Gupta Empire Rulers

Gupta period is the golden period of ancient history. The Empire expanded from the mouth of the Krishna and Godavari rivers in the south to the Himalayas in the north and the river Brahmaputra in the east to Afghanistan in the west. Gupta Empire was founded by Srigupta during 250 A.D. The next ruler is said to be Ghatotkatcha.

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Chandragupta I (319-335 AD)

The real foundation of the Gupta Empire is said to be led by Chandragupta I in 319 A.D. He aggregated all the principalities in the North under one central authority.

He also followed the principle of matrimonial alliance to consolidate his position. Following the principal he married Kumardevi of licchavi. On the occasion, for the very first time, coins were minted with the queen’s image.

Samudragupta (335-375)

After the death of Chandragupta 1, his son Samudragupta became the next ruler from 335 A.D. He is considered as the most powerful ruler of Gupta period.
He is 2nd Chakravartin Samrat (after Ashoka) of India.
His court Poet Harisena wrote Prayag Prashasti in eulogization of Samudragupta. He mentions that Samudragupta never faced any defeat and won more than 100 battles.
He performed Aswamedha Yajna because he was a deep believer of Hinduism.
He was accommodative towards Buddhism as such he funded a Buddhist monastery.
He patronised many art forms and he himself was a great poet and musician.

Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya)(375-415)

He is considered the most enlightened ruler of Gupta Period. During his reign there was holistic development in the fields of religion, temple, architecture, religious literature, astronomy, mathematics, medicine etc.
He followed the policy of military expansion as well as matrimonial alliance to expand territories.
He maintained 9 luminaries in his court- Kalidasa, Amarsimha, Dhanvantri, Harisena, Kshapanaka, Sanku, Varahamihira, Vararuchi and Vetalbhatta.
During his reign, Chinese Buddhist traveler Fa Hien visited his court.

Kumargupta (415-455 AD)

Kumargupta is said to have performed Aswamedha Yajna. He also led the foundation of Nalanda University for Buddhist learning.

Skandagupta (455-467 AD)

Last important ruler of the Gupta dynasty was Skandagupta. He undertook many architectural initiatives, one such example is the repairing of Sudarshana Lake.

He was a great administrator as such he effectively eliminated Huna’s threat and also restored the lost territories of Gupta.

Note :- Huna’s Invasion

Huna was a barbaric tribe from central Asia which started to invade Gupta territory. After the death of Skandagupta, Huna’s reorganized themselves under the leadership of Toramana and Mihirkula. They looted the Gupta dynasty and took away their valuables. This invasion led to decline and disintegration of Gupta’s by 550 AD.

After Skandagupta, next rulers were not powerful and mighty and many successors came in power. Among the later successors were Puru Gupta, kumargupta II, Buddhagupta, Narsimhagupta, KumarGupta III and the last ruler Vishnu gupta.

Downfall of Gupta Empire

The empire eventually died out because of factors such as substantial loss of territory and imperial authority caused by their own erstwhile feudatories, as well as the invasion by the Huna people (Kidarites and Alchon Huns) from Central Asia. After the collapse of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century, India was again ruled by numerous regional kingdoms.

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