Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/306

 264 THE GUPTA EMPIRE conquest of the west, had received an embassy from the satrap Rudrasena, son of Rudradaman, who was doubtless deeply impressed by the emperor's trium- phant march through India. Chandragupta II, strong in the possession of the territory and treasure acquired by his father, resolved to crush his western rival and to annex the valuable provinces which owned the satrap's sway. The motives of an ambitious king in undertaking an aggressive war against a rich neigh- bour are not far to seek, but we may feel assured that differences of race, creed, and manners supplied the Gupta monarch with special reasons for desiring to suppress the impure foreign rulers of the west. Chandragupta Vikramaditya, although tolerant of Buddhism and Jainism, was himself an orthodox Hindu, specially devoted to the cult of Vishnu, and as such cannot but have experienced peculiar satisfaction in " violently uprooting r foreign chieftains who cared little for caste rules. Whatever his motives may have been, he attacked, dethroned, and slew the satrap Ru- drasinha, son of Satyasinha, and annexed his dominions. Scandalous tradition affirmed that " in his enemy's city the king of the Sakas, while courting another man's wife, was butchered by Chandragupta, concealed in his mistress's dress," but the tale does not sound like genuine history. The last notice of the satraps refers to the year 388 A. D., and the incorporation of their dominions in the Gupta empire must have been effected soon after that date. The Gupta kings, excepting the founder of the