Samudragupta

Intro

The second emperor of the Gupta Empire of ancient India, and is regarded among the greatest rulers of the dynasty. As a son of the Gupta emperor Chandragupta I and the Licchavi princess Kumaradevi, he greatly expanded his dynasty's political and military power.

Several northern kings were uprooted, however, and their territories added to the Gupta empire. At the height of Samudra Gupta’s power, he controlled nearly all of the valley of the Ganges (Ganga) River and received homage from rulers of parts of east Bengal, Assam, Nepal, the eastern part of the Punjab, and various tribes of Rajasthan. He exterminated 9 monarchs and subjugated 12 others in his campaigns

he defeated nine kings and annexed them to his kingdom and he called it “Digvijay”. He defeated nine kings of Aryavarta: Nandin, Balavarman, Nagasena, Rudradeva, Chandravarman, Mathila, Gangapathinaga, Nagadatta and Achyuta.

Samudragupta defeated 12 kings of South India are Mahendra of Kosala, Vyagraraja of Mahakantara, Mantharaja of Kowrala, Mahendra of Pistapura, Swamydatta of Kottura, Damana of Yarandapalli, Vishnugopa of Kanchi, Hastivarman of Vengi, Neelaraja of Avamukta, Ugrasena of Palakkad, Kubera of Devarashtra, Dhananjaya of Kustalapura.

Thus, Samudragupta’s territory extended from the northern Himalayas to the southern Narmada river and from the eastern Brahmaputra to the western Chambal. It is noteworthy here that he also personally participated in battles and won those battles that were often conducted from the front. According to Harishna’s court poet, Samudragupta was a fearless warrior, the hero of a hundred wars. He was undoubtedly very successful in building a vast empire and celebrated his victory by sacrificing a horse (Ashwamedha).