Overview
Chandragupta II, also known by his title Vikramaditya, was the Gupta emperor who ruled from about 375 to 415 CE. He was the son of Samudragupta and the grandson of Chandragupta I, and under him the Gupta empire reached the height of its power. He is not to be confused with Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Mauryan empire, who lived about seven centuries earlier.
Chandragupta II at a Glance: Reign, Family and Titles
Who Was Chandragupta II: Quick Facts
Chandragupta II was the second Gupta ruler to bear the name Chandragupta; historians added "II" because his grandfather, Chandragupta I, had the same name. His father Samudragupta had built the empire through war, and Chandragupta II continued the same policy of expansion through conquest and marriage. The Chinese pilgrim Faxian travelled in India during his reign, and the rust-free iron pillar at Mehrauli in Delhi bears an inscription of a king named Chandra, identified with him.
| Aspect | Detail |
|---|---|
| Reign | c. 375 to 415 CE |
| Dynasty | Gupta, capital at Pataliputra |
| Parents | Samudragupta and queen Dattadevi |
| Grandfather | Chandragupta I |
| Titles and names | Vikramaditya, Chandra, Deva-raja, Deva-gupta, Maharajadhiraja, Apratiratha ("having no equal") |
| Queens | Dhruvadevi (mother of Kumaragupta I) and Kuberanaga, a Naga princess |
| Daughter | Prabhavati Gupta, Vakataka queen and regent |
| Greatest conquest | The Western Kshatrapas (Sakas) of west-central India |
| Religion | Vaishnava (parama-bhagavata, "supreme devotee of Vishnu"), tolerant of other faiths |
| Foreign visitor | Faxian (Fa-Hien), Chinese Buddhist pilgrim |
| Successor | Kumaragupta I, from about 415 CE |
Why Chandragupta II Is Known as Vikramaditya
Chandragupta II is known as Vikramaditya because he took the title himself; his silver coins carry the legend "Chandragupta Vikramaditya, King of Kings, devotee of Vishnu", and the Supiya pillar inscription of his descendant Skandagupta also calls him Vikramaditya.
The title also linked him to a legend. Indian tradition remembers a King Vikramaditya of Ujjain, the ideal ruler, generous and brave, who drove out the Sakas and was called Shakari, "enemy of the Sakas". Many historians believe these legends are based, at least in part, on Chandragupta II, because he really did defeat the Sakas and his rule reached Ujjain. The legendary king, however, is a literary figure. The Vikram Samvat era, which begins in 57 BCE and is linked with the legendary Vikramaditya, was not called by that name before the ninth century.
Accession of Chandragupta II and the Ramagupta Question
Dates of the Reign from Gupta-Era Inscriptions
The dates of Chandragupta II's reign come from his inscriptions, which are dated in the Gupta era, a reckoning that began around 319 to 320 CE. A Mathura pillar inscription of year 61 of that era places the start of his reign at either 376‑377 or 380‑381 CE, depending on how one damaged word is read.
The end of the reign is fixed more firmly. The last dated record of Chandragupta II is the Sanchi inscription of 412‑413 CE (Gupta year 93), and his son Kumaragupta I was on the throne by 415‑416 CE (Gupta year 96). So Chandragupta II died sometime between 412 and 415 CE, and his reign is customarily dated c. 375 to 415 CE.
His reign is dated and described by a small group of inscriptions:
- Mathura pillar inscription: Dated to Gupta year 61; it gives the start of the reign.
- Udayagiri cave inscriptions: One of them dated to Gupta year 82 (c. 401‑402 CE), recording a feudatory's Vaishnava cave temple; another records his foreign minister Virasena.
- Gadhwa stone inscription: Dated to Gupta year 88.
- Sanchi stone inscription: Dated to Gupta year 93 (412‑413 CE), recording an officer's gifts to the Buddhist monastery.
- Mehrauli iron pillar inscription: Undated; it names a king called Chandra.
Ramagupta and the Devichandraguptam: Tradition Versus Evidence
The official Gupta genealogy says that Samudragupta was succeeded directly by Chandragupta II. A Sanskrit play, the Devichandraguptam, attributed to Vishakhadeva (generally identified with Vishakhadatta, the author of the Mudrarakshasa), tells a different story. Only fragments of the play survive, quoted in later works, and they were first discovered in 1923.
