Gupta-Vakatakas

Answer : The period of the rule of Guptas has been regarded as one of the most glorious period of Indian history. The Great Gupta rulers not only provided political and administrative unity to North India alone, but also forced the Vakataka and Pallava rulers of the South to accept their suzerainty.

Besides, economic prosperity and intellectual progress were other important features of the Gupta Age which brought about progress in science, art, religion and literature and every field of life. On the basis of their achievements the Gupta Age is regarded as the ‘Golden Age’ of Ancient India.

But the condition of the common man was indifferent to these developments. For the upper classes all period in the history have been golden, for the mass none.

Decentralization of administration was caused by increasing grants of land and villages with fiscal and administrative immunities to priests and temples. It also led to the oppression of the peasants and other inhabitants of the gifted village who were asked to obey their mew master and carry out their orders.

These land grants paved the way for feudal development in India.

The position of the peasants was also undermined from the Gupta period onwards on account of the imposition of forced labour-visthi and several new levies and taxes. Earlier only a few classes were of subjects and came to include all kind of work.

The guilds of artisans and merchants had begun to lose their importance due to the decline of trade under the Guptas. India’s foreign trade during this period seems to have been seriously affected by the introduction of silk worms in to the Byzantine Empire from China and later by the expansion of the Arabs under the banner of Islam. Commercial decline is also indicated by the paucity of coins. This languishing trade explains the decline of urban centres at least in the Gangetic plains, which formed heartland of the Gupta Empire.

The position of Shudras improved in this period. They were now permitted to listen to the epics and Puranas. They could also worship a new god called Krishna. They were also allowed to perform certain domestic rites which naturally brought fee to the priests. All this can be attributed to a change in the economic condition of Shudras. From the seventh century onwards they were mainly represented as agriculturists; in the earlier period they always appeared as servants, slaves and agricultural labourers working for the three higher Varnas.

But during this period the untouchables increased in number, especially the Chandalas. The Chandala appeared in the society as early as the fifth century BC. By the 5^th century AD their number had become so enormous and their disabilities so glaring that it attracted the attention of the Chinese pilgrim Fa-hien. He informs us that the Chandalas lived outside the village and dealt in meat and flesh. Whenever they entered the town the upper caste people kept themselves at a distance from them because the road was supposed to have been polluted by them.

There came to pronounced Varna distinctions in various spheres of life, even in the case of owning a house. Varna distinctions were also observed in legal matters like the law of inheritance etc. The Shudras seemed to be particularly hostile to the existing social order. The Anushasan Parva of the Mahabharata represents them as destroyer of the king. All this as well as some passages from legal texts suggest a kind of conflict between the rulers and the Shudras. The ruling class often used religion for maintaining the social orders loosed of Varna.

In the Gupta period, like the Shudras, women were also allowed to listen to the Epics and the Puranas and advised to worship Krishna. But women of higher order did not have access to independent source of livelihood in pre-Gupta and Gupta times.

The fact that women of two lower Varnas were free to earn their livelihood gave them considerable freedom, which was decided to women of the upper Varnas. It was argued that the Vaishya and Shudra women take to agricultural operations and domestic services and hence they were outside the control of their husbands. In contrast, by Gupta times members of the higher orders came to acquire more and more land which made them more polygamous and more property-minded.

In a patriarchal set-up they began to treat women as items of property, so much so that a woman was expected to follow her husband to the next world. However some post Gupta law books held that a women can remarry if her husband is dead, destroyed, impotent, has became a renounce or has been excommunicated. The main reason for the subordination of women belonging to upper Varnas was their complete dependence on men for their livelihood. They lacked properly rights except for Stridhana. Katyayana, a law give of 6^th century, holds that she could sell and mortgage her immovable property along with her stridhana. This clearly implies that women received shared in landed property according to this law giver, but generally a daughter was not allowed to inherit landed property in the patriarchal communities of India.

In short, the upper classes were happy and prosperous and lived in comfort and ease, as can be judged from the contemporary art and literature. But this could have been hardly true of the common people.

Answer : Samudragupta is considered the Napoleon of Ancient India on account of his wars and conquests. His wars and conquests expanded the horizons of the Gupta Empire for and wide imparting it an all-India character.

