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continued.... This campaign took place between A.D. 388-409, after which the Shakas were finally defeated and the western India was annexed by the Guptas, an event commemorated by the issuing of special silver coins by Chandra Gupta II. This was a significant conquest because not only the western border of India now no longer a source of anxiety but also the Guptas completed their control over northern India: in addition to which it gave them control over the trade with the Mediterranean. During the reign of Chandra Gupta II an alliance was made to strengthen the position of the Guptas in the Deccan. Samudra Gupta had campaigned in the eastern Deccan and had left the west comparatively untouched. The western Deccan, the old Satvahana stronghold, was now in the hands of Vakataka dynasty and they were emerging as a dominant power in the Deccan. A marriage alliance was concluded between the Guptas and the Vakatakas, Chandra Gupta's daughter marrying the Vakataka king Rudrasena II. Other dynasties of the Deccan also married into the Gupta royal family, the Gupta's thus ensuring a friendly relation with the kingdoms to south of their domain. Thus Chandra Gupta, although using different means, was achieving the same ends as his father. Chandra Gupta II took the title of Vikramaditya or Sun of Prowess, yet his reign is remembered for things other than war: for his patronage of literature and the arts - Kalidasa, the Sanskrit poet, being a member of his court - and for the high standard of artistic and cultural life. Fahien, the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim who visited India during the years from 405 to 411 collecting Buddhist manuscripts and texts and studying at Indian monasteries, described the country as a generally happy one. It was during the reign of Chandra Gupta II's son and successor Kumara Gupta (c. A.D. 415-54) that there came the first hints of a new invasion from the north-west, but they were to remain only a distant threat during the first half of the fifth century. A branch of the Huns from central Asia had occupied Bactria in the previous century and were threatening to cross the Hindu Kush mountains, as had so many invaders before them, and attack India. On the whole, Kumara Gupta's reign was peaceful and he succeeded in keeping the empire intact. However, the Hun threat on the Indian frontier continued for the next hundred years and the Guptas were hard put to it to keep them back. Yet they succeeded up to a point, for, when the Huns finally broke through, they had been weakened and India did not meet with the fate of the Roman Empire. It has been plausibly suggested that the resistance offered by the Chinese and Indians to the central Asian nomads was partially responsible for the fury with which they fell upon Europe. But the successors of Kumara Gupta could not defend their kingdom as he had done, each repeated wave of the Hun invasions making the Guptas weaker. Skanda Gupta battled valiantly but he faced domestic problems as well, such as the breaking away of his feudatories, and there are indications of an economic crisis which would explain the debasing of the coinage. However, by c. 460 he had managed to rally the Gupta forces, but 467 is the last known date of Skanda Gupta. After his death, the central authority of the Guptas declined at an increasing pace. The succession of the various kings that followed is uncertain. A number of administrative seals have been discovered with the names of the same kings, but following a varied order of succession, which points to a confused close to the dynasty. A major blow came at the end of the fifth century when the Huns successfully broke through into northern India. Gupta power was slowly eroded over the next fifty years, after which the empire gave way to a number of smaller kingdoms.
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