In the play, an elder brother named Ramagupta is king. Besieged by a Saka enemy, he agrees to surrender his queen Dhruvadevi. Chandragupta goes to the enemy camp disguised as the queen and kills the Saka chief; later he dethrones Ramagupta and marries Dhruvadevi.
| Point | What the play says | What the evidence shows |
|---|---|---|
| Ramagupta as king | An elder brother ruled before Chandragupta II | The official Gupta genealogy never names him |
| A real Ramagupta | Implied by the story | Three undated inscriptions from central India name a king Ramagupta; some historians also attribute certain copper coins to him |
| Dhruvadevi | Ramagupta's queen, then Chandragupta's | Gupta records name Dhruvadevi as Chandragupta II's queen and mother of Kumaragupta I |
| The Saka chief | Killed by Chandragupta in disguise | The Saka (Western Kshatrapa) defeat is real, but no record confirms this episode |
Historians still debate whether the episode happened. Some read the play as based on real events, because several later sources refer to the same story; others argue that those later sources may simply be retelling the play. What is certain is that Dhruvadevi was Chandragupta II's queen and the mother of his successor.
Conquests of Chandragupta II: The Sakas of Western India and Beyond
Conquest of the Western Kshatrapas (Sakas)
Chandragupta II's greatest conquest was that of the Western Kshatrapas, also called the Sakas, who ruled west-central India: Gujarat, Saurashtra and Malwa. His father's Allahabad Pillar inscription had named these Saka rulers, as the "Shaka-Murundas", among the kings who tried to win his favour, and it was Chandragupta II who brought them fully under Gupta rule. Four kinds of evidence record the conquest:
- Inscriptions in central India: His foreign minister Virasena's Udayagiri inscription says he came there with the king who sought to "conquer the whole world"; a feudatory's record at Udayagiri is dated c. 401‑402 CE; and his officer Amrakardava's Sanchi inscription of 412‑413 CE praises victory "in many battles".
- The end of Kshatrapa coins: Western Kshatrapa coins stop abruptly in the last decade of the fourth century. The last, of Rudrasimha III, is dated to 388 or 397 CE.
- The new Gupta silver coins: Chandragupta's silver coins of 409 CE copy the Kshatrapa design but replace the Kshatrapa dynastic symbol with the Gupta Garuda.
- Literature: The Devichandraguptam's story of the Saka chief and the Vikramaditya legends of a king who drove out the Sakas point the same way.
The victory cannot be dated exactly, but it falls between about 397 and 409 CE. It carried the Gupta empire to the Arabian Sea coast of present-day Gujarat, and Ujjain, the city of the Vikramaditya legends, probably became a second capital of the empire.
Campaigns in the Iron Pillar Inscription: Vanga, the Indus and the Vahlikas
The Sanskrit inscription on the Delhi iron pillar praises a king named Chandra who won "sole supreme sovereignty in the world acquired by his own arm". If Chandra is Chandragupta II, as most scholars accept, the inscription adds two campaigns:
- Vanga (Bengal): He defeated an alliance of enemies in the Vanga country.
- The Indus and the Vahlikas: He crossed the "seven faces" of the river Sindhu (Indus) and defeated the Vahlikas, the people of Balkh in present-day Afghanistan.
These northern victories were not lasting conquests, for there is no evidence that Punjab was annexed, and after his reign it was ruled by petty chiefs whose coins imitated the Kidarite coinage of the Hunas rather than Gupta designs. At its height his empire stretched from the Arabian Sea coast of Gujarat in the west to Bengal in the east, and from the Himalayan foothills in the north to the Narmada in the south.
Matrimonial Alliances of Chandragupta II: Nagas, Vakatakas and Kadambas
Wives of Chandragupta II: Dhruvadevi and Kuberanaga
The wife of Chandragupta II named in the Gupta records is Dhruvadevi, the mother of his successor Kumaragupta I. A clay seal from Basarh calls a queen of Chandragupta Dhruvasvamini, the mother of Govindagupta; most historians take Dhruvasvamini to be another name for Dhruvadevi.
His second known queen, Kuberanaga (Kuvera-naga), was a princess of the Naga dynasty, which had held power in central India before Samudragupta subdued it. This marriage served policy. It may have helped him consolidate the empire and may have brought Naga support in the war against the Western Kshatrapas.
