The Golden Age: Gupta Empire

The achievements of Samudragupta are the following:

1. Samudragupta was an ambitous ruler. He is known as the Napoleon of India because of his bravery and generalship.
2. Samudragupta converted Magadh into a powerful Empire through numerous battles. In some of the conquered territories he forced the rulers to pay tribute. His direct rule extended from Bengal to Delhi. His indirect rule extended from the Himalayas in the North, Kanchipuram in the South and from the North-West frontier in the West to Assam in the east.
3. Samudragupta performed an Ashvamedha Yajan or Horse sacrifice.
4. Samudragupta was not only a brave warrior and conqueror but also a great ruler, a musician and a poet. In one of his coins he is shown playing a veena.
5. He issued eight types of coins made of gold.
6. His court had many great scholars and literary persons.

The king was the head of the administration. The Gupta rulers adopted pompous titles like Parameshvara, Maharajadhiraja and Parama-bhattaraka. They were looked upon as Gods. They ruled according to the law given in the Dharmashastras.

The administrative system followed by the Gupta period is described below:

1. The king was the head of the administration. The king was assisted by a council of ministers or Mantri Parishad. The most important ministers were the Kumaramatyas.
2. The Gupta Empire was decentralized. It was divided into provinces called Bhuktis for better administration and governance. Each Bhukti was placed under the charge of an officer called Uparika.
3. The bhukti were further subdivided into districts called Vishyas, which were placed under the charge of Vishyapati.
4. The village formed the lowest unit of administration. The village headman or Grampati managed the village affairs.
5. The far-flung areas were ruled by feudatory chiefs who used to pay tribute to the Gupta Kings.

The Gupta King were the followers of Vishnu. They patronised Vaishnavism. Temples were constructed to worship the various Hindu Deities. A lot of importance was given to the worship of the Avataras or incarnation of Vishnu.
The concept of bhakti or selfless devotion to God became popular during this period. Since this form of worship was simple, inexpensive and based on the faith and love of the devotee, it attracted a large number of followers.

The Gupta period is described as the Golden Age of Indian history because of the high level of civilisation and culture of this period. This is seen in their efficient administration, economic prosperity, literature, arts, architecture and scientific progress.

During the Gupta period, Indian mathematicians made important contributions in the field of Mathematics. Indian mathematicians were the first to develop the decimal system and the zero. The present Arabic numerals were developed by the Indian Mathematicians. They were later on adopted by the Arabs.

The examples of the excellence in architecture during the Gupta period are given below:

1. The Dasavatara Temple at Deograh (near Jhansi), the Brick Temple at Bhitargaon (near Kanpur) and temples at Sanchi are the best examples of the Gupta architecture.
2. A large number of high stone pillars were erected in the Gupta Period.
3. Caves formed an important architectural feature of the Guptas. A number of caves were built at Ajanta and Bagh.

(a) Kalidasa

(b) Amarasimha

(a) Broach

(b) Kalyan

(a) The Dasavatara Temple at Deogarh (near Jhansi)

(b) The Brick Temple at Bhitargaon (near Kanpur)

(a) Meghaduta

(b) Abhijnana Shakuntalam

(a) Aryabhatta

(b) Varahamihira

(a) The building given in the picture is Nalanda University.

(b) The University of Nalanda was originally setup by Sakraditya in the 5th century CE during the reign of Kumaragupta-I. It is located at Rajgir, near Patna in Bihar, India.

(c) The Nalanda University was the foremost centre of education where students from far and near received higher education. It was the first international residential university in the world that housed 10,000 students and 1500 teachers. They came from Korea, Mongolia, Japan, China, Tibet, Ceylon and various parts of India.
It has at least 8 colleges built by different patrons. There were great libraries called Ratnasagar, Ratnodadhi and Ratnaranjak. The subjects of study at Nalanda University were all the four Vedas, logic, grammar, medicine, samkya, yoga, nyaya and the Buddhist works of the different schools.