4.11 Gupta Empire of
Magadha and Ujjain (320 AD and 550 AD)
The
first King of this dynasty was Sri Gupta. He ruled as small chief in the Kingdom
of Magadha possibly from 240-280 AD under submission to the Kushanas. He was
succeeded by his son Ghatotkacha who ruled from 280-320 AD. The dynasty came into
prominence after the marital alliance of Chandragupta I (son of Ghatotkacha)
with Princess Kumaradevi of Lichchhavi tribe. The son born from the alliance
was Samudragupta who is considered
one of the India’s greatest military geniuses. He ruled from 335 AD to 380 AD
with capital at Patiliputra. After him, Chandragupta II alias Vikrmaditya became king and ruled the
region from 380-415 AD with capital at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh. The empire ruled
nearly for 300 years covering much of the northern India. The rulers of the
clan were devotees of the minor Vedic God Vishnu. They helped Brahmanism to
flourish again in northern India, though they were also tolerant to other
faiths. The peace and prosperity during the dynasty led to significant advances
in the field of science and arts, with historians terming the period as ‘Golden
Age or Classical Age of India’ though with criticism from certain quarters
which say that the entire concept of Golden Age is brought by nationalist and
conventional historians in the wake of the nationalist upsurge against British
rule in the first decade of early 20th century.
Leaving
aside the criticism part, the era undoubtedly produced some of the great scholars
like Kalidasa who was a poet and dramatist; Aryabhatta (Surya Siddhanta &
Aryabhattiya), Varahamihira (Brihat
Samhita, Pancha Siddhantika & Brihat
Jatka) and Brahmagupta (Brahma-sputa
Siddhanta & Karana Khandakhadyaka)
who all were great mathematicians and astronomers and calculated the value of pi and circumference of earth; Charaka
and Sushruta who practiced advance medicines and Vatsayayana who beautifully
compiled human sex behavior in the form of Kamasutra.
The other achievements of Gupta dynasty were the discovery of ‘zero’ and
development of the Arabic numerals, the development of the decimal system, prediction
of eclipse and identification of planets, the development of plastic surgery
and setting of broken bones, structuring of high towered temples in the honors
of contemporary Hindu Gods and lavish wall painting in caves. The recent
excavations at Sirpur,** located on the banks of River
Mahanadi in Chattishgarh, confirms the developments in medicine field. The
excavations resulted in 6th century built hospital that housed
minimum ten residential patients, conducted surgeries and made Ayurvedic
medicines. It also resulted in surgical tools, other medical instruments and a
piece of wrist bone with an iron rod inserted in it. The last item shows the development
in the field of orthopedic surgery by this time [10]. India
In Gupta period, the art of painting also progressed with many artists painting
the incidents from the life of Buddha. Some of the notable works are of Ajanta
and Ellora caves in Maharashtra, Bagh in Madhyapradesh and Udayagiri in Orissa.
Gupta architecture is also reflected in many brick temples of Uttar Pradesh,
Madhyapradesh, Bengal, Bihar and Assam. The famous one is at Bitargaon near
Kanpur that had module and decorated bricks. The temple has many incidents from
the Hindu mythology inscribed all across the wall and on the pyramidal roof. The
period saw making of many stone sculptures with notable one being the Buddha at
Sarnath, the great boar (Varaha) at
the entrance of Udayagiri caves and the metal sculptures of Buddha in Nalanda
and Sultanganj measuring 18 ft and 7.5 ft respectively.
(**Earlier excavations of the same area in 1872 by Sir Alexander
Cunningham resulted in ancient marvels that included Buddhist and Jain Viharas
and 22 Shiva temples.)
As
the empire followed Brahmanism, Sanskrit was made the official language
resulting
in its significant development and growth. The period witnessed the
development
of Sanskrit grammar based on Panini (Ashtadhyayi)
and Patanjali (Mahabhashya). Many
Buddhist literatures were translated into Sanskrit and the writers
included
Arya Deva, Arya Asanga, Vasubandhu and Dignage. The period is
particularly
memorable for the compilation of Amarakosha
by Amarsimha, who was either Jain or Buddhist scholar and one of the
navratnas in the court of Gupta Kings.
The first book on logic, a Buddhist
work, was made by Vasubandhu. Another Buddhist scholar Chandragomia from
Bengal
composed a book on grammar named as Chandra-vyakranam.
Sanskrit texts were also translated into Prakrit texts and Vimala did
the
translation of epic Ramayana resulting in its Jain version [11]. Dorling Kindersley.
The period saw the composition of many dramas such as Mrichchhakatika by
Sudraka, Mudrarakshasa (story of Chandragupta
Maurya) and Devichandraguptam (about the
conquest of Sakas by King Vikramditya of Gupta Empire) by Visakhadatta.
