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Vikramaditya and the Nine Jewels
Samudragupta's son was Chandragupta the Second, who took the proud title Vikramaditya. He ruled from about 375 CE, won new lands in the west, and made his court a gathering-place for poets and scholars. Tradition remembers nine great minds at his court, the navaratnas, the nine jewels. The list is a fond memory more than a firm record, but the brightness it points to was real.
We come now to the king under whom the Gupta age shone brightest. He was Samudragupta's son, and he is called . He ruled from about 375 CE.
Like his grandfather, he took a grand title. He called himself , which means something close to "sun of valour." It is a name that many later kings would borrow, hoping to share its glow.
He was a capable ruler in war. He defeated the foreign rulers who had long held the western coast, and so the empire now reached the western sea, and its rich harbours and sea-trade. He is often tied, too, to the old city of Ujjain, a famous seat of learning and of star-watchers, which seems to have been dear to him.
Yet it is not mainly for his battles that we remember Chandragupta the Second. It is for the light of his court. Under his care, poetry and the sciences flowered as seldom before or since in that land. A king cannot write the poems or chart the stars himself; but a wise king can make a place where such work is honoured and fed. That is what he did.
Tradition gathers all that glory into a lovely picture. It speaks of the navaratnas, the "nine jewels" of his court: nine dazzling minds said to gather around him. Among them are named the great poet Kalidasa, whom we will soon meet, and learned men of the stars and of language.
Here a careful teacher must add a gentle truth. This list of nine jewels is a later, loving memory, not a firm record from the king's own day. It is unlikely that all nine truly stood together in one hall at one time. So hold the number lightly. But do not doubt the brightness it points to. That was real, and we will see it for ourselves in the chapters just ahead, in a poet's lines and a stargazer's bold idea.
So this reign, around the year 400 CE, is the heart of what later ages would name a golden age. We have met the kings now. Next we must ask, gently and honestly, what that bright phrase truly means, and for whom the gold was meant.
Chandragupta the Second is best remembered not for what he made with his own hands, but for the room he made where others could create. Who in your life has quietly made room for you to grow or to do your best work? What does it take to be that kind of person?
The empire that Samudragupta widened now came to its most luminous king. His son was Chandragupta the Second, and he took for himself a ringing title, Vikramaditya, which means something like "sun of valour." He ruled from about 375 CE. He was a strong king who pushed the empire to the western sea by defeating the foreign rulers who had long held that coast, and he is often linked with the old city of Ujjain, a centre of learning and trade. But it is not chiefly for his wars that he is remembered. It is for the splendour of his court. Under his care the arts and the sciences flourished as rarely before. Later tradition gathers the glory of his reign into a charming image: the navaratnas, the nine jewels, nine brilliant minds said to grace his court, among them the great poet Kalidasa and learned men of the stars and of words. We should be honest that this nine-jewel list is a later, fond memory, and probably not a roll of men who all truly stood in one hall at one time. But the brightness it gestures toward was no legend. This reign is the heart of what later ages would call the golden age, and its poets and stargazers fill the chapters just ahead.
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