According to Chinese source, Meghavarman, the ruler of Sri Lanka, sent a missionary to which of the following Gupta Kings for permission to build a Buddhist temple at Gaya?

The correct answer is Samudragupta.

Key Points

• Meghavarman sent a missionary to Samudragupta for permission to build a Buddhist temple at Gaya.
• Samudragupta granted permission to Buddhist king of Ceylon Meghavarman to build a monastery at Bodh Gaya.

Additional Information

• The Gupta kingdom was enlarged enormously by Chandragupta's son and successor Samudragupta (A.D. 335-380).
• He was the opposite of Ashoka. Ashoka believed in a policy of peace and non-aggression, but Samudragupta delighted in violence and conquest.
• His court poet Harishena wrote a glowing account of the military exploits of his patron.
• In a long inscription the poet enumerates the peoples and countries that were conquered of Samudragupta. The inscription is engraved at Allahabad on the same pillar which carries the inscriptions of the peace-loving Ashoka.
• The places and the countries conquered by Samudragupta can be divided into five groups.
• Group one includes princes of the Ganga-Yamuna doab who were defeated and whose kingdoms were incorporated into the Gupta Empire.
• Group two includes the rulers of the eastern Himalayan states and some frontier states such as princes of Nepal, Assam, Bengal etc., who were made to feel the weight of Samudragupta's arms. It also covers some republics of Punjab.
• The republics, which flickered on the ruins of the Maurya empire, were finally destroyed by Samudragupta.                                
• Group three includes the forest kingdoms situated in the Vindhya region and known as Atavika rajyas; they were brought under the control of Samudragupta.
• Group four includes twelve rulers of the eastern Deccan and south India, who were conquered and liberated.
• Samudragupta's arms reached as far as Kanchi in Tamil were compelled to recognize his suzerainty.
• Group five includes the names of the Shakes and Kushans, some of them ruling in Afghanistan. It is said that Samudragupta swept them out of power and received the submission of the rulers of distant lands.
• The prestige and influence of Samudragupta spread even outside India.
• If we believe the eulogistic inscription from Allahabad, it would appear that Samudragupta never knew any defeat, and because of his bravery and generalship he is called the Napoleon of India.