1889.] A. F. R. Hoernle— Inser!he,l Seal of Kamdra Gupta II. 95 



Deo-Baranark inscription of Jivitagupta II. of the Later Gupta dynasty. 

 In this inscription Narasimhagupta is referred to as an emperor (<par- 

 mesvara) who ruled long previously. The distance in time between 

 Jivitagupta II. and Narasimkagnpta would be about 200 years. The 

 second is the Sarnath inscription of a certain king, Prakataditya o£ 

 Benares, of the end of the seventh century A. D. Here Narasimhagupta 

 is referred to as one of Prakataditya's early ancestors, and as the ruler of 

 Madhyadeia or the central portion of Northern India. This description 

 would not be unsuitable to the ancestral portion of the dominions of the 

 Early Guptas. 



The historic truth of the new seal is also proved by the inscriptions 

 on the copper-plate grants of the so-called Parivrajaka Maharajas, which 

 were all issued during " the enjoyment of sovereignty by the Gupta 

 kings." The seal shows that the line of the Early Guptas was continued 

 down to Kumaragupta II. The latter must be placed about A. D. 

 530-550, and the latest of the Parivrajaka, grants is dated in A. D. 

 528. The earliest is dated in A. D. 475 ; therefore already in the reign 

 of Puragupta (see below). They all fall within the period of the great 

 decadence of the Gupta power ; and this fact may possibly account for 

 the circumstance, that in those grants the Guptas are simply designated 

 by the vague term nripa ' king.' At the same time, Mr. Fleet's observa- 

 tion,* that " they show that the Gupta dominion still continued, 



and the name of the Gupta kings was still recognised as a power, down 

 to A. D. 528," is fully borne out by the new seal. 



I add to these remarks, for ready reference, a synchronistic Table 

 of the probable reigns of the Early Guptas and their contemporaries or 

 immediate successors. The numbers within angular brackets give the 

 known dates, derived from inscriptions and other sources. Various 

 observations suggest themselves by this table. 



For an approximate determination of the period of Puragupta and 

 Narasimlmgupta wo have the following data. Hiuen Tsiang relates, how 

 Mihirakula was defeated and taken prisoner by king Bahklitya of 

 Magadha.t This reference, — there can hardly be a doubt — is to Mihira- 

 kula's final overthrow in India; for, on being released by Baladitya, 

 he is said to have retired to Kashmir. The credit of this great over- 

 throw, however, is ascribed to a king Yasodharman in one of the latter's 

 Mandasor stone pillar inscriptions.! In it it is stated that, at some time 

 previous to the setting up of the pillar, Yasodharman had subdued and 

 extended his dominion over countries which even the Guptas and Hunas 



* See Corpus Inscr. Intl., Vol. Ill, p. 8. 



t See Baal's BvMUst Ueeoris of the Western World, Vol. r, pp, 108-170. 



J No. 33, in Fleet's Corp, Imtf, 1ml., Vol. Ill, p. 142. 



