NCERT Book Class 6 Social Science (History) Chapter 9 New Empires and Kingdoms

CHAPTER 9
NEW EMPIRES AND KINGDOMS

Arvind plays a king
Arvind had been chosen to act as a king in the school play.
He had expected to march solemnly in splendid robes, to
twirl his moustaches and wield the silver-paper wrapped
sword with gusto. Imagine his surprise when he was told
he would also have to sit and play a veena, and recite
poetry! A musician-king? Who was that? he wondered.

Prashastis and what they tell us
Arvind was supposed to be acting as Samudragupta,
a famous ruler of a dynasty known as the
Guptas. We know about Samudragupta from a
long inscription, inscribed on the Ashokan pillar
at Allahabad. It was composed as a Kavya by
Harishena, who was a poet and a minister at the
court of Samudragupta.
This inscription is of a special kind known as
a prashasti, a Sanskrit word, meaning ‘in praise
of’. While prashastis were composed for some of
the rulers you read about in Chapter 8, such as
Gautamiputra Shri Satakarni, they became far
more important from the time of the Guptas.

Samudragupta’s prashasti
Let us see what Samudragupta’s prashasti tells us.
The poet praised the king in glowing terms — as
a warrior, as a king who won victories in battle,
who was learned and the best of poets. He is also
described as equal to the gods. The prashasti was
composed in very long sentences. Here is a part of
one such sentence:
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