DR.

RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW

UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW.
2022-23

HISTORY PROJECT
THE GUPTA EMPIRE- GOLDEN AGE OF THE
INDIAN HISTORY: MYTH OR TRUTH.

SUBMITTED TO – SUBMITTED BY-

DR. VANDANA SINGH SHIVAM SHUKLA
ASSISTANT PROFFESOR B.A. LLB(Hons.)
SUB: HISTORY ENROLL. NO. -220101141
DR. RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL 1ST SEMESTER, SECTION-B

LAW UNIVERSITY, LUCKNOW.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank and express my sincere gratitude towards Dr. VANDANA
SINGH, assistant professor (History), Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law
University, Lucknow. Without her valuable help it would be impossible for me
to successfully complete this project. I would sincerely thank her for sharing her
views and valuable suggestions because of which I could improve my project. I
would like thank her for providing me with her valuable time and experience
which made my task easier. I would also be thankful to the Authorities of
RMLNLU which provided me with the required environment to complete this
project. I could never forget to thank the library staff members who allowed me
to access wide range of books and provided me with the necessary material and
internet facilities, which was the prime need for the successful completion of the
project. I would also be thankful to the various researchers in the field of history
by referring to whose work I could complete my project. At last, I would thank
my friends and family whose constant support and suggestion helped me in
finishing this long journey of completing the project.

Yours Sincerely,
………SHIVAM

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 DECLARATION

I thereby declare that the project work entitled “AN OVERVIEW OF

PERSONAL ARMS OWNERSHIP & USAGE REGULATION”
submitted to the Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University,
Lucknow is a record of an original work done by me under the guidance
of DR. VANDANA SINGH Assistant Professor, History, Dr. Ram
Manohar Lohiya National Law University. This project work is my
personal intellectual work which is submitted by me in the partial
fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of B.A. LLB.
(hons). The results embodied in this thesis have not been submitted to
any other University or Institute for the award of any degree or
diploma.

*****

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 INDEX

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................................... 2
DECLARATION ............................................................................................................................. 3
INDEX ............................................................................................................................................. 4
AIM OF THE PROJECT................................................................................................................ 5
INTRODUCTION AND A BRIEF HISTORY ............................................................................... 6
RULERS OF THE GUPTA PERIOD ............................................................................................. 8
SOURCES FOR HISTORY OF THE GUPTA EMPIRE .............................................................. 9
ADMINISTRATION DURING THE GUPTA PERIOD ............................................................. 11
MILITARY.................................................................................................................................... 13
TRADE AND BUSINESS.............................................................................................................. 13
STATUS OF WOMEN .................................................................................................................. 15
SOCIAL ORDER .......................................................................................................................... 16
RELIGION .................................................................................................................................... 17
DEVELOPMENT OF PHILOSOPHY ......................................................................................... 18
ART AND ARCHITECTURE ...................................................................................................... 18
LITERATURE .............................................................................................................................. 19
CONCLUSION................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................. 22

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 AIM OF THE PROJECT

The project is made with an aim to analyse the period of Indian history from 4th
century to late 6th century, when India was ruled by one of the most idolized and
praised dynasty i.e. The Gupta dynasty. The period is often referred as ‘THE
GOLDEN AGE OF INDIA’, by our recent historians. In this project I am going
to discuss about the various aspect of the Gupta period and their development in
socio political as well as economical aspect. We are going to discuss whether
the period could be really described as the golden age or not, whether ascribing
it to the top of all the other empire would be justified or not. We will look into
the in social, political, economic life of the people of the Gupta era. My project
is based upon the data extracted from various books by some famous and
reliable historians and authors, I have extracted the information from various
sites and article to compile the final analysis in a compact and useful manner.
The project is written with a perspective of a history student who wears no
glasses of any ideological inclination or biasness.

