Sashanka ruled Gauda — roughly modern Bengal and parts of Odisha — as the first historically documented independent king of that region, and is notorious in Buddhist sources as the ruler who allegedly uprooted the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya and ordered the destruction of Buddhist monuments. His hostility toward Buddhism is reported by the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, who passed through the subcontinent during roughly this same period. The debased gold reflects the broader degradation of the Gupta monetary tradition by the early seventh century, as regional successors stripped down both the metal standard and the artistic conventions they inherited.
Sashanka ruled Gauda — roughly modern Bengal and parts of Odisha — as the first historically documented independent king of that region, and is notorious in Buddhist sources as the ruler who allegedly uprooted the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya and ordered the destruction of Buddhist monuments. His hostility toward Buddhism is reported by the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang, who passed through the subcontinent during roughly this same period. The debased gold reflects the broader degradation of the Gupta monetary tradition by the early seventh century, as regional successors stripped down both the metal standard and the artistic conventions they inherited.