The interesting
part of these dramas is that the higher Varna characters are shown
speaking
Sanskrit language and the lower Varna people are shown speaking Prakrit
language which was naturally developed to Sauraseni Prakrit (Hindi,
Rajasthani, Gujarati), Paisaci Prakrit (Lahanda, Punjabi), Brachad
Prakrit (Sindhi), Maharashtri Prakrit (Marathi), Ardhamagadhi Prakrit
(poorvi Hindi) and Magadhi Prakrit (Maithili, Bangla,
Oriya, Assamese) in different geographical regions.
On
the religious front, the marked development of the Gupta period was the merger
of all cults of land into a new faith, now known as Hinduism, which was more
inclusive in nature. The period saw the teaching of religion through stories
and legends. It, therefore, resulted in creation of a host of Puranas (meaning old stories), famously known
as Hindu mythology. The period witnessed edition followed by full compilation
of the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata. As Guptas were followers of Vishnu, the
minor god of the Vedic era came into prominence in the religion of Brahmanism and
the chief Vedic God Indra went behind. The epic heroes Rama and Krishna, who
were chiefs in the Vedic period and admired by people of those regions, were
related to Vishnu as his incarnations. The other popular characters like Lakshmana
and Balrama were related to Sheshnaga
who according to the just created Puranas
forms floating bed in the ocean for Vishnu. Through Puranas, many other sacred characters were also linked to Vishnu as
his incarnations and thus raising his status above all in the list of all
Brahmanic or Vedic gods. Another major development was popularization of
worship of the divine as the mother Goddess. A unique class of literatures,
known as tantra, was invented that became
the scripture of Shaktas.
Like
other areas, the society under Gupta’s dominion saw major changes in its
culture after Brahmanism got royal patronage under them. The new codes and
conducts of Brahmanism in the form of Manusmiriti, which was composed just
before or during the empire, were implemented in the society. The priestly
populations following the codes of Brahmanism got fixed themselves in the supreme
position in the Varna ladder with the help of many stories created in the form
of the Puranas and the edited epics. The warrior and trading populations
following the codes and conducts of Brahmanism were ranked at 2nd
and 3rd position in the Varna ladder. The major change came to the position
of women and shudras (labor class). Women lost their independence and put under
protection in one or other form. They gradually lost their rights to inherit or
own property. They were married at a younger age and restrictions were put on
the widow remarriage. Many evils crept into their life in the name of
protection and security. The ritual of sati
became prominent in the higher Varna people, especially the Kshatriya class.
The act can be best described as ‘ritual suicide’ in which woman used to throw
herself on the burning pyre of her dead husband. The ritual was further
glorified in the society by deifying the dead women. Even for Shudras, who were
already economically poor and formed the majority of the north India population,
the position was made miserable by tagging them religiously impure. They were
disqualified from gaining knowledge and participating in the Vedic yajnas. Many
stories were created in the form of Puranas,
using the popular sacred characters, justifying the harsh treatments to women
and shudras. Another development on social front was clear demarcation between the
upper Varna and Shudra Varna people of society based on language (Sanskrit vs
Prakrit), a sentiment which was prevailing in the Aryans of Kuru-Panchala from
the time of late Vedic period. As the anti-Vedic faiths like Buddhism and
Jainism used Prakrit language (also tagged as Apabhramsas or corrupt language) for their spread as it was spoken
by the masses, the step could have vertically split the society into two broad
groups with Sanskrit speaking population looking the other fraction as degraded
that also included the Vratyas of Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya class. As the Guptas
were centered over the northern India, the society started drifting away with
respect to its traditions and rituals than the southern India.
Overall
from the period of Mauryas to Guptas, Magadha empire impacted greatly to the
society by giving royal patronage to various faiths and their beliefs. When
Buddha rose as the chief deity and Buddhism as the foremost religion of the subcontinent
from the time of Ashoka till Guptas, the minor Vedic god Vishnu emerged as the chief
deity for Brahmins and Brahmanism followers after the Guptas patronized Vishnu
worship (Vaishnavism). The very long
period of ruler ship by the Guptas, covering nearly 300 years, rooted
Brahmanism faith strongly in north India against Buddhism and the later went
for decline in the absence of any royal patronage. However Gupta Empire alone
was not responsible for the decline of Buddhism in India but many factors were
already built in society, notable of them were unity of all orthodox cults of
land with each other against heterodox cults like Buddhism, Jainism and Ajivika
and ‘transformation of Brahmanism’ after rise of various philosophical thoughts
that now forms the pillars of present day Hinduism.
********************************************************************************************************************
********************************************************************************************************************
References:
[10] The Week. (Oct 9, 2011). P.
58. India
[11] Thorpe,
E. & Thorpe, S. (2012). The Pearson General Knowledge Manual 2012, pp.
C13-C14. India: Dorling Kindersley.
*******************************************************************************************************************************************
*******************************************************************************************************************************************
Index Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10
Give your feedback at gana.santhagara@gmail.com
If you think, this site has contributed or enriched you in terms of information or knowledge or anything, kindly donate to TATA MEMORIAL HOSPITAL online at https://tmc.gov.in/
and give back to society. This appeal has been made in personal
capacity and TATA MEMORIAL HOSPITAL is not responsible in any way.
********************************************************************************************************************
********************************************************************************************************************