Chandragupta II was one of the most famous rulers of the Gupta dynasty, who inherited the throne of Samudragupta. According to the Eran inscription, Chandragupta II was born of Samudragupta`s chief queen Dattadevi. It was Chandragupta II, under whom the Gupta Empire not only earned material and cultural prosperity, but also extended to a vast extent. Chandragupta II maintained the stronghold of the Gupta Empire competently, which was established by his father Samudragupta.

However there is enough controversy among the scholars regarding the fact that Chandragupta II was not the immediate successor of his father Samudragupta. According to a group of scholars, the immediate successor of Samudragupta to the throne of the Gupta lineage was the elder brother of Chandragupta II, Rama Gupta. The drama "Devi Chandraguptam" of Vishakhdatta mentioned that Rama Gupta was defeated by the Saka king, who asked Rama Gupta to surrender his queen to him. Rama Gupta accepted this humiliating proposal and wanted to get released from the Saka imprisonment. But Chandragupta II in due course murdered the Saka invader in the disguise of a queen and captured the throne by fratricide of Rama Gupta. Later he also married the widow of Rama Gupta, Dhruva-Devi. However Dr. Majumdar refutes the entire theory of Rama Gupta. He has placed undue importance to the facts provided by the drama "Devi Chandraguptam". The theory of Dr. Majumdar is also corroborated by the Bihar Stone Pillar inscription. In the inscription Skandagupta has described that his grandfather, Chandragupta II was elected as the immediate successor of Samudragupta.

Chandragupta II, the immediate successor of Samudragupta, was an important name in the history of ancient India because of his policy of conquests. Since there is no Prasasti or pillar inscription composed during the reign of Chandragupta II, the literary sources appear as the key foundation about his reign. Depending on the records of literary sources, historians have opined that Chandragupta led his military campaign westward against the Saka Satrapal power in Gujarat and western Malwa. Samudragupta extended the sway of the Gupta Empire in the northern, southern and eastern limits of India. But could not settle with the turbulent Saka Satrapas of the West. The Sakas were turbulent power in western India. Moreover their alliance with the Vakatakas of Maharashtra and the Nagas, which had created a formidable opposition, terrified Chandragupta II. So a war between Chandragupta II and the Sakas were inevitable. Moreover to fight out against the allied powers was not so easy. Henceforth, Chandragupta II followed the diplomatic policy in order to isolate the Sakas.

Dr. H.C. Roychowdhury has pointed out that matrimonial alliance occupied a prominent place in the diplomatic and foreign policy of the Guptas. As contemporary literary evidences state, Chandragupta II`s matrimonial policy was directed against his two powerful neighbours-- the Nagas and the Vakatakas. To win the closeness of these two powers was very essential to Chandragupta II, in order to subjugate the Saka satraps. First of all Chandragupta married Kuvera-Naga, the Naga princess and won the friendship of Naga power. The Nagas formed a political force in central India and their alliance with the Guptas consolidated the Gupta authority in that region. Prabhabati Gupta, the daughter of Chandragupta II, by his Naga queen Kuvera Naga, was married to the Vakataka ruler of Maharashtra, Rudrasena II. In this way Chandragupta II consolidated his power in Maharashtra and central India, and at the same time allied with the Naga and Vakataka powers. In this way Chandragupta II secured his position against the revolt of the Saka satraps of Saurashtra. Later, the son of Chandragupta II was married to the Kadamba princess of the Kuntala country. This is corroborated by the "Talagunda inscription" of Kakustha Varmana. The matrimonial alliances proved politically very useful for Chandragupta II in order to extend his authority over a major portion of western India and to constitute a formidable resistance against the Saka power.