The main source throwing light on the military exploits of Samudragupta is the Allahabad pillar inscription which was composed by his court poet Harisena. The long Inscription enumerates the people and countries conquered by Samudragupta. The places and the countries conquered by Samudragupta can be divided into five groups. Group one includes the princes of the Ganga-Yamuna doab who were defeated and whose kingdoms were incorporated into the Gupta Empire. Here the Achutas, Nagasena and Kotas. In all nine kings of Aryavrata including Rudradeva, Mattila were defeated.

Group two includes the rulers of the eastern Himalayan states and some frontier states such as Samatata, Davaka, Kamarupa, Nepala, Kartipura. It also covers some of the republics of Punjab like Malavas, Arjunayas, Yaudheyas, Madrakas, Abhiras, etc.

The republics which flickered on the ruins of the Mauryan Empire were finally destroyed by Samudragupta. Group three includes the forest kingdoms situated in the Vindhyan region and known as Atavika rajyas, they were brought under the control of Samudragupta.

Group four includes the twelve states of the eastern Deccan and south India. This campaign is known as the Dakshinapatha campaign. The rulers here were conquered and liberated. Here he defeated rulers of Avamukta, Dusthalapura, Kosala, Kottura. Samudragupta’s arms reached as far as Kanchi where Pallavas were compelled to recognize his suzerainty.

Group five includes the names of Shakas and the Kushanas, some of them ruling in Afghanistan. It is said that Samudragupta swept them out of power and received the submission of rulers of distant lands.

The prestige and influence of Samudragupta spread even outside India and Meghvarman, the ruler of Sri Lanka asked for his permission to build a Buddhist temple at Gaya. The main factor that guided Samudragupta in his campaign was his imperial ambition to extend the influence of Gupta dynasty to as far area as possible.

Also responsible for the exploits of Samudragupta in Aryavrata region was the geo-political factor. The Nagas were important power in Aryavrata region. So, in any scheme of expansion of Gupta Empire, it was but natural that the Nagas would have to be subjugated first.

Religious differences too played a role. The Nagas were the worshippers of Shiva, while the Guptas patronized Lord Vishnu. Economic factors were also paramount, as this was especially true of the Dakshinapath campaign, Samudragupta was lured by the rich wealth he could acquire as presents and tributes from the southern states. As far the patterns of the expansion of Gupta Empire under Samudragupta, first of all the campaigns were launched in North India.

In the second phase, Samudragupta marched to the South where he subjugated the Dakshinapatha states. This was followed by Samudragupta focusing again on Aryavrata. Samudragupta next turned his attention towards forest and frontier states.

The policies adopted in terms of conquests by Samudragupta varied. While for the states of Aryavrata, he adopted the policy of complete subjugation and annexation of their territories, in case of south India, he was content at establishing his suzerainty and extracting tribute from them. Towards tribal and frontier states, the policy was no more than extending some sort of general control.

Thus, Samudragupta’s campaign expanded the Gupta Empire far and wide. In the east, it included the whole of Bengal except its southeastern part.

In the north, the confines of the empire ran along the Himalayas. In the west, it extended up to Punjab. The southern boundary of empire encompassed the entire Peninsula except the western half. On account of bravery and superior generalship, Samudragupta thus forcibly unified greater part of India under him, and his power was felt in a much longer area.

Answer : Contemporary inscriptions and literary sources throw light on the polity and administrative system of the Gupta period. Land and land relations acquired central stage in the economic life of the period and flourishing trade of the post Mauryan-pre-Gupta period declined sharply in this period. The period was also marked by the growing signifi­cance of land grants which led to decentralization of political authority of the king and finally gave birth to feudalism in Indian history.

The law of the primogeniture was not firmly established, and sometimes elder sons were passed over in favour of younger sons. The king appointed ministers, commanders, governors etc. He received the obeisance of his vassals and princes. His pompous titles Paramesvara, Maharajadhiraja, Paramabhattaraka indicate the existence of lesser princes and chiefs with whom he had to come to terms in his empire. The maintenance of the Varnasrama Dharma appear as an impor­tant royal duty in Gupta inscription imposed upon the king, who is described as the giver of thousands of gold coins. The second change noticeable in the Gupta kingship is not qualitative but quantitative and relates to its divine associa­tions. They are compared to Vishnu as regards their function of preserving and protecting the people, and Laxmi, wife of Vishnu and goddess of prosperity appears on many Gupta coins.