Marriage also carried Gupta influence south. The Talagunda pillar inscription suggests that daughters of the Kadamba king Kakusthavarman, of present-day Karnataka, married into other royal families, including the Guptas, and some medieval chiefs of Karnataka later claimed descent from Chandragupta. Gupta influence thus reached the far Deccan through marriage rather than war.
Prabhavati Gupta and the Vakataka Regency
The most important alliance was with the Vakatakas, the leading power of the Deccan, whose kingdom lay just south of the Gupta empire with its capital at Nandivardhana near present-day Nagpur. Prabhavati Gupta, Chandragupta's daughter by Kuberanaga, married the Vakataka king Rudrasena II. He died after a short reign of about five years, and Prabhavati ruled as regent for her young sons from about 390 to 410 CE.
Her records show how close the two kingdoms became:
- Gupta ancestry first: Her copper-plate grants list her Gupta ancestors with their imperial titles before the Vakataka king, who bears the lesser title Maharaja.
- Her father's gotra: She gives her gotra as Dharana, her father's, rather than the Vakataka gotra.
- Land in her own name: Her grant of the village of Danguna to a teacher, Chanalasvamin, as an agrahara shows a queen who held land and gave it away, although the legal texts said women had no independent access to land.
- Mother of two kings: One of her inscriptions describes her as the mother of two kings, her sons who later held the Vakataka throne.
Historians describe the Vakataka kingdom during her 20-year regency as "practically a part of the Gupta empire", and the alliance secured the empire's southern flank while Chandragupta fought the Sakas. Like her father, she was a devotee of Vishnu, and she is associated with seven temples to Vishnu and his avatars, some of them at Ramagiri (Ramtek hill) in Maharashtra.
Administration and Religion Under Chandragupta II
Feudatories, Ministers and Land Grants
Chandragupta II ruled a vast empire not from one centre alone but through provinces, feudatories and officers. The Gupta rulers divided the empire into provinces and granted land to local rulers, priests and chieftains, recording each grant on copper plates. Land tax was the main source of revenue, with fines and taxes on mines, irrigation, trade and crafts adding to it. Three of his officers and feudatories are known from their own records.
| Person | Role | What the record shows |
|---|---|---|
| Virasena | Foreign minister, of Pataliputra | Built a temple to Shiva (Shambhu) at Udayagiri |
| Sanakanika | Feudatory Maharaja | Built a Vaishnava cave temple at Udayagiri, Gupta year 82 (c. 401‑402 CE) |
| Amrakardava | Military officer | Gifts to the Buddhist monastery at Sanchi, Gupta year 93 (412‑413 CE) |
The titles of the age also show how the Guptas saw themselves. Their inscriptions and coins use titles such as maharajadhiraja, samrat and chakravartin, which claimed a rank far above the simpler rajan and maharaja of earlier kings.
Religious Policy and the Udayagiri Caves
Chandragupta II was a devoted Vaishnava. His coins and inscriptions call him parama-bhagavata, "supreme devotee of Vishnu", and Vishnu's mount Garuda appears on his coins as the dynastic symbol.
He was also tolerant of other faiths. His foreign minister built a Shiva temple at Udayagiri, and his military officer gave gifts to the Buddhist monastery at Sanchi. The Udayagiri caves near Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh hold inscriptions of his reign, one of them dated c. 401‑402 CE, which tie the site firmly to him. Their best-known sculpture is the great relief of Vishnu as Varaha, the man-boar, rescuing the earth goddess Bhudevi, who clings to his tusk.
Udayagiri, with Eran and Nachna-Kuthara, is also among the sites in Madhya Pradesh that hold some of the oldest surviving structural temples of the Gupta period. These are modest shrines in which four pillars support a small porch, or mandapa, before the sanctum. The rocks of Udayagiri also carry Shankha Lipi, spiral, conch-shaped inscriptions of the Gupta period.
Coins of Chandragupta II: Gold Types and the First Gupta Silver
Gold Coin Types: Archer, Lion-slayer, Horseman and Couch-and-flower
Gupta coins followed the Kushan tradition, with the king on the obverse and an Indian deity on the reverse, and legends in Brahmi. They are famous for their artistry, and Chandragupta II widened their range. He kept most of his father's gold types, such as the Archer and the Tiger-slayer, and introduced new ones that show him at war and at leisure:
- Lion-slayer: The king kills a lion, with the legend simha-vikrama. Samudragupta's coin showed a tiger; the lion may reflect the conquest of Gujarat, home of the Asiatic lion.
