The Guptas and Their Successors

The kings, in order: Chandragupta I, Samudragupta (his conquests are in the Allahabad Pillar inscription), Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya), Kumaragupta I and Skandagupta.

• Gupta kings called themselves Paramabhagavata, the supreme devotee of Vishnu, and used the Garuda emblem: they were Vaishnavas.
• Chandragupta II married his daughter Prabhavatigupta to the Vakataka king Rudrasena II; after Rudrasena's death she ruled as regent.
• The Vakatakas were founded by Vindhyashakti in the 3rd century CE and ruled northern Maharashtra and Vidarbha.
• The Eran inscription of Bhanugupta (510 CE) is the earliest inscriptional evidence of sati.

At the court:

• Mahasandhivigrahika: minister of peace (sandhi) and war (vigraha), in effect the foreign minister. Harishena held it under Samudragupta.
• Bhandagaradhikrita: head of the treasury.
• Dhruvadhikaranika: officer for land revenue.
• Pustapala: keeper of records (land records).

In the village: the gramika (gramadhyaksha) was the headman and the talavataka the village accountant.

In the town, a board (adhishthanadhikarana) advised the district officer. Its members: the nagarashreshthi (chief of the guilds and bankers), the sarthavaha (chief merchant, leader of the trading caravans), the prathama kulika (chief artisan) and the prathama kayastha (chief scribe).

The terms:

• Bhaga: the king's share of the produce, usually one-sixth.
• Bhoga: periodic supplies of fruit, firewood and flowers to the king.
• Hiranya: tax paid in cash (gold).
• Vishti (vaishthika): forced, unpaid labour.
• Dasaparadha: fines for ten offences.
• Adeya: what is to be surrendered, that is, dues owed to the state.
• Utkhetayita: a levy, a tax.
• Dhanya simply means grain: it is a decoy in these questions, never a gold tax or labour.

In the north and west:

• Maukharis: Kannauj, which then replaced Pataliputra as the political centre of the north.
• Pushyabhutis (Vardhanas): Thanesar. Prabhakarvardhana beat the Hunas; Harshavardhana ruled 606 to 647 CE and wrote the plays Nagananda, Ratnavali and Priyadarshika.
• Maitrakas: once Gupta feudatories, they ruled from Valabhi in Saurashtra; Dhruvasena II was Harsha's son-in-law.

In the south:

• Chalukyas of Badami: Pulakeshin II stopped Harsha on the Narmada and took the title Dakshinapatheshvara, lord of the south.
• Pallavas: Kanchipuram. Mahendravarman I wrote the farce Mattavilasa-prahasana.

Travellers: the Chinese pilgrim Hsuan Tsang came in Harsha's reign; Faxian had come under Chandragupta II. Abroad, the Shailendras of Java were Buddhists who built Borobudur.