The Gupta emperors rule northern India directly, and, through political and family ties with the Vataka in the Deccan, have had great influence in central India as well. The Gupta preside over one of the most productive periods of Indian civilization.
Advances are being made in many fields of science, art and literature. Most notably, it is probably about now that Indian mathematicians develop the decimal system of numbers. This system will be crucial to future mathematical and scientific progress in world history. The kingdoms of the south, the Pandyas, Chola and the newly powerful Pallavas, continue to develop their maritime trade.
Although it was understood by only a tiny minority of people, any work with any pretensions to scholarly or literary credibility throughout the subcontinent would have to be written in, or translated into, Sanskrit. At the highest levels, Indian culture was remarkably homogenous. This was in fact the high water mark of ancient Indian literature. In poetry and drama, the great figure of Kalidasa looms over the period, even though the dates in which he lived are disputed.
He is universally compared with Shakespeare as giant in world literature. Like Shakespeare, he wrote both plays and poems. Other dramatists and poets were also highly regarded. In sacred literature too this was an extremely important time. For example, whereas the Vedic cults had not traditionally used statues in worship, this was changing by the time of the Guptas. Statues began to become central to Hindu ritual and worship. The Gupta age is usually regarded as one of the great periods of Indian art.
The influence of Buddhist Gandhara art can be clearly seen in the sculpture off the time, in the folds of the clothing for example, and the purity of form. Gupta sculpture is known for its serenity of countenance and grace of pose. These qualities can be clearly seen in the erotic sculptures in the Khajuraho temples. Painting was also an important art form, but hardly any examples survive — and those that do are much damaged. Some fragments of frescoes from the cave temples of Ajanta hint at the high standards achieved, and from texts of the period we know that painting was regarded as a respected profession, and a desirable social accomplishment for the elite.
The Gupta period was a high point in the development of Indian science. Important works on astronomy and medicine were produced. Aryabhata, the most famous scholar in Gupta times, showed that the Earth is a sphere, and revolves around its axis each day. He identified eclipses as the shadow of the moon falling on the Earth.
Gupta scholars calculated the length of the solar year with a precision not matched by any other ancient civilization, including the Greeks. Above all, Indian mathematics was probably the most advanced in the world at this time. A step of enormous importance for human progress was taken with the perfection of the decimal system and the discovery of the mathematical concept of zero. At a more exalted level, the solution was found to certain determinate equations; pi was successfully calculated to four decimal places.
All this learning was written in Sanskrit, the classical language of ancient India. It was thus inaccessible to all but a very few. Ordinary artisans, for example, had no knowledge of these exalted works, and no known treatises were written on subjects to do with craft production.
Nevertheless, Indian artisans of the time achieved extraordinarily high levels of skill. For example, the metal smiths who fashioned the 7 m. The Vedic Age of Ancient India. The Classical Age of Ancient India. Click on this link for an attractive, interactive visual survey of the Gupta empire.
The Indian Civil Service website page on Gupta society gives an interesting overview of Indian society and culture in Gupta times. Subscribe for more great content — and remove ads. Upgrade to Premium to Remove Ads. History of the Gupta Empire Magadha and the rise of the Gupta empire The Maurya empire was, in essence, a super-sized expansion of the historic kingdom of Magadha.
He then turned his attention south, and in what must have been a grand procession of conquest far into southern India, brought many kingdoms under his sovereignty, Chandragupta II The next of the Gupta emperors, Chandragupta II , brought the Gupta empire to the height of its power. Map of India at the time of the Gupta Empire, c.
Government of the Gupta Empire Politically, the Gupta empire consisted of two kinds of territory. Tributary kindoms The other portion was made up of a large number of tributary kingdoms.
Political dynamics within the Gupta Empire This state of affairs tended to mean that large states were often short-lived in India. The Gupta army To what extent the Gupta army was similar to other Indian armies of the time is difficult to assess, given the state of the evidence. Religion at the time of the Gupta empire Hinduism, as a religion with specific doctrines, had yet to emerge properly from the broad Vedic practices and beliefs of ancient India.
Society and economy at the time of the Gupta empire The growing influence of Hinduism — and of its guardians, the Brahmin caste — can be seen in various ways within Indian society under the Guptas. Developments in the caste system The ancient four-fold varna system of castes — the Brahmins priests , Kshatrya warriors , Vaishya merchants and Shudras peasants — began to become more rigid in Gupta times.
Occupation groups The influence of the Brahmins can be seen in the growing rigidity, not just of social groups but of occupational ones as well. Kalidasa, considered the greatest poet and dramatist of the Sanskrit language, also belonged primarily to this period. He wrote plays, such as Shakuntala , which is said to have inspired the famed German writer and statesman, Johann von Goethe, centuries later. Kalidasa also became renowned for his study of the shringara , or romantic, element of literature.
The Indian scholar and Hindu philosopher Vatsyayana, authored the Kama Sutra , which became a standard work on human sexual behavior, while Vishnu Sharma was thought to be the author of the Panchatantra fables, one of the most widely-translated, non-religious books in history. The cultural creativity of the Golden Age of India produced magnificent architecture, including palaces and temples, as well as sculptures and paintings of the highest quality.
The walls of Buddhist shrines and monasteries were decorated with colorful frescoes, a type of wall paintings. These showed scenes from the life of the Buddha, the ascetic and philosopher, who lived in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent sometime between 6th and 4th centuries, on whose teachings the Buddhist religion is based. Some shrines were cut out of the cliffs, and although dark, they were also decorated with sculptures and paintings.
The Dashavatara Temple: The Golden Age of India produced many temples, decorated with various sculptures and paintings, such as the Dashavatara Temple, also known as the Vishnu Temple, in central India.
Gupta Buddhist art influenced East and Southeast Asia as trade between regions increased. The Gupta Empire became an important cultural center and influenced nearby kingdoms and regions in Burma, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia.
Classical forms of Indian music and dance, created under the Guptas, are still practiced all over Asia today. He recorded all of his observations in a journal that was eventually published. During his stay in India, until c. His writings express pleasure in the mildness of the administrations in these places. After many years of dominance, the Gupta Empire collapsed in CE, due to invasions and weak leadership of successive rulers.
The Gupta Empire flourished, in military and territorial conquests as well as cultural and scholastic advancements, during the reign of Emperor Chandragupta II. Yet the succeeding rulers, beginning with Kumaragupta I and then Skandagupta, oversaw the eventual end of the Gupta Empire through military defeats, devalued money and withering leadership. The late years of his reign, however, faced difficulties. The Pushyamitras, a tribe of central India, rose up in rebellion against Kumaragupta, while Gupta territories were invaded by the Western Huna people, also known as White Huns.
Kumaragupta defeated both groups and celebrated his victory by performing the royal Vedic ritual of Ashwamedha, or horse sacrifice, which had previously been performed by his grandfather, Emperor Samudragupta, to celebrate his own great military victories. As his grandfather and father did before him, Kumaragupta also issued news coins to mark his reign. We accept requests for larger downloadable jpegs. Should you require variations of the map topic listed here please get in touch with further details.
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