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 INTRODUCTION AND A BRIEF HISTORY

After the decline of Mauryan empire with Ashoka the great as its last
strong and powerful ruler, several regional kingdoms came to power which got
the wane of power of the northern India. Magadh was made as the throne if
ancient India by the Mauryan empire, Patliputra (present day Patna) was made
as its capital The Sunga dynasty ruled from 185 A.D. onwards.
The Kushan dynasty ruled the northern India and the satvahanas ruled the
deccan region in 3rd century A.D. The fragmented rule led to the rise of several
minor powers and the ruling families; under these circumstances the foundation
of the Gupta empire was laid in the same place from where the Mauryan empire
thrived and ruled the whole India, Magadh.
The foundation of the Gupta Empire was laid by Srigupta somewhere between
240 to 280 A.D. His successors extended the boundaries of the empire by
conquests and alliances. After Srigupta, it is said that Ghatotkacha the son of
Srigupta ruled the empire. The first two ruler of the empire are regarded to be of
no consequence, they are remembered just for the historical purpose of the
empire.
In 319-320 A.D. Chandragupta I came to power, he is regarded to be the real
founder of the Gupta empire, he was a dynamic and a very active ruler, he
married a lichchhavi princes and tried a to gain prestige, his rule included the
region of Magadh and some part of the present day U.P. In his ruling years, he
gained the title of maharajidhiraja. He was succeeded by his son Samudragupta.
In around 325 A.D. Samudragupta got the throne of Magadha. Samudragupta
got the throne after defeating Kacha, a prince from the same kingdom. The story
of the conquest of samudragupta against several regional rulers can be found in
the lengthy eulogy of the Ashokan pillar at Allahabad composed by his court
poet Harisena. There is an impressive list of kings and tribes who were
subjugated and brought under various degrees of control, including Achyuta of
Ahichchhatra, Nagasena of Padmavati (modern Padam Pawaya in Madhya
Pradesh), Ganapatinaga in Mathura, and a prince of the Kota family
(Bulandshahar area). The list of his conquest is very long but it is believed that
he directly ruled only the northern India, rest of the region were ruled by their
past rulers, they had been reinstated by samudragupta under his suzerainty.
Samudragupta carved out an empire for there have been record which mention

6
the Ashvamedha yagna performed by him. There are some record presents
which claim samudragupta to be a follower of Buddhist scholar Vasubandhu.
The empire of Samudragupta was further expanded by his successor
Chandragupta II, who ruled from 375 to 415 A.D. A work of vishakhadatta tells
us that Ramgupta succeeded Samudrahupta. Ramgupta was challenged by a
shaka ruler and was defeated badly, Ramgupta handed his wife, Dhruvadevi to
the shaka ruler. Chandragupta II, the younger brother defeated and killed both
i.e., shaka ruler and his elder brother Ramgupta and married his wife
Dhruvadevi.
Chandragupta II defeat to the Shaka led to the expansion of the empire towards
the West. To consolidate his rule and power he came into matrimonial with a
plethora of royal dynasty families. He had married a naga princess kuvernaga.
He got a daughter named prabhavatigupta. He married her daughter to
Rudrasena II of the Vataka dynasty. After few years of marriage Rudrasena II to
died and she ruled the kingdom as a regent from 390 to 410 A.D. Eventually,
the empire of Vataka dynasty came to the Gupta rule even without a small war.
Chandragupta II got the title of Vikramaditya. He was a great patron of art and
literature.
Kumargupta succeeded his father Chandragupta II in 415 A.D. and ruled till
454, During his reign Hunas had occupied Bactria but they couldn’t cross the
Hindukush mountains. Peace was maintained throughout his rule.
The threat materialized during the rule of his successor Skandgupta. He had to
face the attacked from a group of Hunas with excellent archer and horsemen. He
fought bravely but several domestic problems lead to his feudatories losing
hope, but he fought them bravely and managed them to defeat.

