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Assignment On Chandragupta I (19-41386-3)

1. Chandragupta I was the first ruler and founder of the powerful Gupta Empire in northern India in the 4th century CE. 2. His marriage to Kumaradevi, a Lichchhavi princess, helped expand his political power and territory. 3. Chandragupta established the Gupta dynasty and issued the first gold coins with the title "Maharajadhiraja," though the exact extent of his kingdom is unknown.

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rizwanul hassan
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303 views

Assignment On Chandragupta I (19-41386-3)

1. Chandragupta I was the first ruler and founder of the powerful Gupta Empire in northern India in the 4th century CE. 2. His marriage to Kumaradevi, a Lichchhavi princess, helped expand his political power and territory. 3. Chandragupta established the Gupta dynasty and issued the first gold coins with the title "Maharajadhiraja," though the exact extent of his kingdom is unknown.

Uploaded by

rizwanul hassan
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Assignment on

“Chandragupta I”

Submitted to
Dr. Buddha Dev Biswas

Submitted by
Name: Hassan, S. M. Rizwanul
Id: 19-41386-3
Roll no: 32
Course: Bangladesh studies
Section: A
Introduction
Gupta king Chandragupta I governed over northern India during the reign of the
Gupta family. According to his title Maharajadhiraja, he was the first ruler of the
Gupta dynasty ("king of great kings"), gold coins was also issued by him first. He was
the son of Gupta king Ghatotkacha who is also known for his title Moharaja .He
was the first king of gupta dynasty who enlarged the empire at a huge rate. There is
a saying that his marriage brought him great power. His wife’s name was
Kumaradevi. Kumaradevi was the prince of the kingdom Magadha. After marrying
Kumaradevi , Chandragupta got support both by pooliticallly and economically from
Magadha. Even though modern historians largely agree that his marriage to the
Lichchhavi princess Kumaradevi helped him grow his political power, it's still
unknown how he managed to turn his small hereditary realm into an empire.
Samudragupta who is also known as  Lichchhavi-dauhitra, the Gupta emperor's
son, expanded the empire even more.

Founder of gupta dynasty


Chandragupta was the son of Gupta king Ghatotkcha and the grandson of the
dynasty's founder Gupta, both of whom are referred to in the Allahabad Pillar
inscription as Maharaja ("great king"). Chandragupta took the title Maharajadhiraja
("great king") and issued gold coins, suggesting that he was the founder of Gupta
dynasty. However, this is only an assumption, and the identity of the Gupta era's
founder is unknown.

The Allahabad Pillar inscription indicates that Chandragupta I reigned for a long
time, as he named his son as his successor, probably after reaching old age.
However, the precise length of his reign is a matter of contention. Chandragupta
ruled in the first quarter of the fourth century CE, but his reign's exact period is
unknown. His assumption of the title Maharajadhiraja has led to speculation that
he established the Gupta calendar period, with the epoch marking his coronation.

Marriage of Chandragupta
In the beginning of the Gupta dynasty, Chandragupta was married to Kumaradevi, a
princess of theMagadha kingdom. The ancient Lichchhavi clan had their capital in
Vaishali, no known as Bihar, during the reign of Gautama Buddha. In what is now
Nepal, a kingdom known as the Lichchhavi ruled during the first millennium CE.
Kumaradevi's Lichchhavi kingdom's true identity, on the other hand, is a mystery.

According to an 8th-century inscription, the Lichchhavi dynasty in Nepal asserts that


their mythical progenitor Supushpa was born in the royal family of Pushpapura,
which is Patliputra in Magadha. Historians like V. A. Smith believe that the
Lichchhavis dominated Pataliputra during Samudragupta's term as king. On the
other hand, this inscription claims that Supushpa ruled 38 generations before the
reign of Chandragupta, in the 5th century. Consequently, even if the logic in this
inscription is sound, it cannot be used to prove Lichchhavi's rule at Pataliputra
during Chandragupta's reign.

