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Biography of SamudraguptaName: SamudraguptaBirth Date: N/A Death Date: N/A Place of Birth: N/A Nationality: Indian Gender: Male Occupations: ruler Samudragupta Samudragupta (reigned 350-375) was the second emperor of the Gupta dynasty of India. His reign ushered in the Golden Age of India, and he is remembered both as a benevolent imperial conqueror and as a patron of the arts and letters.A detailed record of the reign of Samudragupta is preserved in the shape of an inscription--a prasasti, or panegyric, composed by the poet Harisena and engraved on the same pillar on which Emperor Asoka, centuries before, had had an edict carved. The two inscriptions make a contrasting reading: Asoka's, written in simple Pali, speaks of peace and righteousness; Samudragupta's, written in elegant and classical Sanskrit, glorifies war.At the time of his accession, Samudragupta's territories comprised present-day north Bihar and north and west Bengal. Acting on his father's dying behest, the young ruler embarked upon digvijaya, a lofty Hindu political ideal to conquer the four quarters of the Aryan …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…weigh as much as 123 grains and have a gold content of 87 percent. One shows him performing the horse sacrifice; another shows him playing a harp. He was a gifted musician, a poet, and a person who took part in religious discussions. None of the many buildings he appears to have erected has survived. Though personally a Hindu, he extended his patronage to other religions, and one of his chief courtiers appears to have been the great Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu. Not much is known of his administrative system, but he must have been an ideal ruler as is evidenced by the introductory portion of a late Javanese text, the Tantri Kamandaka, which refers to him in eloquent terms. Further Reading The best biography is Balkrishna Govind Gokhale, Samudra Gupta: Life and Times (1962). Information is also in John F. Fleet, ed., Inscriptions of the Early Gupta Kings and Their Successors (1888; rev. ed. 1963). |