भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)

Samvat have yet been found, this myth about the aforesaid era had not so
far attained the veracity of a historical event.
224. If, however, any coins or rock inscriptions or other evidence were to
come forth any time and if anybody were to propound a new theory about
the origin of this Vikram Samvat, we shall be glad to accept it.
225. What is said about the Vikram Samvat can very well be said about
the Shalivahan (Salivahan) Saka. The advocates of the first opinion about
this era say that when the first King of the Kushans in India, Wima
Kadphises [Wemo (Ooemo) in his Greek coin legends and Yenkao-ching of
the Chinese historians—of Smith OHI p. 147], whom our people considered
no other than a Saka, ascended the throne (of his father) in 78 A.D., it was
he who started this ‘Saka’ era. But another class of historians hold that it
was not Wima Kadphises, who ascended the throne in 78 A.D. but it was
his successor Kanishka who did that, and that it was that Emperor Kanishka
who started the Saka era in order to perpetuate the memory of his accession
to the throne. Later on, when the Salihavan emperors of Paithan conquered
the Sakas, they turned the Saka era into the Salivahan Saka to signalize
their victory. Besides these two, there is a third opinion held by some
historians that the Salivahan Saka is in no way connected with that of
Kanishka or any other Kushan King. They maintain that about 78 A.D.,
King Hal, who wrote the Gatha Saptasati, himself won a glorious victory
over a Saka Satrap in Gujarath or Sourashtra, and to perpetuate this
monumental success over these Sakas, he started the Salivahan Saka.
226-229. Since there is no need to discuss this topic here at any great
length, it will be quite enough to mention two or three important points from
whatever little is written here about the Saka era. They are:
(a) Whatever opinion about the Saka and Vikram eras is accepted, it is
agreed beyond doubt that both the eras signify the decisive victories the
Indians won over the Saka-Kushan.
(b) In our count of time, Samvat is a more acceptable term than Saka—We
have all along been using right from the Vedic times, Samvatsar and Samvat
for the measurement of time. The word ‘Saka’ has not been generally used
in that sense. It is quite clear, therefore, that the word must be a corruption
of the name of foreign aggressors like the Sakas and the Kushans.
‘Shalivahan (Salivahan) Saka’ is not a pure name of Sanskrit extraction as
Vikram Samvat is. So the name ‘Saka’ of our Mlenchcha enemies should be
eliminated and only ‘Salivahan Samvat’ should be used at the time of the

celebration of our religious rites and the words ‘Shalivahan Saka’ or merely
‘Saka’ as wrongly used in our religious ceremonies, should be banned.
(c) That both the national eras, namely the Vikram Samvat and the
Salivahan Samvat, should be closely connected with the glorious memory
of Indian victories over the Saka-Kushan is not merely a queer coincidence;
it is of great significance. Many eras like those of the imperial Guptas and
others, although greatly honoured during those particular periods, are lost in
the abyss of time. Only these two, which recorded the Indian victories over
the Saka-Kushan, have enjoyed immortality. This may give us a fair idea as
to how our Indian Vedic people had to suffer grievously at the hands of the
ungovernable hordes of the Saka-Kushan. For, otherwise, these Vikram and
Salivahan Samvats, which were started to perpetuate the memory of the
victories of the Salivahan and Gupta emperors over the diabolic atrocities
of, and political subjection by, the Saka-Kushans, would never have
attained so much importance vis-a-vis the extinction of many other
victorious eras, and could never have been observed even after the lapse of
two thousand years as the chief national eras of the Hindus.
Indian’s Martial & Religious Victory over the Sakas
230. Just as the Malavas firmly checked the aggression of Sakas by killing
their king, Nahapan (cf: Para 219), in a similar way and at the same time,
did our Andhra warriors march from the south towards the north and
destroy the Saka kingdoms in Gujarat, Sourashtra, and Sindh. Harassed by
the repeated offensives opened against them by the valiant Salivahan Kings
like Vilinayankur, Gautamiputra Satkarni:, Vashishthputra Pulamayi and
others, the Saka kings upto Ujjain ultimately reconciled themselves to the
sovereignty of the Salivahan Emperors. There exists a rock inscription that
tells us that a Saka Satrap ‘Rudra’ even gave his daughter in marriage to a
Salivahan King as the Greek King Seleucos had years before given his
daughter to Emperor Chandragupta!
231. It must also be borne in mind that because of incessant fighting with the
Indians on various battlefields and the consequent destruction during this
century or a half, of thousands of their original number of soldiers that came to
India, the Saka power suffered great numerical losses.
232. As the Saka military might thus began to lose strength because of the
Indian resistance, the highly developed Indian civilization began more and
more effectively to impress itself on the foreign Sakas. As a natural result of
the constant warfare with the Indians for over a hundred years, the Sakas

