from the 26th of February, A.D. 320. Chandragupta was succeeded by Samudragupta (c. A.D. 326–375), one of the greatest of Indian kings, who conquered nearly the whole of India, and whose alliances extended from the Oxus to Ceylon; but his name was at one time entirely lost to history, and has only been recovered of recent years from coins and inscriptions. His empire rivalled that of Asoka, extending from the Hugli on the east to the Jumna and Chambal on the west, and from the foot of the Himalayas on the north to the Nerbudda on the south. His son Chandragupta II. (c. A.D. 375–413) was also known as Vikra-Maditya (q.v.), and seems to have been the original of the mythical Hindu king of that name. About 388 he conquered the Saka satrap of Surashtra (Kathiawar) and penetrated to the Arabian Sea. His administration is described in the work of Fa-hien, the earliest Chinese pilgrim, who visited India in A.D. 405–411. Pataliputra was the capital of the dynasty, but Ajodhya seems to have been sometimes used by both Samudragupta and Chandragupta II. as the headquarters of government. The Gupta dynasty appears to have fostered a revival of Brahmanism at the expense of Buddhism, and to have given an impulse to art and literature. The golden age of the empire lasted from A.D. 330 to 455, beginning to decline after the latter date. When Skandagupta came to the throne in 455, India was threatened with an irruption of the White Huns, on whom he inflicted a severe defeat, thus saving his kingdom for a time; but about 470 the White Huns (see Ephthalites) returned to the attack, and the empire was gradually destroyed by their repeated inroads. When Skandagupta died about 480, the Gupta empire came to an end, but the dynasty continued to rule in the eastern provinces for several generations. The last known prince of the imperial line of Guptas was Kamaragupta II. (c. 535), after whom it passed “by an obscure transition” into a dynasty of eleven Gupta princes, known as “the later Guptas of Magadha,” who seem for the most part to have been merely local rulers of Magadha. One of them, however, Adityasena, after the death of the paramount sovereign in 648, asserted his independence. The last known Gupta king was Jivitagupta II., who reigned early in the 8th century. About the middle of the century Magadha passed under the sway of the Pal kings of Bengal.
See J. F. Fleet, Gupta Inscriptions (1888); and Vincent A. Smith, The Early History of India (2nd ed., Oxford, 1908), pp. 264-295.
GURA, EUGEN (1842–1906), German singer, was born near
Saatz in Bohemia, and educated at first for the career of a painter
at Vienna and Munich; but later, developing a fine baritone
voice, he took up singing and studied it at the Munich Conservatorium.
In 1865 he made his début at the Munich opera, and in
the following years he gained the highest reputation in Germany,
being engaged principally at Leipzig till 1876 and then at Hamburg
till 1883. He sang in 1876 in the Ring at Bayreuth, and was
famous for his Wagnerian rôles; and his Hans Sachs in Meistersinger,
as performed in London in 1882, was magnificent. In
later years he showed the perfection of art in his singing of German
Lieder. He died in Bavaria on the 26th of August 1906.
GURDASPUR, a town and district of British India, in the
Lahore division of the Punjab. The town had a population
in 1901 of 5764. It has a fort (now containing a Brahman
monastery) which was famous for the siege it sustained in 1712
from the Moguls. The Sikh leader, Banda, was only reduced by
starvation, when he and his men were tortured to death after
capitulating.
The District comprises an area of 1889 sq. m. It is bounded on the N. by the native states of Kashmir and Chamba, on the E. by Kangra district and the river Beas, on the S.W. by Amritsar district, and on the W. by Sialkot, and occupies the submontane portion of the Bari Doab, or tract between the Beas and the Ravi. An intrusive spur of the British dominions runs northward into the lower Himalayan ranges, to include the mountain sanatorium of Dalhousie, 7687 ft. above sea-level. This station, which has a large fluctuating population during the warmer months, crowns the most westerly shoulder of a magnificent snowy range, the Dhaoladhar, between which and the plain two minor ranges intervene. Below the hills stretches a picturesque and undulating plateau covered with abundant timber, made green by a copious rainfall, and watered by the streams of the Bari Doab, which, diverted by dams and embankments, now empty their waters into the Beas directly, in order that their channels may not interfere with the Bari Doab canal. The district contains several large jhils or swampy lakes, and is famous for its snipe-shooting. It is historically important in connexion with the rise of the Sikh confederacy. The whole of the Punjab was then distributed among the Sikh chiefs who triumphed over the imperial governors. In the course of a few years, however, the maharaja Ranjit Singh acquired all the territory which those chiefs had held. Pathankot and the neighbouring villages in the plain, together with the whole hill portion of the district, formed part of the area ceded by the Sikhs to the British after the first Sikh war in 1846. In 1862, after receiving one or two additions, the district was brought into its present shape. In 1901 the population was 940,334, showing a slight decrease, compared with an increase of 15% in the previous decade. A branch of the North-Western railway runs through the district. The largest town and chief commercial centre is Batala. There are important woollen mills at Dhariwal, and besides their products the district exports cotton, sugar, grain and oil-seeds.
GURGAON, a town and district of British India, in the Delhi
division of the Punjab. The town (pop. in 1901, 4765) is the
headquarters of the district, but is otherwise unimportant. The
district has an area of 1984 sq. m. It is bounded on the N. by
Rohtak, on the W. and S.W. by portions of the Alwar, Nabha
and Jind native states, on the S. by the Muttra district of the
United Provinces, on the E. by the river Jumna and on the N.E.
by Delhi. It comprises the southernmost corner of the Punjab
province, stretching away from the level plain towards the hills
of Rajputana. Two low rocky ranges enter its borders from the
south and run northward in a bare and unshaded mass toward
the plain country. East of the western ridge the valley is wide
and open, extending to the banks of the Jumna. To the west
lies the subdivision of Rewari, consisting of a sandy plain dotted
with isolated hills. Numerous torrents carry off the drainage
from the upland ranges, and the most important among them
empty themselves at last into the Najafgarh jhil. This swampy
lake lies to the east of the civil station of Gurgaon, and stretches
long arms into the neighbouring districts of Delhi and Rohtak.
Salt is manufactured in wells at several villages. The mineral
products are iron ore, copper ore, plumbago and ochre.
In 1803 Gurgaon district passed into the hands of the British after Lord Lake’s conquests. On the outbreak of the Mutiny in May 1857, the nawab of Farukhnagar, the principal feudatory of the district, rose in rebellion. The Meos and many Rajput families followed his example. A faithful native officer preserved the public buildings and records at Rewari from destruction; but with this exception, British authority became extinguished for a time throughout Gurgaon. After the fall of the rebel capital, a force marched into the district and either captured or dispersed the leaders of rebellion. The territory of the nawab was confiscated on account of his participation in the Mutiny. Civil administration was resumed under orders from the Punjab government, to which province the district was formally annexed on the final pacification of the country. The population in 1901 was 746,208, showing an increase of 11% in the decade. The largest town and chief trade centre is Rewari. The district is now traversed by several lines of railway, and irrigation is provided by the Agra canal. The chief trade is in cereals, but hardware is also exported.
GURKHA (pronounced góorka; from Sans. gāu, a cow, and
raks, to protect), the ruling Hindu race in Nepal (q.v.). The
Gurkhas, or Gurkhalis, claim descent from the rajas of Chitor in
Rajputana. When driven out of their own country by the
Mahommedan invasion, they took refuge in the hilly districts
about Kumaon, whence they gradually invaded the country to
the eastward as far as Gurkha, Noakote and ultimately to the
valley of Nepal and even Sikkim. They were stopped by the
English in an attempt to push south, and the treaty of Segauli,