- Horseman (Rider): The king rides a fully caparisoned horse; his son Kumaragupta I used the type too.
- Couch-and-flower: The king sits on a couch holding a flower, with the legend rupa-kriti.
- Chakra-vikrama: The Bayana gold coin shows him receiving a discus from Vishnu.
The First Gupta Silver Coins After the Saka Conquest
Chandragupta II was the first Gupta king to issue silver coins. They were meant to replace the silver coinage of the Western Kshatrapas in the conquered west, and they copied it closely. The obverse shows a bust of the king with a corrupted Greek legend; the reverse replaces the Kshatrapa three-arched hill with the Gupta Garuda and carries, in Brahmi, the legend "Chandragupta Vikramaditya, King of Kings, devotee of Vishnu".
| Feature | Gold coins | Silver coins |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Imperial display, high-value exchange | Replace Kshatrapa silver in the conquered west |
| Models | Samudragupta's gold types, plus new ones | Western Kshatrapa silver coins |
| Imagery | King as archer, lion-slayer, horseman, seated on a couch | Bust of the king; Garuda on the reverse |
| Legends | simha-vikrama, rupa-kriti, chakra-vikrama | "Chandragupta Vikramaditya, King of Kings, devotee of Vishnu" in Brahmi |
The Gupta standard was not kept up. Post-Gupta coinage, from the sixth to the twelfth centuries, is a monotonous and artistically less interesting series of dynastic issues, and gold coins of that period are rare.
Faxian (Fa-Hien) in India Under Chandragupta II
Faxian's Journey to India, 399 to 412 CE
Faxian, formerly written Fa-Hien, was a Chinese Buddhist monk who visited India in the early fifth century CE, during the reign of Chandragupta II. He set out from Chang'an in 399 CE, at about 60 years of age, to visit sacred Buddhist sites, learn from Indian scholars and collect manuscripts of Buddhist texts. He walked along the overland Silk Road, entered India from the north-west and reached Pataliputra, visiting Kapilavastu, Bodh Gaya, Varanasi, Shravasti and Kushinagar.
He went home by sea. After two years in Sri Lanka, a storm drove his ship to an island, probably Java, and he finally reached China in 412 CE. His record, the Foguoji or Record of the Buddhist Kingdoms, is an independent account of India in Chandragupta II's time; he spent about six years in the Gupta kingdom.
| Visitor | Time of the visit | Linked with |
|---|---|---|
| Megasthenes | Between 305 and about 290 BCE | Envoy of Seleucus to Chandragupta Maurya at Pataliputra |
| Faxian (Fa-Hien) | 399 to 412 CE | Travelled in the reign of Chandragupta II |
| Xuanzang (Hiuen-Tsang) | 629 to 645 CE | Visited the court of Harsha |
| Yijing (I-Tsing) | From 671 CE | Studied at Nalanda |
What Faxian Saw in the Madhyadesha and Pataliputra
Faxian was interested in Buddhism, not politics, and he never names the reigning king. His picture of the Madhyadesha, the "Middle Kingdom" of the Gangetic plains, is idealised, but its main point, a peaceful and prosperous land, is probably true; unlike the later pilgrim Xuanzang, he met no robbers. He recorded:
- Light government: People did not register their households or attend on officials, and those who farmed royal land paid a portion of their grain.
- Mild punishment: Criminals were fined; only repeated rebels lost a right hand.
- Paid service: The king's guards and attendants received salaries.
- Food and trade: Except the Chandalas, people avoided meat, liquor, onions and garlic; cowries were used in the markets.
- Charity: In Pataliputra, Vaishya heads of families ran houses that gave food and medicine to the poor, orphans and the sick.
Faxian also recorded the harsh treatment of the Chandalas, who were regarded as outcastes and lived outside the city limits. When they entered a town or market they struck a piece of wood so that others could avoid touching them. A traveller's account reflects his own focus, and Faxian's remarks on diet may describe the Buddhist community he lived among rather than the whole population.
The Mehrauli Iron Pillar of King Chandra
Iron Pillar Inscription, Identification and Rust Resistance
The iron pillar in the Qutb complex at Mehrauli in Delhi is the most famous object linked with Chandragupta II. It carries a Sanskrit inscription in the Gupta script, in praise of a king named Chandra, recording that the pillar was set up as a standard of Vishnu on a hill called Vishnupada. The inscription says the king had already died when it was engraved.