The Lichchhavi kingdom of Kumaradevi is unlikely to have been located in modern-


day Nepal due to the fact that Samudragupta's Allahabad Pillar inscription refers to
Nepal as a separate, subordinate realm. Only Chandragupta's reign provides other
evidence that the Lichchhavis controlled at Vaishali, therefore historian R. C.
Majumdar concluded that the Lichchhavis ruled there as well.

Besides depicting the king and his wife, the gold coins issued by Chandragupta bear
the legend Lichchhavayah and pictures of the king and queen. Lichchhavi-dauhitra
("Lichchhavi daughter's son") is a term used in Gupta inscriptions to refer to
Samudragupta's older brother. Since no other members of the Gupta family were
mentioned save for Kumaradevi, it is safe to assume the Guptas valued
Kumaradevi's union with Chandragupta above all others.

Perhaps Chandragupta's marriage helped him consolidate his political dominions


and earn the title of Maharajadhiraja. This is more likely. According to historians,
including the Lichchhavis' name on the coins is an evidence of Gupta expansionist
tendencies. As a result of the union, Chandragupta was expected to govern over
this provinces. If the Gupta and Lichchhavi empires had united, Chandragupta and
his wife could have remained sovereign monarchs of their separate states until the
reign of their son and the ultimate ruler of the unified country. This would have
worked out better.

Kingdom of Chandragupta
Aside from his ancestry, marriage, and the development of Gupta power as
evidenced by his title Maharajadhiraja, little much is known about Chandragupta
the Great. The territorial extent of Chandragupta's kingdom is not known, but it
must have been substantially larger than that of the earlier Gupta kings, as
Chandragupta bore the title Maharajadhiraja. His son Samudragupta left an
inscription on the Allahabad Pillar, which historians believe to be a testament to the
scope of his father's power.We don't know how extensive Chandragupta's
dominion was, but given that he was the first monarch of the Gupta dynasty, it had
to be enormous.

As the inscription on the Allahabad Pillar attests, Chandragupta’s son conquered


and ruled over a number of rulers. On the basis of the rulers' names, several
modern historians have attempted to estimate the size of his kingdom after
Chandragupta's death. Because the monarch of the northern Bengal region is not
included among the kings vanquished by him, some historians believe that
northern Bengal was a part of Chandragupta's dominion. It's difficult to know for
sure who Samudragupta's subdued kings were, though, because their identities are
up for debate.

According to the Vayu Purana, the Guptas ruled over Saketa (today's Ayodhya),
Prayaga, and Magdha. Many current scholars believe Chandragupta was the ruler
of these regions because of this. The Vayu Purana, on the other hand, makes no
reference of a specific ruler's name, therefore this conclusion is tentative. However,
some historians disagree, claiming that the text refers to either Gupta's empire or
the kingdom's downfall under its kings in the 6th century. According to critics, a
similar passage in the Vishnu Purana says the Guptas and the Magadhas jointly
ruled over Prayaga and Magadha but makes no mention of Saketa.

Gupta empire’s Coin


At least eight different locations in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have turned up
gold coins with the images of King Chandragupta III and Queen Kumari respectively.
These locations include the Uttar Pradesh cities of Mathura and Ayodhya as well as
Lucknow and Varanasi. The names of Chandragupta and Kumaradevi appear in
Gupta script underneath their pictures on the coins' obverses. The reverse of the
coin features the legend "Li-ccha-va-yah," which depicts a goddess seated on a lion.
Joint rulers Chandragupta and Kumaradevi are believed to be shown on the
coinage. The woman on the reverse of these coins is an enigma; her name is not
listed on the coin. Due to the common depiction of goddesses in Indian historical
art, she was most likely not the Gupta queen.
Successor
According to the inscriptions on the Allahabad Pillar and the Eran stone,
Samudragupta's father Chandragupta selected him to be the next monarch. As the
Allahabad Pillar inscription reveals, Chandragupta designated him to "protect the
earth" after he retired to the throne in his old age and selected his son as the next
monarch. After the discovery of coins belonging to a Gupta monarch named Kacha,
many people began to wonder who might succeed Chandragupta. According to one
interpretation, Samudragupta was another name for Kacha. It's also possible that
Samudragupta's older brother Kacha took over as ruler after their father
Chandragupta passed away.

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