Ministers called by different names such as Mantrin, Amatya or sachiva may have restrained the despotic activi­ties of the king, although inscriptions give very little idea of their functions and no idea of their corporate existence.

Un­doubtedly some individual ministers such as Harisena were powerful because of having combined posts of the Mahadan-danayaka, Kumaramatya, Sanhivigrahika in the same per­son. And then the post became hereditary in the same family for several generations. Such families must have played an important part in politics.

Ministers or advisers formed part of the higher bu­reaucracy of the Guptas. Among the other high officers we may take special notice of the Sandhivigrahika, who are not known to earlier inscription.

Like the Mahamatras under Ashoka and the Amatyas under the Satavahanas, the Kuma-ramatyas formed the chief cadre for recruiting high function­aries under the Guptas. Literally translated as the minister of peace and war, the Sandhivigrahika first appears under Samudragupta whose Amatya Harisena holds this title. We have the famous example of Harisena, who held the several important portfolios. We hearof Kumaramatya who held the offices of the Mahasvapti and Mahadanayka. We have no precise idea about the mode of payment to the officers under the Gupta Empire. The discovery of numerous Gupta’s gold coins and their use in land transaction in Bengal coupled with the prevalence of the tax known as Hiranya would suggest that at least higher officers were paid in cash.

Three grades of military commands came into existence, namely those of Mahabaladhikrta, Mahadanayaka and Senapati. The cavalry, the elephant corps and perhaps also the infantry were organized under separate commands.

Civil of­ficials such as Amatyas, Kumaramatyas, etc. performed mili­tary functions or were promoted to the rank of high military officers. A ministers hailing from Pataliputra accompanied Chandragupta II on his campaign to Western India. Similarly military officers may have performed civil functions.

The taxation system of the Guptas was not so elaborate and organised like that of the Arthasastra of Kautilya. The villagers paid in kind certain customary miscellaneous dues, which could be measured but these are not specified. They also paid hiranya or gold, but what it actually meant can­not be said. The artisans also had to pay some imposts, and traders were subjected to customs on commodities of trade, which were levied and collected by the custom officer. Guptas evolved the first systematic provincial and local administration. This was primarily concerned with the collec­tion of revenues and maintenance of law and order. The core, of the empire directly controlled by the Guptas was divided -into a number of provinces. A Gupta province was smaller than a Mauryan province, but much larger than a modern division.

The Bhukti was the largest administrative unit under the Guptas and there were at least six such divisions over Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. It was placed in charge of an Uparika. The exact connotation of this high officer is obscure, probably in ori­gin it had something to do with the collection of Uparikara, an additional impost on the peasants in addition to the fixed annual share of the produce. The officer was undoubtedly a governor appointed by the Gupta King, but the literal mean­ing of the term Bhukti suggests that the territory placed under his charge was intended to be enjoyed rather than governed by him in its own interest.

It is a pity that we have no infor­mation regarding the functions of the head of the Bhukti. The Bhukti was divided into Visayas or districts, whose number is not known. The visayas of Rajgriha, Pataliputra and Gaya were included in Megadhbhukti which, if we be­lieve the geographical details in the Spurious Nalanda grant of Samudragupta, also included Krimila Visaya, roughly corresponding to Munger, Lakhisarai, Shekhpura, Jamui, Khagria and Begusarai districts and extending over both the north and south of the Ganges.

In Tirabhukti, Vaisali was the headquarter of a Visaya, although it is mentioned as such in only one seal and here to the reading is doubtful. In Pundravardhan bhukti, now in Bangladesh, the Visaya of Kotivarsa was a famous administrative unit.

The Visaya was in charge of the Kumaramatya in early times, but later it came to be placed under the Visayapati. Ordinarily in Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar the Visayapati was the head of the local office or Adhikarna. But in one case in western U.P. he was placed in charge of a district called Bhoga. We have some idea of the way the district governor maintained his power in the Visaya of Kotivarsa. He based his authority on the force consisting if elephants, cavalry and infantry, whose cost was defrayed probably out of the revenues supplied by the district. Perhaps every district had a strong military contingent to back civil authority in times of need.

