Chandgragupta II (A.D 380 – A.D. 415)

Chandragupta II was the son of Samudragupta. He succeeded his father and ruled from A.D 380 to A.D 415. He strengthened his position by a policy of matrimonial alliances. He married Kubera Naga, the princess of Naga Clan. He gave his daughter Prabhavathi in marriage to Rudrasena II, the Vakataka King. He defeated the Sakas. He annexed Gujarat and Sourashtra from Sakas. It gained him the title Sakari. He made Ujjain as his second capital. He also assumed the title of Vikramaditya. It means equal to Sun God in valour and strength Kalidasa and Amarasimha were famous scholars in his court. It was during Chandragupta’s time that the Chinese Pilgrim Fa-Hien visited India (A.D 399 - A.D 414). He has written a long and detailed account on India of the Gupta period An Arab merchant Sulaiman and a Venetian traveler, Marco Polo have recorded that Chandragupta II was an ideal ruler. Chandragupta’s son Kumaragupta was a great scholar. He was the founder of the Nalanda University.

Successors of Chandragupta II

Chandragupta II was succeeded by his son Kumaragupta He ruled from A.D 415 to A.D 456, He was followed by Skandagupta who ruled from A.D 456 to A ID 468 Around this time, the Huns, a Central Asian tribe, threatened the Gupta Empire. Though Skandagupta defeated the Huns, the war with them had ruined the Guptan economy. The Gupta ruler also faced domestic problems. After Skandagupta, the empire was split into a number of small kingdoms.