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Gupta empire

From Chandragupta I in 319–320 CE to Skandagupta in the 460s, the Guptas built the largest Indian empire since the Mauryas. Their age gave Bharat Kalidasa, Aryabhata, the decimal place-value system in common use, the first stone temples of the north, and Nalanda.

  1. Sri Guptac. 240–280 CE
  2. Ghatotkachac. 280–319 CE
  3. Chandragupta Ic. 319–335 CE
  4. Samudraguptac. 335–375 CE
  5. Ramaguptac. 375 CE (disputed)
  6. Chandragupta II Vikramadityac. 375–415 CE
  7. Kumaragupta Ic. 415–455 CE
  8. +7
Period: c. 319–550 CERegion: Magadha, then all of north India from the Indus lands to Bengal, with the Deccan as allies and tributariesCapitals: Pataliputra, Ujjayini (western seat under Chandragupta II, by tradition)
Photo: Mitresh66 · CC BY-SA 4.0

01Chandragupta I and Samudragupta

The Gupta era begins in 319–320 CE, with the coronation of Chandragupta I, who married the Licchavi princess Kumaradevi and took the title maharajadhiraja. His son Samudragupta had his deeds cut on the Ashokan pillar now at Prayagraj, in a Sanskrit poem by his minister Harishena. It says he uprooted nine kings of Aryavarta, captured and then released twelve kings of the south, from Kosala to Kanchi, and took tribute from frontier kingdoms and gifts from Lanka and the Shakas. He performed an Ashvamedha and struck gold coins of it, and others show him playing the veena.

02Chandragupta II Vikramaditya

Chandragupta II ended Shaka rule in Malwa and Gujarat around 409 CE and gave the empire the western sea and its ports. At Udayagiri near Vidisha, a cave inscription dated 401 CE stands beside the great relief of Bhagwan Varaha lifting Bhudevi from the ocean. The iron pillar now at Mehrauli, made by a king Chandra, has stood sixteen centuries without rusting. The Chinese monk Faxian travelled through his empire from 399 to 411 and found it peaceful and well governed. Tradition places Kalidasa at the court of Vikramaditya.

Samudragupta
Person · Reigned c. 335–375 CESamudraguptaSamudragupta, son of Chandragupta I and the Licchavi princess Kumaradevi, conquered more of Bharat than anyone since Ashoka. His court poet Harishena carved the list of his victories on the very pillar Ashoka had raised, now standing in the Allahabad fort.Read →

03Nalanda, Aryabhata and the temple

Kumaragupta I, called Shakraditya by Xuanzang, founded the first monastery at Nalanda, which grew into a university with students from across Asia. In 499 CE, at Kusumapura, Aryabhata wrote the Aryabhatiya, giving the rotation of the earth on its axis and a value of pi to four decimals. The earliest surviving stone temples of the north date to this age: the Dashavatara temple at Deogarh with its panel of Vishnu on Shesha, the brick temple at Bhitargaon, and the small flat-roofed shrines of Sanchi and Tigawa.

04Skandagupta and the Hunas

Skandagupta’s Bhitari pillar inscription says that when he went to fight the Hunas the earth shook, and that he slept a night on bare ground to restore his family’s fortune. He threw them back. His Junagadh inscription records that the Sudarshana lake, first dammed under the Mauryas, burst its banks and was rebuilt by his governor’s son Chakrapalita in 455–456 CE. After him the empire weakened. The Huna Toramana and his son Mihirakula took the Punjab and Malwa; Yashodharman of Mandsaur and Narasimhagupta Baladitya drove Mihirakula back, but by about 550 the main Gupta line had ended.

Skandagupta
Person · Reigned c. 455–467 CESkandaguptaSkandagupta came to the throne in the middle of a crisis, beat back the Pushyamitras and then the Hunas, and held the Gupta empire together for another generation. His Bhitari pillar and his Junagadh inscription are the two voices of his reign.Read →

The rulers

  1. 1Sri GuptaFounder, a maharajac. 240–280 CE
  2. 2Ghatotkachac. 280–319 CE
  3. 3Chandragupta IGupta era begins; married Kumaradevic. 319–335 CE
  4. 4SamudraguptaPrayaga pillar; Ashvamedhac. 335–375 CE
  5. 5RamaguptaKnown from the play Devichandraguptam and copper coinsc. 375 CE (disputed)
  6. 6Chandragupta II VikramadityaEnded Shaka rule in the westc. 375–415 CE
  7. 7Kumaragupta IFounded the first monastery at Nalandac. 415–455 CE
  8. 8SkandaguptaDefeated the Hunasc. 455–467 CE
  9. 9Puruguptac. 467–473 CE
  10. 10Kumaragupta IIc. 473–476 CE
  11. 11BudhaguptaLast king with records across the empirec. 476–495 CE
  12. 12Narasimhagupta BaladityaResisted Mihirakula, by Xuanzangc. 495–530 CE
  13. 13Kumaragupta IIIc. 530–540 CE
  14. 14VishnuguptaLast known king of the linec. 540–550 CE

What they left

  • The Prayaga pillar inscription, the Mehrauli iron pillar and the Bhitari pillar
  • Nalanda mahavihara
  • The Udayagiri caves and the Deogarh Dashavatara temple
  • Kalidasa’s plays and poems, and Aryabhata’s Aryabhatiya
  • Gold dinars of a fineness not matched again for centuries

