Gupta Empire History In Details-In this article we published the details about the Gupta Dynasty in details, read every paragraph carefully to understand about the Gupta Dynasty.
Gupta Empire–
After the fall of the Maurya dynasty, political unity was not established in India till Harsha in the long run. The Kushanas and the Satavahanas tried to bring about political unity. After the post-Mauryan period, three dynasties emerged in the third century AD, in which the Naga Shakti in central India, the Vakatakas in the south and the Gupta dynasty in the east. The Gupta dynasty is credited with restoring the political unity that was destroyed after the fall of the Maurya dynasty.
The Gupta Empire was founded in the fourth decade of the third century and its rise in the early fourth century. The earliest kingdoms of the Gupta dynasty were in modern-day Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The first ruler of the empire was Chandra Gupta I, who united the Guptas with the Licchavi by marriage. His son the famous Samudra Gupta expanded the empire through conquests. His campaigns seem to have expanded Gupta power into northern and eastern India and virtually eliminated the noble kings of central India and the Ganges valley and the areas that then came under the direct administrative control of the Guptas. The third ruler of the empire, Chandra Gupta II (or Vikramaditya, “Sun of Valor”) was celebrated to extend the empire as far as Ujjain, but his reign was more associated with cultural and intellectual achievements than military conquest. His successors – Kumara Gupta, Skanda Gupta and others – saw the gradual demise of the empire with the invasion of the Dhunas (a branch of the Hephthalites). By the middle of the 6th century, when the dynasty came to an end, the kingdom had dwindled to a smaller size.
Finding Of Gupta Dynasty
- The Gupta dynasty was founded in AD 275 by Maharaja Gupta. We do not yet know for certain whether his name was Srigupta or simply Gupta. No article or coin has been found on that subject yet. There are two seals out of which Sanskrit and Prakrit mixed inscription ‘Guptasya’ is inscribed on one On top of the other is inscribed ‘Sriguptasya’ in Sanskrit.
- It turns out that the second ruler of the Gupta dynasty was Maharaj Ghatotkacha, the son of Shri Gupta. It is learned that in the Poona and Riddhapur copper plates of Prabhavati Gupta, only him has been described as the first ruler (Adiraj) of the Gupta dynasty. Even in all the writings of Skandagupta’s Supiya (Rewa), the genealogy of the Guptas starts from an earlier time about Ghatotkacha. On this basis some scholars also suggest that Ghatotkacha was actually the founder of this dynasty. Any of the Guptas or Shrigupta must have been the ancestors, whose name would have been invented to tell about the origin of the Gupta dynasty.
- But this kind of conclusion is not to be rationalized, the first ruler of this dynasty is said to be Shrigupta only, regarding the Gupta articles, it is known that it appears that although the establishment of the Gupta dynasty Srigupta but perhaps this dynasty was not in an important position in his time. It seems that the Guptas may have first gained political importance in the Ganges valley during the period of Ghatotkacha.
- It turns out that Altekar and R. G. Basak is of the view that the matrimonial relationship of the Guptas with the Lichchhavis may have been established during the same period. For this reason, in some articles, Ghatotkacha has been called the king of the Gupta dynasty. No articles or coins related to him have been found so far. We do not know of any kind of achievement of these two rulers. It seems that looking at the title of ‘Maharaja’ before the names of these two, it seems that most scholars would have expressed doubts about their independent status and described them as feudal rulers. It is the view of Kashi Prasad Jaiswal that Magadha before the Guptas Lichchhavis used to rule and at the same time the early Gupta kings used to be their feudatories.
- According to Sudhakar Chattopadhyay, Magadha was ruled by the Murunds in the third century, and at the same time, Maharaj Gupta and Ghatotkacha were their feudatories. The belief of Fleet and Banerjee is also here that they were feudatories of the Shakas who used to be the rulers of Magadha in the third century. Chandragupta I was the first to free the Gupta dynasty from the subjugation of the Shakas. But in the midst of such a wide variety of differences, it may be difficult to say with certainty as to which sovereign power the early Gupta kings used to accept.
Genealogy of Gupta Empire
- Many inscriptions and copper plates of the Gupta period have been found by historians, from which information about their empire and great rulers in their dynasties is available. The description of all those kings is as follows, some prominent kings of the Gupta dynasty:
- Chandragupta-I
Magadha’s power and importance had ended in the Kushan period. Chandragupta I re-established it. He extended Magadha up to Saket (Ayodhya) and Prayag (Allahabad). He ruled from Pataliputra. He married a princess of the Lichchavi dynasty. Due to this relationship the relations between Magadha and Lichchhavis improved and the prestige of the Gupta dynasty increased. Chandragupta assumed the title of Maharajadhiraj.
