Guptas Flashcards
Gupta Empire
The disintegration of the kushanas in the North and satavahanas in the Deccan paved way for the emergence of several minor powers
Among them the guptas laid the foundation of the second Empire in ancient India
They set up the rule over Anuganga, Prayag, saketa and Magadha in 320 AD
The guptas were not only powerful monarchs but they were also patrons of learning
The Gupta age is called the classical age or the golden age of India
The Gupta period was defined as the beginning of new creativity, flourishing arts, prominent literature and great scholars
There is scarcity of information about the origin of the Gupta. However it is certain that they belonged to a wealthy family and where likely influential land owners who gradually gained control over Magadha
Sree Gupta (240-280AD) was the founder of the Gupta dynasty
He used the title of maharaja
The Pune copper plate inscription of prabhavati Gupta described Shri Gupta as the aadhiraja of Gupta dynasty
Ghatotkacha (280-319AD) succeeded his father Shri Gupta he also took the title of maharaja.
Sources of the Gupta Empire
Literary sources:
The puranas (vayu, Vishnu, Matsya, Skanda, and Markandeya) give royal geneology of Gupta kings
Devi Chandraguptam and mudrarakshasa by visakha Dutta give information about the rise of the Guptas
Kalidasa’s Abhijnanashakuntalam, meghadutam, and kumarasambhava provide reliable information about the governance, society and religion of the Gupta age
Chinese traveller fa-hien who visited India during the time of Chandragupta 2 has provided socio-economic and religious conditions of the period
Inscriptions:
These are much reliable sources of Gupta dynasty
Important inscriptions are: Allahabad pillar inscription of Chandragupta 2 and Junagadh Rock inscription of Skanda Gupta
Numismatics:
The Gupta coins, particularly Kumara Devi type coins of Chandragupta 1 gave valuable information on the cultural, religious and political conditions of the Gupta period
Rulers of the Gupta Empire
Chandragupta 1 (319-335AD)
Samudragupta (335-388AD)
Rama Gupta (380AD)
Chandragupta 2 (380-412AD)
Kumara Gupta (415-455AD)
Skanda Gupta (455-467AD)
Chandragupta 1 (319-335AD)
The first important king of the Gupta dynasty
Married a lichchavi princess from Nepal to strengthen his position
Accepted the throne in about 320 AD
He ruled over Saket, Prayag and Magadha
Chandragupta 1 was the first Gupta ruler to assume the title of maharajadhiraja and issue gold coins.
Samudragupta (335-388AD)
Chandragupta 1 succeeded by his son samudra Gupta who expanded his Empire enormously
Allahabad pillar inscription describe his achievements
This inscription was composed by Hari Sena, a poet at the court of samudragupta
It was originally a pillar on which emperor Ashoka had an edict inscribed
Samudragupta was known as the Napoleon of India as he was an defeated throughout his political life
He was not merely a conqueror but was also a poet and musician
In one of his coins, he is shown playing a veena
Places conquered by samudragupta:
Group 1: princes of Ganga Yamuna doab, who were defeated and whose kingdoms were incorporated into the Gupta Empire
Group 2: rulers of the Eastern Himalayan region and some further areas like the princes aap Nepal, Assam, Bengal etc. it also cover some republics of Punjab
Group 3: forest Kingdom situated in the vindhya region and known as atavika rajyas
Group 4: 12 rulers of the Eastern Deccan and South India who were conquered and liberated. The rule of samudragupta reached as far as kamchi in Tamilnadu
Group 5: the shakas and kushans, some of them ruling in Afghanistan
Empire outside India:
The prestige and influence of samudragupta spread outside India
According to a Chinese source, Meghavarman, the ruler of Sri Lanka sent a missionary to samudragupta for permission to build a Buddhist temple at Bodh gaya. This was granted and the temple developed into a huge monastic establishment
Rama Gupta (380AD)
His name does not appear in the official records of the Gupta dynasty but according to the Sanskrit play Devichandraguptam he was an emperor of Gupta dynasty
The play mentions that Rama Gupta surrendered to a shaka enemy as he was a weak ruler
His brother Chandragupta 2 killed the shaka enemy
Some coins discovered in Central India have been attributed to ramagupta
Chandragupta 2 (380-412AD)
Devi Chandraguptam of Vishakha Dutta tells us that Chandragupta 2 remove and killed his brother ramagupta and ascended The throne
The Gupta Empire reached its height in terms of territorial expansion during the reign of Chandragupta 2
He extended the limits of the Empire by matrimonial alliances and conquests
He married his daughter prabhavati with Vakataka Prince, Rudra Sena 2
He conquered Western Malwa and Gujarat which had been under the rule of the shakas cause for about force centuries
The conquest gave Chandragupta the Western sea coast, famous for trade and commerce
He adopted the title Vikramaditya which had been first used by an Ujjain ruler in 58 BC as a mark of victory over the shakas
It was chandragupta’s reign during which the Chinese pilgrim fa-hien (399-414) visited India and wrote an elaborate account of the life of its people
He also collected rare Buddhist manuscripts
The nine gems of Chandragupta 2:
The court of Chandragupta 2 at Ujjain was adorned by numerous scholars, who were known as navratnas or the nine gems
These were, Kalidasa, Vetala Bhatta, varahmihira, Vara Ruchi, Amar Simha, dhanvantari, kahapanaka, shanku and Hari Sena
Kumara Gupta (415-455AD)
He performed an ashwamedha sacrifice and also issued ashwamedha types of coins
The epigraphic records show that he organised the administration of the vast Empire
