Editing Gupta Empire (section)

{{Short description|Ancient Indian empire (c. 3rd century CE – 575 CE)}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Use Indian English|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Gupta Empire
| common_name            = 
| native_name            = 
| era                    = Classical India
| year_start             = {{Circa|240}}
| event1                 = Coronation of Chandragupta I
| date_event1            = 26 February 320<ref name="a006">{{cite web | last=Smith | first=Vincent A | title=Chapter 11 – The Gupta Empire and the Western Satraps: Chandragupta I to Kumaragupta I | website=The Public's Library and Digital Archive | url=https://www.ibiblio.org/britishraj/Jackson2/chapter11.html | access-date=14 July 2024}}</ref>
| event2                 = Gupta-Saka Wars
| date_event2            = {{Circa|375–385}}
<ref name="goyal1967">{{cite book|last=Goyal|first=SR|title=History of the Imperial Guptas|year=1967|page=367|url=https://archive.org/details/goyal-1967/page/367/mode/1up}}</ref>
| event3                 = Gupta-Kidarite Conflicts
| date_event3            = {{Circa|390–450}}<ref name="dani1996">{{cite book|last1=Dani|first1=Ahmad Hasan|last2=Litvinsky|first2=BA|title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The Crossroads of Civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750|year=1996|publisher=UNESCO|pages=151–152}}</ref>
| event4                 = Gupta-Hunnic Wars
| date_event4            = {{Circa|460–500}}<ref name="majumdar1981">{{cite book|last=Majumdar|first=R.C.|title=A Comprehensive History of India: Pt. 1. A.D. 300–985|year=1981|publisher=Indian History Congress/People's Publishing House|page=64}}</ref><ref name="dani1999">{{cite book|last=Dani|first=Ahmad Hasan|title=History of Civilizations of Central Asia|year=1999|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|page=221}}</ref>
| year_end               = {{Circa|579}}<ref name="goyal1967" />
| status                 = [[Empire]]
| p1                     = Western Satraps
| p2                     = Nagas of Padmavati
| p3                     = Pañcāla
| p4                     = Arjunayanas
| p5                     = Yaudheya
| p6                     = Mahameghavahana dynasty
| p7                     = Murunda dynasty
| p8                     = Kushano-Sasanian Kingdom
| s1                     = Later Guptas
| s2                     = Kingdom of Valabhi
| s3                     = Vardhana dynasty{{!}}Kingdom of Thanesar
| s4                     = Gurjaradesa{{!}}Gurjara kingdoms
| s5                     = Aulikaras
| s6                     = Maukhari Dynasty
| today                  = <!-- This field should not be used if there are more than four entries -->
| image_map              = {{Location map+
|South Asia
|overlay_image= Map of the Gupta Empire.png
|float      = center
|width      = 290 <!-- DO NOT CHANGE MAP SIZE (290) AS THIS WILL DISPLACE THE LABELS -->
|border     =none
|nodiv      = 1
|mini       = 1
|relief=yes 
|places     =
{{Annotation|230|5|text-align=center|[[420 CE|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF"> South Asia<br/>{{Circa|420 CE}}</span>]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=10|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|175|82|text-align=center|[[Licchavi (kingdom)|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">LICCHAVIS</span>]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=7|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|text-align=center|160|3|[[Tocharians|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">TOCHARIANS</span>]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=7|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|115|215|text-align=center|[[Kalabhra dynasty|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">KALABHRAS</span>]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=7|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|120|195|text-align=center|[[Western Ganga dynasty|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">WESTERN<br/>GANGAS</span>]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=5|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|text-align=center|145|50|[[Zhangzhung|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">ZHANGZHUNG</span>]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=7|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|100|165|text-align=center|[[Vakatakas|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">VAKATAKAS</span>]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=8|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|95|185|text-align=center|[[Kadamba dynasty|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">KADAMBAS</span>]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=6|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|210|130|text-align=center|[[Samatata|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">SAMATATA</span>]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=6|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|247|90|text-align=center|[[Varman dynasty|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">KAMARUPA</span>]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=6|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|45|20|text-align=center|[[Kidarites|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">KIDARITES</span>]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=7|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|15|5|text-align=center|[[Alchon Huns|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">ALCHON HUNS</span>]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=7|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|1|45|text-align=center|[[Sasanian Empire|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF">SASANIAN<br/>EMPIRE</span>]]|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=8|color=#000000}}