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RULERS OF THE GUPTA PERIOD

 SKANDUPTA

 GHATOTKACHA

 CHANDRAGUPTA (I)

 SAMUDRAGUPTA

 CHANDRAGUPTA (II)

 KUMARGUPTA

 SKANDAGUPTA

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 SOURCES FOR HISTORY OF THE GUPTA
EMPIRE

Various sources of Gupta Empire available today are literary sources,

epigraphical sources and numismatic or archaeological sources. According to
these sources, Gupta dynasty was founded in 300
AD by Sri Gupta and it ended in 550 AD.
Literary Sources of Gupta Empire
Various literary sources of Gupta empire are available. They are
 Kamandaka wrote a book named Nitisara, which gives information on Gupta
administration.
 Vajika wrote a book named Kaumudi Mahotsava, which gives information
about coronation of Chandragupta I.
 Vishakhadatta wrote 2 dramas named Devichandragyptam (about Dhruva
Devi and Chandragupta lI) and Mudrarakshasa
 Bhasa wrote Svapnavasavadattam, meaning The Dream of Vasavadatta.
 Sudraka wrote Mrcchakatika, a drama about a Brahmin named Charudatta
who was in love with a prostitute named Vasantasena.
 Somadeva wrote Kathasaritsagara, which talks about spread of Indian culture
to the Southeast Asian countries.
 Puranas give the genealogical records.
 Fa-hien came to India when Chandragupta II was the king. He gave lot of
information about Gupta period. He gave explanation about the life of
untouchables.

EPIGRAPHICAL SOURCES OF GUPTA EMPIRE

Regarding Epigraphical sources, Gupta inscriptions are available from four
kings of Gupta Empire. They are;

 Samudragupta’s inscriptions

- They are four in number, two are Prashastis and two are land charters. The
Samudragupta Prashastis is located at Allahabad and Eran, MP.
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-Of the two land charters, one is Nalanda Copper Plate inscription. It is talking
about an Agrahara (village) given to a Brahmin (entire revenue of the village will
go to the Brahmin).
_ The other land charter is Gaya Copper Plate inscription. It talks about a village
donated to a Buddhist Vihara, which was built by Meghavarna, a king of Sri
Lanka. Gupta kings are Vaishnavites. But, they contributed to Buddhism also.

 Chandragupta Il's inscription

It is also known as Mehrauli inscription (Prashasti). It is written on an Iron pillar

having a height of 23 feet and weight of 16 tons (located in front of Qutub Minar,
Delhi). It talks about the victories of Chandragupta II. (No rust is found on the
Mehrauli iron pillar till now).
 Skandagupta's inscriptions
They are two in number
i. One is Bhitari inscription, Uttar Pradesh. It is a pillar inscription. In this
inscription, a reference was made to Huns (nomadic tribes) invading India.
Two Huns who invaded India are Toramana and Mihirakula. Gupta Empire
was destroyed by Huns.
ii. The other is Junagarh inscription, which contains inscriptions of Ashoka,
Skandagupta as well as
 Rudradaman I. It is a rock inscription. It talks about the lake Sudarshan which
was repaired by Skandagupta.

 Bhanugupta's inscription
It is a stone pillar inscription found at Eran. From all the available sources of
Gupta Empire, it is the first inscription that talks about the custom of Sati.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOURCES OF GUPTA EMPIRE

 In this cateogry, only numismatic sources are available. Gupta gold coins were
called Dinars.

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 On the coins of Chandragupta I, we can find Kumar Devi, the queen of
Chandragupta I.
 On one of the coins of Samudragupta, we can find him performing Ashamedha
Yaga and having the title Asvamedha Parakrama. Other Samudragupta coins
show the emperor playing the Veena and, on the top, it is written "Kaviraja"
(even though he has not written any book)
 On the coins of Kumaragupta, we find him performing Asvamedha Yaga and
having a title "Asvamedha Mahindra".
 Chandragupta II is the first king to mint silver coins (Rupaya). On the coins,
we can find the title "Simha Chandra". He is also known by the names Sima
Vikrama, Narendra Chandra and Narendra Simha.