2. Samudragupta
- Samudragupta was the son of Chandragupta I. He was the greatest among all the Gupta rulers. He was a skilled warrior, scholar, musician and poet. Along with this, he was also a skilled ruler. Despite being a follower of Hinduism himself, he respected Buddhism and Jainism. He adopted a policy of tolerance towards those religions.
- In history, the name of Samudragupta is taken as a conqueror and empire builder. About his conquest, we get to know from the Prashasti of Allahabad. Eran inscriptions and coins also give information about the time of Samudragupta. Most of the prashasti of that time give information about the ancestors of the kings. Apart from the Allahabad Prashasti, information about Samudragupta is also available from Chandragupta II’s “Vaneshavali” (ancestor list). These sources tell us that Samudragupta also assumed the title of Maharajadhiraja.
- Harisena, the court poet of Samudragupta, has written a prashasti in Sanskrit and told that Samudragupta had defeated 9 states of North India. These were the states – Delhi, areas of western Uttar Pradesh etc., which he had annexed to his empire. Samudragupta also conquered 12 kingdoms of the south. These states were – Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Pallavas etc. The inscriptions tell that after the surrender of these states, Samudragupta returned their kingdom, but on the condition that they would continue to pay regular taxes and tribute to him. Samudragupta also subjugated the wild races of central India.
- Samudragupta issued at least eight different types of gold dinaras, including Archer, Javelin, Scepter, Battle-Axe, and a very rare Tiger-Slayer (17 examples known, most in museums).
3. Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya)
- Samudragupta was succeeded by his son Chandragupta II. Its other name was also Devraj or Devgupta. It was also known as Chandragupta Vikramaditya. Information about this is available from the Mehrauli Iron Pillar. It is believed that when Rajgupta agreed to hand over his wife Dhruvadevi to the Shaka ruler, Chandragupta entered the Shaka camp and killed the Shaka ruler.
- Later he killed Ramgupta and married Dhruvadevi and became the king himself. Udayagiri, Sanchi, Mathura inscriptions, Mehrauli (Delhi) iron-pillar inscriptions and coins are sources of information about the time of Chandragupta II. It is known from these sources that Chandragupta II defeated the Shakas of Gujarat, Malwa and Saurashtra and subjugated their territories. With this success, Chandragupta II got Western Samudragupta. He gained control over the ports of Bharunch, Cambay and Sopara. Due to this he could increase the commerce and trade of his state. He made Ujjayini his second capital.
4. Kumaragupta-I
- Like Chandragupta I and II and Samudragupta, Kumaragupta I was also a great ruler of the Gupta Empire. Information about his reign is found from the Bhitari inscription, Bhilsad pillar inscription, Garhwa inscription and Mankuwar idol inscription. Like many Gupta kings, Kumaragupta I also issued coins. These coins give important information about his reign. He ruled for 40 years. Many names of Kumaragupta are found in these inscriptions – Sri Mahendra, Ajitmahendra, Mahendratya, Mahendra Kumar etc.
5. Skandagupta
- Skandagupta, the son of Kumaragupta, defeated the Shakas and the Hunas. He assumed the title of Shakraditya. During this time the Huns had attacked several times from the north-west. The Gupta rulers did not make arrangements for the security of the north-western frontier of the empire. Taking advantage of this, the Huns attacked India, which weakened the Gupta Empire and began to decline. After the decline of the Gupta Empire, several kingdoms emerged, the main ones being the kingdom of Harshavardhana of Kanauj in North India and the Chalukyas of Vatapi and the Pallavas of Kanchipuram in South India.
Some other rulers of the Gupta dynasty who belonged to the Gupta dynasty are:
- Shrigupta
- Ghatotkach
- Chandragupta I
- Samudragupta
- Chandragupta II (Vikramaditya)
- Kumaragupta / Mahendraditya
- Skandagupta
- Purgupta
- Narasimha Gupta (Baladitya)
- Kumaragupta II, Budhgupta, Bhanugupta
- Vainyagupta, Kumaragupta II
- Vishnugupta III
Tools of History of Guptas Dynasty
They can be classified into three parts:
(i) Inscriptions,
(ii) coins and
(iii) Monuments.
- Inscriptions
- The first mention can be made of the Prayag pillar inscription of Samudragupta in the Gupta inscriptions. It is a prashasti, which throws bright light on Samudragupta’s coronation, Digvijay and his personality. The information of his Digvijay is obtained from the inscription received from Udayagiri of Chandragupta II.
- The writings of the time of Kumaragupta I are found in North Bengal, which indicates that by this time the whole of Bengal had come under the control of the Guptas. The information of the Hun invasion is received from the inner pillar inscription of Skandagupta. The records obtained from Junagadh of this emperor show that he had reconstructed the history-famous Sudarshan Lake.