{{Annotation|262|250|[[Template:South Asia in 350 CE|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF"> ◁  </span>]] [[Template:South Asia in 500 CE|<span class="mw-no-invert" span style="color:#4F311CFF"> ▷ </span>]]|text-align=center|font-weight=bold|font-style=normal|font-size=12|color=#000000}}
|caption=
}}
| image_map_caption      = {{center|1=Map of the Gupta Empire {{Circa|420 CE}}, according to [[Joseph E. Schwartzberg]], with contemporary polities<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schwartzberg |first1=Joseph E. |title=A Historical atlas of South Asia |date=1978 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |page=[https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/reference/schwartzberg/query.py?object=182&display_type=image_display#gsc.tab=0 145, map XIV.1 (j)]; [https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/reference/schwartzberg/query.py?display_type=image_display&object=062#gsc.tab=0 p.25] |isbn=0226742210 |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=182 |access-date=12 February 2022 |archive-date=24 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224162023/https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=182 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}
| capital                = {{ubl
| [[Prayagraj|Prayaga]]<ref>{{Citation |last=Sharma |first=R.S. |title=Rise and Growth of the Gupta Empire |date=25 January 2007 |work=India’s Ancient Past |pages=242 |editor-last= |editor-first= |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/27690/chapter-abstract/197832883?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=true |access-date= |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-568785-9 |quote=UP therefore seems to have been the place from where the Guptas operated and fanned out in different directions. Probably with their centre of power at Prayag, they spread into the neighbouring regions.}}</ref><ref name=ChaurasiaPrayag/>
| [[Ayodhya]] (after 455)<ref name=AyodhyaKasi/><ref name=MookerjiAyodhKasi/><ref name=BakkerAyodhya/>
}}
| common_languages       = [[Sanskrit]] (literary and academic)<br />[[Prakrit]] (vernacular)
| religion               = {{unbulleted list|[[Vaishnavism]] (official)<ref name="GuptaReligion">'''Gupta's patronized sects'''
*Hinduism [Vaishnavism] : 
**{{Cite book |last=Sharma |first=Tej Ram |url=https://archive.org/details/personalgeograph00sharuoft/page/112/mode/1up |title=Personal and geographical names in the Gupta inscriptions |date=1978 |location=Delhi |publisher=Concept |page=112 |quote=An indication of the leaning of the Gupta kings towards Vaisnavism is clear from the Garuda emblem of the Guptas. The Gupta monarchs also used the title 'Paramabhāgavata' i.e.; the devout devotee of Visnu, in their imperial records.}}  
**{{Cite book |last=Bakker |first=Hans T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uDxTzQEACAAJ |title=The Alkhan: A Hunnic People in South Asia |date=12 March 2020 |publisher=Barkhuis |isbn=978-94-93194-00-7 |page=73 |language=en |quote=On the south banks of the Bina, the building of a religious complex dedicated to Vishnu, the Empire’s tutelary deity, had expanded under Budhagupta.}}  
*Buddhism [Mahayana] :
**{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/buddhism0000gane_e7c3 |title=Buddhism |page=17 |last=Ganeri |first=Anita |date=2007 |publisher=Franklin Watts |isbn=978-0-7496-6979-9 |quote=Gupta Empire at its height (5th-6th centuries) connected with the development of Mahayana Buddhism with the development of Tantric Buddhism.}}
**{{cite book |last=Singh |first=Upinder |title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century |year=2008 |publisher=Pearson Education India |page=521 |isbn=978-81-317-1677-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA521 |quote=While the Gupta kings are generally linked with the promotion of Brahmanical cults, some of them extended patronage to Buddhism as well. Paramartha, a Buddhist scholar of the period, states that king Vikramaditya sent his queen and prince Baladitya to study under the tutelage of the famous Buddhist monk and scholar Vasubandhu.[...] Narasimhagupta became a Buddhist monk and gave up his life through dhyana (meditation). Kumaragupta I and Budhagupta may have built monasteries at Nalanda. }}
*Jainism 
**{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}
</ref>|[[Buddhism]]<ref name="GuptaReligion"/>|[[Jainism]]<ref name="GuptaReligion"/>
}}
| demonym                = Indian
| government_type        = [[Monarchy]]
| area_km2               = 
| area_rank              = 
| currency               = [[Dinar|Dinara]] (gold coins)<br/>[[Rupee|Rupaka]] (silver coins)<br/>[[Karshapana]] (copper coins)<br/>[[Cowries]]
| title_leader           = [[List of Gupta emperors|Maharajadhiraja]]{{efn|The first two kings were titled ''[[Maharaja]]'', all others were titled ''[[Maharajadhiraja]]''.}}
| leader1                = [[Gupta (king)|Gupta]] (first)
| year_leader1           = {{Circa|240|280}}
| year_leader2           = {{Circa|540|550}}
| leader2                = [[Vishnugupta (Gupta Empire)|Vishnugupta]] (last)
| stat_year1             = 400 est.
