Skandagupta's reign opened under immediate military crisis — the Huna invasions of the 450s struck the northwestern frontier hard enough that early court inscriptions record the treasury being stretched to fund campaigns. His silver drachms, struck at reduced weight from the earlier Gupta standard, are a direct material record of that fiscal pressure. The type is notably short-lived, confined to roughly a decade before Skandagupta's death around 467 CE ended his line of succession and left the empire fragmenting among rival claimants.
Skandagupta's reign opened under immediate military crisis — the Huna invasions of the 450s struck the northwestern frontier hard enough that early court inscriptions record the treasury being stretched to fund campaigns. His silver drachms, struck at reduced weight from the earlier Gupta standard, are a direct material record of that fiscal pressure. The type is notably short-lived, confined to roughly a decade before Skandagupta's death around 467 CE ended his line of succession and left the empire fragmenting among rival claimants.