To show how kingship was enacted and materialised in specific contexts within the ‘Gupta Ecumene’, writ large, this article presents a detailed analysis of two sites that served as centres for political performance, devotional practice, and artistic production between the fourth and the sixth century CE: Eran and Sondhni in the Indian heartland of Madhya Pradesh. Eran is commonly held to be a key site for the study of Gupta art and architecture and holds several important inscriptions from the beginning to the end of the Gupta period, including one issued by Samudragupta. Sondhni is marked by two inscribed columns of Yaśodharman, a former Gupta subordinate who challenged the imperial rulers using metaphors borrowed from Samudragupta’s Allahabad Pillar Inscription. Examining these two sites in dialogue presents an opportunity to identify a shared cultural realm in which local polities participated and developed a transregional ‘Gupta’ political discourse. This study normalises a Gupta-centred imperial history and, in doing so, participates in a wider departure from dynastic history by emphasising the ways in which localised polities and rulers negotiated the political idioms of their day, challenged them, and created spaces for innovation.

为了展示王权在特定背景下如何在“古塔·艾普琳娜”（Gupta Ecumene）中被制定和实现，本文对这两个地点进行了详细的分析，这两个地点在第四和第六之间是政治表演，奉献实践和艺术创作的中心世纪CE：印度中央邦的Eran和Sondhni。Eran通常被认为是研究古普塔艺术和建筑的重要地点，并且从古普塔时代的开始到结束都拥有数个重要的铭文，其中包括萨穆德拉古普塔（Samudragupta）所发行的铭文。桑尼（Sondhni）的前两任题为雅古达（Yupodharman）的刻有铭文的柱子，他是古塔（Gupta）的下属，他利用从萨穆德拉古塔（Alludabaupta）的阿拉哈巴德（Allahabad Pillar）铭文中借来的隐喻来挑战帝国统治者。在对话中检查这两个地点提供了一个机会，可以确定一个共同的文化领域，地方政治参与其中，并发展了跨地区的“古普塔”政治言论。这项研究规范了以古普塔（Gupta）为中心的帝国史，并通过强调地方政体和统治者如何协商当时的政治习俗，向他们挑战并为创新创造了空间，从而参与了更远离朝代的历史。