ADMINISTRATION DURING THE GUPTA

PERIOD

 The early empire of the Mauryan dynasty is marked and known for the
centralized form of governance but the Gupta empire is on an opposite foot to
the Mauryan empire. Gupta empire is known for its decentralization of
powers. The rulers of the gupta period adopted various titles like
maharajadhiraja, parameshvara, parambhattaraka, paramadvaita and
chakravarti. These titles in themselves identified the existence of several other
rulers who existed during the reign of the Mauryan kingdom. This in itself
undermined the sovereignty and authority of the empire. The major part of the
territory was ruled by such feudal lords, only a small portion of the empire i.e.,
Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh which formed the nucleus of the empire was
imperially ruled. This eventually made the empire a mere shadow.
 The Gupta rulers did not have an elaborate bureaucracy or espionage system
like the early Mauryan rulers. Kumarmatyas appointed the senior officers.
Some important officers such as the mantri (minister), senapati (military
commander), maha-landanayaka (minister of justice), sandhivigrahika
(minister of war and peace) were recruited. High officers were often appointed
by the king. Several departments were often handed to a single person.
 Decentralization of the power was marked by an increase in the grant of land
titles to the priests and temples, this began in the satvahana period itself.
Earlier the state appointed the officials to collect the revenues from the masses
but with the antagonism of higher varna and the lower varna the state found it

11
 better to assign the revenues directly to those who needed to be paid by the
state for their service. Increasing grant of land titles and record gave rise to a
new class of landlords which became the intermediaries between the state and
the peasantry. The grant was provided with administerial judicial and fiscal
power with several immunities which surely undermined the royal authority.
 Fiscal concession was provided along with the right over salt and mines which
was a monopoly of the royal during the Mauryan days. The gifted village were
granted in perpetuity to the beneficiary. The beneficiary not only collected the
advised customary taxes but also levied excess taxes and made the inhabitants
to obey the command of the ruler. The recipient of the grant of the land were
granted with the judicial power. The transfer of fiscal and the policing power
not only weakened the authority of the empire but also made the peasants to
suffer.
 There is apt evidence of development of serfdom. The peasants were asked to
remain inhabited in the land even after it has been transferred to someone else,
this move severely damages the mobility and the autonomy of the peasant
class independence and freedom of working.
 Slavery does exist during the Gupta period they did work such as sweeping
the gateway, roads, remove the leaving of food, wine, rubbing the masters
limp etc. The other who were engaged in the agricultural activities, these are
described as doing pure work and did not come under the category of slaves.
 The recipient of the land grants could further rent to someone else with similar
term with the royalty. They could cultivate it or lend them to someone else,
this led to the peasant class at the will of this new category of the landlords.
 The presence of forced labors from the Gupta period onward further increased
the misery of the peasants. During the Mauryan period only the slaves and the
hired labors were made forced labor but in this era this was extended to
everyone for every kind of work.
 During the Mauryan period there existed an officer who was appointed by the
kingdom to supervise and look after the working of the slaves but no such
officer was present in this period of time. The peasants were left on this will
and wish of the Landlords. Further, several books tell us that the peasant
women were asked to perform several unpaid works, they were sometimes
asked to fill the water, filling granary, doing household work, purchasing
cottons, working in the field of the headman of the village.
 It is known that the people were asked contribute money for the troops as a
symbol of gratitude towards them, they were asked to provide food and

12
 flowers, they also had to give the army some cows for convenience purpose
when the army moved from the area of the peasant.
 The permanent grant of the land rights made a way for the post to become
hereditary. The people made great effort to exploit the resources of the villages
for their vested interest
 All these created a social tension which created rift between the peasant class
and the ruling class of the people.
 But at the very same time, the backwards and the peripheral areas where
donation of the land were often made showed a great improvement in
agriculture, on the basis of the agricultural knowledge of the brahmans.