seemed to have surrendered completely to the Indian civilization. From the
common man to their royal families, the Sakas abandoned their own
original Saka names and adopted purely Indian ones like Satyasingh,
Rudrasen and others. It is strange to note that most of them embraced the
Vedic religion. In fact, ever since the Sakas crossed the Hindukush and
entered Baluchistan and Sindh and settled there permanently, they had come
in constant contact with the Buddhist population and the Buddhist centres
there, preaching and propagating the tenets of Lord Buddha from the time
of Ashoka and Menander. Moreover, the Malava-Youdheya republics,
which fought with them furiously at that time and defeated them, and also
the valiant armies of the Satavahans were Vedic Hindus. The Buddhists had
never resisted them with or without arms. Under these circumstances, it
would have been but natural, had the Sakas hated the Vedic religion of their
powerful enemies and accepted the Buddhist cult of those who
ungrudgingly submitted to their political domination. But what happened
was exactly the opposite of this natural expectation. The majority of the
Sakas, right from the commoner to the royal prince, got themselves
converted, most willingly to the Vedic religion. The raison d'etre perhaps
was that the Sakas being originally of a warlike disposition, whose blood
always rushed violently through their veins at the thought of a battle, looked
with awe and respect at the valiant Vedic warriors, who fought and defeated
them, enemies though they were, and the Vedic religion, which inspired
such fighting spirit amongst its votaries, that it must have exerted a great
fascination for them.
233. The Sakas came to love the Sanskrit language too. The kings of two
or three feudal Saka principalities that were left in their hands, patroinized
Sanskrit studies. One of the Saka kings made Sanskrit the official language
for all correspondence of his court and administrative department. Their
correspondence with the other Indian states, big or small, was also carried
on in Sanskrit. Their social customs and manners too, underwent rapid
changes and they got themselves attuned to Indian Social life.
The Kushan Invasion
234. While the Indians were, thus, gaining victories over the Sakas in
military, as well as cultural fields and were uprooting their aggression, the
locust-like hordes of the Kushans dashed against the northern frontier of
India towards the Hindukush. These Kushans were ousted from their
homeland by the Huns along with their women and children. As such,

fighting troops of millions of Kushan, men and women violently entered
Southern Asia shedding blood, plundering and burning towns and cities and
spreading destruction everywhere. Throughout the whole Asiatic region,
right from the Chinese frontier beyond the Hindukush to that of Greece in
the west, they literally played havoc. Some of their troops in hot pursuit of
their old enemies, the Sakas, overran the Bactrian Kingdom, and, crossing
the Hindukush, entered the Indian north-western provinces of Gandhar, and
extirpating the smaller Saka principalities that still were there at the time,
they pushed themselves ahead into Punjab. They founded there a kingdom
of their own. The name of their first king in India was Wima Kadphises.
235. The might of the northern Youdheyas, Malavas and other republics
and that of the Salivahanas in the South having been put to its last extremity
of endurance in successfully resisting and ultimately putting down the Saka
aggresion for more or less a hundred years, they could not immediately and
successfully stem the overwhelming onslaught of the Kushans, who were
crueller and more bloodthirsty than even the Sakas, till they came to occupy
Punjab. However, even in those miserable days, the Indian resistance to
Kushan aggression gradually became so hot and determined, that the
Kushan hordes could not make any headway in the Indian territories this
side of Punjab.
Emperor Kanishka
236. After the death of Wima Kadphises, Kanishka ascended the Kushan
throne in 78 A.D. (in the opinion of some historians in 120 A.D.). His
achievements were unrivalled; his ambition was boundless.
It is needless to give any detailed account in these pages. Some events,
however, have to be recounted here so far as they fall within the scope of
this book. Kanishka subdued all the nomadic, plundering and marauding
bands of the Saka-Kushans on both sides of the Himalayas (Hindukush?),
as also all the smaller or bigger centres of political power, and forged them
all into an extensive empire. He proclaimed himself as the Emperor of the
Kushans and founded his capital at Purushpur (Peshawar of today).
Thereupon, he marched on the Sakas, who had established their power from
Malava to Sindh and who, being defeated by the Andhras, had
acknowledged their paramountcy. But the same Indian states that had been
incessantly fighting the Sakas for over a century and had been by now
thoroughly exhausted in their attempt to put down these aggressors, had to
face this new calamity of the Kushan onslaughts and, as such, they found it

extremely difficult to do so. Being defeated in one or two battles, the
Satavahanas themselves had to withdraw their forces from the north of the
Narmada river to the south, in order to build up a strong defence for their
own territory against Kanishka’s conquests. By that time, Kanishka had
conquered all the Saka states of Malava, Gujarath, Sourashtra and Sindh.
Naturally, the Sakas in those regions renounced their allegiance to the
Andhras and paid the obeisance to their new lord, Emperor Kanishka. Over
and above, Kanishka’s army crossed the Narmada in order to march upon
the Andhras themselves and subdued a corner of Aparantak (north Konkan).
But mindful of the concentrated armed might of the Andhras, Kanishka
dared not attack them. So, he withheld his southern conquests forthwith.
Thereafter, he marched with a huge army to oppose the Chinese general
who had invaded his north-Himalayan territories. After a series of battles,
he vanquished even the Chinese general and annexed the Chinese provinces
of Kashgar (Tashkand), Chaskand, and Khotan to his empire.
The test of a Nation’s Prowess and its right to live
237. The propriety of recounting this whole incident here is to show
clearly that this sudden eruption of the Saka-Kushans throughout Asia did
not convulse India alone; it discomfited even the then strongly-built and
well-organised empire like China too for a time on the battlefield. But just
as it is torn-foolery, born out of jealousy, to say that the Chinese nation had
been weak throughout all these years and had never been better fitted for
anything else than to be rotting in slavery simply because they suffered
temporary defeats against the Saka-Kushans or at some such other times, it
is equally foolish and jealously blind to say, as some of our enemies do, that
the Indian national life was a series of defeats. It only shows that they
cannot read history properly.
238. It is not the number of foreign aggressions over a nation that is the
last criterion of deciding its vitality or virulity or the absence of both, but
the query, whether that nation was destroyed as a result of those
aggressions, or whether in the final phase of that national struggle, that
nation was able to overcome those foreign aggressions, that determines a
nation’s prowess, its vitality and its right to live.
239. Let us see which of the three, the Sakas, the Kushans or the Indians,
passed this test successfully, and who passed out of existence.
Kanishka Embraces Buddhism?

