Note 33 — INDEX (continued 2)

The further suggestion may be offered that if as seems probable Dr. Bhagvánlál is correct in considering Chandragupta II. to be the founder of the Gupta era this high honour was due not to his conquest of Málwa but to some success against the Indo-Skythians or Śakas of the Punjáb. The little more than nominal suzerainty claimed over the Devputras, Sháhis, and Sháhánusháhis in Chandragupta’s father’s inscription shows that when he came to the throne Chandragupta found the Śaka power practically unbroken. The absence of reference to conquests is no more complete in the case of the Panjáb than it is in the case of Gujarát or of Káthiáváḍa which Chandragupta is known to have added to his dominions. In Káthiáváḍa, though not in Gujarát, the evidence from coins is stronger than in the Panjáb. Still the discovery of Chandragupta’s coins (J. R. A. S. XXI. 5 note 1) raises the presumption of conquests as far north and west as Pánipat and as Ludhiána (in the heart of the Panjáb). Chandragupta’s name Devarája may, as Pandit Bhagvánlál suggests, be taken from the Śaka title Devaputra. Further, the use of the name Vikramáditya and of the honorific Śrí is in striking agreement with Beruni’s statement (Sachau, II. 6) that the conqueror of the Śakas was named Vikramáditya and that to the conqueror’s name was added the title Śrí. Mr. Fleet (Corp. Ins. Ind. III. 37 note 2) holds it not improbable that either Chandragupta I. or II. defeated the Indo-Skythians. The fact that Chandragupta I. was not a ruler of sufficient importance to issue coins and that even after his son Samudragupta’s victories the Śakas remained practically independent make it almost certain that if any subjection of the Śakas to the Guptas took place it happened during the reign of Chandragupta II. ↑