Editing Ramagupta (section)

== Sources ==

Ramagupta's name does not appear in the official records of the Gupta dynasty.{{sfn|Ashvini Agrawal|1989|p=157}} According to the official Gupta genealogy, [[Samudragupta]]'s successor was [[Chandragupta II]], whose queen was [[Dhruvadevi]].{{sfn|R. C. Majumdar|1981|p=46}} It is possible that the records of Ramagupta's successors omit his name from genealogical lists because he was not their ancestor.{{sfn|Ashvini Agrawal|1989|p=157}}

Ramagupta is mentioned in the Sanskrit-language play ''Devichandraguptam''. The original text of the play is now [[Lost literary work|lost]], but its extracts survive in other works.{{sfn|Ashvini Agrawal|1989|pp=153-154}}  Several later literary and epigraphic sources corroborate the narrative of ''Devichandraguptam'', although they do not mention Ramagupta by name (see {{see section|Devichandraguptam|Historicity}}).{{sfn|R. C. Majumdar|1981|p=48}}{{sfn|Tej Ram Sharma|1989|pp=116-122}}

After the extracts of ''Devichandraguptam'' were first discovered by [[Sylvain Levi]] and R. Saraswati in 1923, Ramagupta's historicity became a matter of debate among historians. Some scholars, including Levi, dismissed ''Devichandraguptam'' as unreliable for the purposes of history.{{sfn|Tej Ram Sharma|1989|p=106}} Others, such as RD Banerji and [[Henry Heras]] argued that the additional literary evidence was too strong to dismiss Ramagupta as a fictional character, and hoped that his existence would be proved by discovery of his coins in future.{{sfn|Tej Ram Sharma|1989|p=106}}{{sfn|Ashvini Agrawal|1989|p=154}} Subsequently, some scholars such as K. D. Bajpai attributed a few copper coins discovered in central India to Ramagupta, but others, such as [[D. C. Sircar]] disputed this attribution (see [[#Coinage|Coinage]]) below.{{sfn|D.C. Sircar|2008|pp=227-228}} Later, three [[Jainism|Jain]] statue inscriptions referring to ''[[Maharajadhiraja]]'' Ramagupta were discovered at Durjanpur, and have been cited as proof for the existence of the king mentioned in the ''Devichandraguptam'' (see [[#Inscriptions|Inscriptions]] below).{{sfn|Ashvini Agrawal|1989|p=158}}