| stat_area1             = 3500000
| ref_area1              = <ref name="Turchin223">{{Cite journal |last1=Turchin |first1=Peter |last2=Adams |first2=Jonathan M. |last3=Hall |first3=Thomas D |date=December 2006 |title=East-West Orientation of Historical Empires |journal=Journal of World-Systems Research |volume=12 |issue=2 |page=223 |issn=1076-156X |doi=10.5195/JWSR.2006.369|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="OxfordArea">{{Cite book|last1=Bang|first1=Peter Fibiger|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9mkLEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA92|title=The Oxford World History of Empire: Volume One: The Imperial Experience|last2=Bayly|first2=C. A.|last3=Scheidel|first3=Walter|year=2020|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-977311-4|pages=92–94|language=en}}</ref> {{break}}(high-end estimate of peak area)
| stat_year2             = 440 est.
| stat_area2             = 1700000
| ref_area2              = <ref name="Taagepera">{{Cite journal |last=Taagepera |first=Rein |year=1979 |title=Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D |journal=Social Science History |volume=3 |issue=3/4 |page=121 |doi=10.2307/1170959 |jstor=1170959}}</ref>{{break}}(low-end estimate of peak area)
| stat_pop3              = 75,000,000<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/38602317|title=Growth of World Population, GDP and GDP Per Capita before 1820|author=Angus Maddison|date=2001|page=238}}</ref>
| stat_year3             = 5th century
}}

The '''Gupta Empire''' was an Indian empire during the classical period of the [[Indian subcontinent]] which existed from the mid 3rd century to mid 6th century CE. At its zenith, the dynasty ruled over an empire that spanned much of the northern Indian subcontinent.<ref name=gd>{{Cite web |date=29 October 2009 |title=Gupta Dynasty |url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761571624/Gupta_Dynasty.html |access-date=30 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029013809/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761571624/Gupta_Dynasty.html |archive-date=29 October 2009 |quote="The dynasty controlled an empire stretching across north India at its peak in the 5th century."}}</ref> This period has been considered as the [[Golden Age of India]] by some historians,<ref>N. Jayapalan, ''History of India'', Vol. I, (Atlantic Publishers, 2001), 130.</ref> although this characterisation has been disputed by others.{{#tag:ref|According to [[D. N. Jha]], caste distinctions became more entrenched and rigid during this time, as prosperity and the favour of the law accrued the top of the social scale, while the lower orders were degraded further.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Ancient India in Historical Outline |last=Jha |first=D.N. |publisher=Manohar Publishers and Distributors |year=2002 |isbn=978-81-7304-285-0 |location=Delhi |pages=149–73}}</ref>|group=note}}<ref>{{harvnb|Pletcher|2011|p=90}}: "Historians once regarded the Gupta period (c.320–540) as the classical age of India [...] It was also thought to have been an age of material prosperity, particularly among the urban elite [...] Some of these assumptions have been questioned by more-extensive studies of the post-Mauryan, pre-Gupta period. Archaeological evidence from the earlier [[Kushan Empire|Kushan]] levels suggests greater material prosperity, to such a degree that some historians argue for an urban decline in the Gupta period."</ref>{{sfn|Stein|2010|p=86-87}} The ruling dynasty of the empire was founded by [[Gupta (king)|Gupta]].

