Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/285

CHAPTER XI THE GUPTA EMPIRE AND THE WESTERN SATRAPS: CHANDRAGUPTA I TO KUMARAGUPTA I T FROM 320 TO 455 A. D. HE period between the extinction of the Kushan -*- and Andhra dynasties, about 220 or 230 A. D., and the rise of the imperial G-upta dynasty, nearly a century later, is one of the darkest in the whole range of Indian history. In the fourth century light again dawns, the veil of oblivion is lifted, and the history of India regains unity and interest. A local raja at or near Pataliputra, bearing the famous name of Chandragupta, wedded, in or about the year 308, a princess named Kumara Devi, who belonged to the ancient Lichchhavi clan, celebrated ages before in the early annals of Buddhism. During the long period of about eight centuries which intervened between the reign of Ajatasatru and the marriage of Kumara Devi the history of the Lichchhavis has been lost. They now come suddenly into notice again in con- nection with this marriage, which proved to be an event of the highest political importance, being the founda- 247