240. Although busy with his campaigns right upto China and the
     consequent wars, Kanishka’s mind was always preoccupied with religious
     and cultural things. He, in the meanwhile, proclaimed his conversion to
     Buddhism. In consonance with this new creed of his, he built several stupas
     and vihars at various places in his empire. At that time also, as it was during
     the Ashokan regime, Buddhism was burdened with innumerable fads and
     fanciful therories. The different Buddhistic sects were at enmity with one
     another. So, in order to do away with all these differences and to bring
     about a general agreement, he, like Ashoka, convened a great council of all
     the Buddhist sects. But instead of a general agreement, there appeared a
     new sect called the Mahayan, which virtually changed the nature of the
     Buddhist cult. Since the all-embracing precepts and practices, which were
     agreeable to Kanishka, but which had no base in the original form of
     Buddhism, were incorporated in this new Mahayan sect, some others
     refrained from joining it and eventually founded a new sect, which came to
     be called Heenayan. Kanishka helped spread the Mahayan sect extensively
     in his trans-Himalayan demesne. This great council recognised Sanskrit as
     the language of their religion. Hence, Buddhistic scriptures, which were
     formerly written in Pali and Prakrit only, were translated into Sanskrit.
     Many new books like the Buddha-charit and others on varied subjects were
     composed by learned scholars, who enjoyed the patronage of Kanishka.
     Naturally, not only in India but even amongst the Saka-Kushan population
     in the Asian empire of Kanishka, the old as well as the new Sanskrit
     literature and civilization began to spread briskly. Thus did this new Kushan
     world, which had come as a conqueror, willingly became subservient to this
     Indian civilization and culture, as did the Saka world before it, in respect of
     Indian religion, Indian language, Indian thought and Indian customs.
241. Since Buddhism itself was an Indian religion, India could boast of a
     religious victory when Emperor Kanishka embraced it. Although this was
     all well done, it must be borne in mind that Buddhism, which was embraced
     by Kanishka, was not the unadulterated original one of Lord Buddha nor
     that of Ashoka. It was the Kanishkan edition of Buddhism. For example,
     although the Emperor had surrendered his loyally to Buddhism, he still
     worshipped the Vedic deities like Rudra. Kanishka’s Buddhistic faith had
     nothing to do whatever with the non-violence (अहिंसा) of Ashoka, which
     declared ‘Abstain from violence to animals’ or ‘Not the victory of the
     battlefield, but the religious victory is the only true victory’. While, on the

one hand, he was spreading the Mahayan sect, this avowed Buddhist was,
on the other hand, attacking his enemies with huge armies. In order that he
might be called the Emperor of China, he passed ten years of his life in
bivouacs with armed soldiers all round him. In the end, tired of his lust for
incessant warfare, his army revolted and killed him. Death alone could put a
stop to his insatiate lust for war.
242. One more thing to be pondered over: How could Kanishka spread
Buddhism in the Chinese territory beyond the Himalayas? It was possible
because he had first conquered those provinces with his weapons of war.
Spread of the Buddhistic cult there followed his martial glories on the
battlefields! That is why it spread there so rapidly. He sent hundreds of
missionaries there, built various vihars, fed and fostered thousands of
Bhikksus! All this was possible for him, because he had under his command
a very powerful empire i.e., he had a mighty armed strength.Wasn't it?
243. In fine, it will have to be said that the statements like, ‘Armed victory
is superior to religious victory’ or vice versa are untenable.
244. Without armed support, religious victory is tame and insipid, whereas
martial glory without a strong religious footing becomes grossly diabolic!
This alone is true.
Hereditary Disloyalty of the Buddhists
245. A Buddhist or a Vedic Hindu, Kanishka was after all a foreigner
belonging to the Kushan aggressive tribe, and had founded an empire on
the north-western frontier of India by force. His empire was, in fact, an
aggression on India. His was, not at all an indigenous Indian empire. So
the patriotic Vedic population of India fought furiously with Kanishka, as
it did with the Sakas, in order to overthrow his empire and to liberate all
those Indian provinces, which had the misfortune to grovel under his
political domination. But what were the Indian Buddhists doing at that
time? They tendered their submission to the Mlenchcha enemy, the
Kushan emperor, as soon as they courted the Buddhistic cult and began to
perpetrate acts of treachery against the Indian nation and the brave
patriotic Vedic people, who were fighting for her liberty! As has already
been described (in paragraphs 204 to 209), the Indian Buddhists had,
formerly in the time of Emperor Pushyamitra, who fought for national
liberty, sold their loyalty to the Greeks led by Menander and others, and
committed treason against their native land. In the very same manner, they