He also laid the foundation of the Nalanda University
The Bilsada edict provides information about the beginning of his rule
Skanda Gupta (455-467AD)
He was one of the greatest rulers of the Gupta dynasty
His chief claim to fame in Gupta history rests upon his remarkable defence of the territorial integrity of the Gupta Empire both against foreign invasions as well as internal upheavals
He defeated the huna armies as indicated by the bhittari stone inscription
His Girnar inscription mentioned The breach at lake sudarshana in 455 which had been built during Chandragupta maurya’s reign and its repair next year within a short period of 2 months
With his death and 467 ad the glory of the Gupta Empire faded with a rapid pace
Society and administration in Gupta Empire
Provincial and local administration
The Guptas organised a system of provincial and local administration
The Empire was divided into divisions (bhuktis) and each bhukti was divided into districts (visyas), which were placed in charge of vishaya pati
In Eastern India, the vishyas were divided into vithis, which again were divided into villages
The village headman became more important during the period. He managed the village affairs with the assistance of elders
No land transactions could come into force without the consent of town’s leading local elements
In the urban administration, organised professional bodies were given considerable share.
The artisans, merchant and scribes served on same corporate body
The common organisation, artisans and bankers were now organised into their own separate guilds
Numerous guilds of artisans and traders were located in bhita and waist.
At Mandasor silk weavers maintained their own guilds and in the district of Bulandshahar in western UP oil pressers had their own guilds
The representative administration prevaild only in North Bengal, bihar, UP and some adjoining areas of MP which were ruled directly by the officers appointed by the Gupta kings
The charters marked with the royal Garuda seal seems to have been issued to the vassals
Grant of fiscal and administrative concessions to priests and administration became a regular affair in the Gupta period
Religious functionaries were granted tax free land and they were authorised to collect all the taxes from the peasants, which could have otherwise gone to the emperor
The villages granted to the beneficiaries could not be entered by the royal agents
An abundance of gold coins suggests that the higher officials were paid in cash but many officers may have been paid by land grants as well
Economy
The king collected taxes varying from ¼ to ⅙ of the produce
Whenever the royal army pass through the countryside the local people had to feed it
The peasants had to supply animals, food grains, furniture, etc for the maintenance of royal officers on duty in the rural areas
Judiciary
Several law books were compiled in this period
For the first time civil and criminal law at clearly defined and demarcated
Theft and adultery came under criminal law
Disputes regarding various types of property came under civil law
The guilds of artisans, merchants and others were governed by their own laws
Seals from Vaishali and bhitar near Allahabad indicate that these guilds were well flourished
Bureaucracy
First signs of bureaucracy emergenced India during this time
The most important offices in the Gupta Empire were the kumaramatyas. They were appointed by the king in the home provinces and possibly paid in cash
Recruitment was not confined to the upper varnas only
Several offices were in the hands of the same person and posts became hereditary
Social life
The account of fa hien give information about the social life of the Gupta Empire
He informed that Magadha was full of cities and its rich people followed Buddhism and gave ample amount of charities
Till 550AD, India carried on some trade with the Eastern Roman empire to which it exported silk
The striking development of the Gupta period was the emergence of priestley landlords at the cost of local peasants
Land grants to the brahmins on a large scale suggests that the Brahminical supremacy had reached a new level in the Gupta period
The castes were divided into numerous subcastes as a result of two factors:
1) A large number of foreigners were assimilated into the Indian society and each group of foreigners was considered to be a new kind of Hindu caste
2) another reason was the absorption of many tribal people into brahminical society through the means of land grants
In some ways the position of shudras and women improved in this period as they were permitted to listen to the epics And The puranas.
They could also worship a new God called Krishna.
During the period the untouchables increased in number as specially the chandalas
Fa hien informed that the chandalas lived outside the village and dealt in meat and fisheries
Trade
With the increase in trade in the earlier period, towns grew and prospered in the earlier part of the Gupta period
This prosperity continued
There was not only trade within India itself but Western Asia and South East Asia
As trade grew, the knowledge of sea voyage and ship building also improved
Larger ships were built than before and many more ships crowded into the ports along the eastern and the Western coasts
Tamralipti or Tamluk port in the Ganga delta handled a large part of the trade with countries of South East Asia, like suvarnabhumi (Myanmar), yavadvipa (Java) and Kamboja (Cambodia)
Broach, sopara and Kalyan were the main ports on the West coast and they also sent ships to South East Asia
Indian goods were taken to Mecca, Arabia, Iran and the Mediterranean lands.
Caravans of traders and missionaries of religion also travelled overland to Central Asia and China