MILITARY

Unlike the Mauryan, the Gupta did not have a large standing army. Throughout
the ancient history Ashoka the great had the highest number of troops in the army,
he had around 6 lakh soldiers in his army. There has not been a much talk about
the military strength of the Guptas, but as far it has been known, they did not have
a large standing army.
The records glorify Samdragupta for his all-round conquests but does not tell us
anything about his military apparatus. Nor does Fa-hsien indicate the numerical
strength of the Gupta army. Most of their troops were supplied from the feudal
rulers who were present in his empire, a large portion of their elephants, horses,
essential components of the ancient military machinery were also provided by the
feudal rulers.
All this led to the dependence of the empire on its feudal rulers, who wielded
considerable authority at least on the fringes of the empire. This was a setback
for the empirical power of the empire.

TRADE AND BUSINESS

Industry and trade were generally prosperous during the Gupta period. There
was a good balance of foreign trade. The major change in the foreign trade was
the decline of the roman trade. Luxury goods were the major part of the foreign
trade.

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 The extension of the agricultural advancement helped the process of
formation of new agrarian Gupta states with an agrarian back support,
when the trade with the roman ceased.
 The decline in the long-distance trade seems to begin from the gupta period
onwards. The trade with the Byzantine continue till the middle of the 6th
century. Around this time the byzantine people learned hoe to raise the silk
worms, so they reduced their trade with the China from the silk route which
ultimately impacted the Indian trade t a great extent.
 Guilds of silk weavers left their hometown in Gujrat and went to Madhya
Pradesh in the search of different source of employment.
 Languishing trade explains the reason for the paucity of metal money from
the Gupta period onwards, the Guptas issued the largest number of gold
coins in the Indian history. Some of these coins bear excellent
craftmanship, they generally potray the images of the ruler and sometimes
the Vaishnavite and shaivaite deity they used to pray. These coins were not
used for the petty transactions rather they were used for big transactions
such as purchasing land and so on.

COINS OF THE GUPTA PERIOD.

 The slump in the trade and the general decline in the trade and the general
decline in the craft and commodities led to decline of several towns in the
third-fourth century. In the north india many settlements of the Kushan
period (kaushambi, hastinaour, purana qila, ahichchhtra and Taxila) show
the sign of decay. Same with the cities of the most of the satvahanas cities

14
 and even some of the cities in the extreme south such as Arikamedu
which used to be and economically active urban center ceased to be so
after the 3rd century onwards. Even the heartland of the gupta period also
faced some dwindling effect.
 This does not mean that all the cities and urban life wrecked all together,
existence of posh urban living style was present. According to old
historical books, gathering were held where poetic recitations, and music
were heard. The courtesan was not looked down upon, prostitutes could
be found throughout the street during some festive occasions.

STATUS OF WOMEN

The status of women continued to decline during the Gupta period,

in this certain feature emerged that that became the characteristic of women life
ahead. Women during this phase were not permitted to have formal education,
but like the shudras they were also allowed to hear epics and the puranas. Some
scholars have stated the condition of women to be similar to the shudras in some
cases, just by this we can understand about the status women in this period.
Reference to early women scholars and philosophers are available but they are
very limited.
Lawgivers in this period unanimously promoted early marriage and, in some
cases, they even promoted pre-puberty marriage. The practice of Sati got the legal
sanction during the Gupta period itself, the first memorial of sati dated 510 AD
in Eran, Madhya Pradesh happened in this phase itself. Women autonomy was
very restricted in this period in fact they were considered to be a property owned
by a father before marriage and of his husband after marriage.
Women didn’t have any property inheritance right; they were denied the right to
own anything except Stridhana (jewellery and personal usage materials). The
society in this period could be termed as highly patriarchal and restrictive for
women.
The period might be considered as the golden age of the Indian history but it was
definitely not golden for the history of Indian women.