The Visaya was divided into Vithis. In Bihar we know of Nandivithi, whose headquarters lay 2 miles to the north­west of Surajgarha in South Munger. But several vithis are known from Bengal, and in one case we have full information about the composition of the committee which took part in its government.

The vithi consisted of villages which formed the lowest unit of administration; several of these are men­tioned in Gupta inscriptions and seals. The leading part in managing the affairs of the village was taken by its gramika and elders known as the mahattama, mahattaka or mahattara.

The term Gramadhipati and Gramasyadhipati used in contemporary texts would suggest that the village headman was treated as the lord of the village. If we rely on a passage from the Kamasutra of Vatsyayana, perhaps in western India, where this text was composed, the village headman called Gramadhipati Ayuktaka tended to become all powerful.

The expanding scope of the village administration is a significant aspect of the Gupta polity. This did not come to happen because the state raised too many taxes to maintain a large official apparatus nor had too many copper coins to pay minor employees. Naturally many of the functions once performed by the central government devolved on the village administration, which was dominated by feudal and influential elements.

Answer : The status of women in India began to decline from Post Vedic period onwards. The rights of women decreased to minimum level and their responsibilities and obligations increased to the maximum level. Prior to 4th century B.C. the birth of a daughter became charmless. The sacrament of Upanayana was stopped for women and they could not en­chant vedic hynms. Moreover, the age of marriage for girls reduced in comparison to preceding ages. Consequently, im­parting formal education to girls became a difficult job. Twelve years for a virgin and sixteen years for a youth were suitable for marriage ceremony.

The wife occupied an honoured place and participated with her husband in religious ceremonies. Monogamy was the general rule, though polygamy prevailed among the rich and the ruling class. Polyandry and the cus­tom of Sati were unknown and were legally banned.

The women of the period under review had the right of re-marriage but they did not enjoy the liberty. They did not have the right to go outside the house and could do noth­ing without the permission of their husbands. Kautilya also speaks of the system of Niyoga in which an issueless widow had the rights to produce a child through making intercourse with the relative of her husband. A man could re-marry to produce a son because women were made for this purpose. However, the system of Niyoga was rejected by the writers of Puranas and Smritis and after 5th century it stopped.

Law-givers unanimously advocated early marriage, some of them preferred even the practice of pre-puberty mar­riage. Celibacy was to be strictly observed by widows. The practice of Sati or self-immolation at the funeral pyre of the husband gained approval of the jurists. But it was confined to upper classes only. The first evidence of Sati, dated A.D. 510, is found at Eran in Madhya Pradesh.

They did not have the right to go outside the house and could do nothing without the permission of their husbands; Kautilya writes that a woman could knock at the door of jus­tice against the torture and exploitation of her husband. The murder of a woman was legally prohibited and unapproved. Women were denied any right to property except for Stridhana in the form of jewellery and garments. They themselves came to be regarded as property which could be given or loaned to anybody.

Their everlasting protection was argued forcefully. The social philosophy demanding increasing sub­jection of woman to man was a natural development in a pa­triarchal society based on private property.

The references to such women are also available in sever­al sources that did not lead a family life and held the lives of Ganikas or prostitutes. They were meant for the amusement of the king and the ruling class. The courtesan was not looked down upon. She was a normal feature of city life. Kalidasa refers to the amorous sports of young gallants with harlots of Vidisha. According to the Mudrarakshasa of Vishakadutta prostitutes crowded the streets of the capital on festive oc­casions. The Dharmashastra writers, no doubt, displayed an unkindly attitude to public women. Kalidasa speaks of girls kept at the Mahakala temple at Ujjain. The earliest evidence of temple prostitution, however, is found in a cave inscrip­tion at Ramgarh, 160 miles South of Benaras, carved perhaps not long after Ashoka.

References to woman teachers, philosophers and doctors are available in early indian literature. But they are few wom­en were also employed as spies by the state because accord­ing to Kautilya, they could prove more useful as spies than even men. Megasthenes and other Greek writers also confirm it. Women soldiers were also appointed in the palace. Meg­asthenes writes that women study, philosophy with some of them (Sarmanes), but they too abstain from sexual intercourse. Ashokan inscriptions evidence that his daughter Sanghamitra went to Ceylon as a nun for the propagation of Buddhism.

