Gupta Age

HISTORY

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Gupta Dynasty

Origin of Guptas

 The Gupta Empire rose to unmistakable quality in 320 AD and spread to huge parts
of northern India, focal and little pieces of southern India.

 The organizer of the Gupta administration is Sri Gupta.

 The first homeland of the Guptas isn't known without a doubt. In any case, they may
have started from Bengal. A few researchers think they are from Prayaga
(Allahabad in UP).

 They are believed to be either Brahmins or Vaishyas

 Proof on the origin of the Gupta administration is restricted. The Gupta rulers appear
to have ascended from the humble inceptions.

 Chandragupta I, who was the third leader of the Gupta Dynasty wedded
Kumaradevi, a Lichchavi princess.

 The marriage is referenced in the records of his replacements with satisfaction

demonstrating that this would have helped to the rise of Guptas.

 Lichchavi was an old, built up gana-sangha and its region lay between the Ganges
and the Nepal Terai.

 As per Allahabad column engraving Samudragupta, the distinguished child of

Chandragupta I, had conquered the entire prolific fields west of Prayag to Mathura
and propelled a fabulous strike through Kalinga into the south to the extent
Kanchipuram, the Pallava capital.

 The Puranas notice Magadha, Allahabad and Oudh as the Gupta domains.

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Timeline

240 - 280 AD Sri Gupta (Founder)

Ghatotkacha 280 - 319 AD

319 - 335 AD Chandra Gupta - I

Samundra Gupta 335 - 380 AD

380 - 414 AD Chandra Gupta - II

Kumara Gupta 414 - 455 AD

455 - 467 AD Skanda Gupta

Decline of Gupta Dynasty 467 - 469 AD

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Important Kings of Gupta Dynasty

Chandra Gupta - I (320-335 AD)

 Chandra Gupta was First Independent Ruler of Gupta's dynasty.

 He was most remarkable ruler and accepted the title of "Maharajadhiraj".

 Chandra Gupta started “Gupta Era” in 319 AD.

 He was married to Lichchhavi princes Kumara Devi and introduced new gold coin
famous as a "King and Queen" type of coin.

Samudra Gupta (335 - 380 AD)

 His wife was - Datta Devi.

 He called himself as "Lichchhavi Duhitra" (daughter's son of the Lichchhavi's).

 He has been known as the "Indian Napoleon" by V.A.Smith

 He was first ruler who attacked South India (Commander Veersena).

 The “Prayaga - Prasasti” (Allahabad Pillar) composed by Harisena, his court poet,
the inscription is in very simple and polished Sanskrit and is in Champu Kavya
Style.

 He was first Gupta king, who performed Ashvamedha- Sacrifice and except the title
of “Ashvamedha - Parakrama”.

 He was an extraordinary supporter of art, received the title of "Kaviraj".

 He is depicted in his coins Playing "Veena”.

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Chandra Gupta - II (380 - 414 AD)

 His another name was – Dev Raj or Dev Gupta (in Mahruli Iron pillar, Delhi)

 Chandra Gupta had two wives -

(1) Dhruva Devi – Mother of Kumar Gupta - I
(2) Kubera Naga – Mother of Prabhavati

 Prabhavati married to the Vakataka crown - prince Rudra Sena II.

 The conquest of the Saka’s is the most important significant event of his reign.

 He killed the Saka chief Rudra Sena III and annexed his kingdom.

 After this Chandra Gupta Il adopted the title of "Vikramaditya".

 Chandra Gupta Il made Ujjain his second capital city.

 He was follower of Vaishnava religion (Madhvacharya) and adopt the title of "Param
- Bhagavata".

 Chinese traveler "Fa - Hien" (Fo-Ko-Ki) had visited India during the time of Chandra
Gupta II.

 Court Physician – Dhanvantri.

 Court Poet – Kalidasa.

 He was known as "Indian Shakespeare".

Points to Remember
Chinese visitors came to ancient india
 Fa Hsien (399AD)
 Sung Yun (518AD)
 Hsuan Tsang (630AD)
 I Tsing (End of 7th century)

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Kumara Gupta - II (380 - 414 AD)

 He adopted the title of "Mahendraditya”.

 Kumar Gupta was second Gupta king who performed “Ashvamedha Sacrifice”.

 Nalanda University was established by Kumar Gupta.

Skanda Gupta - II (455 - 467 AD)

 He was faced invading Hunas, from the northwest.

