The earliest description of him occurs in his grandson Samudragupta's Allahabad Pillar inscription, and is repeated verbatim in several later records of the dynasty.

[2] Earlier scholars attributed a gold coin and a clay seal to him, but these are now unanimously assigned to Ghatotkacha-gupta, who was a son or a younger brother of the 5th century Gupta ruler Kumaragupta I.

[3] Modern historians date the beginning of the Gupta calendar era to 318-319 CE.

This era probably marks the ascension of Chandragupta I to the Gupta throne, which means that Ghatotkacha's reign ended around this time.

However, there are several instances of paramount sovereigns using the title Maharaja, in both pre-Gupta and post-Gupta periods, so this cannot be said with certainty.