First campaign in North India of Samudragupta In his first campaign in North India, Samudragupta overpowered Achyuta, Nagasena and a prince of the Kota family. It is also believed that Samudragupta had to fight in the Padmavati region twice in course of the same campaign in as much as both Nagasena and Ganpatinaga belonged to the same house. Some scholars think that Nagasena, Achyuta and the prince of the Kota family entered into an association against Samudragupta who defeated their combined forces in a battle at Kaushambhi. There is no evidence of this fact at all. Second campaign in North India of Samudragupta The Allahabad record says that the Daksinapatha conquest of Samudra Gupta was marked by three distinct features - grahana or capture of the enemy, moksa or liberating him, and anugraha or favouring him by reinstating him in his kingdom. This is followed by a description of nine kings of Aryavarta whose kingdoms were integrated into his own territory. The kings who became victims of this extermination are Rudradeva, Matila Nagadatta, Chandravarman, Ganpatinaga, Nagasena, Achyuta, Nandin and Balavarman. These kings are considered as the rulers of Aryavarta. It appears that the territories of the above nine kings lay to the west of the Prayaga which was the western boundary of the empire of Samudra Gupta's father. From Allahabad Prasasti composed by Harishena, it is known that Samudragupta conducted the military operation in Aryavarta from the region of Purushpura. Samudragupta at first thoroughly subjugated the neighbouring kings in the Ganga Yamuna valley and consolidated his position in the north. As a result of this war of extermination, the empire of Samudragupta included Uttar Pradesh and a portion of Madhya Pradesh. The southern boundary of this empire was further extended by the conquest of the forest Countries. |