Magadh Mahila College

Patna University
Department of History
Bhawana Singh(Guest Faculty)
Email id- [email protected]
B.A- 1st year
Paper-1, Unit- 7

Samudragupta(350-375A.D)
He was one among the greatest rulers of the Gupta Empire. In the fourth Shloka of
Prayag Prashashti there is an evidence of appointment of Samudragupta as the
successor of the royal throne by Chandragupta I. In the inscription of Vakatakas
also Samudragupta is mentioned as the successor of Chandragupta I. The Airand
inscription also mentions the same fact about his succession. But many
contemporary historical texts doubts about the unopposed succession of
Samudragupta. Aryamanjushremulkalpa states that there occurs a war of
succession Katch and Samudragupta. It is believed that Samudragupta was not the
elder son of Charndragupta I. Katch was the elder son and due to him being the
elder son Katch was legally to be his successor. But , realizing the inclination of
Chandragupta towards Samudragupta Katch minted a few of his coins even before
Chandragpta‟s death.

Chandragupta I wanted to appoint his skilled son to be the next ruler of the Gupta
Empire. Thus, by realizing the forthcoming war of succession Chandragupta
declared Samudragupta as his successor in his open assembly. Hence,
Samudragupta killed his elder brother Katch and ascended the throne. On the other
hand historians like Allen, Smith, Fleet, etc considered Katch to be the real name
of Samudragupta.
Military Expeditions of Samudragupta:

The most important source of Samudragupta‟s military expedition is the Prayag

prashashti. It was written in Sanskrit language in Champu style by Harisena. The
7th line of this Prashashti mentions about the Digvijaya of Samudragupta.
According to the Prashashti his Digvijaya was based on the policy of
„Dharnibandha‟(to gain victory over the entire earth). According to it Smudragupta
adopted the policy of Digvijaya over the area of Aryavarta(from Vindhya range to
Himalyan range). Whereas, he adopted the policy if Dharmavijaya in South India.
Thus, the rulers of South India accepted the supremacy of Samudragupta and were
established as the subordinate states. Following are the policies adopted by
Samudragupta for his expeditons:

 Policy of Prasambhodarana:
This policy was adopted by Samudragupta for the Aryavarta area. Through
this policy he forcefully annexed the northern states through violence and
power. He attacked twice on the northern states . The first expedition is
mentioned in the 13th and 14th stanza of Prayag Prashashti. Thus, this is
known as the first battle of Aryavarta. In this battle he won over four states.
The second expedition is mentioned in the 21st stanza of Prayag Prashahti
and this is known as the 2nd battle of Aryavarta. In this battle he won over
nine states.

 Policy of Grahanamokshanugrahana:
This policy was adopted by Samudragupta for the South Indian states or the
states of Dakshinapatha(Vindhya range to Krishna-Tungabhadra rivers).
Under this policy he won over the Southern states of but returned it to their
local rulers. The expedition of Dakshinapatha is mentioned in the 19th and
20th stanza of Prayaga Prashasti. Under this policy of
Grahanamokshanugrahana he defeated 12 states of Dakshinapatha and
forced their rulers to accept his supremacy. According to Hem Chandra Rai
Chaudhari it is the policy of Dharmavijaya which is also mentioned in the
Raghuvansha of Kalidasa about the expedition.
 Policy of Parichakikarana:
This policy was adopted against the tribal community i.e the Aatwik tribes
or the local tribal rulers who were spread in the areas between Mathura and
Narmada rivers. Under this policy he made the Aatwik states his servants
(paricharak). The victory of Samudragupta over 18 tribal states and
transforming them into the servants is mentioned in the 21 st stanza of Prayag
Prashashti . After defeating these Aatwik tribes Samudragupta carried out
his expedition of Dakshinapatha so that this tribes do not become the
obstacles in the path of his expedition.

