1855.] On the Epoch of the Gupta Dynasty . 383 



Keverse,* which, as far as we at present are able to decide, seems 

 to have been first appropriated by Samudra Gupta. The more 

 extended conquests of the house of Gupta do not indeed appear to 

 have been consolidated till the time of Skanda Gupta himself — 

 when the dynastic power may be supposed to have reached its 

 zenithf and thereafter to have suffered decline. We have no 

 immediate means of determining whether Mahendra GuptaJ was 

 directly succeeded by Buddha Gupta, but it is clear, that under the 

 latter, the extent of the empire had become sensibly diminished. § 



Of the miscellaneous items assembled under the second heading 

 in support of the proposed chronological table, I may pass by the 

 inscription dates. I do not contest the term of years indicated by 

 each but seek to discover the era to which the given numbers apply ; 

 hence as these figures can in no wise aid in the solution of the 

 difficulty, they scarcely demand further notice in this place. 



I now come to the argument wherein it is sought to prove that 

 Chandra Gupta the II. of our list, is identical with the Vikramaditya 

 of Malwa of the early part of the 5th century. I can afford to give 

 Major Cunningham a Chandra Gupta and a Vikramaditya for any 



* See J. A. S. B. iv. pi. xxxviii. figs. 16 and 17 ; pl.xxxix. fig. 19 ; Vol. V. pi. 

 xxxvi. fig. 14, &c. Ariana Antiqua, pi. xviii. figs. 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. 



t J. A. S. B. vii. 37 and 348. 



% As Major Cunningham has taken some liberties with the Gupta succession, I 

 append, for facility of reference, Professor Mill's authoritative list, as given 

 J. A. S. B. vi. 8. 



1. Gupta or Sri Gupta (Maharaja). 



2. Ghatot Kacha. 



3. Chandra Gupta I. (Maharajadhiraja). 



4. Samudra Gupta. 



5. Chandra Gupta, n. 



6. Kurnara Gupta. 



7. Skanda Gupta. 



8. Mahendra Gupta — noticed as a minor in the Bhitari Lat 

 inscription, the name is contributed by coins. 



The Erun pillar furnishes us with the name of a 9th prince of this house — 

 Buddha Gupta, but the order of his accession is undetermined. See J. A. S. 

 vii. 634. 



§ Bhim Sen's pillar at Erun and inscription on temple at Erun. 



