Gupta Age Art and Culture
• The Gupta period witnessed a tremendous progress in the field of art, science and literature and on account of this it has been called “a golden age”.
• A few scholars even call this period a period of renaissance, but it should be remembered that there was no dark period before the Gupta rule.
• Therefore the cultural progress witnessed during the Gupta period may be called the culmination of Indian intellectual activities.

Architecture
• By evolving the Nagara and Dravida styles, the Gupta art ushers in the history of Indian architecture a formative and creative age with unlimited scope for future development and elaboration.
• The rock-cut caves continue the old forms to a large extent, but possess striking novelty by bringing about extensive changes in the ornamentation of the facade and in the designs of the pillars in the interior.
• The Most notable groups of rock-cut caves are found at Ajanta and Ellora (Maharashtra) and Bagh (MP). The Udayagiri caves (Orissa) are also of this type.
• Structural Temples: The following five groups may be distinguished among the structural temples:

1. Flat-roofed square temple;
2. Flat-roofed square temple with a second storey (vimana) above;
3. Square temple with a curvilinear tower (sikhara) above;
4. Rectangular temple; and
5. Circular temple.

– The second group of temples shows many of the characteristic features of the Dravida style.
– The importance of third group lies in the innovation of a sikhara that caps the sanctum sanctorum, the main feature of the Nagara style.

Stupas:
They were also built in large numbers, but the best are found at Sarnath (UP), Ratnagiri (Orissa) and Mirpur Khan (Sind).

Sculpture
• A good specimen of stone sculpture is of Buddha from Sarnath.
• Of the Brahmanical images perhaps the most impressive is the Great Boar (Varaha), at the entrance of a cave at Udayagiri.

• Metal Statues: The art of casting statues on a large scale by the cire process was practised by Guptan craftsmen with conspicuous success.
• Two remarkable examples of Gupta metal sculpture are:

– A copper image of the Buddha, about eighteen feet high at Nalanda in Bihar, and
– Sultanganj Buddha of seven and half feet.

Painting
• The art of painting seems to have been more in general practice and popular demand in the Gupta period than the art of stone sculpture.
• Remains of paintings of this period are found at Ajanta, Bagh, Badami and other places.
• From the point of technique, the surface of these paintings was perhaps done in a very simple way.
• Infact the mural paintings of Ajanta are not true frescoes, for a fresco is painted while the plaster is still damp and the murals of Ajanta were made after it had set.
• The art of Ajanta and Bagh shows the Madhyadesa School’ of painting at its best.

Literature
• The Sanskrit language became prominent during the Gupta period. Nagari script had evolved from the Brahmi script.
• Numerous works in classical Sanskrit came to be written in the forms of epic, lyrics, drama and prose. The best of the Sanskrit literature belonged to the Gupta age.
• Himself a great poet, Samudragupta patronized a number of scholars including Harisena.
• The court of Chandragupta II was adorned by the celebrated Navratnas.
• Kalidasa remain the foremost among them. His master-piece was the Sanskrit drama Shakuntala. It is considered one among the ‘hundred best books of the world’. He wrote two other plays – the Malavikagnimitra and Vikramorvasiya. His two well-known epics are Raghuvamsa and Kumarasambhava. Ritusamhara and Meghaduta are his two lyrics.
• Visakadatta was another celebrated author of this period. He was the author of two Sanskrit dramas, Mudrarakshasa and Devichandraguptam.
• Sudraka was a renowned poet of this age and his book Mrichchakatika is rich in humour and pathos.
• Bharavi’s Kritarjuniya is the story of the conflict between Arjuna and Siva.
• Dandin was the author of Kavyadarsa and Dasakumaracharita.
• Another important work of this period was Vasavadatta written by Subhandhu.
• The Panchatantra stories were composed by Vishnusarma during the Gupta period.
• The Gupta period also saw the development of Sanskrit grammar based on Panini and Patanjali.
• This period is particularly memorable for the compilation of the Amarakosa by Buddhist author Amarasimha, who was a luminary in the court of Chandragupta II.
• The two great epics, namely the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, were finally compiled probably in the fourth century A. D.
• The Puranas in their present form were composed during this period. There are eighteen Puranas. The most important among them are the Bhagavatha, Vishnu, Vayu and Matsya Puranas. The Mahabharatha and the Ramayana were given final touches and written in the present form during this period.

Science
• The Gupta period witnessed a brilliant activity in the sphere of mathematics, astronomy, astrology and medicine.
• Aryabhatta, a great mathematician and astronomer, wrote the book Aryabhatiya in 499 A.D. It deals with mathematics and astronomy. It explains scientifically the occurrence of solar and lunar eclipses.
• Aryabhatta was the first to declare that the earth was spherical in shape and that it rotates on its own axis.
• Varahamihira composed Pancha Siddhantika, the five astronomical systems. He was also a great authority on astrology. His work Brihadsamhita is a great work in Sanskrit literature. It deals with a variety of subjects like astronomy, astrology, geography, architecture, weather, animals, marriage and omens. His Brihadjataka is considered to be a standard work on astrology.
• A Gupta inscription from Allahabad district suggests that the decimal system was known in India at the beginning of the fifth century A. D.
• In the fields of astronomy a book called Romaka Sidhanta was compiled which was influenced by Greek ideas, as can be inferred from its name.
• In the field of medicine, Vagbhata lived during this period. He was the last of the great medical trio of ancient India.
• The other two scholars Charaka and Susruta lived before the Gupta age.
• Vagbhata was the author Ashtangasamgraha (Summary of the eight branches of medicine).
• The Gupta craftsmen distinguished themselves by their work in iron and bronze.
• Several bronze images of the Buddha, which began to be produced on a considerable scale because of the knowledge of advanced iron technology.
• In the case of iron objects the best example is the iron pillar found at Delhi near Mehrauli. Manufactured in the fourth century A.D., the pillar’ has not gathered any rust in the subsequent 15 centuries, which is a great tribute to the technological skill of the craftsmen. It was impossible, to produce such pillar in any iron foundry in the West until about a century ago.