People

SamudraguptaRuler
Reigned c. 335–375 CE

Samudragupta

Gupta conqueror, poet and vina player

Chandragupta II VikramadityaRuler
Reigned c. 380–415 CE

Chandragupta II Vikramaditya

Gupta emperor who took Ujjain from the Shakas

Kumaragupta IRuler
Reigned c. 415–455 CE

Kumaragupta I

Gupta emperor, founder of Nalanda

SkandaguptaRuler
Reigned c. 455–467 CE

Skandagupta

Gupta emperor who threw back the Hunas

Mahakavi KalidasaPoet
c. 4th–5th century CE

Mahakavi Kalidasa

Greatest poet and playwright of Sanskrit

AryabhataScientist
Born 476 CE; Aryabhatiya 499 CE

Aryabhata

Astronomer-mathematician, author of the Aryabhatiya

Places

Udayagiri Caves, VidishaStanding
The Gupta Age

Udayagiri Caves, Vidisha

Twenty rock-cut shrines in a sandstone hill near Vidisha, the oldest securely dated Hindu cave temples. The great Varaha panel of Cave 5 shows Vishnu lifting Bhudevi out of the ocean.

Kankali Devi Temple, TigawaStanding
The Gupta Age

Kankali Devi Temple, Tigawa

A flat-roofed stone shrine with a four-pillared porch, one of the oldest surviving Hindu temples, showing the temple form at its first steps. It is the only one left standing of some three dozen at Tigawa.

Nalanda MahaviharaExcavated
The Gupta Age

Nalanda Mahavihara

For some seven centuries the greatest seat of learning in Asia, with thousands of monks and teachers, libraries and royal grants from Kanauj to Sumatra. It was ruined in the raids on Bihar around 1200 and its brick courts were dug out from 1915.

Mandsaur (Dashapura)Standing
The Gupta Age

Mandsaur (Dashapura)

Old Dashapura of western Malwa, where a guild of silk weavers built a Sun temple in 436 CE, and where Yashodharman raised victory pillars after defeating the Huna Mihirakula. Today it is best known for its eight-faced Shivalinga of Pashupatinath, found in the Shivna river.

Bhitargaon Brick TempleRuined
The Gupta Age

Bhitargaon Brick Temple

The oldest surviving brick temple of the Hindus with a tall shikhara, built under the Guptas and covered with terracotta panels.

Bhitari, Pillar of SkandaguptaRuined
The Gupta Age

Bhitari, Pillar of Skandagupta

A village near Saidpur where a sandstone pillar bears Skandagupta’s inscription on his victory over the Hunas and his night on the bare ground. The same site gave a royal seal with the Gupta line down to Kumaragupta III.

Eran (Airikina)Ruined
The Gupta Age

Eran (Airikina)

A bend of the Bina river in Sagar district where the Guptas and their governors set up a Garuda pillar, Vishnu temples and a colossal stone Varaha covered with rishis. An inscription here of 510 CE is the earliest dated record of a sati.

Dashavatara Temple, DeogarhRuined
The Gupta Age

Dashavatara Temple, Deogarh

A Gupta stone temple of Vishnu on the Betwa, one of the earliest Hindu temples built to the panchayatana plan. Its three relief panels are among the masterpieces of Indian sculpture.

Evidence

The Chandragupta–Kumaradevi coinCoin
4th century CE

The Chandragupta–Kumaradevi coin

A gold coin showing Chandragupta I with his Licchavi queen Kumaradevi, both named, with the word “Licchavayah” on the back.

Allahabad pillar prashasti of SamudraguptaInscription
c. 350–375 CE

Allahabad pillar prashasti of Samudragupta

Harishena, minister and poet of Samudragupta, carved a long Sanskrit eulogy of his king onto a pillar that already bore Ashoka’s edicts.

Samudragupta’s Ashvamedha coinCoin
c. 350–375 CE

Samudragupta’s Ashvamedha coin

A gold dinar struck to mark Samudragupta’s horse sacrifice: the consecrated horse stands before the sacrificial post.

Gupta gold dinarsCoin
c. 320–550 CE

Gupta gold dinars

The gold coins of the Gupta emperors, which their own inscriptions call dinaras: portraits of kings as archers, horsemen and lion-slayers, with Lakshmi on the back.

Junagadh inscription of SkandaguptaInscription
455–457 CE (Gupta years 136–138)

Junagadh inscription of Skandagupta

Three centuries after Rudradaman, the Sudarshana dam burst again; Skandagupta’s governor rebuilt it and recorded the work on the same rock.

Bhitari pillar of SkandaguptaInscription
c. 455–467 CE

Bhitari pillar of Skandagupta

A red sandstone pillar on which Skandagupta records how he saved the Gupta house and fought the Hunas.

Eran inscriptionsInscription
4th–6th century CE

Eran inscriptions

A small town that kept records of three turning points: Samudragupta’s rule, the Huna Toramana’s arrival, and the earliest dated sati memorial.

On the timeline

  • 319–320 CE

    Chandragupta I starts the Gupta eraPolity

    Married to the Licchavi princess Kumaradevi, whose name appears on his coins with his own, Chandragupta I took the title Maharajadhiraja. The Gupta era counts from 319–320.