Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya) - General Knowledge of Ancient History

Chandragupta II or Vikramaditya

General Knowledge of Ancient History: Chandragupta II became 'Vikramaditya', the greatest emperor of the Gupta dynasty after Samudragupta. Like his father, he was an able fighter and diplomat. Probably being pleased with these qualities, his father had removed Ramagupta from the throne and had nominated Chandragupta as his successor.

Devichandraguptam Drama

It appears from the play Devichandraguptam composed by Visakhadatta that Chandragupta had captured the throne after killing his elder brother Ramagupta and had married Dhruvadevi, the widow of Ramagupta. Although the historicity of this drama is doubtful, it is certain that Samudragupta's real successor was Chandragupta II whose mother's name was Dattadevi.

Title Of Vikramaditya

Information about Chandragupta comes from 6 important inscriptions: Mathura inscription, Udaygiri cave inscription, Garhwa inscription, Sanchi inscription, Udayagiri cave inscription, Mathura inscription and Iron pillar inscription of Mehrauli. On the basis of these sources, it is known that Chandragupta remained the ruler from about 380 to 414-15 AD. Chandragupta II's mother's name was Dattadevi. His initial name was Chandragupta, but after becoming the emperor, he assumed the title of 'Vikramaditya'.

More General Knowledge of Ancient History

(01) Prayag Prashasti & Samudragupta
(02) Historical event of Chandragupta I
(03) Victory Journey of Samudragupta

Record

It is known from the Gupta and Vakataka records that Chandragupta II's second name was Devraj and Devagupta. The name of his first queen was Kubernaga who was a snake girl. The daughter of this queen was Prabhavati Gupta. Dhruvadevi or Dhruvaswamini was his second wife from whom Govindagupta and Kumaragupta were born. Matrimonial relations of Chandragupta II Vikramaditya Strengthening his position by establishing marriage relations with his contemporary important dynasties was a main part of the foreign policy of the Gupta emperors.

Samudragupta's Policy

Chandragupta I had expanded his power and empire by associating with the Licchavis. Samudragupta also adopted the same policy. He married the daughters of many of his subordinate feudatories. These relations would have helped him a great deal in conquering new countries and maintaining his authority over the conquered countries. Chandragupta II also followed the policy of his ancestors. To strengthen his position, he established matrimonial relations with the then important powers.

He first married Kubernaga, a princess of the Naga dynasty. This gave birth to a daughter named Prabhavatigupta, whom she married to Vakataka king Rudrasen II. Due to these matrimonial relations, the friendship of Nagas and Vakatakas was easily achieved. Even more important than the serpents was the matrimonial relationship with the Vakatakas.

The Vakataka kings were very powerful in the Gupta period. Although Samudragupta had weakened the Vakataka king Rudrasena (Rudradev) by defeating him, Rudrasena II had greatly increased his power in central southern India and became an important ruler. His influence was also in such a region, from where he could help or hinder the campaign of any North Indian king against the Saka satraps of Gujarat and Saurashtra. Probably Chandragupta had anticipated this situation and that is why he established matrimonial relations with the Vakataka king. As a result of this marriage, Chandragupta befriended an important power without any hard work.

Apart from the Vakatakas, Chandragupta II also made friendly relations with Kuntal Naresh. The rulers of Kadamba dynasty had authority over Kuntal (southern part of Bombay and northern part of Mysore). Evidence of Chandragupta II's close relationship with Kuntaleshwar is available. In Shringar Prakash of Mahakavi Bhoja, there is mention of a conversation between Kalidas and Chandragupta II about the king of Kuntal.

Probably Chandragupta had sent Kalidas to the Kuntal ruler by making him his ambassador. The Kadamba ruler Mayurasharman's son and grandson was the concurrent ruler of Chandragupta II. It is known from Talagunda Prashasti that Kuntala Naresh (probably Kakutsyavarman) married his daughter to Gupta Naresh.

This matrimonial relationship is also confirmed by Kshemendra's rationale discussion, apart from this, according to the Talagunda inscription of Shantivarman, the Kadamba ruler Kakutsyavarman established matrimonial relations with the Gupta dynasty and other dynasties. Dr. Dineshchandra Sarkar suggests that the Kadamba king married one of his daughters to Narendrasen (Vakatak) and the other to a son or grandson of Chandragupta. Through these matrimonial relations, 'Vikramaditya' made the then important rulers his well-wishers. The friendship of these rulers provided ample security to the Gupta Empire. Some scholars have given more importance to Chandragupta's marital relations than even his conquests.