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 SOCIAL ORDER

The varna system was highly crystallized and was constantly changing
owing to the proliferation of castes. This could be observed from a post Gupta
Puranic text, where 100 castes are mentioned and there were only 61 castes before
the Gupta period. The kshatriya class swelled with influx of hunas and
subsequently the gurjars, who joined their ranks as Rajputana. The rise in the
shudra caste and the untouchable was due to the inclusion of the forest tribes into
the settled varna system. Guild of craftsmen were also sometimes transformed
into a caste. It is also observed that the transfer of land grand also created a
landlord category which is also referred to kayasthas (scribe), who undermined
the monopoly of the brahmans in land owning, this is the reason we can find some
derogatory description about them in the post Gupta Brahmanical writing.
Pronounced varna description was there during this period.
According to Varhamitra, there was a description of house layout and the size
of the room in each house according to the caste ranking. Colors were associated
with the caste i.e., White, Red, Yellow and Black. This showed the relative status
of the caste during the period. The writing of this period described that a Brahman
should not accept food from a shudra and untouchables. The law of inheritance
was also highly discriminative, the shudra son born out from a high caste father
would get the least share among his sibling born out from higher caste mother.
Caste biasness was present even in the legal system, a shudra could not be
admitted as a witness in the law courts except in the cases belonging to his own
caste. A distinction was made between the shudras and the untouchables. A
shudra having sexual intercourse with a chandala women would be reduced to her
position. The practice of untouchability became more intense and pronounced
during this period, before a Chandal arrived in a market place or fair, sounds were
made by striking wood so that people could become active and avoid them from
coming in close proximity. Chandals were associated with impurity, theft,
untruth, passion, wrath and greed.
The varna system did not always function smoothly, some texts of the Gupta era
contain the fact that the shudra seemed to have been hostile towards the upper
caste people. Some text contains the fact that the brahmans and the kshatriyas
should unite in order to stand firm against the shudras and the Vaishyas. There
was a conflict among the shudras and the upper class but proper evidence
regarding a war among them is not available.

16
The social structure in this period could termed to be a very positive and
productive one as it should have been according to the fact of the phase being the
golden era of the Indian history.

RELIGION

The ruling class often used religion as for maintaining the social order,
In Gita Vaishya, shudra and women were condemned by Krishnay as people of
low origin.
This was further consolidated by the Vaishnavism and Shaivism. People were
made to believe that what all is happening to them in the present birth is the result
of their deed in the previous birth, by this the shudra did accepted the propagated
principle, they accepted that whatever is happening to them in this birth is the
consequence of their previous life. They were made to believe that they can get
brahman hood in their next birth only by good behavior. Evidently this logic did
not permit to blame the human agencies for the present social order.
Vaishnavism and Shaivism preached people that they could obtain the final
liberation only through good deeds not just by making sacrifices. Of all the
Brahmanical sects WERE THE MODT POPULER among the Gupta ruler.
Vishnu was the uplifter of the weak one so was more appealing to the lower
section of the society, the rich could improve their record of deed by setting up
temples and setting up picture of Hindu deities. This consolidated the present
social order based on the varna system. Shiva was believed to be the greatest of
all the gods, Like the Vaishnavism, Shaivism was also backed by the Gupta
rulers. The extreme character of Shaivism made it less popular than the

17
Vaishnavism. Buddhism in this period was divided into Hinayana & Mahayana
with a number of subsects, Through its emphasized on the bhakti and idol
worship, Mahayana sect came closer to the Brahmanical order. Jainism largely
remained to be conservative but by gupta period seems to have developed icons.
Two jain councils were summoned simultaneously at Mathura and Vakabhi in
AD 313.

