Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/308

 266 THE GUPTA EMPIRE the history of his reign is supposed to have been erected originally at the celebrated city of Kausambi, which stood on the highroad between Ujjain and North- ern India and was no doubt at tunes honoured by the residence of the monarch. The real capital of an Ori- ental despotism is the seat of the despot 's court for the time being. Pataliputra, however, although necessarily consid- erably neglected by warrior kings like Samudragupta and Vikramaditya, continued to be a magnificent and populous city throughout the reign of the latter, and was not finally ruined until the time of the Hun inva- sion in the sixth century, from which date it practically disappeared until it was rebuilt a thousand years later by Sher Shah. Since his time the venerable city, under the names of Patna and Bankipur, has regained much of its ancient importance and has played a part in many notable events. We are fortunate enough to possess in the work of Fa-hien, the earliest Chinese pilgrim, a contemporary account of the administration of Chandragupta Vikra- maditya, as it appeared to an intelligent foreigner at the beginning of the fifth century. The worthy pilgrim, it is true, was so absorbed in his search for Buddhist books, legends, and miracles that he had little care for the things of this world, and did not trouble even to mention the name of the mighty monarch in whose territories he spent six studious years. But now and then he allowed his pen to note some of the facts of ordinary life, and in more than one passage he has