From Greek accounts we come to know that women could intervene in state affairs if so necessary. For example, Naganika and Balashri worked as regents in favour of their child kings and performed several vedic rituals.

Dhruv Devi and Prabhavati played important parts in Vakataka-Gupta politics. The wives of Satavahana officers and feuds also ad­opted administrative titles like their husbands. Some of those titles were Mahasenapalli, Mahatalvari, Dwarpalika etc. The motherly names of kings also evidence the better condition of women in the Satavahana period. Various women sculptures have been found from Satavahana regions which show that they could worship Buddha statues, participate in meetings and welcome guests as well. This notices that the women of the Satavahana period were well educated, though not as a whole, and were not confined at homes only.

Answer : Fahien was a Chinese monk who travelled India during the age of Chandra Gupta Vikramaditya. He travelled during C 399-414. His travelogues give a fine impression about Chandra Gupta’s empire. The various aspects of his empire, i.e. political, religious, social and economic, were clearly reflected in his writings.

Yuan Chwang was another Chinese who visited India during C 360-644 during the reign of King Harshavardhan. Like Fahien, he was also a Buddhist and came to India to explore more about Buddhist texts and places related to Buddhism and to acquire authentic Buddhist scriptures.

Fahien noted the peacefulness of India, the rarity of serious crime, and the mildness of the administration. He stated that it was possible to travel from one end to the another in the country without molestation, and without passports. In his remarks on social custom he stated that all respectable persons were vegetarians, meateating being confined to low castes and untouchables. He found Buddhism still flourishing, but theistic Hinduism was very widespread.

Yuan Chwang was also aware of the four classes and had mentioned many mixed classes, no doubt accepting the orthodox view of the time that these sprang from the intermarriage of the four, but he shows no clear knowledge of the existence of caste in its modern form. Yuan Chwang had mentioned both about vegetarian and non vegetarian.

Fahien’s record shows that in place of the old sacrificial Brahminism, Hinduism has appeared. But in the best days of the Gupta Empire Indian culture reached a perfection which it was never to attain again. Humanitarian ideas, probably encouraged by Buddhism, were effective in Gupta period in moderating the fierce punishments of earlier days. Fahien stated that the death penalty was not imposed in north India, but most crime was punished by fines and only serious revolt by the amputation of one hand. Executions were rare. Yuan Chwang, 200 years later, reported that prisoners were not executed under Harsha, but were left to rot in dungeons. Punishments were rather mild as compared to the later times.

According to Fahien, the Shudras were kept outside the town and entered the town by making a noise with a stick. They were butchers, hunters, and fishermen. Yuan Chwang had also described this. Fahien states that the income of the government was mainly based on the revenue taxes which was one-sixth of the total production. Government officials were given fixed income and there was no contribution from the people. Donation was prevalent in those times. Fahien had made special note of free hospitals maintained by the donations of pious citizens. Yuan Chwang had also reported that Nalanda was supported by the revenues of an enormous estate of one hundred villages, and by the alms of many patrons, including the great Harsha himself; it provided free training for no less than 10,000 students, who had a large staff to wait on them. Fahien was enamored by Patliputra and the huge palace of Ashoka. According to Yuan Chwang, Patliputra was not a main city of north India and its place was taken by Knnauj. Yuan Chwang had mentioned about the social and economic conditions. As stated earlier, he reported about varna system and marriage. Fahien had not described all this. But both of them had stated that the economy was based on agriculture.

He had given a detailed description of the Buddhist pilgrimages. According to him, the Buddhist religion was divided into Mahayana and Heenayana. He saw twenty Buddha vihars in Mathura. But in Kapilavastu, Gaya and Kushinagar the condition was deteriorating which indicated the weakening of Buddhism. In the description of Fahien, it is not clear whether Brahmin religion was prevalent in the country or not. He visited two vihars near the stupa of a Ashoka in Patliputra- in one of them the Mahayana monks resided and in the other the Heenyana monks. The ruler of Madhya desh was a worshipper of Vishnu, according to him mutual relation was cordial and peaceful among the Hindus and the Buddhists. This indicates the religious tolerance of the society. Yuan Chwang had also described the religious conditions of India at that time. The Buddhist religion was clearly declining. Despite of this, hundreds of monks resided in the country. Fahien had mentioned about the Jainism also. But there is no mention of the Jain religion in Yuan Chwang’s texts. Fahien had also mentioned about Shaiv and Vaishnav religion. Fahien, in comparison to Yuan Chwang, had not been so observant and informative with regard to social, economic and political conditions of the society. Yuan Chwang had completely described the period of king Harshavardhana.

