Q1.
Have you noticed the ‘II’ in Chandragupta II’s name?
Answer
Yes — and it is a clue, not a decoration. Historians added the number, because there had already been another Chandragupta in the same dynasty: his grandfather. Without the numbers we could never tell the two apart in an inscription.
Three men in this book share almost the same name. Keep them straight like this:
| Name | Dynasty | Remember him by |
|---|---|---|
| Chandragupta Maurya | Maurya | Met in an earlier chapter — a completely different dynasty, centuries before the Guptas. Do not confuse him with the Guptas |
| Chandragupta I | Gupta | The grandfather. Crucial in the early expansion of the empire; remembered for his coins (Fig. 7.4, with queen Kumāradevī) and strategic alliances |
| Chandragupta II | Gupta | The grandson, also called Vikramāditya; devotee of Viṣhṇu, Garuḍa on his inscriptions; the Iron Pillar king, called ‘Chandra’ in its inscription |
Why the same name came round again: in many Indian families the first son is named after his grandfather — a tradition still followed today. So a royal family repeating ‘Chandragupta’ every second generation was doing something completely ordinary. The Roman numerals are a modern convenience added by historians to sort them out.
Tip: in an exam, if a question says ‘the Iron Pillar was erected in the reign of’, the answer is Chandragupta II. If it says ‘laid the foundation of the Gupta Empire with coins and alliances’, the answer is Chandragupta I.