- Apart from this, many other inscriptions and donation letters have been found, which give information about many important things of the Gupta period. The language of all these inscriptions is pure Sanskrit and the dates given in them are of ‘Gupta Samvat’.
- The Gupta inscriptions have special significance from the point of view of history as well as literature. From these, there is evidence of sufficient development of Sanskrit language and literature. Prayag Prashasti composed by Harishena is actually a character-poetry.
2. Coins
- We get many coins of Gupta dynasty kings. These are of gold, silver and copper. Gold coins were called ‘Dinar’, silver coins were called ‘Rupaka’ or Rupyak and copper coins were called ‘Mashaka’. The largest pile of Gupta gold coins has been found from Bayana in Rajasthan province.
- Scholars like Alan, Altekar etc. have done a detailed study of Gupta coins. Dates are also found engraved on many coins, on the basis of which we can determine the date of the respective rulers. Some coins give information about some specific events. For example, on the face of a type of gold coin, the figure of Chandragupta and Kumaradevi and ‘Licchavayah’ are engraved on the reverse side.
- It is clear from this that Chandragupta had married the Lichchavi Rajkanya Kumaradevi. The Ashwamedha type coins of Samudragupta give information about his Ashwamedha sacrifice and the tiger-killing type coins of Chandragupta II give information about his conquest of western India (Saka-pradesh).
- Some coins of Ramgupta are found from Eran and Bhilsa in Madhya Pradesh, which help us in reconstructing his historicity. Sometimes from the study of coins, we also get knowledge of the political and economic condition of their period. For example, the coins of Kumaragupta’s successors give an impression of the declining economic condition. There is a high amount of adulteration in them.
3. Monuments
- Many temples, pillar sculptures and chaitya-grihas (cavity-temples) of the Gupta period are found, which indicate the excellence of the art and architecture of the time. They also help in understanding the religious beliefs of the then emperors and the people.
- Temples include the Shiva temple at Bhumra, the Vishnu temple at Tigwan (Jabalpur), the Parvati temple at Nachna-Kuthar (present in the erstwhile Ajaygarh princely state of Madhya Pradesh), the Dashavatar temple at Deogarh (Jhansi), the temple at Bhitargaon (Kanpur) and Ladkhan (Aihole). The temples near here are particularly noteworthy.
- All these temples are famous for their construction style, size and strength and are magnificent specimens of architecture. Apart from temples, idols of deities like Buddha, Shiva, Vishnu etc. have been received from places like Sarnath, Mathura, Sultanganj, Karamdanda, Khoh, Deogarh etc.
- They throw light on the contemporary art of that time. Also, the religious tolerance of the Gupta kings is also indicated in these idols. Along with temples and sculptures, paintings of Bagh (Gwalior, MP) and some caves of Ajanta (16th and 17th) are also considered to be of Gupta period.
- The paintings of the tiger caves are related to cosmic life while the theme of the paintings of Ajanta is religious. Through these pictures, it helps to understand the dress, makeup and religious beliefs of the Gupta society. At the same time, evidence of sufficient development of Gupta era painting is also available from them. In this way we can reconstruct the history of Gupta period through both literature and archeology.
Important facts related to Gupta dynasty
- The Gupta dynasty was such an empire, during whose reign only decentralized tendencies have increased.
- It was the three rulers of the Gupta dynasty who assumed the title of Vikrama II, which includes Samudragupta, Chandragupta and Skandagupta.
- The condition of women also deteriorated during this rule. The tenure of this regime was very bad for women. During this period, many practices like child marriage, sati system, devadasi system and purdah system started increasing for women.
- Bharatpur is the only district of Rajasthan where maximum Gupta coins have been found.
The royal emblem of the kings of the Gupta dynasty was the Garuna and only Garuna type coins were inscribed with the royal decree. His coins always had the Garuda symbol on them. - When the Mahabharata and Ramayana period ended, the Gupta dynasty is considered to have started.
We must have seen many ancient temples around us, among them the temple of Devgarh and Dashavatar is also built during the period of this Gupta dynasty. This temple is built in Panchayatan style. - The ancient temple of Udayagiri has been built during the period of Gupta dynasty, in which the huge idol of 12 incarnations of Vishnu is quite famous.
- Ajanta caves are also very famous, among them caves 16, 17 and 19 were also built during this period.
Mathematics and astrology have developed a lot during the period of Gupta dynasty. Some of the kings of this dynasty were mathematicians and experts themselves. - The composition of the astrological text “Panchsiddhantika” and the Ayurveda text named Ashtangasangraha by Nagarjuna have also been composed in the Gupta period.
- The Puranas we talk about, that Purana has also been composed in the Gupta period itself.
The development of surgery also took place in the Gupta period.