Answer : Harsha Vardhana became king in 606 A.D. his Empire included the U.P., Bihar, Eastern Punjab, Malwa, Orissa and Bengal. North-western Punjab was out of his sway. In the south the boundary of his Empire was fixed by the Narabada. In short, Harsha vardhana was the master of the whole of Northern India except its North-Western regions. Harsha was a competent politician. From the accounts of Hieun Tsang and Taranath we learn that Harsha had cordial relations with Persia and China. Harsha had his ambassader in the court of China. There was also an exchange of precious gifts among them. Harsha's system of administration partially resembled that of the Gupta Emperors. The king possessed all the judicial, legislative and executive powers. He used to be an unchecked monarch still his heart was dominated by anxiety for general welfare.

The king was assisted by a Council of Ministers Mantri-Parishad). The council had a say not only in the choice of the king but also influence foreign policy. As regards the personal religion of Harsha, it may be mentioned here that he was a follower of Hindusim in the beginning and used to worship Shiva, and the sun. Later on, however he inclined towards Buddhism mainly due to the influence of his Buddhist sister, Rajyashri and the presence of the Buddhist luminary Hieun-Tsang. He is said to have erected many Buddhist stupas and monastries. He annually summoned a convocation of the Buddhsit monks for the discussion of the religious problems. He prohibited the slaughter of animals. Like Asoka, he made arrangements for the free supply of food and medicine to the poor and the destitute.

Assembly of Kannauj was convened in 643 A.D. presided over by Hieun Tsang. There were about 3,000 Hinayana and Mahayana monks, 3000 Brahamans, 1000 students of Nalanda University, 20 kings and many other people. In this assembly house, a tower was raised in which a gold image of Buddha was set up. After five years Harsha called an assembly at Prayag. At this time Hieun Tsang was preparing to travel homeword. The ceremony was attended by the kings of eighteen kingdoms, and the 500,000 people including Sramanas, Heretics, Nirgranthas, the poor, the orphans etc. The cremony began with the worship of Lord Buddha and vast valuables were lavishly distributed. On the second and third day statues of Sun and Shiva respectively were established.

On the fourth day precious articles were distributed to 10,000 monks. Orphans and poors were also given charity for thirty days. The king did not keep anything with himself. Everybody, who came to attend this Assembly was fully rewarded, for the trouble he took. Harsha had a great love for learning and delighted in the society of the learned and poets. He is said to have written a number of books but three of them the Dramas Ratanavali, Priyadarshika, and Nagarnanda, all in Sanskrit, occupy a high place in the world of Sanskrit literature. He wrote a work on grammer as well, caligraphy was his great hobby.

Even in the very busy life he managed to find some time everyday for study. He was fond of surrounding himself by learned men and poets, discussing literary topics with them. His court was always filled with brilliant philosophers, poets, dramatists and artists. He allotted one fourth of the revenue from the crown lands for rewarding the learned. He gave liberally to the great seat of education, namely, the University of Nalanda. Harsha had a large number of Scholars in his court, Bana was the chief among them and he wrote Harshacharita and Kadambari. Haridatta was also patronised by Harsha. Jayasena was famous for his learning in various subjects and Harsha offered him the revenues of eight villages in Orissa. However the offer was declined by jayasena. After a momentous reign lasting for four decades Harsha passed away in the year 647 or 648 A.D.

Bana Bhatta : Bana was son of Chitrabhani and Rajyadevi and a member of the encourage of Harsha Vardhana of Kannauj. His parents died and he wandered from the place to another place and at last he received royal summons. In Harsha's court he composed the famous 'Harshacharitat, the life of Harsha, his patron. In the eight chapters of his book Bana narrates the story of Harsha upto the rescue of his sister, Rajyashri. This book is remarkable for the social and economic conditions of that time. It is the only extant literary biography of an outstanding personality of Ancient India. Bana also wrote 'Kadambari' a tale of love and wonder. This book opens with the story of mighty king, Sudaraka, rulling from Vidisha, on the vetravati. He once saw a Candala girl of great beauty who came to present him with a parrot. The parrot told a strange tale of how his father was killed by a hunter in the forest and how he himself was rescued by Harita the son of Jabali.

