The Allahabad Pillar Inscription, also known as the Prayag Prashasti, was composed by which court poet?

The correct answer is B, Harishena. Harishena was the court poet and a high officer of Samudragupta, and he composed the Prayag Prashasti in ornate Sanskrit, partly in verse and partly in prose. The inscription is engraved on a pillar that already carried edicts of Ashoka, so the same stone preserves records separated by about six hundred years. It is the single most important source for Samudragupta's campaigns.

Option A, Kalidasa, was the greatest Sanskrit poet and dramatist of the age and is linked by tradition to the court of Chandragupta II, but he wrote no inscription. Option C, Banabhatta, belongs to the seventh century and was the court poet of Harshavardhana, for whom he wrote the Harshacharita; candidates often confuse Harishena with Harsha's poet because of the similar names. Option D, Vishakhadatta, wrote the plays Mudrarakshasa and Devichandraguptam.