Fall of the Gupta dynasty
- It is believed that Skandagupta died in the year 467, but even after this, this dynasty continued for a further 100 years and became weak with time. The last ruler of the Gupta dynasty was Vishnugupta III.
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS RELATED TO GUPTA EMPIRE
| S.N. | QUESTION | ANSWER |
| 1 | Who was the founder of the Gupta Empire? | Shrigupta |
| 2 | Who is called the real founder of the Gupta Empire? | Chandragupta I |
| 3 | Which Gupta ruler had assumed the title of Mahadhiraj? | Chandragupta I |
| 4 | Who was the first famous ruler of the Gupta dynasty? | Chandragupta I |
| 5 | Which ruler introduced silver (silver) currencies for the first time in the Gupta period? | Chandragupta I |
| 6 | Who started the Gupta era? | Chandragupta I |
| 7 | Who was the successor of Chandragupta? | Samudragupta |
| 8 | Whose court poet was Harishena? | Samudragupta |
| 9 | Napoleon of India goes to? | Samudragupta |
| 10 | Who founded the Nalanda Vishwavidyalaya? | Kumragupta |
| 11 | During whose reign did the Chinese traveler Fahien come to India? | Chandragupta II |
| 12 | Who was the author of Prayag Prasasti? | Harishen |
| 13 | Who called Samudragupta the Napoleon of India? | W A Smith |
| 14 | During the reign of Chandragupta II, which was a great center of art, literature, learning? | Ujjain |
| 15 | When and in which era the art of temple building was born? | Gupta |
| 16 | Which was the court language of the Gupta period? | Sanskrit |
| 17 | Which ruler had stopped the invasion of Huns? | Skanda Gupta |
| 18 | Which Gupta ruler is called Kaviraj? | Samudragupta |
| 19 | From which article Skanda Gupta has been called ‘Shakropam’? | Kaunum column article |
| 20 | Which composition of India was first translated into European language? | Abhigyana sakuntalam |
| 21 | When did the practice of force marriage start? | In the Gupta period |
| 22 | Where is the mention of the practice of Sati found? | Eran Records |
| 23 | Whose court poet was Harishena? | Samudragupta |
| 24 | Which ruler of the Gupta dynasty had assumed the title of Vikramaditya? | Chandragupta II |
| 25 | Which Gupta ruler is mentioned in the copper plate inscription of Prabhavati Gupta at Poona? | Shrigupta |
| 26 | Who was considered the first ruler of the Gupta dynasty in the Riddhapur copper plate inscription? | Ghatotkach |
| 27 | was the reign of Samudragupta? | 335 to 380 E |
| 28 | Is the composition composed by Varahamihira? | Brihashita |
| 29 | Which Gupta ruler performed the Ashwamedha Yagya? | Kumaragupta |
| 30 | Who was the founder of the contemporary Vakataka dynasty of Gupta dynasty? | Vindhyashakti Sarvasena |
| 31 | Who is called “Shakespeare of India”? | Kalidas |
| 32 | What is the composition composed by the great scholar of Buddhism “Asanga” in the Gupta era? | Vajrakshedika hinges, |
| 33 | Who has composed the “Abhidharma Kosh” based on the fundamental principles of Buddhism? | Basubandhu |
| 34 | In what time was mercury invented? | Gupta period |
| 35 | Gupta Yuga In which composition the earth is round and information is provided about the circumambulation? | Aryabhatiya |
| 36 | Book written by historian Vicente Smith in which Samudragupta has been called Napoleon of India? | Early History of India |
| 37 | What was the name of Chandi coin in the Gupta period? | Rupyak |
| 38 | The reign of Kumar Gupta was -? | 415 to 455 |
| 39 | What were the famous places of textile production in the Gupta period? | Gujarat, Bengal, and Tamil Nadu |
| 40 | Whose Raj Vaidya was Charaka? | Kanishk |
| 41 | The theory of cyclic quadrilateral was described by? | Brahma Gupta-7th century |
| 42 | By what name was the gold currency known in the Gupta period? | Dinar |
| 43 | The first record of the practice of Sati is found from the Eran record, which century is this inscription from? | 510 AD |
| 44 | “The game of chess” took place during whose reign? | Earlier it was called Chaturanga in the Gupta period |
| 45 | Sankhya philosophy propounds which principle ? | Reincarnation |
| 46 | Who composed Purva Mimansha? | Gemini |
| 47 | Which Gupta king also has a name Dev Gupta? | Chandragupta II |
| 48 | Which Gupta ruler had assumed the title of Param Bhagwat? | Chandragupta II |
| 49 | Which ruler is mentioned in the pillar inscription of Prayag Prasasti of Samudragupta? | Jahangir |
| 50 | Which dynasty was greatly disturbed by the invasion of the Huns? | Gupta dynasty |