did not hesitate this time to act treacherously towards their motherland
when the foreign Kushan aggression was at her throat.
246. Had the Indian Buddhists put down the Sakas and founded a
kingdom of their own, the Buddhist King would certainly have had the
rightful claim to the credit of liberating India like any other Vedic King, and
like the Vedic King Salivahan or Emperor Pushyamitra, we would have
gladly felicitated them. But how could the Buddhists ever show this staunch
national spirit! Even when Vedic patriotic republics and states like the
Youdheyas and Satavahanas were engaged in a life-and-death struggle with
the Saka-Kushans for a hundred-and-twenty-five years or more, these
Indian Buddhists did not trouble themselves in the least for the cause of
national liberty. But as soon as the strongest of these national enemies,
Kanishka, proclaimed his conversion, albeit half-heartedly, to Buddhism,
the whole of the Buddhist population submitted their most affectionate
loyalty at the feet of that national foe. They extolled him like a God to the
skies! They prayed fervently in their vihars for the everlasting existence of
that Saka-Kushan Mlenchcha State. What wonder, if the inevitable
consequence followed! As a result of the extreme hatred, which the Vedic
Hindus felt towards the Buddhists for their high treason, Buddhism
continued to decline, as it had begun to do right from the time of
Pushyamitra, in spite of the royal support of Emperor Kanishka.
Kanishka’s Grandson Embraces Vedic Religion
247. Moreover, when Kanishka was killed, as has already been told, by his
rebellious soldiers while he was fighting in China, the Indian Buddhists
were in a miserable plight, as they found themselves utterly lost both ways.
For, the successor of Kanishka, his son Emperor Havishka, remained
comparatively cold in his sympathy towards the Buddhists. And after
Kanishka, Kanishka’s grandson, who became the ruler of the Saka-
Kushans, actually abandoned Buddhism and embraced the Vedic cult with a
public ceremony! He even changed his original name and took for himself
the purely Sanskrit appellation, Samrat Vasudeo and struck coins with the
images of Siva and Nandi imprinted on them!
After Kanishka’s Death
248. As soon as Emperor Kanishka died, his Indian empire fell to pieces.
His rule in India was not far extended even in north India. It was never
very strong. It had covered only a small north-western strip of India,
which comprised Punjab, Malava, Sourashtra and Gujrat and a small

ribbon like piece of land from the north-Konkan, which had formerly been
in the hands of the Sakas. Now after the death of Kanishka, the two or
three Saka kingdoms that formed part of this Kushan empire threw away
the Kushan sovereignty and once again became independent. During the
century-old Saka-Kushan aggressive wars, the Satavahanas had
maintained the independence of their entire Southern India unimpaired and
now the north-Indian states also, who had so far accepted the nominal
overlordship of Kanishka, renounced it and regained their independence.
In this very confusion, the principality of Pataliputra in the eastern part of
India also became independent.
Once Again rose the Sunken Sun of Pataliputra
249. Pataliputra has been called a small principality in the previous lines.
Our readers might feel that it is a slip of our pen. But it is not so. For during
the deluge of the Saka-Kushan aggressions at the beginning of the Christian
era, the throne of Pataliputra, which was adorned by the celebrated
Emperors like Chandragupta, Ashoka, Pushyamitra and others, and from
which were guided for centuries together the destinies of the all-India
empire from the Himalayas to the southern seas, was lost all of a sudden,
just as the setting sun vanishes while we are still looking on and know not
when it has set. During the century-and-a-half of incessant Indian war with
the Saka-Kushans that followed, the separate existence of Pataliputra or
Magadha was never felt. Some non-entity of king from somewhere ruled
and lived within the four walls of Pataliputra.
250. But about the year 300 A.D. was established on this very principality
of Pataliputra, the rule of Lichchavi Republic, which was known in
Magadha from the times of Lord Buddha.
251. The daughter of the chief of this Lichchavi Republic, Kumardevi,
was wooed and married by a promising youth, son of a feudal chief
named Chandragupta in 308 A.D., With the strong support of the same
Lichchavi Republic, he established his sway over the surrounding
territory and in 320 A.D. he founded an independent kingdom in
Pataliputra. Let not this Chandragupta be confused with the famous
Emperor Chandragupta Maurya, because of their similar names.
Emperor Chandragputa belonged to the Maurya dynasty, while this
promising Chandragupta was born in the Gupta family. His
achievements, however, were as brilliant as would have befitted the
glorious dynasty of Emperor Chandragupta Maurya. During his short