Hieun Tsang (Yuan-Chwang) : The reign of Harsha is important on account of the visit of the Chinese pilgrim Hieun-Tsang lived at Kannauj with the king Harsha for a considerable period, so he has given true account of the character and personality of King Harsha. He writes that the king was very generous. He used to donate various articles and money to the monks and saints without any distinction of class and creed. He ordered the construction of rest house, viharas, monastries and stupas for the good and utility of the people. He was really, a duty bound king and always looked after the public welfare. Harsha served his subjects very sincerely. He realised his duty fully well. Hiuen Tsang praised Harsha's administration very much. According to him, Harsha used to spent three fourth of the state income for religious purposes. He described that the kingdom was well governed; it was free from revolts; there were few cases of law breaking; offenders were given physical punishments and tortured as well to extract the truth from them while the traitors, were given death sentence or turned out of the kingdom.

Every officers was highly honest, sincere and dutiful. Crimes were very few. People lived happily with each other and the principle of morality was very high. Taxes were very light. Hiuen Tsang also wrote about the economic condition of India at that time. He gave a long list of Indian fruits and agricultural products. India produced the best cotton, silk and woollen cloth at that time and prepared all sorts of garments from them. He priased very much the quality of Indian pearls and ivory. Trade and commerce had greatly developed. India had established trade relations with Java, China, Tibet and other countries. A good deal of export and import was carried on by sea-routes. Besides, Architecture, Sculpture and building industry, much progress was known in manufacturers of wood material. There was plenty of money with the people. They were honest in money matter. They did not like to cheat others. They were very kind in giving alms and their acts of charity.

Answer : Literature : India witnessed a great advancement in the field of literature under the Gupta monarchs. They themselves were highly cultured and consequently they did all that could be done for patronising literature and art. Sanskrit once again became popular. The Guptas made Sanskrit as their court language and wrote all their documents and inscriptions in the same language. Even the Buddhist writers preferred Sanskrit to Pali for writing their literary works. All this encouragement gave a great impetus to Sanskrit learning and 'a highly developed Sanskrit literature excellent in its style and rich in its contents began to be written.'

Kalidasa was the greatest Sanskrit poet and dramatist that India has ever produced. Visakhadutta, the renowned author of Mudra Rakshasa, was another great poet and dramatist of the Gupta period. In this play, taking Kautilya as the hero, he describes the fall of the Nanda dynasty in some details. His another great work is 'Devichandra Gupta' in which he deals with the early life of Chandragupta II and his relations with his elder brother Ramgupta. Harisena, the renowned author of the Allahabad Pillar Inscription, is another great poet of this period, who flourished during the reign Samudragupta. Amaresimha, the author of the famous 'Amarkosa' also belonged to the Gupta period. Bhavavi, the author of 'Kriatarjuniya' is also aid to flourished during the Gupta period. In this great epic he describes the conflict of Arjuna with Shiva and gives some very beautiful descriptions of nature. Sudraka was another great author of the Gupta period. In his great work 'Mrichhkatikam' he describes vividely the love affair of a rich Brahman Chrudatta with a young woman of noble birth. It was during the gupta period that the great 'Panchtantra' a storehouse of wonderful stories, was written.

This work has now been translated into many languages of the world. Similarly the Puranas, the Mahabharata and the Manusmriti were recast in their present form in the Gupta period. In short, we can say that in the Gupta period a great variety of literature, excellent in its style and rich in its contents, was written. The Gupta age is very important in the history of religious literature. Most of the Puranas were recaste. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata were alse rewritten. The code of Manu or Manu Smriti was revised. The code of Yajnavalkya and Narad Smriti are also said to have been written during this period. Like Hindu literature Buddhism made a great advance in this age. Vasubandhu, Asanga, Kumarjiva, Dignaga etc. several prominent scholars wrote first rate books in this very age. In addition to these the important Buddhist books Dipvansa and Mahavansa were also compiled in the Gupta Age.

