About the last days of Mahasengupt, who was the father of Devagupt
Not much known about Mahasengupt’s death, B.P. Sinha concludes on the basis of the article Abhona, That the Kalachuri King Shankaragana attacked Mahasengupta in Kalchuri Samvat 347 i.e. 595 CE and captured Malwa.
Mahasengupta was possibly killed while fighting in this war. But Kalchuri rule over Malwa was not permanent. Buddharaj, the successor of Shankaragana, was defeated by the Chalukya king Manglesh, due to which the ambition of Kalchuris was destroyed.
Devgupt
The days Kalchuri was involved in conflict with the Chalukyas, Devagupt established his independent kingdom in Malwa. In this way, Kumaragupt and Madhavagupt were deprived of obtaining the kingdom of Malwa and their condition became extremely pathetic.
Devagupt is mentioned in the articles of Madhuban and Bansakhela. Devgupt was the eldest son of Mahasengupt, who was born to his first wife. Mahasengupt also had two younger sons Kumaragupt and Madhavagupt. Both these sons were born to Mahasengupt’s second wife. Being a step-brother, Devgupt was jealous of both of them.
Taking advantage of the old age of Mahasengupt, Devgupt wanted to seize the kingdom of Malwa. It seems that Mahasengupt sent him to Prabhakarvardhan for the protection of his two sons. As soon as Mahasengupt died, Devagupt took control of Malwa.
Devagupt thus naturally became the enemy of the Vardhans. To strengthen his position, Devgupt befriended the great King Shashank. Before Prabhakarvardhan could punish him, he himself died and the path of Devagupt became clear. He attacked the Maukhari kingdom of Kannauj with the help of Shashank. Grahavarma was assassinated and Rajshree was thrown into the prison of Kannauj like Chaurangana.
In this way, Devagupt captured Kannauj. But his success was momentary. Rajvardhana, the eldest son of Prabhakarvardhan, attacked him with a large army and killed him.
Reference : https://www.indiaolddays.com