reign of ten or eleven years, he extended his small kingdom of
Pataliputra wide enough to include Magadha, Prayag and Ayodhya, so
that the epithet of Maharaj should be applied to him deservedly.
Entrusting his kingdom into the able hands of his son, Samudragupta,
who was ambitious of uprooting the Mlenchcha power of the Saka-
Kushans in the north-western part of India, and of establishing an
extensive Indian empire, Chandragupta died in the year 330 A.D. This
Gupta dynasty was a staunch adherent of the Vedic religion—Shree
Vishnu being their chief God of Worship.
Emperor Samudragupta
252. As soon as he came to the throne, Samudragupta planned to conquer
the several independent Indian states in the north as well as in the south, and
establish a strong Indian empire like the Mauryan Empire of Chandragupta
and Chanakya, and then to sweep over the still lingering Mlenchcha power of
the Saka-Kushans in the north-western part of India with all the might of his
empire. Accordingly, he conquered Kamrup, Samatat, Nepal and all the
region from north-eastern frontier provinces to the Vindhyas. Thereafter,
crossing the Vindhyas, he entered South India with a powerful army. He
conquered twelve prominent kingdoms in South India. Many of the defeated
kings, after having been brought captives and after having accepted his
overlordships, were granted their kingdoms and were allowed to go free.
About these glorious campaigns of his in the north and south of India, many
western historians have spoken with eloquent praise, giving him the best of
their current phrases, ‘The Indian Napoleon’. After such an extensive
military expedition, Samudragupta returned to Pataliputra. Then in order to
proclaim to the world his acquisition of this new Indian empire, according to
the Vedic religious rites, he celebrated the horse sacrifice, on a grand scale
and was rightfully appointed a Samrat (an emperor). Thereafter, he began his
extensive preparations for his dash against the Saka-Kushans.
The Final Surrender by the Kushans
253. At the fearful reports of this impending attack of Emperor
Samudragupta, whatever small kingdoms of the Kushans like Gandhar and
others were, still leading a precarious existence in the north-western regions
of India, voluntarily sued for peace and accepted the Gupta paramountcy.
Our Indian ancestors at that time called these Kushans ‘Kush’ also. As a
token of their surrender, those Kushans sent rich offerings along with their
personal envoys to Samudragupta. Thus, after an incessant warfare for a

century-and-a-half or two, the Indian sword ultimately cut asunder the very
root of the Kushan power in India. The Kushan problem was finally
disposed of, here and now!
254. But the Saka kings from Malava to Sindh who, as has been told in
paragraphs 236 and 248, had thrown off the yoke of Andhra domination
when the latter was engaged in a life and death struggle with Kanishka and
later on, after the death of Kanishka, declared themselved free, did not on
their own initiative talk of any submission.
Samrat Samudragupta’s Death and After
255. While he was just preparing to march upon the Mlenchcha power of
these Sakas, this powerful Emperor Samudragupta breathed his last in 375
A.D. He had expressed his wish that after him, his younger but valiant and
virile son, Chandragputa II, should be crowned emperor. But discarding this
dying wish of his, the elder son, Ramgupta, ascended the throne on the
strength of his seniority in age. But he was so weak that almost all efficient
officials in his military and civil service and his ministers too began to hate
him secretly. Just at this juncture, a strange thing happened, which
galvanized the popular feeling against Ramgupta’s feebleness. Although
some historians consider this to be a hearsay anecdote, still ancient writers
like Vishakhadatta and Banabhatta have credited it with truth, and a
reference to it is to be found in the copperplate grant of King Amoghvarsha.
Again as in the comparatively recent times, the Rajput warriors had faced a
similar situation against Alla-ud-din in respect of Padmini, the opinion of
some other historians that this anecdote about Ramgupta must be
substantially true is more acceptable. The incident in question may be
summarised in the following manner:
256. Emperor Samudragupta having died and a weakling Ramgupta
having ascended the throne after him, the Saka kings became fearless and
began to behave insolently with the Magadhan empire, which was at
inimical terms with them. An impertinent and mean-minded Mlenchcha
king of these Sakas commanded Ramgupta, in order to humiliate him, that
he should send his young and beautiful wife, Grahdevi, to him or else be
prepared for war. This insolent and wicked message convulsed the whole
political atmosphere of the Magadhan empire with shame and indignation.
But Emperor Ramgupta had become so utterly imbecile and shameless, as
to start preparations to send his queen, Grahdevi, to that Saka Satrap with
the sole intention of avoiding a conflict. This infuriated his younger brother,

Chandragupta. Flouting Ramgupta’s orders, he took Grahdevi under his
protection. Then resorting to guile, Chandragupta sent word to the Saka
king that, according to his commands, Queen Grahdevi was being sent to
him, but that because of natural womanly bashfulness and modesty, she
would like to go in a curtained palanquin. She was also to be accompanied
by a retinue of her maids in similar litters. The Saka king was mad with joy
to hear this message, and he replied that the queen might be sent that way.
Chandragupta, however, himself donned the female attire and sat in the
Queen’s palanquin, while in the accompanying ones, too sat the chosen
warriors in feminine garb. As the train (procession) of those covered
palanquins drew near the capital of that Saka King, the latter, beside himself
with joy, came forward to the queen’s palanquin to receive her in person;
whereupon out came Chandragupta, in the guise of a woman, and pouncing
on the unsuspecting Saka King, slew him instantly with his sword. From
other litters too, issued forth the warriors with drawn swords, and before the
shocking news of the slaughter of the Saka King could spread out, they
vanished along with Chandragupta, quite out of the enemy’s reach.
257. The whole capital and the nation itself was resounding with the
praise for Chandragupta, when the glad news spread that Prince
Chandragupta had returned to Pataliputra after accomplishing this
unprecedented daring feat and punishing with his own hands the Saka King,
who had insulted the nation, with instant death. There was a great agitation
to dethrone the cowardly Ramgupta, who had ascended the throne of
Magadha, setting aside the last wish of the deceased emperor,
Samudragupta, and to crown Chandragupta in his place. In that commotion,
Ramgupta was killed. Immediately Chandragupta was crowned emperor
and he married the same Grahadevi, whom he had with his exceptional
valour, saved from humiliation at the hands of the enemy. Later on, with a
well-equipped huge army, Samrat Chandragupta marched upon the Saka
satraps.
Saka Satrap Rudrasingh Killed: the last phase of the war with the
Sakas
258. When the war came to closed grips on the Gujarat-Malava frontier of
the Saka dominions, the Saka kings offered tough resistance at every place,
and at every place, the Indian warriors crushed the enemy! In the last battle,
the remaining Saka Satrap, Rudrasingh, the son of Satyasingh, himself was
killed by Chandragupta.