Scholars identify King Chandra with Chandragupta II for four reasons:
- His coins call him simply "Chandra".
- The inscription calls Chandra a devotee of Vishnu, and Chandragupta II was a Vaishnava.
- Its script closely resembles the Allahabad Pillar inscription of his father Samudragupta.
- Its picture of a king of sole sovereignty fits his digvijaya ("conquest of all quarters") recorded at Udayagiri.
The pillar weighs more than six tonnes and has barely rusted in more than 1,600 years. NCERT gives its height as about 8 metres; other accounts measure it at 7.21 metres from top to base, with 1.12 metres below ground. Its rust resistance comes from the iron itself, which is rich in phosphorus, and a thin, even protective layer forms on its surface and shields it from corrosion. A deep socket on top of its ornate capital suggests that an image of Garuda was once fixed there. It was probably first erected elsewhere, possibly in front of the Udayagiri caves, and brought to Delhi centuries later.
Art, Literature and the Navaratnas of Chandragupta II
Kalidasa and the Classical Age of Literature
The Gupta period is often called the classical age of India, and art, architecture, literature and science flourished above all in the time of Chandragupta II. He kept many learned men, poets and artists at his court. Sanskrit literature reached its height with Kalidasa, whose works include the Meghadutam ("The Cloud Messenger"), in which a banished yaksha sends a message to his beloved through a passing cloud, as well as the Raghuvamsha and the Kumarasambhava.
Several scholars believe that Kalidasa was the court poet of Chandragupta II. He is also the only one of the nine gems whom texts older than the list itself connect with a King Vikramaditya. Other great figures of the age came a little later. Aryabhata wrote the Aryabhatiya at Kusumapura around 500 CE, and Varahamihira, author of the Brihat Samhita, lived at Ujjain in the sixth century.
Nine Gems of Chandragupta II: Tradition Versus Evidence
The Navaratnas, the "nine gems", are nine scholars said to have attended the court of the legendary King Vikramaditya. The list comes from the Jyotirvidabharana, a work attributed to Kalidasa that scholars regard as a later literary forgery; no earlier text mentions the nine together, so the list has no value as historical evidence.
| Gem | Field in the tradition | What the evidence says |
|---|---|---|
| Kalidasa | Poetry and drama | Probably of the fifth century; possibly Chandragupta II's court poet |
| Amarasimha | Lexicography (Amarakosha) | Cannot be dated with certainty |
| Varahamihira | Astronomy and astrology | Lived in the sixth century, after Chandragupta II |
| Dhanvantari | Medicine | Period uncertain |
| Vararuchi | Grammar | Believed to have lived around the third or fourth century |
| Shanku | Architecture | Little is known |
| Ghatakarpara | Epigrammatic verse | Little is known |
| Vetala Bhatta | Wit and counsel | Little is known |
| Kshapanaka | Philosophy and logic | Little is known |
The tradition does not hold up as history. The nine did not live at one time, and Varahamihira was born nearly a century after Chandragupta II died. The idea of the nine gems is best read as a later picture of an ideal king surrounded by learning, which came to be attached to Chandragupta II because he bore the title Vikramaditya.
Chandragupta Maurya, Chandragupta I and Chandragupta II Compared
Differences Between the Three Kings Named Chandragupta
Three kings named Chandragupta appear in ancient Indian history, and their achievements are easily confused.
| Feature | Chandragupta Maurya | Chandragupta I | Chandragupta II |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dynasty | Maurya (founder) | Gupta | Gupta |
| Period | Fourth century BCE | Early fourth century CE; the Gupta era begins c. 319‑320 CE | c. 375 to 415 CE |
| Relationship | Founder of the Mauryan empire | Father of Samudragupta | Son of Samudragupta, grandson of Chandragupta I |
| Known for | Founding the empire; Megasthenes at his court | First Gupta to take the title Maharajadhiraja; coins and alliances | Saka conquest, Vakataka alliance, first Gupta silver coins, Faxian's visit |
Two confusions are the most common. Chandragupta I gave the Gupta house its imperial title Maharajadhiraja and was the grandfather, not the father, of Chandragupta II. Chandragupta Maurya lived about seven centuries earlier and had Megasthenes, not Faxian, at his court. The Saka conquest, the first Gupta silver coins, the title Vikramaditya and Faxian's visit all belong to Chandragupta II.