The Conquests of Chandragupta II Vikramaditya

In Hindu legends, Chandragupta II is remembered as a very mighty conqueror. There is no doubt that he was as brave and ambitious as his father. But he had inherited a huge empire, so he did not have to do the work of empire building from the beginning, yet there were many such rulers within the borders of the country who only accepted the supremacy of the Gupta Emperor in name only. In these, the Shakas of Malwa and Saurashtra and the Kushanas of western Punjab were more powerful. To conquer the Shakas, Chandragupta built a huge army and attacked them after full preparation. An inscription of Chandragupta's war and peace minister Virasena has been found in the hill of Udayagiri in Malwa.

Virasena himself went on the campaign with the emperor. It is known from the article that the Gupta armies had passed through the route of Bhilsa. Kshatrap Rudrasingh III was defeated and killed in the war. This victory of Chandragupta proved to be completely decisive from every point of view.

Malwa, Gujarat and Saurashtra became part of the Gupta Empire. The boundaries of the empire spread to the western sea. This gave a lot of encouragement to both internal and external trade. Due to the Gupta emperors having the authority over the commercial cities and ports of the western seaboard, there was a lot of progress in the economic view of the empire. Through these ports, there was a good trade with the western countries. The conquered territories were extremely fertile. Due to this the income of the state increased a lot. There was another important result of this victory. Ujjain, which was the center of learning and literature, became the second capital of the empire.

Apart from this, Chandragupta II achieved many more important victories. There is an iron pillar near the Qutub Minar in Delhi, which describes the victories of a king named Chandra, in which it is written that Chandra destroyed a confederacy of enemies in Banga and won Vahnika after crossing the seven mouths of the Indus. This Chandra was probably Chandragupta II Vikramaditya. History does not know of any other moon king who has hoisted the victory flag up to Bengal in the east and across the Indus river in the west. It appears that the small feudatories of Bengal, who were subjugated by Samudragupta, raised a united front against the Gupta emperor and tried to throw off the yoke of supremacy, but they were defeated and probably now completely Bengal came directly under the Gupta rule.

In the northwest, Chandragupta would have attacked the Kushan rulers of western Punjab and Afghanistan. If we apply the meaning of Vahlika to Balakh (Bactria), then we have to agree that the success that Chandragupta got was never achieved by any Hindu king, even Chandragupta Maurya could not reach there. But even if this claim of Chandragupta is true, it cannot be said that his conquests had any permanent political consequences because there is no definite evidence that the whole of Punjab and Afghanistan, like Bengal, were ever a part of the Gupta Empire. That is why some scholars have taken the meaning of Vahlik as the valley of river Vyas. Even if this is accepted, Chandragupta's military successes were amazing, it is not doubted that as a memorial of these victories, Chandragupta erected an iron pillar on Vishnupad mountain, which was taken away by King Anangpal to Delhi in the eleventh century. As a result of these victories, the expansion of the Gupta Empire became much more. It included the whole of Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, some parts of Madhya Pradesh, the whole of Madhya Bharat, Gujarat and the territories of Kathiawar.

Titles of Chandragupta II

Chandragupta II assumed many titles because of his prowess, glory and dignities. Like after ending various small republics, he assumed the title of 'Ganari' and 'Shakari' after victory over the Shakas. After his achievements, he assumed the title of 'Vikramaditya'. His other titles have also been called 'Nareshchandra', 'Singhchandra', 'Singhvikram', 'Devraj', 'Devashree' and 'Devgupt'.

Capitals of Vikramaditya

Capitals of Chandragupta II Vikramaditya It is generally believed that Pataliputra was the capital of the Gupta Empire at the time of Chandragupta, but when the Shakas prepared for the invasion, he made Vidisha in Eastern Malwa the temporary capital of the Gupta Empire. After the influence of Shakas, his capital became Ujjain. Chandragupta II has been called the master of the best city Ujjain and the master of the best city Pataliputra. Probably Ayodhya was also his capital at the time of the victory campaign in the northwestern region. This is mentioned in the biography of Vasubandhu. Some scholars are of the opinion that he also made Koshambi, situated on the main highway leading from Ujjain towards northern India, his temporary capital. According to Allen, copper coins minted by Chandragupta have often been found in and near Ayodhya.