Thus Ended the Saka Rule
259. Having thus vanquished the Sakas completely, Chandragupta
liberated the provinces of Sindh, Kaccha, Sourashtra, Gujarat, Malava and
others under their domination and incorporated them into his Indian empire.
After such a total destruction of the Sakas, when Emperor Chandragupta
entered the ancient and renowned city of Ujjayini, which till a little while
ago was the capital of the Saka kingdom, the people there celebrated his
entry as a grand national festival. Samrat Chandragupta assumed the title of
Vikramaditya. In order to immortalize his glorious and crushing victory
over the Sakas, he renamed the so far universally current Malava Samvat
itself as Vikram Samvat after his own name (cf: paragraph 222). He made
Ujjayini the capital of the western part of his India-wide empire, and there
he lived like a crowned King.
260. How far can one describe the satisfaction and pride that the people all
over Bharat felt at this decisive victory won by Vikramaditya over the
Mlenchchas? The whole of India became free from the foreign domination
and became ‘Ekrat’, united under one King! How profound must have been
the joy and pride of Vikramaditya himself when he saw that the strenuous
efforts and successes and failures of a hundred-and-fifty years or so of the
Youdheyas, Malavas Vilivayankur (Vilinayankur?), Satavahan and other
great warriors for the destruction of the Saka power, and of the valorous
achievements of his grandfather and the national aspirations of Vedic
Hindus had, at last borne such glorious fruit!
261. Of this, the English historian, Vincent Smith says, though rather
grudgingly, “We may feel assured that differences of race, creed and
manner supplied the Gupta monarch with special reasons, for desiring to
suppress the impure foreign (म्लेच्छ) rulers of Western India.
Chandragupta Vikramaditya, although tolerant of Buddhism and Jainism
was himself an orthdox Hindu, espeically devoted to the cult of Vishnu, and
as such, could not but have experienced peculiar satisfaction in violently
uprooting the foreign chieftains.”
The Sakas too Vanished
262. In paragraph 230, it has already been described how the Sakas
adopted the Vedic faith, Sanskrit language and Indian customs and manners.
Now that Vikramaditya had utterly destroyed their political power with his
‘mailed fist’, they, hereafter, lost their separate existence as the Sakas as
distinct from the Indians. Only within two or three generations, there was

hardly any Saka to be seen in India, as it previously happened in the case of
the Kushans.
263. In the historical past, there lived and ruled good many emperors in
India, but there was hardly any as suprisingly popular as this Emperor
Vikramaditya, who exterminated the Saka-Kushans so thoroughly, that not a
trace of any of them is found today. Even a foreigner, the Chinese traveller,
Fa-hien (or Fa-hsien), who visited India in his reign, has paid a glowing
tribute to the prosperity, happiness, wealth and contentment that had
reached its height, throughout the whole of the Indian empire under the
Guptas. Even today in the innumerable Indian villages, the name of King
Vikramaditya, and his high sense of administration and justice is lovingly
sung in folk-tales and ballad. After having defended the powerful unitary
Indian empire and having developed it in every respect for more or less
thirty-five years, Samrat Vikramaditya died in 414 A.D.
264. The epoch, which began with the royal seal of Samrat Vikramaditya,
the proud Victor of Saka-Kushans, is THE THIRD GLORIOUS EPOCH of
Indian History.

4^TH GLORIOUS EPOCH
4.
Yashodharma, the Conqueror of The Huns
The Hunnish Onslaught over the whole World
265. A reference has already been made earlier in this book to the Huns
who routed all the Saka and Kushan tribes from their original homes and
themselves occupied the vast tracts of lands. These very Huns, fiercer and
far more cruel than their predecessors, now menaced not only the whole of
Asia but also the whole of Europe. Every one of the then well-established,
civilized, and strongly built nations and kingdoms of the world, right from
China to Rome, was rocked to its bottom at the very thought of this
impending doom. There was no limit to their number, nor were their raids
limited to this region or that.
266. When their armies marched out, thousands of their men and women
carried fire and sword to every city and every village they entered and to
every human being, young or old, child or woman, whom they came across.
Not only by day, but even at the very dead of night, did they carry on these
nefarious activities, shouting wildly like beasts and engulfing the enemy
lands like wildfire. At the end of every bloody battle, they celebrated their
victory then and there, dancing wildly, and drinking strong liquors in cups
made of the very skulls of the slaughtered enemy soldiers and their women
or children.
267. Being very close to the original Hunnish territory, almost all the
provinces of the vast Chinese empire were rendered desolate because of
their terrible raids. The great China Wall of today is a glaring testimony to
prove the incapacity of the Chinese Emperor to ward off these Hunnish
locusts. The one great wonder of the world—this China Wall-is indeed the
greatest monument to Hunnish Terror!
268. One of the leaders of these Huns, Attila, organized these horsemen,
who pillaged Central Asia and made straight for Europe. His various
marauding armies dashed like an avalanche into European Russia through
whichever inlet they could find and wrought havoc everywhere.
Universities and art centres, houses and churches, the poor men’s huts and
rich palaces, towns and cities—whatever they could lay their hands on,