The greatest achievement of Chandragupta II was the conquest of Malwa, Gujarat and Kathiawar from the Western Saka Satraps. The Sakas always remained a powerful neighbour at the frontier of the Gupta Empire. They always were a threat to the authority of the Gupta Empire. Perhaps this was the sole reason which impelled Chandragupta II to wage war against the Sakas of Western India. Samudragupta`s hold of eastern Malwa led to a constant friction of the Guptas with the Sakas in western India. Moreover Chandragupta II had murdered a Saka invader, who had defeated Rama Gupta-- if evidences of the Devi-Chandraguptam are accepted. The religious intolerance of the Sakas and Guptas was also another cause of the Saka war of Chandragupta II. Apart from these causes, trade relations that were growing between western India and the Roman Empire since the time of the Kushanas proved to be a significant cause of the Saka war by Chandragupta II.

However the brilliant victory of Chandragupta II over the Saka satraps united western India with the rest of north India. It rounded off the Gupta Empire by pushing its western limits to the natural frontier on the Arabian Sea. The Gupta Empire now extended from the Bay of Bengal in the east to the Arabian Sea in the west. The annexation of Malwa and Saurashtra by Chandragupta II had given the Guptas free access to parts of western coast, especially the parts of Barygaza. As a result trade relation of the Guptas with the Roman Empire flourished. Therefore the principal impact of victory of Chandragupta II in the Saka war was the material prosperity of the Guptas. The city of Ujjaini became the centre of trade between the Roman Empire and the Gotras. The city became very prosperous, with decorated palaces. Ujjaini at that time was transformed into a centre of luxury. Ujjaini was not only a home of the bourgeoisie merchants, but also a centre of cultural interest in northern India. Cultural contact with the Roman Empire was established through the channel of trade.

Chandragupta II`s victory against the Sakas however is not mentioned directly in the official epigraph of the Guptas. Though a legend of the contemporary period ascribed him the title "Sakari" or the enemy of the Sakas, yet his own inscriptions are silent about the Saka war. As a result, the actual date of Saka war by Gupta emperor Chandragupta II cannot be ascertained properly. According to Dr. Smith, the actual date of the Saka war was 388 to 401 A.D., while Dr. R.C. Majumdar has fixed the date of the Saka war in the first decade of 1st century A.D. However the date of the Saka war mentioned in Chandragupta II`s silver coin denotes the date to be 409 to 415 A.D. The time mentioned in Chandragupta`s coin is generally accepted.

It is however plausible that Chandragupta II had other military campaigns to his credit but there is no definite authentic information about these conquests. Besides being a great warrior, Chandragupta II`s chief credit lies in the consolidation of the Empire. Dr. Bhandarkar has suggested that Chandragupta II had occupied the Mathura region from the Kushanas. But the theory of Dr. Bhandarkar has been discarded by scholars on the ground that the Kushanas were exterminated from the Mathura regions by the Nagas, and the Nagas were later ousted by Samudragupta. Hence according to those scholars, Chandragupta II inherited the Mathura kingdom from his father Samudragupta. According to scholars, Chandragupta II`s chief achievement as an administrator lies in the tremendous consolidation of the territories conquered by his father Samudragupta.

Historians are in keen controversy with one another regarding a fact in the Meharauli pillar inscription. The military exploits of a certain king named Chandra has been mentioned in Meharauli Pillar inscription. Some historians identified the king Chandra as Chandragupta II. According to the Meharauli Pillar inscription, if the king named Chandra is Chandragupta II, then Chandragupta II had extended his kingdom upto the limits of Vanga Desa (Bengal) and also had defeated the kings of Vahlikas. However the facts in Meharauli pillar inscription is generally accepted. Vanga or Samatata was a feudatory under Samudragupta. Probably they revolted against the Guptas after the death of Samudragupta. However, historians have opined that Chandragupta II had inherited a vast kingdom from his father and during his reign he had consolidated those kingdoms to establish a strong foundation of the Gupta Empire.

Unlike his predecessors, Chandragupta II had issued gold, silver and copper coins. The silver coins were probably imitations of the coins of the Western satraps. There were nine different varieties of his copper coins. The gold coins testified the pomp and power of Chandragupta II. Chandragupta II had assumed the title `Vikramaditya` as an emblem of his victory against the Sakas.