Origins
The Gupta Empire rose to prominence in 320 AD and spread to large parts of northern India, central and small parts of southern India.
The founder of the Gupta dynasty is Sri Gupta.
The original homeland of the Guptas is not known for certain. But they might have originated from Bengal. Some scholars think they are from Prayaga (Allahabad in UP).
They are thought to be either Brahmins or Vaishyas.

Early kings
The first ruler was Sri Gupta (reign from 240 AD to 280 AD).
He was succeeded by his son Ghatotkacha (reign: 280 – 319 AD).
Both Sri Gupta and Ghatotkacha are mentioned as Maharaja in inscriptions.
 

Chandragupta I (Reign: 320 – 335 AD)
Was the son of Ghatotkacha.
Acquired the strategically important Magadha kingdom on marriage to a Lichchhavi princess Kumaradevi.
He extended his kingdom through conquests. His territory extended from the Ganges River to Prayaga by 321 AD.
He issued coins in the joint names of his queen and himself.
He assumed the title of Maharajadhiraja (great king of kings).
He was successful in building a small principality into a great kingdom.
He is considered the first great king of the Gupta Empire.
 

Samudragupta (Reign: 335 – 380 AD)
Son of Chandragupta I and Kumaradevi.
Was a military genius and was successful in adding many territories into the Gupta Empire.
The Allahabad inscription describes his bravery as composed by his court poet, Harisena. There it is said that he defeated nine kings of the Ganges Valley, twelve kings from the southern region and eighteen forest tribes.
His region extended from the Himalayas in the north to the Krishna and Godavari Rivers in the south; and from Balkh (Afghanistan) in the west to Brahmaputra River in the east.
He was a follower of Vaishnavite Hinduism but was tolerant of other faiths. He gave permission to the king of Sri Lanka, Meghavarna to build a monastery in Bodh Gaya.
He was also called “Indian Napoleon” by art historian Vincent Smith.
He also performed Ashvamedha sacrifice. Hence, one of his coins refers to him as “the restorer of Ashvamedha.”
He was also called “Kaviraja” since he composed verses.
 

Chandragupta II (Reign: 380 – 418 AD)
Son of Samudragupta and his queen Dattadevi.
He was also known as ‘Vikramaditya’.
He further annexed territories including Saurashtra which gave him the western coastline.
He used matrimonial alliances to expand his kingdom. He established matrimonial alliances with the Nagas and the Vakatakas. He gave his daughter Prabhapavatigupta in marriage to Vakataka ruler of Maharashtra Rudrasena II.
He also annexed three Satrapa kingdoms and assumed the title Sakari (destroyer of the Sakas). He defeated the Saka king Rudrasimha III thus acquiring Saurashtra and Kathiawar.
Through the western ports, the kingdom’s prosperity grew through trade links with Roman Empires.
After East and West India, Chandragupta II defeated northern rulers also like the Hunas, Kambojas, Kiratas, etc.
He was a brilliant conqueror and an able administrator as well.
Like his father, he was a Vaishnavite but was tolerant of other religions.
His other names (as mentioned in coins) include Vikrama, Devagupta, Devaraja, Simhavikrama, Vikramaditya Sakari, etc.
His court had nine jewels or Navaratnas, nine people eminent in various fields of art, literature and science. This included the great Sanskrit poet Kalidasa, Harisena, Amarasimha (lexicographer) and Dhanvantari (physician).
Fa-Hien, a Buddhist from China visited India during his reign. He records the prosperity of the Gupta Empire.
Other Gupta rulers
Chandragupta II was succeeded by his son Kumaragupta I. He ruled till 455 AD.
Kumaragupta I was the founder of the Nalanda University. He was also called Shakraditya.
The last great king of the Gupta dynasty, Skandagupta was the son of Kumaragupta I. He was able to repulse an attack by the Hunas but this strained his empire’s coffers.
The Gupta Empire declined after the death of Skandagupta in 467 AD.
He was followed by many successors.
The last recognised king of the Gupta line was Vishnugupta who reigned from 540 to 550 AD.

