The Gupta Empire

The Gupta Empire was the oldest Indian empire. The dynasty started its journey in India from the beginning of the 4th century CE and in the late 6th century CE. The Indian Subcontinent covered this empire. The periods of their ruling time were considered a golden era of Indian history—King Sri Gupta, who was the founder of gupta empire. King Sri Gupta was selected as the king of their regime. Some other famous and effective kings of their regime were Chandragupta I, Chandragupta II, Samudragupta, etc.

Origin

The Gupta Empire basically belonged to the Vaishya caste. In the Hindu caste, the third stage of this caste was Vaishya, and they belonged to that caste. Chandragupta, who was a king of the gupta empire, was married to princess Kumaradevi. Kumaradevi was the princess of Magadha at that time, a Mahajanapada of India. As a dowry, Chandragupta took the Magadha. In the year 321, he extended the bank of Ganges to Prayag, which was situated at Allahabad on a modern Indian map.

A golden era in Indian history

In India, when the Guptas were ruling this country, that time was called the golden age in Indian history. At the time of the gupta empire, some social, cultural and political development occurred. Such as making the country free from the shaka menace and making peace in society. Gupta’s was upgraded to many kinds of trade at that time, like land trade and sea trade. The merchants of this country made good relations with countries such as China, South Asia, etc. Using this sea trade also maintains a good business relation within this country. At that time, a huge improvement occurred in education and the cultural field. Literature was getting more upgraded that time. Sanskrit play and dharmasastra also took place there. So many great Sanskrit plays were composed by many Gupta’s at that time. Kalidasa, Meghdut, Kumarsambhaba etc., wrote the greatest Chandragupta II. Those are very famous to date in Indian history. A massive revolution also occurred in the art and architecture field at that time. So many developments were done at that time, which helped this country to get more developed gradually.

In Gupta Empire, King Sri Gupta, who was the founder of gupta empire, Chandragupta I, Samudragupta, was the most famous king of this Gupta Regime. The contributions are discussed below briefly.

King Sri Gupta, who founded the gupta empire, achieved success with the help of his son Ghatotkacha in the year between 280 to 319 CE approx. The daughter of Chandragupta II Prabhavati Gupta described Sri Gupta as Adhiraja of Gupta’s dynasty, denoting as the first king of this dynasty. Along with that, in some epigraphs which were written before Sri Gupta in the Gupta dynasty, there were some Guptas also, such as Shiva Gupta, Puru Gupta etc. The maximum number of people of that time said that the basic flavour of the Gupta dynasty was felt by King Sri Gupta, who founded the gupta empire. The Gupta dynasty considered their period as a golden era in Indian history. In Indian history, there is not enough information about King Sri Gupta, the founder of the gupta empire. The knowledge about King Sri Gupta who was the founder of gupta empire, was limited in the documents which Chinese traveller I-Tsing wrote. He was given a short brief about King Sri Gupta, the founder of the gupta empire. King Sri Gupta who is the founder of gupta empire, started his kingdom very short at that time; he occupied a short portion of present Bengal and Bihar.

Chandragupta I is another famous king in Gupta Empire after King Sri Gupta, the gupta empire. He was properly marked in Indian history. Chandragupta I was the grandson of Sri Gupta who was the founder of gupta empire. The proper first ruler of the Gupta Empire was Chandragupta I. Primarily; he was not a known face in their dynasty. After marrying the princess of Magadha, he started to show his power. He enhanced the power of his new kingdom. Some new gold coins were reproduced for the king and queen. Before finishing his kingdom, he expanded his own area to Allahabad and included Ajodhya in Bihar. After Chandragupta I, Samudragupta was the king of their empire. He was the son of Chandragupta I, who got the chance to ascend the throne. He had a great knowledge of the military, which helped them make their military power stronger. After grabbing north India under their territory, Samudragupta started to grab south India. At that time, the Gupta dynasty mostly included India under their empire. Samudragupta was very much fond of Rajdharma. Chandragupta II was also a very famous king of their kingdom. His contribution to the country also was noticeable.

Conclusion

The reign of the Guptas came to an end in 550 CE. The Gupta’s expanded their empire all over the country. They tried to make the cultural, social, educational society rich. The field of agriculture was highly developed at that time. The trade route tax system also was properly constructed at that time. Overall, the Gupta empire made this country develop.