these Huns went on reducing them to ashes. Whoever came in their way
was ruthlessly cut to pieces. After trampling down Russia, they rushed into
Poland, thence attacking the Goths in Germany and France. Army-after-
army of the once invincible Roman Empire was put to rout. These Huns
loved not victory so much as they did ruin and destruction for its own sake.
Consequently, the whole of Europe was not only defeated in war but was
virtually bathed in blood and laid utterly waste. For a harrowing
description of this devastation of Europe at the hands of these barbaric
Huns, one should read Gibbons, ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’.
Even today, most of the European languages use ‘Hun’ as the foulest of
abuses, indicating thereby, the horror they looked upon these devilish Huns
with.
269. In the very same manner, did another avalanche of these Hunnish
horses, which hovered for some time round about the Himalayas destroying
whatever remained of the Saka-Kushan strongholds, dashed against regions
like the Gandhar and others to the north-west of India. With the very same
energy and devilish ambition with which they devastated the empires of
China, Russia and Rome, did these Huns march impatiently to trample
down India from end to end under their horses’ hoofs, and began to force
their way to the Indus.
But
270. But, fortunately, India was no longer being ruled by any coward like
Dhananand, who brought disgrace to the land at the time of the Greek
invasion of Punjab. It was now under the sovereignty of Kumargupta, the
illustrious son of Emperor Vikramaditya, the avenger of the Saka-Kushan
domination. India at that time enjoyed the century-old Golden Age of the
Gupta era. The Mauryan Golden Age saw, towards its close, the Indian
military strength disorganized and powerless, because of the foolhardy
Ashokan policy of total non-violence (ahimsa). But the Vedic India of this
time under the leadership of Kumargupta did not allow the imperial army
to degenerate in the least. Being always aware of the avalanche-like
Hunnish onslaught, which was expected sooner or later, Emperor
Kumargupta kept a very strong war-like and well-organized army, ever
prepared to defend its frontiers.
The first Hunnish Onrush Paralysed
271. The moment he learnt of the Hunnish aggression on Gandhar,
Kumargupta sent his valiant son, Skundgupta at the head of the four-fold

(चतुरँग) army to uproot the Hunnish menace. With their special technique
based on their unlimited number, which had so far been unmatched for its
efficacy, these Hunnish invaders began to make short work of the Indian
frontier guards. No sooner did the Indian soldiers destroy one Hunnish army
at a place, than would they emerge up from all other quarters, like ants
pouring forth from their anthills. Even if these were completely wiped out,
there would appear a fresh one, creating confusion all over the land. The
armies of Skundgupta fought battle-after-battle with the irresistible Huns,
destroying them steadily but surely for years together. The result was that
even the innumerable forces of these Huns gradually lost their strength and
energy and dared cross the frontiers of the Gupta Empire no more. Why,
they could not even defend the places they held so far against the aggressive
and fierce impact of the Guptas. The remaining troops of the Huns,
therefore, fled clean out of the Indian frontiers through the very passes they
had come in. This crushing defeat kept the Huns away from India for the
next forty years or so.
The Brave Skundgupta
272. After having fought continuously for years on end and having
defeated the most powerful enemy, who had already brought to their knees
the greatest empires of the world, Skundgupta proudly returned to his father
at Pataliputra, where the victorious Prince was greeted with unprecedented
enthusiasm, pomp and glory. Old Emperor Kumargupta’s joy can easily be
imagined. It knew no bounds. In order to celebrate this singular success,
Kumargupta performed the horse sacrifice (अश्वमेध), according to the age-
old Indian tradition.
Death of Kumargupta
273. Shortly after this, the old Emperor Kumargupta died, having
satisfactorily fulfilled his life-mission. He was succeeded by his eminent
son, Skundgupta, many of whose memorable deeds showing his rare
abilities cannot be recounted here for want of space and also because they
do not directly bear upon the present theme.
274. While Skundgupta was thus ruling in India, another Hunnish
adventurer, Khikhil by name, organized their scattered forces in Asia, as
Attila before him had done in Europe, and founded another kingdom and
styled himself a king. Towards the end of Emperor Skundgupta’s career,
this new Hunnish adventurer marched towards India at the head of a

powerful army, with a view to avenging the ignoble defeat the Huns had
earlier suffered here.
Second Hunnish Invasion of India
275. During the very first encounters, the Huns overthrew the imperial
frontier guards and drove them back at one or two places. No sooner did he
hear of this fresh Hunnish aggression than Skundgupta, in spite of his old
age, left his capital and marched as far as the Panchnad (the modern
Punjab). While he was thus preoccupied in his military camp, organising
the overthrown imperial frontier forces for a counter-attack upon the enemy,
he learnt that his step brother, Purgupta, was busy treacherously planning to
usurp his throne. Nevertheless, the patriot Skundgupta, disregarding his
personal interests, kept on fighting the alien invaders, instead of speedily
returning to the capital to settle his domestic trouble, as some others in his
place might have most probably done. Had he done so, and left the imperial
army fighting without his guidance, the Indian soldiers would have, in all
probability, lost courage and the invaders would have swept over the whole
of Punjab and at least the half of north India. As he was convinced of this
impending calamity, he rather preferred fighting against the barbaric Huns
to returning home!
276. And even as he was fighting in the defence of his motherland, this
aged warrior-king died about A.D. 471 in his military camp, like a true
King that he was!
An Emperor must die Standing
277. An interesting anecdote is told about a well-known Roman Emperor
who ruled in those ‘palmy days of Rome,’ that while he was lying on his
deathbed in his royal palace, he once suddenly got up, sword in hand, and
said to the frightened attendants, who suspected it to be a delirious fit, that a
king must not die in his bed. “A Roman Emperor”, he said, “must die
standing”.
278. In the same manner did this great Indian Emperor, Skundgupta, die in
a small military camp fighting relentlessly, in spite of his failing years, the
very enemy on whom he had inflicted severe defeats in his earlier career.
Renouncing all royal comforts and pleasures, he spent almost fifteen to
twenty years of his life, suffering all the discomforts and hardship of a
camp-life for the sole purpose of defending his empire and preserving the
independence of his motherland. And when he did die, he did so fighting
the arch-enemy of his nation, far away in a bivouac in the farthest province