Previous Year UPSC‑CSE Questions
Each Prelims question is explained option by option, and each Mains question comes with an answer outline.
- UPSC Prelims 2025Fa-hien (Faxian), the Chinese pilgrim, travelled to India during the reign of
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Place Faxian's journey on the Gupta time line. He left China in 399 CE and returned in 412 CE. Samudragupta's reign had passed to his son by about 375 CE; Chandragupta II ruled from about 375 to 415 CE; Kumaragupta I came to the throne about 415 CE, and his son Skandagupta ruled later still. Only Chandragupta II's reign covers the years 399 to 412 CE.
Trap to watch: Faxian never names the king, so the answer rests on dates, not on his text.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) Samudragupta: Wrong. His reign had passed to his son Chandragupta II by about 375 CE, well before Faxian set out in 399 CE.
- (b) Chandragupta II: Correct. He reigned about 375 to 415 CE, and Faxian travelled from 399 to 412 CE.
- (c) Kumaragupta I: Wrong. He was on the throne by 415‑416 CE, after Faxian had returned home.
- (d) Skandagupta: Wrong. He was a later ruler, Kumaragupta I's successor, long after Faxian's visit.
Answer: (b) Chandragupta II. Faxian's journey of 399 to 412 CE falls within his reign.
- UPSC Prelims 2020With reference to the scholars/litterateurs of ancient India, consider the following statements:
- Panini is associated with Pushyamitra Shunga.
- Amarasimha is associated with Harshavardhana.
- Kalidasa is associated with Chandra Gupta – II.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Test each pairing against the dates of the scholar and the king.
- Statement 1: Panini's grammar is placed in about the mid-fourth century BCE, long before Pushyamitra Shunga, who reigned about 185 to 149 BCE; wrong.
- Statement 2: Amarasimha, author of the Amarakosha, is remembered as one of the nine gems of the Vikramaditya tradition, not of Harshavardhana's court; wrong.
- Statement 3: Kalidasa is widely held to have been the court poet of Chandragupta II; correct.
Trap to watch: Amarasimha's dates are uncertain, but no tradition places him with Harsha.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1 and 2 only: Wrong. Both statements are wrong: Panini is far older than Pushyamitra Shunga, and Amarasimha is not linked with Harshavardhana.
- (b) 2 and 3 only: Wrong. Statement 2 is wrong because Amarasimha belongs to the Vikramaditya tradition.
- (c) 3 only: Correct. Kalidasa is the scholar associated with Chandragupta II.
- (d) 1, 2 and 3: Wrong. Statements 1 and 2 are wrong.
Answer: (c) 3 only. Only the pairing of Kalidasa with Chandragupta II is correct.
- UPSC Prelims 2004Consider the following statements:
- The Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hien attended the fourth Great Buddhist Council held by Kanishka.
- The Chinese pilgrim Hiuen-Tsang met Harsha and found him to be antagonistic to Buddhism.
Which of these statements given above is/are correct?
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Test each statement against the pilgrim's dates and his own account.
- Statement 1: The Fourth Council was held in Kashmir under Kanishka, whose accession is dated about 78 CE, while Faxian travelled from 399 to 412 CE, more than three centuries later; wrong.
- Statement 2: Xuanzang (Hiuen-Tsang) visited Harsha's court and wrote a very favourable account of him; wrong.
Trap to watch: Both pilgrims are Chinese Buddhists, which makes either statement sound plausible.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) 1 only: Wrong. Faxian came in Chandragupta II's reign, long after Kanishka's council.
- (b) 2 only: Wrong. Xuanzang wrote a favourable account of Harsha.
- (c) Both 1 and 2: Wrong. Both statements are false.
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2: Correct. Faxian came centuries after the Fourth Council, and Xuanzang praised Harsha.
Answer: (d) Neither 1 nor 2. Faxian travelled in 399 to 412 CE, and Xuanzang wrote favourably of Harsha.
- UPSC Prelims 1999The following persons came to India at one time or another:
- I. Fa-Hien
- II. I-Tsing
- III. Megasthenes
- IV. Hieun-Tsang
The correct chronological sequence of their visits is:
How to approach this Prelims question
Approach: Place each visitor by the date of his journey.