The high points of this period are the great cultural developments which took place primarily during the reigns of [[Samudragupta]], [[Chandragupta II]] and [[Kumaragupta I]]. Many [[Hinduism|Hindu]] [[Hindu epics|epics]] and [[Hindu literature|literary]] sources, such as the [[Mahabharata]] and [[Ramayana]], were canonised during this period.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/249590/Gupta-dynasty Gupta dynasty (Indian dynasty)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100330100325/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/249590/Gupta-dynasty |date=30 March 2010 }}. Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21 November 2011.</ref> The Gupta period produced scholars such as [[Kalidasa]],<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/indiahistory00keay/page/151 |title=India: A history |last=Keay |first=John |publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-87113-800-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/indiahistory00keay/page/151 151–52] |quote=Kalidasa wrote ... with excellence which, by unanimous consent, justifies the inevitable comparisons with Shakespeare ... When and where Kalidasa lived remains a mystery. He acknowledges no links with the Guptas; he may not even have coincided with them ... but the poet's vivid awareness of the terrain of the entire subcontinent argues strongly for a Guptan provenance. |author-link=John Keay }}</ref> [[Aryabhata]], [[Varahamihira]] and [[Vatsyayana]], who made significant advancements in many academic fields.{{sfn|Vidya Dhar Mahajan|1990|p=540}}<ref name="Keay">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/indiahistory00keay/page/132 |title=India: A history |last=Keay |first=John |publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-87113-800-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/indiahistory00keay/page/132 132] |quote=The great era of all that is deemed classical in Indian literature, art and science was now dawning. It was this crescendo of creativity and scholarship, as much as ... political achievements of the Guptas, which would make their age so golden. |author-link=John Keay }}</ref><ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/285248/1960/The-Gupta-empire-at-the-end-of-the-4th-century Gupta dynasty: empire in 4th century] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100330103811/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/285248/1960/The-Gupta-empire-at-the-end-of-the-4th-century |date=30 March 2010 }}. Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 21 November 2011.</ref> [[History of science and technology in the Indian subcontinent|Science]] and political administration reached new heights during the [[Gupta era]].<ref name="Keay"/> The period, sometimes described as ''[[Pax Gupta]]'', gave rise to achievements in architecture, sculpture, and painting that "set standards of form and taste [that] determined the whole subsequent course of art, not only in [[Indian subcontinent|India]] but far beyond her borders".{{sfn|J.C. Harle|1994|p=87}} Strong trade ties also made the region an important cultural centre and established the region as a base that would influence nearby kingdoms and regions in India and [[Southeast Asia]].{{cn|date=December 2024}} The [[Puranas]], earlier long poems on a variety of subjects, are also thought to have been committed to written texts around this period.{{sfn|J.C. Harle|1994|p=87}}<ref name="Dikshitar 1993">{{Cite book|last=Dikshitar|first=V. R. Ramachandra|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KP_DTtd6kJEC&pg=PA199|title=The Gupta Polity|date=1993|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ.|isbn=978-81-208-1024-2|language=en|access-date=1 July 2020|archive-date=2 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802225920/https://books.google.com/books?id=KP_DTtd6kJEC&pg=PA199|url-status=live}}</ref> Hinduism was followed by the rulers and the Brahmins flourished in the Gupta empire but the Guptas were tolerant towards people of other faiths as well.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sen |first1=Sailendra Nath |title=Ancient Indian History and Civilization |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&q=indus |publisher=New Age International |year=1999 |orig-year=First published 1988 |edition=2nd |isbn=978-81-224-1198-0 |page=227 |access-date=30 August 2020 |archive-date=7 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210507000807/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Ancient_Indian_History_and_Civilization/Wk4_ICH_g1EC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=indus |url-status=live}}</ref>

The empire eventually died out because of factors such as substantial loss of territory and imperial authority caused by their own erstwhile feudatories, as well as the invasion by the [[Huna people]]s ([[Kidarites]] and [[Alchon Huns]]) from [[Central Asia]].{{sfn|Ashvini Agrawal|1989|pp=264–69}}<ref name="Rene">{{Cite book |title=The Empire of the Steppes |last=Grousset |first=Rene |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=1970 |isbn=978-0-8135-1304-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/69 69] |url=https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/69 }}</ref> After the collapse of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century, India was again ruled by numerous regional kingdoms.