 Hunas was defeated by Skanda Gupta.

 He assumed the title of kramaditya.

 He was succeeded by Puru Gupta (468 – 473 A.D).

 Last king of this dynasty was Vishnu Gupta.

Administrative system of Guptas

The Kings
 During the Gupta age, political chains of command can be distinguished by the
titles embraced.

 Kings accepted titles, for example, maharajadhiraja, parama-bhattaraka and

parameshvara.

 They were additionally associated with divine beings through designations, for
example, parama-daivata (the principal admirer of the divine beings) and parama-
bhagavata (the premier admirer of Vasudeva Krishna).

 A few antiquarians have recommended that the Gupta Kings asserted awesome
status. For instance, Samudragupta is contrasted with Purusha (Supreme Being) in
the Allahabad engraving.

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Ministers and Other Officials

 Seals and engravings make a notice of authentic positions and assignments,

whose exact importance is regularly certain.
 The expression "kumaramatya" happens in six Vaishali seals, which recommends
that this title spoke to a high-positioning official related with an office (adikarana) of
his own.
 The position "amatya" happens on a few Bita seals, and the "kumaramatya"
appears to have been pre-famous among amatyas and proportionate in status to
rulers of illustrious blood.

 Kumaramatyas were appended to the King, crown ruler, income division or an area.
 One of the Vaishali seals refers to a kumaramatya who appears to have been
accountable for the support of the hallowed royal celebration tank of the Lichchavis.
 People holding the positions of kumaramatya once in a while had extra positions
too, and such positions were inherited.

Council of Ministers

 The Gupta ruler was helped by a gathering of ministers. The Allahabad prashasti
refers to a get together or assembly, which was known as the Sabha.

 The different high-positioning functionaries incorporated the sandhivigrahika or

mahasandhivigrahika (serve for harmony and war), who appears to have been a
high-positioning official accountable for contact and correspondence with different
states, including starting wars and arrangements.

 High-positioning authorities were called dandanayakas, and mahadandanayakas

were high-positioning legal or military officials.

 One of the seals makes reference to a mahadandanayaka named Agnigupta.

 The Allahabad prashasti refers to three mahadandanayakas. All these propose that
these posts were innate ordinarily.

 Someone else had an desiganted mahashvapati (authority of the mounted force),

demonstrating military capacities.

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Economy

Agriculture

 Farming thrived in the time of gupta's because of foundation of water system works.

 Aside from the state and individual cultivators, Brahmins, Buddhists and Jain
sanghas brought waste lands under development when they were given to them as
religious enrichments.

 Cultivators were approached to keep up their crop properly from harms and the
individuals who got their crops harmed were punished.

 In the gupta period land were divided into five groups:

Kshetra Cultivatable land

Khila Waste land

Aprahata Jungle or waste land

Vasti Habitable land

Gapata Saraha Pastoral land

 Different land tenures :

Types of Tenures Nature of Holding

Endowment of land under a kind of trusteeship was prevalent in

Nivi dharma
North and Central India and Bengal.
Nivi dharma A perpetual endowment. The recipient could make use of income
aksayana derived from it.
Income from land could be enjoyed, but the recipient is not
Aprada dharma permitted to gift it to anyone. The recipient has no administrative
rights either.
Right of ownership acquired by a person making barren land
Bhumichchidranyaya cultivable for the first time. This land was free from any rent
liability.

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Taxes

Tax Nature

King’s customary share of the produce normally amount-

Bhaga
ing to one-sixth of the produce paid by cultivators.

Periodic supply of fruits, firewood, flowers, etc., which the

Bhoga
village had to provide to the king .

A periodic tax levied on the villagers (not a part of the an-

Kara
nual land tax)

A voluntary offering by the people to the king, but later

Bali
became compulsory. It was an oppressive tax.

Either a sort of police tax for the maintenance of police

Udianga
stations or a water tax. Hence, it was also an extra tax.

Also an extra tax. Scholars give different explanations

Uparikara
about what it was collected for.

Literally, it means tax payable on gold coins, but in prac-

Hiranya tice, it was probably the king’s share of certain crops paid
in kind.

Different kinds of cess for maintenance of rites for the

Vata-Bhuta
winds (vata) and the spirits (bhuta)

Halivakara A plough tax paid by every cultivator owning a plough.