 Policy of Sarvakardanakaranpranamagamana:
This policy of Samudragupta was adopted towards the frontier states
according to which the defeated ruler had to pay taxes, follow the orders, do
charity and had to do hospitality of Samudragupta periodically. This
expedition of Samudragupta on the frontier state is mentioned in the 22 nd
stanza of Prayag Prashashti. It indicates that frontier states consisted of two
categories 9 republic states and 5 monarchies who were scared of the power
of Samudragupta and accepted his supremacy.

 Policy of Atmanivedanakanyopayadanagarurdamak:
This policy was mentioned in the 23rd and 24th stanza of Prayag Prashashti
which was adopted for the foreign powers by Samudragupta. Scared and
influenced by the victory of Samudragupta the foreign rulers surrendered.
The Srikankan ruler Meghvarman requested for the friendship of
Samudragupta. Meghvarman got permission of Samudragupta to build a
monastery for Buddhist monks. This information is derived from the book of
Chinese traveler Van Huen Tse. Huen Tsang too witnessed this monastery
and named it Mahabodhi Sangharam. Besides Singhal(srilanka) other
foreign territories like Java, Malaya, Sumatra or South Asia also accepted
his supremacy. Thus, Samudragupta extended the empire which he got in
legacy from Chandragupta I and made Patliputra the capital of his empire.

There is a mention of a few administrative post of Samudragupta in Prayag

Prashashti such as:
  Department of Sandhivigrahika:
He was the minister of battles and treaties. He was the head of foreign
department. Harisena was the Sandhivigrahika of Samudragupta.

 Department of Khadyatapakik:
He was the head of the royal kitchen. During Samudragupta this department
was headed by Dhruvbhuti, father of Harisena.

 Department of Mahadandanayaka:
He was the head of police department and Chief Justice of judiciary cases.
This post was headed by Harisena.

 Kumaramatya:
They were the ministers belonging to higher posts. In the Gupta inscription a
common term Kumaramatya is used for number of ministers such as
Vishaypati, governor, Commander-in-chief, ministers of the court, etc.
Harisena is also considered as one of the Kumaramatyas .

Apart from these above information there is no available information about

the administration of Samudragupta. It seems that Samudragupta could get
no time for figuring about the nature of administration due to his continuous
indulgence in wars.

Ashwamedha Yajana:

After his victories expedition Samudragupta performed. It seems that he

performed this ceremony after the Prayag Prashasti had already been written
because of this it has not been mentioned in the Prayag Prashasti. In the Bhitari
Inscription of Skandagupta, Samudragupta is quoted as the person who restarted
the Ashwamedha Yajana which was left to be practiced long back. This
Ashwamedha types of coins of Samudragupta proved him to be performing
Ashwamedha Yajana. In the front side of the coin a horse is portrayed to be tied
with the holy thread. And in the back side the word “Ashwamedha Prakramah” is
inscripted. In the Pune copper plate inscription of Prabhavati Gupta also
Samudragupta is considered to be practicing numerous Ashwamedha Yajana.

Coins of Samudragupta:

The coins issued by Samudragupta also throws light on his life and his works.
Samudragupta issued 6 types of gold coins Garur types of coins, dhanurdhar type
of coins, Ashwamedha type of coins, Vyaghranihanta type, Parshuram type,
Vinavadan type of coins.

V.A Smith in his Early History of India called Samudragupta as Napoleon of India
due to his bravery and warrior skills. In Prayag Prashashti Samudragupta is
indicated as the great man in the Prayag Prashashti. In this Prayag Prashashti
Samudragupta is considered as the god of humans, in the case of wealth he is
considered to be Lord Kuber, his power is compared to Lord Indra and his intellect
is compared to Lord Brihaspati. Samudragupta was himself a great poet and thus
became famous as Kaviraj. He was a great musician thus, is compared to Lord
Brihaspati and Narada for his mucical skills. It is clear that he was skilled in
playing Veena from the Vinavadan coins of Samudragupta also reflects his love for
music. Samudragupta was a versatile king, he was a great ruler in every aspect and
thus, began a new era in India history.