The Age of the Guptas — Question 1

(a) Accounts of Fa-hien — Fa-hien was the earliest Chinese pilgrim who visited India on a religious mission during the reign of Chandragupta II. During his stay in India, he went to Mathura, Kannauj, Kapilavastu, Kushinagar, Vaishali, Pataliputra, Kashi and Rajagriha. He gave unbiased details of that period. He gave following accounts:

1. According to him, Magadha was a prosperous country with large towns.
2. Pataliputra was a flourishing city with numerous charitable institutions including a hospital.
3. People were wealthy but led simple lives following the Buddhist rule of conduct.
4. Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Buddhism and Jainism were main religions. People had no ill-will towards other sects.
5. Hindu Gods and Goddesses were depicted on coins and also in sculptures and paintings.
6. The penal code was mild and the offences were ordinarily punished by fines only.

(b) The Allahabad Pillar Inscription — It is one of the important epigraphic evidences of the Imperial Guptas. It is also known as Prayag Prashasti and is written in praise of Samudragupta by his court poet Harisena. It describes the reign of Guptas in ancient India. It provides an impressive list of Kings and Tribal republics that were conquered by Samudragupta. The inscription is also important because of the political geography of India that it indicates by naming the different Kings and people who populated India in the first half of the 4th century AD.

(c) Nalanda University — It was the most renowned educational institution of ancient India. It was located at Nalanda in Rajagriha in Bihar. The University of Nalanda had imposing buildings. There were at least eight colleges built by different patrons including one by Balaputradeva, King of Sumatra. According to Hiuen Tsang the whole university area was enclosed by a brick wall. The Nalanda University provided various facilities to the students for their studies. There were three great libraries called Ratnasagar, Ratanadadhi and Ratnaranjak. There were more than 10,000 students and teachers. They came from Korea, Mangolia, Japan, China, Tibet, Ceylon and various parts of India. The subjects of study at Nalanda University were all the four Vedas, logic, grammar, medicine, sankya, yoga, nyaya and the Buddhist works of the different schools. Nalanda university was a post graduate institution. Only the most brilliant were admitted to the university through an admission examination in which hardly 20% students qualified. It was destroyed by Mohammad-bin-Bakhtiyar Khilji, a general of Mohammad Ghori.