Question

Who was the court poet responsible for composing the Sanskrit inscription of Samudragupta on the Allahabad Pillar?

• A. Kalidasa
• B. Banabhatta
• C. Harishena
• D. Vishakhadatta

Answer 1

Answer:

C. Harishena

Samudragupta’s Inscriptions A later inscription by Samudragupta on the pillar is regarded as the most significant historical record of the classical Gupta age. Written in refined Sanskrit by his court poet Harishena, it details Samudragupta’s military campaigns, political achievements, and his invasion of South India. Jahangir’s Inscriptions The pillar also bears an inscription from Mughal emperor Jahangir, engraved by his favored calligrapher, Mir Abdullah Mushkin Qalam, in Persian. This inscription overwrites parts of the much older Ashokan text.