- Megasthenes: He was Seleucus's envoy to Chandragupta Maurya, at some time between 305 and about 290 BCE, so III is correct in first place.
- Faxian: He travelled as Fa-Hien from 399 to 412 CE, in Chandragupta II's reign, so I is correct in second place.
- Xuanzang: He journeyed from 629 to 645 CE, in Harsha's time, so IV, printed "Hieun-Tsang" in the paper, is correct in third place.
- Yijing: He set out as I-Tsing in 671 CE, after Xuanzang had returned, so II is correct in last place.
Trap to watch: Students who confuse Yijing (I-Tsing) with Xuanzang (Hiuen-Tsang), whose old spellings look alike, pick option (a); Yijing set out in 671 CE, after Xuanzang's journey had ended in 645 CE.
Why each option is right or wrong:
- (a) III, I, II, IV: Wrong. Yijing (671 CE) came after Xuanzang (629 to 645 CE), not before.
- (b) III, I, IV, II: Correct. Megasthenes came first, then Faxian, then Xuanzang, then Yijing.
- (c) I, III, II, IV: Wrong. Megasthenes came centuries before Faxian.
- (d) I, III, IV, II: Wrong. Megasthenes, not Faxian, came first.
Answer: (b) III, I, IV, II. Megasthenes came in the late fourth century BCE, Faxian in 399 to 412 CE, Xuanzang in 629 to 645 CE and Yijing from 671 CE.
- UPSC Mains 2017 GS‑IHow do you justify the view that the level of excellence of the Gupta numismatic art is not at all noticeable in later times?
Answer outline
The outline sets out what the question asks, the main arguments, relevant examples and the direction of the conclusion; it is not a full model answer.
Introduction: Gupta gold coins recorded the kings and their ideals, in the Kushan tradition of a king on one face and a deity on the other.
Body (sub-themes to develop):
- Artistry and variety: The king as archer, lion-slayer, horseman and seated connoisseur; Sanskrit legends such as simha-vikrama and rupa-kriti.
- Message: The king as devotee of Vishnu, with the Garuda symbol and the chakra-vikrama coin.
- Adaptation: The first Gupta silver, modelled on Kshatrapa issues after the Saka conquest, with Garuda in place of the Kshatrapa symbol.
- Later times: Punjab's petty chiefs imitated Kidarite coins; post-Gupta coinage of the sixth to twelfth centuries was monotonous, and its gold coins are rare.
Conclusion: Later coinage borrowed Gupta designs but lost their skill, their variety and their gold.
Sources
- NCERT: Exploring Society: India and Beyond (Class VII), The Gupta Era
- NCERT: Themes in Indian History Part I (Class XII), Kings, Farmers and Towns
- NCERT: Themes in Indian History Part I (Class XII), Kinship, Caste and Class
- NCERT: Understanding Society: India and Beyond (Class IX), State and Society up to 1000 CE
- NCERT: Curiosity (Class VII), the iron pillar
- NCERT: An Introduction to Indian Art (Class XI), Temple Architecture and Sculpture
- Reserve Bank of India: Ancient Coinage (Gupta coins)
- Delhi Tourism (Govt of NCT of Delhi): Qutab Minar complex
- District Vidisha (Govt of Madhya Pradesh): Udayagiri Caves
- Wikipedia: Chandragupta II
- Wikipedia: Western Satraps
- Wikipedia: Rudrasimha III
- Wikipedia: Iron pillar of Delhi
- Wikipedia: Faxian
- Wikipedia: Prabhavatigupta
- Wikipedia: Rudrasena II
- Wikipedia: Vakataka dynasty
- Wikipedia: Ramagupta
- Wikipedia: Devichandraguptam
- Wikipedia: Dhruvadevi
- Wikipedia: Kumaragupta I
- Wikipedia: Samudragupta
- Wikipedia: Gupta Empire
- Wikipedia: Gupta era
- Wikipedia: Vikramaditya
- Wikipedia: Vikram Samvat
- Wikipedia: Navaratnas
- Wikipedia: Kalidasa
- Wikipedia: Amarasimha
- Wikipedia: Varahamihira
- Wikipedia: Pushyamitra Shunga
- Wikipedia: Udayagiri Caves
- Wikipedia: Megasthenes
- Wikipedia: Xuanzang
- Wikipedia: Buddhist councils
- Wikipedia: Harsha
- UPSC: Civil Services Examination question papers
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