Gupta Empire

Gupta Empire
c. 240 CE–c. 579 CE[1]
Map of the Gupta Empire c. 420 CE, according to Joseph E. Schwartzberg, with contemporary polities[2]
StatusEmpire
CapitalPrayaga[3]
Pataliputra[citation needed]
Ujjain[citation needed]
Ayodhya[4][5]
Common languagesSanskrit (literary and academic); Prakrit (vernacular)
Religion
Demonym(s)Indian
GovernmentMonarchy
Maharajadhiraja 
• c. 240 – c. 280
Gupta (first)
• c. 540 – c. 550
Vishnugupta (last)
Historical eraClassical India
• Established
c. 240 CE
• Coronation of Chandragupta I
26 February 320[7]
• Disestablished
c. 579 CE[1]
Area
400 est.[8]
(high-end estimate of peak area)		3,500,000 km2 (1,400,000 sq mi)
440 est.[9]
(low-end estimate of peak area)		1,700,000 km2 (660,000 sq mi)
Population
• 5th century
75,000,000[10]
CurrencyDinara (Gold Coins)
Rupaka (Silver Coins)
Karshapana (Copper Coins)
Cowries
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Principality of Pataliputra
Western Satraps
Nagas of Padmavati
Mahameghavahana dynasty
Murunda dynasty
Later Guptas
Kingdom of Valabhi
Kingdom of Thanesar
Kingdom of Kannauj
Gurjara kingdoms

The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire on the Indian subcontinent which existed from the mid 3rd century CE to mid 6th century CE. It was the seventh ruling dynasty of Magadha. At its zenith, from approximately 319 to 467 CE, it covered much of the Indian subcontinent.[11] This period has been considered as the Golden Age of India by historians,[12] although this characterisation has been disputed by some other historians.[note 1][note 2][15] The ruling dynasty of the empire was founded by Gupta and the most notable rulers of the dynasty were Chandragupta I, Samudragupta, Chandragupta II, Kumaragupta I and Skandagupta.

The high points of this period are the great cultural developments which took place primarily during the reigns of Samudragupta, Chandragupta II and Kumaragupta I. Many Hindu epics and literary sources, such as Mahabharata and Ramayana, were canonised during this period.[16] The Gupta period produced scholars such as Kalidasa,[17] Aryabhata, Varahamihira and Vatsyayana, who made great advancements in many academic fields.[18][19][20] Science and political administration reached new heights during the Gupta era.[19] The period, sometimes described as Pax Gupta, gave rise to achievements in architecture, sculpture, and painting that "set standards of form and taste [that] determined the whole subsequent course of art, not only in India but far beyond her borders".[21] Strong trade ties also made the region an important cultural centre and established the region as a base that would influence nearby kingdoms and regions in India and Southeast Asia.[22][unreliable source?] The Puranas, earlier long poems on a variety of subjects, are also thought to have been committed to written texts around this period.[21][23] Hinduism was followed by the rulers and the Brahmins flourished in the Gupta empire but the Guptas were tolerant towards people of other faiths as well.[24]

The empire eventually died out because of factors such as substantial loss of territory and imperial authority caused by their own erstwhile feudatories, as well as the invasion by the Huna peoples (Kidarites and Alchon Huns) from Central Asia.[25][26] After the collapse of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century, India was again ruled by numerous regional kingdoms.

  1. ^ Goyal, SR. History of the imperial Guptas. p. 367.
  2. ^ Schwartzberg, Joseph E. (1978). A Historical atlas of South Asia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 145, map XIV.1 (j); p.25. ISBN 0226742210. Archived from the original on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  3. ^ History Of The Imperial Guptas. pp. 210–213.
  4. ^ Bakker, Hans (1984), Ayodhya, Part 1: The History of Ayodhya from the seventh century BC to the middle of the 18th century, Groningen: Egbert Forsten, p. 12, ISBN 90-6980-007-1
  5. ^ * Hans T. Bakker (1982). "The rise of Ayodhya as a place of pilgrimage". Indo-Iranian Journal. 24 (2): 105. doi:10.1163/000000082790081267. S2CID 161957449. During the reign of either the emperor Kumāragupta or, more probably, that of his successor Skandagupta (AD 455–467), the capital of the empire was moved from Pāțaliputra to Ayodhyā...
  6. ^ pg.17 : Gupta Empire at its height (5th-6th centuries) connected with the development of Mahayana Buddhism with the development of Tantric Buddhism.Ganeri, Anita (2007). Buddhism. Internet Archive. London : Franklin Watts. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-7496-6979-9.
  7. ^ Smith, Vincent A. "Chapter 11 – The Gupta Empire and the Western Satraps: Chandragupta I to Kumaragupta I". The Public's Library and Digital Archive. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
  8. ^ Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical Empires". Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 223. doi:10.5195/JWSR.2006.369. ISSN 1076-156X.
  9. ^ Taagepera, Rein (1979). "Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D". Social Science History. 3 (3/4): 121. doi:10.2307/1170959. JSTOR 1170959.
  10. ^ Angus Maddison (2001). "Growth of World Population, GDP and GDP Per Capita before 1820". p. 238.
  11. ^ Gupta Dynasty – MSN Encarta. Archived from the original on 29 October 2009.
  12. ^ N. Jayapalan, History of India, Vol. I, (Atlantic Publishers, 2001), 130.
  13. ^ Jha, D.N. (2002). Ancient India in Historical Outline. Delhi: Manohar Publishers and Distributors. pp. 149–73. ISBN 978-81-7304-285-0.
  14. ^ Pletcher 2011, p. 90.
  15. ^ Stein 2010, p. 86-87.
  16. ^ Gupta dynasty (Indian dynasty) Archived 30 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  17. ^ Keay, John (2000). India: A history. Atlantic Monthly Press. pp. 151–52. ISBN 978-0-87113-800-2. Kalidasa wrote ... with excellence which, by unanimous consent, justifies the inevitable comparisons with Shakespeare ... When and where Kalidasa lived remains a mystery. He acknowledges no links with the Guptas; he may not even have coincided with them ... but the poet's vivid awareness of the terrain of the entire subcontinent argues strongly for a Guptan provenance.
  18. ^ Vidya Dhar Mahajan 1990, p. 540.
  19. ^ a b Keay, John (2000). India: A history. Atlantic Monthly Press. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-87113-800-2. The great era of all that is deemed classical in Indian literature, art and science was now dawning. It was this crescendo of creativity and scholarship, as much as ... political achievements of the Guptas, which would make their age so golden.
  20. ^ Gupta dynasty: empire in 4th century Archived 30 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  21. ^ a b J.C. Harle 1994, p. 87.
  22. ^ Trade | The Story of India – Photo Gallery Archived 28 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine. PBS. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  23. ^ Dikshitar, V. R. Ramachandra (1993). The Gupta Polity. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. ISBN 978-81-208-1024-2. Archived from the original on 2 August 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  24. ^ Nath sen, Sailendra (1999). Ancient Indian History and Civilization. Routledge. p. 227. ISBN 9788122411980. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  25. ^ Ashvini Agrawal 1989, pp. 264–69.
  26. ^ Grousset, Rene (1970). The Empire of the Steppes. Rutgers University Press. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-8135-1304-1.


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