Gupta Dynasty
The Gupta age in ancient India has been called the ‘Golden Age of India’ because of the many achievements in the field of arts, science and literature that Indians made under the Guptas. The prosperity under the Guptas initiated a period of splendid accomplishments in arts and sciences. The Gupta Empire lasted from 320 AD to 550 AD.

Gupta Empire Literature

Sanskrit literature flourished under the Guptas. Kalidasa, the great poet and playwright was in the court of Chandragupta Vikramaditya. He composed great epics such as Abhijnanashaakuntalam, Kumarasambhavam, Malavikagnimitram, Ritusamharam, Meghadootam, Vikramorvashiyam and Raghuvamsham.
The celebrated Sanskrit drama M?cchakatika was composed during this time. It is attributed to Shudraka.
Poet Harisena also adorned the court of Chandragupta Vikramaditya. He wrote the Allahabad Prashasti (inscription).
Vishnusharma of Panchatantra fame lived during this era.
Amarasimha (grammarian and poet) composed a lexicon of Sanskrit, Amarakosha.
Vishakhadatta composed Mudrarakshasa. Other grammarians who contributed to the Sanskrit language include Vararuchi and Bhartrihari.
 

Sciences
In the fields of science, mathematics and astronomy also, the Gupta age saw a lot of interesting advancements.
Aryabhatta, the great Indian mathematician and astronomer wrote Surya Siddhanta and Aryabhattiya. Aryabhatta is believed to have conceptualised ‘zero’. He also gave the value of Pi. He postulated that the earth is not flat and it rotated around its own axis and also that it revolved around the sun. He also gave the distance between earth and sun which is remarkably close to the actual value. He wrote on geometry, astronomy, mathematics and trigonometry.
The Indian number system with a base of 10 which is the present numeral system evolved from scholars of this era.
Varahamihira wrote Brihatsamhita. He was an astronomer and an astrologer.
Dhanvantari, the great physician is supposed to have lived during this time.
Sushruta, composed the Sushrutasamhita around 600 AD. He has detailed surgical procedures in this work.
The Nalanda University, a centre of Buddhist and other learning attracted students from abroad. The Guptas patronised this ancient seat of learning.

Art & architecture
Many magnificent temples, palaces, paintings and sculptures were created.
Dashavatara Temple in Deogarh, UP is one of the earliest surviving Hindu temples. It is a fine example of Gupta architecture.
Mural paintings of Ajanta depicting the life of the Buddha as told in the Jataka tales were created in this period. Places like Ajanta, Ellora, Mathura, Sarnath; and Anuradhapura and Sigiriya in Sri Lanka bear examples of Gupta art and architecture.
Classical Indian music and dance took shape in this time.
The Gupta legacy in arts can be seen in Southeast Asia also today.
The Bronze Buddha which is 7.5 feet high and found at Sultanganj is a product of the Gupta age.
The iron pillar at Mehrauli, Delhi is a marvellous creation of this period. It is a 7 m long pillar and it is made up of a composition of metals such that it is rust-free. This is a testimony to the metallurgical skills of Indians of that time.
Social culture & religion
The Hindu epics were given their final touches during this time. The Hindu religion also received an impetus under the Guptas and it flourished and expanded throughout India.
Although the Gupta kings were Vaishnavas they were tolerant of Buddhism and Jainism. They patronised Buddhist art.
The Shakti cult rose up around this time.
Sacrifice was being replaced by Bhakti and Pooja.
Occult practices like tantrism also emerged during this time.
The game of chess is said to have originated from this time. It was called Chaturanga meaning the four divisions (of the military such as infantry (pawn), cavalry (knight), elephantry (bishop) and chariotry (rook).
 