of Punjab—not in his royal palace in the capital! If ever there was an ideal
emperor, it was he!
279. If the Huns were hemmed in one small corner of the Indus and if
India was saved from all the indignities, massacres and wanton destruction
at their hands to which Europe had been subjected almost
contemporaneously, all the credit must go to the armed strength of
Skundgupta. Although he died before the Huns were completely
annihilated, his exemplary valour brought forth another generation of
warriors, much stronger than before, to take the field against these once
war-intoxicated but now enfeebled Huns.
280. Hence, we bow down to the memory of Emperor Skundgupta, with
as much reverence and pride and a sense of national gratitude as we might
do to any other conqueror like Vikramaditya.
After the Death of Skundgupta
281. Subsequent to the death of Skundgupta, the throne of Magadha was
usurped by his rebel brother, Purgupta, whose lack of every sort of ability
encouraged the Huns once again to push forward under their King, Khilkhil.
In the reign of Torman, who succeeded Khikhil, Huns once again let loose
the dogs of war and Kamboj, Gandhar, and Punjab suffered most from their
horrible depredations and arson. The world-famous University of Taxila
was razed to the ground. Thousands of its invaluable books only served to
make bonfire for the Huns.
282. This is another instance that shows how even the national literature,
civilization and culture are destroyed at the hands of foreign invaders, if
they are not defended and supported by the nation’s mailed fist.
283. In the meanwhile, those Hunnish hordes that had so far overrun the
kingdom of Persia, and in A.D. 484 put her King, Phiroz, to death, were
now free to join the army of Torman in his work of reducing India to the
same miserable state. With his army so suddenly augmented, Torman
pushed ahead of Punjab into Malva and captured it round about 511A.D.,
along with its capital Ujjain. When tormans son, Mihirgula, who was braver
and more atrocious than the father, succeeded to the Hunnish throne,
strangely enough, he became a sincere devotee of the Vedic God, Rudra and
held the cult of Buddha in the greatest spite.
Mihirgula, the Devotee of the Vedic God
284. Strange as it may seem, the Huns were speedily attracted to the
worship of the Vedic God Rudra at least from the time they entered the

north-western frontier province. Of these people, Vincent Smith says, “The
savage invader who worshipped his patron deity Shiva, the God of
Destruction, exhibited ferocious hostility against the peaceful Buddhistic
cult and remorselessly overthrew the Stupas and Monasteries which he
plundered of their treasures.”
The Patriotic Vedic Hindus and Treacherous Buddhists
285. In this context, the readers are referred to paragraphs 182 to 209 and
245 to 246 of this book, wherein we have commented on the patriotic spirit
of the Vedic Hindus and the treacherous attitude of the Buddhists. In order
to vouchsafe this comment of ours, this incident of Mihirgula should be
most significant.
286. Even when this Hunnish aggressor Mihirgula had accepted the Vedic
cult of God Rudra and brutally oppresed the Buddhists, who had become
inveterate enemies of the Vedic Hindus, the latter did not accept his political
dominance, nor did they ever join him in his atrocities against their own
rivals. In spite of his avowed acceptance of the Vedic cult, Mihirgula was
looked upon as a foreign aggressor and as such, a national enemy by the
Vedic Hindus. They avowed enmity towards him for the sake of making
politically free those regions that had so far gone under his sway. It cannot
be denied that even amongst the Vedic Hindus, kings like Kamoj and
Jaichand did commit treason earlier or later, but on the whole, the Vedic
community had all along been hating the non-Vedic people and had been
giving terrible battles for protecting the independence and imperial power
of their nation unimpaired. Even the English historians like Smith could not
help mentioning, maybe in malicious terms, this strong national feeling of
the Vedic people. While stating in general terms that these Vedic Hindus
were the born enemies of any foreign political power, trying to subdue the
country, he says, “Those foreign tribes, Sakas, Pahlavas and Ionians
(Yavanas), at the time, settled in Western India as the lords of a conquered
population, were the objects of hostility of the Vedic King Vilivayankur
II.... He recovered the losses his kingdom had suffered at the hands of the
intruding foreigners and utterly destroyed the power of (the Saka King)
Nahapan. The hostility of the Andhra (Vedic) monarch was stimulated by
the disgust felt by all the Hindus, and especially by the followers of the
Orthodox Brahmanical system of the outlandish foreign barbarians.”
287. It should not surprise the reader if he finds in this observation of
Smith, a faint echo of an Englishman’s heartache at his painful experience