A royal share of merchandise brought into a town or har-

Sulka bour by merchants. Hence it can be equated with the cus-
toms and tolls.

Klipta and Upakilpta related to sale and purchase of lands.

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Trade and Commerce

 Exchange was carried on both through the land and costal routes.

 India had exchange relations with both the eastern and the western nations.

 India kept up the connection with Sri Lanka, Persia, Arabia, Byzantine Empire,
Africa, and considerably further west.

 India additionally created business relations with China, Burma, and South East
Asia.

 The significant exchange things were silk, flavors of different kind, materials,
metals, ivory, ocean produce, and so on.

 Some significant sea ports of the Gupta time period were −

 Tamralipti,
 Arikamedu,
 Kaveripattnam,
 Barbaricum,
 Muziris,
 Pratishthana,
 Sopara, and
 Brighukachchha

 As per Fa-Hien, individuals of the 'Center Kingdom' were prosperous and cheerful
in the start of the fifth century and he additionally referenced the comparative
record of thriving and harmony in India.

 Individuals were keeping up an exclusive expectation of living and extravagance of

the town life.

 The land awards were given to Brahmans, sanctuaries, viharas, mathas to run the
instructive organizations and other social government assistance exercises.

 The convention of land awards for the beneficent purposes proceeded into the
medieval period also. These were known as Madad-I-squash, Suyarghal, and so
on.

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Art and Architecture

By advancing the Nagara and the Dravida styles, the Gupta craftsmanship introduces
a developmental and inventive age throughout the entire existence of Indian
architecture with impressive extension for future turn of events.

Rock-cut

 The stone cut caverns proceed with the old structures by and large however have
striking curiosity by realizing broad changes in the ornamentation of the exterior
and in the plans of the columns in the inside.

 The most outstanding gatherings of the stone cut caverns are found at Ajanta and
Ellora (Maharashtra) and Bagh (Madhya Pradesh). The Udayagiri caverns (Orissa)
are likewise of this sort.

Ajanta Rock - Cut Caves

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Structural temples

 The structural temples have the following qualities:

(1)flat-roofed square temples;
(2) level roofed square temples with a vimana (second story);
(3) square temple with a curvilinear tower (shikara) over;
(4) rectangular temple; and
(5) round temple.

 The second gathering of temples shows a significant number of the trademark

highlights of the Dravida style.

 The significance of the third gathering lies in the advancement of a shikhara that
tops the sanctum sanctorum, the principle highlight of the Nagara style.

Stupas

Stupas were likewise worked in many numbers yet the best are found at Samat (Uttar
Pradesh), Ratnagiri (Orissa) and Mirpur Khas (Sind).

Sculptures

Stone Sculpture

 A decent example of stone sculpture is the erect Buddha from Sarnath.

 Of the puranic pictures, maybe the most noteworthy is the incomparable Boar
(Varaha) at the passage of a cavern at Udayagiri.

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Metal Sculpture
 The innovation of making sculptures on large scale process by artist during the
Gupta Period with incredible workmanship.

 Two amazing examples of Gupta metal sculpture are: (1) a copper picture of the
Buddha around eighteen feet high at Nalanda in Bihar and (2) the Sultanganj
Buddha of seven-and-a-half feet in tallness.

Decline of Gupta
 The Gupta decline began during the rule of Skandagupta, the grandson of
Chandragupta II. He was successful in fighting back against the Huns and the
Pushyamitras, however his realm was depleted of funds and assets along these
fight.

 The last known king of the Gupta dynasty was Vishnugupta who ruled from 540 to
550 AD.

 Inside battling and disagreements among the royal family became one of the
reason of decline of gupta dynasty

 During the rule of a Gupta King, Budhagupta, the Vakataka ruler Narendrasena of
western Deccan invaded Malwa, Mekala and Kosala. Later on, another Vakataka
ruler Harishena vanquished Malwa and Gujarat from the Guptas.

 During Skandagupta's rule, the Huns attacked northwest India yet were confined.
Be that as it may, in the 6th century, they involved Malwa, Gujarat, Punjab and
Gandhara. The Hun debilitatly weakened the Gupta’s hold in the nation.

 The later Guptas' following of Buddhism instead of Hinduism dissimilar to their

ancestors likewise debilitated the domain. They didn't concentrate on domain
building and military successes.

 By the start of the 6th century, the gupta empire had deteriorated and was
administered by numerous local chieftains.

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