DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27191#0056
24
HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURF..
stupa at S&nchi in the year A.D. 412, and recorded on the rail
of that Monument, but their other inscriptions, on the lats at
Allahabad, Junagadh, and Bhitari, show a decided tendency
towards Hinduism of the Vaishnava form, but which was still
far removed from the wild extravagances of the Pur&nas. There
seems little doubt that the boar at Eran, and the buildings
there, belong to this dynasty, and are consequently among the
earliest if not the very oldest temples in India, dedicated to
the new religion, which was then raising its head in defiance
to Buddhism.
From their coins and inscriptions, we may feel certain that
the Guptas possessed, when in the plenitude of their power,
the whole of northern India with the province of Gujarat, but
how far the boasts of Samudragupta (370-380) on the Allahabad
pillar were justified is by no means clear. If that inscription
is to be believed, the whole of the southern country as far as
Ceylon, together with, or up to the borders of As&m and Nepal,
were subject to their sway. However brilliant it may have been,
their power was of short duration. Gujarat, with K&thiaw&r,
from about A.D. 500, was held by the Maitrakas of Valabhi, at
first as feudatories of the Guptas, but, as the paramount power
declined, the Valabhi chiefs gradually assumed independence,
and founded a separate kingdom, which sometimes included
western Malwa, and lasted into the middle of the 8th century.
Although it was evident in the time of the Guptas that a
change was creeping over the religious belief of India, it was
not then that the blow was struck which eventually proved
fatal, but by a dynasty which succeeded them in Central India.
The Sixth Century and After.
The Gupta power seems to have given way before the
inroads of S'akas or Huns, chiefly under Toramana and his son
Mihirakula, who succeeded him about 515, and was a bitter
persecutor of the Buddhists in the North-West. A coalition
was formed against him, and under Ya^odharman of Ujjain he
was totally defeated about 530. At this period the ‘ R&ja-
tarangini’ describes Vikramaditya-Harsha of Ujjain as sole
sovereign of India, the destroyer of the Nakas, and patron of
poets, who placed Matrigupta on the throne of Kashmir. It
is possible that this Yaj-odharman and Vikramaditya are only
birudas or titles of the same sovereign, who may have ruled
till 550 or thereabouts.1 Further, the period seems to suggest
1 Taran&tha states that Vikramaditya- I Mlechchhas, massacring them at Mult&n,
Harsha abolished the teaching of the | and was succeeded by 6tla. The Man-
HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURF..
stupa at S&nchi in the year A.D. 412, and recorded on the rail
of that Monument, but their other inscriptions, on the lats at
Allahabad, Junagadh, and Bhitari, show a decided tendency
towards Hinduism of the Vaishnava form, but which was still
far removed from the wild extravagances of the Pur&nas. There
seems little doubt that the boar at Eran, and the buildings
there, belong to this dynasty, and are consequently among the
earliest if not the very oldest temples in India, dedicated to
the new religion, which was then raising its head in defiance
to Buddhism.
From their coins and inscriptions, we may feel certain that
the Guptas possessed, when in the plenitude of their power,
the whole of northern India with the province of Gujarat, but
how far the boasts of Samudragupta (370-380) on the Allahabad
pillar were justified is by no means clear. If that inscription
is to be believed, the whole of the southern country as far as
Ceylon, together with, or up to the borders of As&m and Nepal,
were subject to their sway. However brilliant it may have been,
their power was of short duration. Gujarat, with K&thiaw&r,
from about A.D. 500, was held by the Maitrakas of Valabhi, at
first as feudatories of the Guptas, but, as the paramount power
declined, the Valabhi chiefs gradually assumed independence,
and founded a separate kingdom, which sometimes included
western Malwa, and lasted into the middle of the 8th century.
Although it was evident in the time of the Guptas that a
change was creeping over the religious belief of India, it was
not then that the blow was struck which eventually proved
fatal, but by a dynasty which succeeded them in Central India.
The Sixth Century and After.
The Gupta power seems to have given way before the
inroads of S'akas or Huns, chiefly under Toramana and his son
Mihirakula, who succeeded him about 515, and was a bitter
persecutor of the Buddhists in the North-West. A coalition
was formed against him, and under Ya^odharman of Ujjain he
was totally defeated about 530. At this period the ‘ R&ja-
tarangini’ describes Vikramaditya-Harsha of Ujjain as sole
sovereign of India, the destroyer of the Nakas, and patron of
poets, who placed Matrigupta on the throne of Kashmir. It
is possible that this Yaj-odharman and Vikramaditya are only
birudas or titles of the same sovereign, who may have ruled
till 550 or thereabouts.1 Further, the period seems to suggest
1 Taran&tha states that Vikramaditya- I Mlechchhas, massacring them at Mult&n,
Harsha abolished the teaching of the | and was succeeded by 6tla. The Man-