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samudragupta Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by

Why is Samudragupta called the Napolean of india/military campaigns

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

Introd­uction

1) son and successor of Chandr­agupta I
2) Greatest Warrior, Great diplomat, farsighted king,
3) has been called by several names- 'kavir­aj'­,'hero of hundred battles', 'Napoleon of Indai'

Sources

1) coins
2) Literary dramas of Kalidas
3) Foreign Traveler's accounts- Fa hein
4) Inscri­ptions- Allahbad Pillar Inscri­ption wriiten by Harisena (biogr­aphy)
5) It is written in two forms- words and prose
6) First 8 stanzas- education and military training; he wasn't a crown prince but was nominated by his dad
7) Inform­ation about military campaigns in the later part of the inscri­ption

Military Campaigns

1) there were 9 powerful kings in northern india- Naga kings : Ganapati Naga, Nagsena and Nandini
he wanted to control northern india and was successful in his first campaign
estb. supremacy in north india; defeated and killed some of the kings.
2) South India- Samudra was attracted to this territory due to the immense wealth due to trade ease present in this region
Defeated not less than 12 kings; however he did not annex the deccan and the peninsular region; he was happy that the kings submitted to his authority
3) Forest Tribes of central and western India- they submitted to the authority to samudr­agupta and paid him tributes (info from Eran inscri­ption)
4) Frontier Kingdoms- The rulers of Nepal, Assam and Bengal submitted to the military might of the gupta empire and agreed to pay taxes and tributes to samudr­agupta

Relations with Ceylon

The king of Ceylon sent 2 buddhist monks to Bodhgaya- faced inconv­eni­ence- lack of accomm­odation
Samudr­agupta agreed to build a buddhist monastry in Bodhgaya upon the request of King of Ceylon

Person­ali­ty/­est­imate

showcased many qualities of head and heart
he was cultured, surrounded himself with learned people
endowed with poetic and musical talent of high order
coins depicting him playing a vina; Kaviraj- king of poets
patron of letters, appointed buddhist scholar Vasubandhu as a minister
harisena describes his as a kind and charitable king
RC Majumdar and Vincent Smith