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Gupta Period: Golden Age of India?
Gupta Period: Golden Age of India?
Answer:
“There are as many histories as there are historians.” These
words said by E.H. Carr are more than true in the case of the
Guptas. The Gupta period has been subjected to a lot of
scrutiny after the discovery of their records and deciphering
their documents. While understanding if the Gupta age was
really a Golden age in the history of India, we should first
study the various kind of perspectives that existed. The
various kinds of historiographies can be easily divided on
their style of writing in various forms like colonialist’s
historians, imperialists’ historians, nationalist historians and
so on. So if colonialist’s historians would present history in
such a manner so as to favour the colonials then the
nationalists would present history in order to encourage
nationalism and favour the sentiments of the indigenous
population of the country. It is actually the Indian nationalist
historians who have given the epithet of the golden age to
the Gupta period. Failing to latch on to anything else, the
Indian historians justifiably seized upon the documents of
the Guptas and used them as a counter argument to the
persistent British imperialist propaganda that India had no
history except for a series of conquests by a succession of
invaders. For historians writing in the early twentieth
century, the “Golden age” had to be a utopia set in the distant
past, and the period chosen by those working on the early
history of India was one in which they perceived that the
Hindu culture came to be firmly established. The
glorification of Gupta period, at the time of the independence
movement might have been seen as necessary but it no
longer is. Hence, we should first understand why the Gupta
period is seen as a golden age and see if it actually applies to
them.
To understand the Gupta period, we should first understand
their empire. The beginnings of the empire are somewhat
obscure, it is somewhat possible that the family was one of
wealthy landowners who gradually gained a lot of political
control in the rich lands of Magadha, gained supremacy and
automatically became rulers. The Guptas are supposed to
have been Vaishyas, and the dynasty came into its own with
the accession of Chandra Gupta I, about whom not much is
known except for the fact that he married a Lichchhavi
princess, which it seems was done for the purpose of gaining
political advance, considering that the Lichchhavis were an
old established and highly favoured tribe. Chandra Gupta I
ruled over Magadh and parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh and
was succeeded by his son, Samudra Gupta in 135 AD. He was
the most famous Gupta king, thanks to a long eulogy
dedicated to him that is inscribed on the Ashokan pillar at
Allahabad. Samdura Gupta expanded his reign all over the
Indian sub continent including the decan regions, including
Ceylon. Samudra Gupta was succeeded by Chandra Gupta II,
who is reputed to have shown the most chivalrous and
heroic qualities among all the Gupta kings. His reign lasted
for approximately forty years (375 AD-415 AD). There is
confusion as to who the next ruler was. Some scholars
suggest it was Kumar Gupta who was Chandra Gupta II’s son
while others suggest it was someone named Rama Gupta.
After that, Skandagupta ruled the empire till 467 AD which
was followed by the succession of several kings who could
not keep the empire intact. A major blow came to the Gupta
power towards the end of the fifth century when the Huns
entered North India in large numbers which ultimately led to
the decline of the Guptas.
Now that we know the basic outline of the Gupta period, let
us see the various achievements of the Gupta period in
various different fields which have given reason to historians
to see the Gupta period as a golden age.
ADMINISTRATION
The Guptas had a highly organized system of provincial
and local administration. The empire was divided into
divisions called Bhuktis and each Bhukti was placed under
the charge of an Uparika. Bhuktis were further divided into
districts and placed under the charge of a vishayapati. In the
urban administration, organized professional bodies were
given a considerable say. They had a highly centralized
empire in the beginning, in which there was a group is
superior officers known as kumaramatyas. It was from them
that important officers like the ministers and military
commanders were selected. This ensured that the influential
officers came from a selected class, very often they were
personally chosen by the king himself. These officers were in
turn responsible for the entire maintenance of the kingdom,
which shows their efficiency, considering the large territory
of the Gupta empire.
ECONOMY
According to Fa-Hsein’s account, Magadha, capital of the
Gupta empire was full of cities and its rich people believed in
and supported it with charitable offerings. We know that
revenue came from mainly the land, commercial activities
didn’t provide a large income. Guilds were a common
feature, and they continued as the major institution in the
manufacture of goods and in commercial enterprise. They
had their own laws, which the government generally agreed
with.
LITERATURE
In literature, the Gupta period witnessed an efflorescence.
Important developments took place in the sphere of
Sanskrit literature during this period. This is one of the
major reasons why the nationalists chose the Gupta age to
represent the golden age because it is supposed to have
established the roots of Hinduism and propagate it.
Sanskrit language and literature, after centuries of evolution
and through lavish royal patronage reached what has been
described as classical excellence, with some scholars even
going to the extent of calling the Gupta age as the Classical
age.
The paintings of the Gupta period are seen at Bagh caves near
Gwalior. The mural paintings of Ajantha mostly illustrate the life
of the Buddha as depicted in the Jataka stories. The paintings
at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka were highly influenced by the Ajantha
style. Decorations on ceilings, pedestals of columns and door
and window frames speak of the artists extraordinary
powers of conception and technique.
PHILOSHOPHIES
The Gupta period is said to be a landmark in the development
of philosophical ideas. Six schools of thought were
developed which became the chief feature of Indian
philosophy. Female divinities came to be worshipped and
attained a level of importance they had never enjoyed before.
Vaishnavism and Shaivism bloomed in the gupta period.
Buddhism and Jainism also spread rapidly but the
nationalist historians have chosen to only emphasis on the
Hinduism aspect of this period and so, most of the foucs is on
the developments in image worship and the rise of
Vaishnavism and Shaivism.
CONCLUSION
The Gupta period could have been a golden age, but only for
the rich people, but then one can easily argue that each and
every age is a golden age for the rich and few, but not for the
masses. The fact that India had a golden past might have
provided comfort to the nationalists and provided them
something to fight for but this need is no longer there in the
present century. We should carefully question the factors that
make the Gupta period the golden age and think whether it
should truly be labelled as one. More or less, the truly golden
age of the people does not lie in history. It is not in our past,
but in our future and we should work towards it.