DEVELOPMENT OF PHILOSOPHY
The gupta period is marked with development of several new philosophical
ideas. The continuing philosophical debate now versed around six school of
thought (shaddarshana), which became the chief feature of india philosophy.
The six mentioned above features are:
1. Nyaya(analysis)
2. Vaisheshika (individual characteristics)
3. Sankhya (enumeration)
4. Yoga (application)
5. MimaNsa (inquiry)
6. Vedanta (end of the vedas)

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

Religion was intimately connected with development in architecture and the

plastic arts. The doctorine of bhakti and the growing importance of image worship
led to the construction of the freelaced.standing temple with a sanctuary
(garbhagriha), in which the central cult image was placed. Several temples of this
period have survived till date, mention may be made of the temple at Sanchi, ladh
khan, Deogarh (near Jhansi), Bhitargaon, Tigawa and Bhumara. Built either in
stone or brick, they were very small and had roof with spouts of drain odff water.
The earliest of the guptra period surviving is the hall surviving at Sanchi. The
most ornate and beautifully composed example of gupta temple building,however
is the fragementary temple of Vishnu at Deogarh.this may be one of the earliest
specimen if the five -shrine (panchayatana) variety of the temples which became

18
common in the suvbsequent times and reflected the feudal hierarchy of the ever
expanding Indian pantheon. The highest achievement of the early Indian cave
architecture, the Kalidasa temple at Ellora, belongs to the eight century.

Gupta sculpture mark the culmination of the early development in plastic arts.
The unusual, larger-tha-the-life. The life size horse sculpture from Khairigarh In
Uttar Pradesh, often believed to represent a sacrificial horse used by Samudraupta
for one of his Ashwamedha yagna, has a perceptible affinity with the Kushana
plastic tradition. The Brahmanical gods sculpted during this period were mainly
incarnation of Vishnu and shiva.
A substantial member of these sculptures come from important centres like
Vidisha, Eran and Udayagiri in Madhya Pradesh. Of these Udayagiri occupies a
place of importance. Twenty rock cut chamber were excavated here during the
gupta period and quite a few of the images found here,unlike most of the
specimens of the gupta art, can be positively assigned to certain Gupta kings. The
crowning achievement of Gupta sculpture is the numerous seated and standing
image of the buddha and Bodhisattvas at Sarnath, were, under the influence of
the Maratha tradition, a distinct school of art flourished. A good specimen of
sarnath sculpture is the image of Buddha seating in dharmachakraparivarttana
attitude. This is a fine expression in stone of the meditative and compassionate
Buddha giving his first sermon.
Painting was a developed art. Literary references prove that apart from
professional artist, men and women of the upper classes could ably handle a
brush. Remain of the gupta paintings may be seen in the caves at bagha, ajanta,
and badami besides faint traces at several other places. Decoration on ceilings,
pedestals of columns and door and window frames speak of the artist
extraordinary power of conception and technique.

LITERATURE

In literature the gupta period witnessed an efflorescence. Sanskrit

language and literature, after centuries of evolution and through lavish royal
patronage, reached what has been described as a level of classical excellence.
Among the greatest names of author and writer of this period include Kalidasa,

19
who lived in the court of Chandragupta II. The meghaduta, his lyriczl poem pf
little over a hundred graceful stanzas, cotain the message from the love-lore
Yaksa to his wife pining across the northern mountain in Alaka.The
Raghuvamsha speak of the all-round victories of Rama and may indirectly refer
to some Gupta conquests. The Kumarsambhava deals with the courtship of Shiva
and Pavati and the ebirth of their son Skanda . The Ritusamhara describes the six
seasons in the relation to Shringara. The play Abhijanan Shakuntalam is a
gemstone in the achievement of Indian literature and stagecraft.
The Gupta period was marked by a remarkable increase in religious literature,
this is clear from the fact that some of the most important of the eighteen puranas
were finally redacted in this period. The greatest mythological story of India
history, Mahabharata initially had 24000 verses but after the redaction it was
converted to more than 100000 verses.
During this phse itself, numerous astronomical works were also written.
Aryabhatta, the author of the aryabhattam flourished in the fifth century.Contrary
to the existing notion, he suggested that that the earth revolves around the sun .He
was the first to use the decimal place-value system, but unfortunately his
invention is not attributed to him. Vhamitra who lived during this periodwrote
several treatises on astronomy and horoscopy. His panchasiddhantika, deals with
five astronomical system. The sasnskrit language was also enriched by the
development of grammer and lexicography.

