Introduction
Ramagupta was the elder son of Samudragupta; unlike most Gupta rulers, his reign is known chiefly not from his own inscriptions but from the Sanskrit drama Devichandraguptam, which survives only in fragments and later references.
Family
- Father: Samudragupta
- Mother: Dattadevi
- Spouse: Dhruvadevi (divorced)
- Siblings: Chandragupta II
The Devichandraguptam Tradition
This dramatic tradition holds that Ramagupta, besieged by a Shaka king, agreed to surrender his queen Dhruvadevi in place of paying tribute. His younger brother Chandragupta reportedly went to the enemy camp disguised as the queen and killed the Shaka king instead, later killing Ramagupta himself and marrying Dhruvadevi, becoming Chandragupta II. Historians remain divided on how much of this dramatic narrative reflects genuine historical events, since it survives only in fragments and much later references rather than a complete contemporary text — this record presents it as a disputed tradition rather than settled history.
This article records the Gupta Empire (c. 3rd-6th century CE) as historical genealogy reconstructed mainly from inscriptions, coinage and later literary references; several later successions and family relationships remain genuinely disputed among historians, and this account follows the most widely accepted reconstruction while flagging specific points of uncertainty.