Decline of the Gupta Empire

The Gupta decline started during the reign of Skandagupta, the grandson of Chandragupta II. He was successful in retaliating against the Huns and the Pushyamitras, but his empire was drained of finances and resources because of this.
The last recognised king of the Gupta line was Vishnugupta who reigned from 540 to 550 AD.
Internal fighting and dissensions among the royal family led to its weakening.
During the reign of a Gupta king, Budhagupta, the Vakataka ruler Narendrasena of western Deccan attacked Malwa, Mekala and Kosala. Later on, another Vakataka king Harishena conquered Malwa and Gujarat from the Guptas.
During Skandagupta’s reign, the Huns invaded northwest India but were restricted. But in the sixth century, they occupied Malwa, Gujarat, Punjab and Gandhara. The Hun invasion weakened the Gupta hold in the country.
Independent rulers emerged all over the north like Yasodharman of Malwa, the Maukharis of U.P., the Maitrakas in Saurashtra, and others in Bengal. The Gupta Empire was restricted to Magadha only. (Yasodharman had joined forces with Narasimhagupta to successfully retaliate against the Hun chief Mihirakula.)
The later Guptas’ following of Buddhism rather than Hinduism unlike their ancestors also weakened the empire. They did not focus on empire-building and military conquests.
So weak rulers along with incessant invasions from foreign as well as native rulers caused the decline of the Gupta Empire.
By the beginning of the sixth century, the empire had disintegrated and was ruled by many regional chieftains.

Facts about Harsha (Reign: 606 A.D to 647 A.D.)
Harshavardhana was born in 590 AD to King Prabhakaravardhana of Sthaneshvara (Thanesar, Haryana).
He belonged to the Pushyabhuti also called Vardhana dynasty.
He was a Hindu who later embraced Mahayana Buddhism.
He was married to Durgavati.
He had a daughter and two sons. His daughter married a king of Vallabhi whereas his sons were killed by his own minister.

Rise to the throne

After Prabhakaravardhana died, his elder son Rajyavardhana ascended to the throne of Thanesar.
Harsha had a sister, Rajyashri who was married to king Grahavarman of Kannauj. Sasanka, the Gauda king killed Grahavarman and kept Rajyashri prisoner. This prompted Rajyavardhana to fight against Sasanka. But Sasanka killed Rajyavardhana.
This led the 16-year old Harshavardhana to ascend the throne of Thanesar in 606 AD.
He vowed to avenge his brother’s murder and also rescue his sister.
For this, he forged an alliance with Bhaskaravarman, the Kamarupa king. Harsha and Bhaskaravarman marched against Sasanka. Ultimately, Sasanka left for Bengal and Harsha became the king of Kannauj also.

Empire of Harsha
On acquiring Kannauj, Harsha united the two kingdoms of Thanesar and Kannauj.
He moved his capital to Kannauj.
After the fall of the Guptas, North India was divided into many small kingdoms.
Harsha was able to unite many of them under his command. He had under his control Punjab and central India. After Sasanka’s death, he annexed Bengal, Bihar and Odisha.
He also defeated the Vallabhi king in Gujarat. (The Vallabhi king and Harsha came to a truce by a marriage between Harsha’s daughter and the Vallabhi king Dhruvabhata.)
However, Harsha’s plans to conquer lands to the south were hampered when the Chalukya king, Pulakesin II defeated Harsha in 618-619 A.D. This sealed Harsha’s southern territorial limit as the Narmada River.

There were two types of territories under Harsha. One was directly under him and the other type was those that were feudatories.
Direct territories: Central Provinces, Bengal, Kalinga, Rajputana, Gujarat
Feudatories: Jalandhar, Kashmir, Kamarupa, Sind, Nepal
 Harsha’s reign marked the beginning of feudalism in India.
Hiuen Tsang visited India during Harsha’s reign. He has given a very favourable account of king Harsha and his empire. He praises his generosity and justice.
Harsha was a great patron of the arts. He himself was an accomplished writer. He is credited with the Sanskrit works Ratnavali, Priyadarshika and Nagananda.
Banabhatta was his court poet and he composed the Harshacharita which gives an account of Harsha’s life and deeds.
Harsha generously supported the Nalanda University.
He had a good tax structure. 1/4th of all the taxes collected were used for charity and for cultural purposes.
Harsha was a competent military conqueror and an able administrator.
Harsha was the last king to rule over a vast empire in India before the invasions by the Muslims.
Harsha’s death
Harsha died in 647 AD after ruling for 41 years.
Since he died without any heirs, his empire disintegrated very soon after his death.