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The Succession after Kumāragupta I
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2014
Abstract
Most dynastic lists of the Gupta kings state that Kumāragupta I was succeeded by Skandagupta. However, it is widely accepted that Skandagupta did not accede to the throne peacefully. Nor is it certain that the succession was immediate, since there is a gap between the known dates of Kumāragupta's and Skandagupta's reigns. This paper is concerned with the events following the death of Kumāragupta, using numismatic evidence as the primary source, and inscriptional and other epigraphic evidence as further support. Some of the numismatic evidence is new, and even the evidence that is not new has so far received little attention in the literature on the succession after Kumāragupta. Questions are raised about one particular theory that is presently enjoying some currency, that Skandagupta was challenged primarily by his uncle Ghaṭotkacagupta. Some other possible scenarios for the political events in the period after the death of Kumāragupta I will then be proposed and analyzed.
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- Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2014
References
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31 There are a few coins of the Archer type that are of low enough weight to have been issues of Candragupta II. More careful analysis needs to be done to decide which king issued those coins.
32 Coin (e) in Figure 1 is from the Shivlee Collection and is reproduced here by kind permission. The other five coins are from my own personal collection and were originally published in Tandon, op. cit.
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47 The coin in Figure 3 is from the Triton auction XIV, lot 551, reprinted by permission from CNG.
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55 Of the 53 coins of Prakāśaditya in the DINARA database, the weights of 42 are recorded. The average weight of these 42 coins is 9.33 g, with a minimum of 8.81 g and a maximum of 9.5 g. There was only one coin that weighed less than 9 g; the second-lightest coin in the database weighs 9.05 g. I would once again like to acknowledge my debt to Ellen Raven for freely sharing this database with me.
56 The DINARA database has 28 coins of Prakāśaditya with recorded diameters. The average diameter of these coins is 19.1 mm, with a minimum of 17.5 mm and a maximum of 21 mm.