibetween 350 and 450 · Southeast Asia and Oceaniathe spread of Vedic kingship: Samudragupta’s horse-sacrifice coins show a horse tied to a yupa post, and his eulogy praises his gifts of cows
- Hunnic kings of Bactria: the Kidaritesbetween 360 and 370 – 467 · Central and Northern AsiaD. R. Bhandarkar took the ‘Daivaputra-Shahi-Shahanushahi’ of the eulogy for a single ruler, possibly the Kidarite Kidara; F. Grenet, however, dates Kidara to the 420s–430s
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Martin of Tours founds the monastery of Ligugé361
- Ambrose, bishop of Milan7 December 374 – 4 April 397
Eastern Europe
- Reign of Ermanaric, king of the Greuthungic. 350 – between 370 and 376
- The Huns conquer the Alans and the Greuthungic. 370 – 376
- Vinitharius’ war with the Antes of Bozbetween 375 and 380
- Chernyakhov culturebetween 200 and 250 – between 400 and 430
- Kyiv culturec. 200 – between 400 and 430
Balkans and Anatolia
- Crete earthquake and tsunami of 36521 July 365
- Wulfila’s Gothic Biblebetween 348 and 383
- Basil the Great founds the Basileiasbetween 369 and 372
- Gothic War (376–382)376 – 3 October 382
- Founding of Constantinople11 May 330
Middle East and Egypt
- Siege of Amida359
- Julian’s Persian expedition and the Peace of 3635 March 363 – July 363
- Theon of Alexandria observes the eclipses of 364between June and November 364
- Reign of Shapur II309–379
- Jerusalem Talmudbetween 360 and 450
Africa
- Donatist schismbetween 311 and 312 – 411
- Ezana’s Nile campaign and the end of Kushbetween 340 and 360
- Aksum adopts Christianitybetween 328 and 350
Central and Northern Asia
- Shapur II’s war with the Chionitesc. 350 – 358
- Le Zun cuts the first cave at Mogao366
- The Kushano-Sasanian kingdom in Bactriabetween 230 and 262 – between 350 and 370
- Hunnic kings of Bactria: the Kidaritesbetween 360 and 370 – 467
East Asia
- The Orchid Pavilion Gathering: Wang Xizhi writes the Lanting Preface22 April 353
- Buddhism reaches Korea: the monk Sundo in Goguryeobetween July and August 372
- Kofun period: the age of keyhole tombsbetween 250 and 300 – 538
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Zhu Zhantan, the ‘Indian’ king of Funan, offers tamed elephants to the Jin court357
- Óc Eo, the port of Funanbetween 1 and 100 – between 601 and 700
- Fan Wen of Linyi seizes Rinan from the Jin347–349
- Gold pendant copying a coin of Antoninus Pius at Óc Eobetween 152 and 600
- The yupa inscriptions of King Mulavarman at Kutaibetween 350 and 450
North America
- Late Basketmaker II erac. 50 – c. 500
- Hopewell traditionbetween 200 and 100 BC – c. 500
Latin America
- Teotihuacan at its height: the largest city of the Americasc. 250 – c. 550
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Samudragupta
- Wikipedia (English): Allahabad Pillar
- Wikipedia (English): Campaigns of Samudragupta
- Wikipedia (Russian): Самудрагупта
- Wikipedia (Russian): Государство Гуптов
- Fleet J. F. Inscriptions of the Early Gupta Kings and Their Successors (Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum. Vol. 3). — Calcutta, 1888. — No. 1.
- Bhandarkar D. R. Inscriptions of the Early Gupta Kings (Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum. Vol. 3, rev. ed.) / Ed. B. Ch. Chhabra, G. S. Gai. — New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India, 1981.
- Agrawal A. Rise and Fall of the Imperial Guptas. — Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1989.
- Smith V. A. The Early History of India. — 4th ed. — Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924. — P. 303–305
- Wikidata: Q131153080