1889.] A. F. R. Hoernle— iHsw&eA Bed of Kumdra Gupta IT. 99 



the temporary subjection of the emperor Narasimhagupta, and of the 

 assumption of the imperial dignity by Toramana ; and A. D. 510 may bo 

 taken as approximately the date of the liberation, by the Valabhi senapati 

 Bhatarka, of Narasimhagupta and the resumption by the latter of the im- 

 perial crown. And I would suggest, that the subsequent elevation, by 

 Narasimhagupta, of the Valabhi Dronasimha, c. A. D. 520, to the rank of 

 Maharaja, was in some way an acknowledgment of the signal service ren- 

 dered by the Valabhi family to the imperial house of the Guptas. Tora- 

 mana must have died soon after the great reverse he suffered at the hands 

 of the Valabhis. He was succeeded, c. A. D. 515, by his son Mihirakula, 

 who undertook to recover his father's concpiests, or, as Hiuen Tsiaug 

 puts it in his account, " to punish the rebellion" of Narasimhagupta. 

 For fifteen years, as shown by the Gwalior inscription,* he was successful 

 in his operations, till at last, c. A. D. 530, he was totally defeated by the 

 emperor Narasimhagupta's great vassal Yasodharman. According to 

 Hiuen Tsiang, Mihirakula was taken prisoner in the battle and brought 

 to Narasimhagupla. On the advice of the hitter's mother, he was 

 restored to liberty, but finding his chances in India utterly gone, he re- 

 tired to Kashmir. This seems to me to have been the course of events 

 in that troubled period of the irruption of the Hiinas into India. t 



I should like to throw out another suggestion. In the list of kings 

 of the Rajatarangini, there are five reigns enumerated between Matri- 

 gnpta and Duvlabha I., if we omit the fabulous kiug Ranaditya with Iur 

 reign of oOO years. Durlabha I.'s accession may bo placed in (32(3 A. D., 

 allowing a probable adjustment of 30 years in the calculations of the 

 Rajatarangini. J Calculating a reign at the usual average of about 18 

 years, we obtain for the accession of Matrigupta about the year 530 

 A D., i. e., the probable year of Mihirakula's retirement into Kashmir. 

 I would suggest the identity of Matrigupta and Mihirakula. There are 

 many points in favour of the suggestion : 1, the epochs of the two kings 

 coincide ; 2, the name Matrigupta means " protected by the mother," 

 and according to Hiuen Tsiang, Mihirakula owed his life to the inter- 

 cession and protection of (Narasimhagupta) Bahiditya's mother ; the 

 name, therefore, would fit him admirably ; 3, Matrigupta is said to have 



* See Fleet, Corpus Inter. Ind., Vol. Ill, p. 161. 



t It may bo worth noting in connection with the irruption of the Huus into 

 India in tho 5th century, that it followed, by nearly a century, their irruption 

 into Europe. The latter is said to have begun in 375 A. D., nndor their leader 

 Halamir, and it was most successful under their leader Attila, A. D. 445-483. Their 

 power was linnll.v broken in the great battle on tho Catalauuian fields, A. D. 451 J 

 corresponding to the great victory of Yusodharniau (or Yasovarman) in A. D. 530. 



X See Sir A. Cunningham, Ancient Geography of India, p. 92; also Jacobi in 

 ffittrngieche Gelehrte Ameigen for 1888, No. 2, p. 70. 



