Gupta dynasty

Gupta dynasty, rulers of the Magadha (now Bihar) state in northeastern India. They maintained an empire over northern and parts of central and western India from the early 4th to the late 6th century CE. Historians once regarded the Gupta period as the classical age of India—during which the norms of Indian literature, art, architecture, and philosophy were established—but many of those assumptions have been challenged by more extensive studies of Indian society and culture between the Mauryan and Gupta periods. Among the products traditionally thought to be from the Gupta era were the decimal system of notation, the great Sanskrit epics, and Hindu art, along with contributions to the sciences of astronomy, mathematics, and metallurgy.

Administratively, the Gupta kingdom was divided into provinces, and these in turn were divided into smaller units called pradeshas or vishayas. The provinces were governed by high imperial officers or members of the royal family. A decentralized system of authority is indicated by the composition of Gupta-era municipal boards.

The first ruler of the empire was Chandra Gupta I, who united the Guptas with the Licchavis by marriage. His son, the celebrated Samudra Gupta, expanded the empire through conquest. It would seem that his campaigns extended Gupta power in northern and eastern India and virtually eliminated the oligarchies and the minor kings of central India and the Ganges valley, regions which then came under the direct administrative control of the Guptas. The empire’s third ruler, Chandra Gupta II (or Vikramaditya, “Sun of Valour”), was celebrated for extending the empire to Ujjain, but his reign became more associated with cultural and intellectual achievements than with military conquest. His successors—Kumara Gupta, Skanda Gupta, and others—saw the gradual demise of the empire with the invasion of the Hunas (a branch of the Hephthalites). By the mid-6th century, when the dynasty apparently came to an end, the kingdom had dwindled to a small size.

Samudra Gupta, (died 380 CE), regional emperor of India from about 330 to 380 CE. He generally is considered the epitome of an “ideal king” of the “golden age of Hindu history,” as the period of the imperial Guptas (320–510 CE) has often been called. The son of King Chandra Gupta I and the Licchavi princess Kumaradevi, he is pictured as a muscular warrior, a poet, and a musician who displayed “marks of hundreds of wounds received in battle.” In many ways he personified the Indian conception of the hero.

Samudra Gupta was chosen as emperor by his father over other contenders and apparently had to repress revolts in his first years of rule. On pacifying the kingdom, which probably then reached from what is now Allahabad (in present-day Uttar Pradesh state) to the borders of Bengal, he began a series of wars of expansion from his northern base near what is now Delhi. In the southern Pallava kingdom of Kanchipuram, he defeated King Vishnugopa, then restored him and other defeated southern kings to their thrones on payment of tribute. Several northern kings were uprooted, however, and their territories added to the Gupta empire. At the height of Samudra Gupta’s power, he controlled nearly all of the valley of the Ganges (Ganga) River and received homage from rulers of parts of east Bengal, Assam, Nepal, the eastern part of the Punjab, and various tribes of Rajasthan. He exterminated 9 monarchs and subjugated 12 others in his campaigns.

From inscriptions on gold coins and on the Ashoka pillar in the fort at Allahabad, Samudra Gupta is shown to have been especially devoted to the Hindu god Vishnu. He revived the ancient Vedic horse sacrifice, probably at the conclusion of his fighting days, and distributed large sums for charitable purposes during these ceremonies. A special gold coin that he issued commemorated this ceremony, while another showed him playing the harp; all were of high gold content and excellent workmanship.

The caste status of Samudra Gupta and his successors remains uncertain. It is reasonable to assume, however, that the Guptas supported caste distinctions, and they may have been responsible for the emergence of Brahmanism as a theological system as well as a code of social behaviour, which was carried into present Hindu society.

Dynasty

Dynasty, a family or line of rulers, a succession of sovereigns of a country belonging to a single family or tracing their descent to a common ancestor (Greek dynadeia, "sovereignty").

Gujrat

Gujrat, also spelled Gujarat, city, northeastern Punjab province, Pakistan. The city lies just north of the Chenab River and is connected with Lahore and Peshawar via the Grand Trunk Road. The present city, which lies on the site of a succession of earlier cities, developed around the fort built by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1580. In 1867 it was incorporated as a municipality. It has two hospitals and several colleges affiliated with the University of the Punjab. Manufactures include furniture, pottery, electric fans, cotton goods, footwear, brass ware, and carpets. A battle fought there in 1849 broke Sikh power and permitted British annexation of the Punjab.

The area in which Gujrat is situated lies between the Chenab and Jhelum rivers and marks the northern limits of the Punjab plains. The Lower Jhelum Canal irrigates some 1,250 square miles (3,200 square km) under wheat, millet, and legume cultivation. A mound at Mung (Mong) has been identified as the site of Alexandria Nicaea, the city built by Alexander the Great on the field of his victory over Porus in the 4th century BC. Pop. (1998) 250,121.