94 A. F. R. Hoerale— Inscribe* Seal of Kumdra Gupta II. [No. 2, 



that these coins perhaps belong to Puragupta. The heavy coins of 

 Kumaragupta, with the special title of Eramdditya, should probably 

 now be ascribed to Kumaragupta II., the last of the list on the seal, 

 and not to the Knmaragupta who is numbered the fourth iu the list of 

 the Later Gupta dynasty of Magadha.* 



It is impossible to identify the Kumaragupta II. of the Bhitari seal 

 with the Kumaragupta of the Later Guptas, although their periods 

 probably coincide. For all the other names do not agree. The later 

 Kumaragupta was the fourth of his line and was preceded by three 

 princes, viz., Krishnagupta, Harshagupta, and Jivitagupta I., standing 

 in the relation of father to son. It would, then, be necessary to assume 

 that Jivitagupta I., Harshagupta and Krishnagupta were identical 

 respectively with Narasimhagupta, Puragupta and Kumagupta I., which 

 is clearly inadmissible. Or supposing Krishnagupta to have immediately 

 followed Skandagupta of the early dynasty, and even assuming Puragupta 

 and Narasimhagupta to be identical with Krishnagupta and Harshagupta, 

 there would Jivitagupta still remain to be accounted for, and the 

 Kumaragupta II. of the seal would fall one generation earlier than the 

 Kumaragupta of the later dynasty. Further, the Kumaragupta II. of 

 the seal bears the well-known imperial titles equally with his pre- 

 decessors of the early dynasty ; while the Kumaragupta of the later 

 dynasty, as shown in the Aphsad stone inscription,! lays, equally with 

 his predecessors, no claim even to the subordinate title of Maharaja. 

 They designate themselves merely nripa or bMpatl It was only the 

 fourth of Kumara's successors, Adityaseua (preceded by Damodaragupta, 

 Mahasenagupta and Madbavagupta), who was the first to lay again 

 claim to the imperial title of Maharajadhiraja.J The seal, thus, deckles 

 a hitherto open question and proves that the Later Guptas of Magadha 

 were not direct descendants of the Early Guptas. For the first three 

 members of the Later Gupta line, Krishna, Harsha and Jivita I., must 

 practically have been contemporaries of the three last members of the 

 Early Gupta line, Pura, Narasimha and Kumara II. And as Narasimha 

 Jialaditya is also called a king of Magadha (e. g., by Hiuen Tsiang, 'see 

 below), it is clear that Krishna and his immediate successors cau'only 

 have been small princes or chiefs in Magadha, by the side of their 

 imperial relatives. Similar remarks apply to the Later Guptas of Eastern 

 Malaya, Budhagnpta and Bhanugupta. 



There are two other references to Narasimhagupta, under his title of 

 Baladitya, in two iuseriptious of much later times. The first is the 



* See the list in Fleet's volumo III. of the Corpus Inscr. hid., p. 205. 

 t Seo (bid., pp. 202, 203. 

 J See Hid., p. 2X2. 



