page_title: Chandragupta II
section_title: Other military victories
hierarchical_section_title: Chandragupta II / Military career / Other military victories
caption_attribution_description: English: The iron pillar in the Qutb complex near Delhi, India.
context_page_description: Chandragupta II, also known by his title Vikramaditya, was one of the most powerful emperors of the Gupta Empire in northern India.
  Chandragupta continued the expansionist policy of his father Samudragupta: historical evidence suggests that he defeated the Western Kshatrapas, and extended the Gupta empire from the Indus River in the west to the Bengal region in the east, and from the Himalayan foothills in the north to the Narmada River in the south. His daughter Prabhavatigupta was a queen of the southern Vakataka kingdom, and he may have had influence in the Vakataka territory during her regency.
  The Gupta empire reached its zenith during the rule of Chandragupta. Chinese pilgrim Faxian, who visited India during his reign, suggests that he ruled over a peaceful and prosperous kingdom. The legendary figure of Vikramaditya is probably based on Chandragupta II, and the noted Sanskrit poet Kalidasa may have been his court poet.
context_section_description: The iron pillar of Delhi contains an inscription of a king called "Chandra". Modern scholars generally identify this king with Chandragupta II, although this cannot be said with complete certainty.
  While alternative identifications have been proposed, there is strong evidence for identifying Chandra of the iron pillar inscription as Chandragupta II:
  Chandragupta's coins refer to him as "Chandra".
  According to the iron pillar inscription, Chandra was a devotee of Vishnu. Chandragupta was also a Vaishnavite, and is described as a Bhagvata (devotee of Vishnu) in the Gupta records.
  The iron pillar is said to have been set up by king Chandra in honour of Vishnu, on a hill named Vishnu-pada, but the king seems to have died shortly before the inscription was engraved, as the inscription states that "the king has quit the earth and gone to the other world". A similar Vishnu-dhvaja (flagpole in honour of Vishnu) was set up the Gupta emperor Skandagupta (a grandson of Chandragupta) after the death of his father Kumaragupta I.
  According to his Udayagiri inscription, Chandragupta went on a digvijaya ("conquest of all quarters") campaign. He is known to have been a powerful sovereign emperor, and this fits in well with the iron pillar inscription's description of king Chandra as someone who "attained sole supreme sovereignty in the world acquired by his own arm and (enjoyed) for a very long time".
  The iron pillar inscription states that the southern ocean is "perfumed by the breezes" of Chandra's prowess. This may be a reference to Chandragupta's extension of the Gupta rule to the Arabian Sea after his conquest of the Western Kshatrapa territory. Arabian Sea was located to the south of the Gupta empire, and thus, the term "southern ocean" is applicable to it in this context.
  The iron pillar inscription states that "his name was Chandra and he was holding the glory of a full moon on his face". This is reminiscent of his descendant Skandagupta's Mandasaur inscription, which describes Chandragupta as "a moon in the galaxy of Gupta kings with the famous name Chandragupta".
  The iron pillar inscription credits Chandra with the following victories:
  Defeated an alliance of enemies in the Vanga country
  Crossed the "seven faces" of the river Sindhu (Indus) during a war, and defeated the Vahlikas.
caption: The iron pillar of Delhi, which features an inscription of king Chandra, identified as Chandragupta II
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