CONCLUSION

Gupta empire also populary claimed as to be The golden age of the Indian
history was definitely marked by several new achievement for the individual as
well as a collective history. Samudragupta expanded the empire nearly
throughout the Indian. During this period, numerous architectures were built
which still existed till date. The buddha state at Sanchi is a very apt example of
this. The period is marked for ground-breaking discovery of theories such as that
given by the famous philosopher Aryabhata, who stated that the earth revolves
around the earth. There were changes brought to the calculation world during this
period itself, the world remembers India for this very remarkable invention of
decimal point for calculating the value.
This period brought down the concept of decentralization which is still followed
by our democracy, the period was marked by the efficient use of resources for

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maintaining the army. Famous play like Abhijanana Shakuntalam was written
during this period itself, this was a remarkable skit play written by the famous,
Kalidas.
Even in the field of religion, Buddhism was becoming very famous, this period
is marked as a renaissance of the Hindu religion, as much as 18 important
religious writing were redacted during this phase itself.
This period was surely a bright point in our history which must be celebrated, but
there is a certain doubt which can not be negated at all, Whether the period was
really as golden as it is portrayed?
The answer to this question is no. Although the period was surely a great phase
for the intellectual growth of the society,with remarkable development in various
fields but this period was also a dark phase for the status of women, peasants,
trade. The Gupta empire brought a dark phase for the status of the women, from
this period their position began to decline, they were not permitted to have formal
education, their importance in the religious ceremonies were reduced to a great
extent because of the growth of the brahman’s in the religious functions. They
were not permitted to attend the discussions and assemblies. They were regarded
as a property of their fathers and husbands, who could be used as per their will
and whims. They were denied the right to property, they were only permitted to
have their Sridhan (jewellery and stuff), women were started to be recognized as
objects which caused the most-evil in this world, their position was greatly
dishonored and reduced in this period. The legal age of marriage of the women
was also reduced, legal sanction to child marriage was given, pre puberty
marriage was also promoted. The first case of Sati was also mentioned in this
period in Eran, Madhya Pradesh in 300 BC.
The situation of the peasants was also very similar, serfdom was increased and
heavily practiced. The peasants were regarded as an object of the land grant
holders, who could be made to do anything upon the wish of the owners. Several
new taxes were introduced which were like a heavy burden on peasant’s shoulder.
There was no supervision on the way ho the peasants and the slaves are made to
do the work as it was done during the Mauryan period. In short term there position
was greatly reduced and they were considered as a mere property of the rich or
upper class people of the varna.
Untouchability was prevalent and there was huge cast biasness in the
administration law as well as the judicial decision, the shudras were not permitted
to be a legal witness in any case except in the case of their own cast. Several such
restrictions were imposed upon the lower varna people.

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Great talk has been made about the development during the Gupta period but the
truth is that the trade was reduced. Several important cities of the norther as well
as the southern region including some of the cities in the core of the empire were
reduced to ruins.
Taking all these into consideration it can be certainly claimed that the period
could be termed as golden but it was absolutely no the golden age for the lower
varna people, the women and the peasant class of the people. The Gupta period
was absolutely forgotten but in 19th century the Indian nationalist scholars created
an image of the period to be the golden age. The British claimed that India had
no remarkable history except the invasion of raiders, to counter this argument and
believe the nationalist scholars promoted the propaganda of making this phase
the golden age.
There is nothing such as golden phase in the histories its what we today to make
the tomorrow golden.

REFERENCES

 ANCIENT INDIA BY DN JHA

https://archive.org/download/AncientIndiaInHistoricalOutlineByD.N.Jha/Ancient%20India%
20in%20Historical%20Outline%20by%20D.N.Jha.pdf

 https://unacademy.com/content/railway-exam/study-material/modern-history-of-
india/gupta-empire/

 https://resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/wp-
content/uploads/2012/10/HIST101-7.2.1-GuptaDynasty-FINAL1.pdf

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