Victory Journey of Samudragupta - General Knowledge of Ancient History

General Knowledge of Ancient History: Samudragupta was the son and successor of Maharaja Chandragupta. In the fourth line of the Prayag Stambh Prashasti composed by Harishen, a description has been given of providing the kingdom by Chandragupta I to Samudragupta in a gathering. Scholars are of the opinion that possibly Chandragupta I would have done this keeping in mind the merit of Samudragupta and to prevent civil war among his sons. After getting the throne, he started the program of victory. He was a skilled warrior. Historian V.A. Smith has called him the Napoleon of India.

Samudragupta

Seeing the bravery, military campaigns and successes of Samudragupta, this title given to him by the great historian seems correct. The Gupta kingdom was very small at the time he ascended the throne. The whole country was divided into many small parts. Mutual enmity was seen in these states. Samudragupta decided to make a powerful empire by winning many of those states. He defeated nine states of North-India and merged them in his state. He fought with 12 states of South-India but did not merge them in his empire. This shows that Samudragupt was brave as well as visionary.

Victory Journey of Samudragupta

Samudragupta was the exact opposite of Ashoka, the great ruler of the Maurya dynasty. Ashoka believed in peace and ruling in the hearts of the people, but Samudragupta was more angry and violent than him. There is also an Ashoka pillar in Kaushambi, on which Samudragupta's praise is inscribed. In this article information about almost all aspects of Samudragupta's life is obtained. In the Prayag Prashasti article of Samudragupt's court poet Shri Harishen, the names of the peoples and countries which were conquered by Samudragupt have been mentioned. His major victories were as follows -

Conquest of North India

It is known from the Prayag Prashasti that Samudragupta conquered nine states of North India and merged them into his empire. Those kingdoms were - Vakataka kingdom, Matil kingdom, Nagvansh kingdom, Pushkaran kingdom, Nagsen, Mathura kingdom, Nagsen, Ramnagar kingdom, Assam Raki, Nagvanshi kingdom, Nandin and Kotvanshi kingdom. The kings of Kotvansh had formed a union of many states against Samudragupt. But all those states had to be defeated. Samudragupta extended his empire by joining these states of North India.

Conquest of Punjab, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh

It is known from the writings of Samudragupta that during the time of Samudragupta, there were many republic castes in north-west India and Punjab. According to the statement of Harishen, these nine castes had accepted the subordination of Samudragupta. These castes were Malwa, Amir, Kak, Mudrak, Yaudheya, Sakanik, Nagarjuna, Kharparik and Prarjuna.

More General Knowledge of Ancient History

(01) Rulers of the Gupta Empire
(02) Prayag Prashasti & Samudragupta
(03) Historical event of Chandragupta I

Conquest of The Kingdoms Of Other Kings of Central India

Samudragupta never merged the states between North India and South India in his empire. They were his only subjects because they only paid him taxes. These states belonged to the tribals. Along with paying taxes to him, these states also used to provide military assistance on special occasions.

Conquest Of Frontier Tribal States

Seeing the continuous growth of Samudragupta's state and influence, many border states like Bengal, Assam, Nepal etc. accepted to pay him taxes and accepted his subordination.

Conquest Of The Kingdoms Of South India

With the help of a huge army, he defeated all the states of Southern India. But he did not include them in his empire due to their distance from Pataliputra. He used to do only with them.

Relations With Foreign Powers And Sri Lanka

It is said that Samudragupta made friendly relations with foreign powers like Saka, Kushan and Sri Lanka. These states accepted the currency inscribed with the idol of Garuda of the Gupta states. Samudragupta may have imposed this condition on him. This shows that they were not equal states. As far as Sri Lanka is concerned, there is evidence in later China that King Meghavarna (352-379 AD) of Sri Lanka had sent some gifts and asked the Gupta king (probably Samudragupta) for permission to build a Buddhist Vihara in Gaya. The order was received and the Sri Lankan king Mahabodhisangharam built a vihara in Buddhist Gaya.