Science and Technology : In the field of Mathematics we come across during this period a wrok called Aryabattya written by Aryabhata, who belonged to Patliputra. Aryabhata was born in 476 A.D. He was the first to treat Mathematics as a subject itself. He dealt with evolution and involution, area and volume, progressions and algebraic identities and inderminate equations of the first degree. His most valuable contribution to Mathematics is the theory of zero and the decimal place value system. He discovered that (a) the earth was spherical (b) it rotates on axis causing day and night (c) eclipses were caused by the shadow of the earth falling on the moon and by the coming of the moon between the sun and the earth, and (d) the moon received light from the sun. He also discovered almost the exact value of a, viz. 3.1416 (modern value of a is 22/7 or 3.14285).

Varabhamihira, a well known writer on astronomy, flourished during the latter half of the 6th century. His greatest service in this field was his book called Panchasiddhantika, which as its name implies, summed up all the five Siddhantas which were in use by his time. Indian astronomers valued the work of Greek astronomers with which they were familiar, but they arrived at their results independently, which were usually more correct. The succeeded in formulating a system of their own, which was on the whole superior to the astronomy as developed in contemporary times at Alexandria.

Ayurved Science : Medical science also flourished during this period. Ayurved sastra had achieved a great advancement during the Gupta age Charka, and Sushruta were the doctors of this period. Veternary science and treatment had also developed. A book named 'Hastyayurved' was written in this period. The great Achary of Ayurved. Sastra, Dhanvantri was the product of the Gupta period. Though his works are not available, but there was no disease, which he could not have curved, 'Ashtang Sanghra', 'Sushruta Samhita', 'Charak Samhita', and other books on mecial science were produced in the Gupta period.

Answer : Indian missionaries, merchants, scholars and many adventurous and ambitious rulers played an important part in establishing Indian colonies across the high mountains and the deep seas and had a hand in moulding the civilization and culture of many countries includ­ing Tibet, China, Bactria, Khotan, Burma, Nepal, and the East Indies. This colonial and cultural expansion of the Hindus beyond the natural fron­tiers of India is often termed as “Greater India”. The process reached its climax during the Gupta Age.

In the East Indies, i.e., Islands of Java, Sumatra, Bali and Borneo, etc. Ceylon and many south eastern countries of Asia like Cambodia, Champa, Burma and Siam, the Indians had planted their colonies and consequently the In­dian culture left a deeper and more powerful im­pression on these countries. The culture of some of these countries especially that of Bali, still re­sembles to the Indian culture even after the lapse of thousands of years. In the words of Dr. Majumdar, “Indian religion, Indian culture, Indian laws and Indian government moulded the lives of the primi­tive races all over this wide region (including all the above mentioned countries of the Far East), and they imbibed a more elevated moral spirit and a higher intellectual taste through the religion, art and litterateur of India. In short, the people were lifted to a higher place of civilization. A greater India was established by a gentle fusion of races, which richly endowed the original inhabitants with the spiritual heritage of India”.

The demands of trade with Rome had encour­aged Indian enterprise in South-East Asia, since it provided many of the commodities the Romans wanted-gold, spices, scented resins and woods. Siberian gold ceased coming to India when the Romans came to control Parthia, and thus India sought gold elsewhere. Having once discovered the potentialities of South-east Asia, Indian trad­ers developed this trade on a large scale, even af­ter the decline of commerce with Rome. Trade led to settlements, which slowly developed into colo­nies. Indian influence permeated the local pattern of life, particularly in the regions today known as Thailand, Cambodia, and Java: yet India sent no armies, the process being one of peaceful penetra­tion.

Chinese annals of the time, referring to Indian activities in Southeast Asia, mention Funan (the Mekong delta) as the first sphere of activity. Small settlements were also made in the Malay Penin­sula, since it was connected with nearly all the east-coast maritime centres of India. Ships sailed from Tamralipti and Amaravati to Burma, Martaban, and Indonesia. The ports of the south India sent ships to Tenasserim, Trang, the straits of Malacca, and Java. The west coast ports also shared in the Southeast Asian trade.

The nature of the Indian impact varied accord­ing to the region from where it came. Initially, both Buddhists and Hindus visited and settled in these regions. Gradually the tradition of Hinduism be­came stronger when brahmanical rites and cer­emonies and the use of Sanskrit were adopted in court circles. Some of the finest Sanskrit inscrip­tions come from these areas. Geographical place names associated with the new religions were adopted: e.g., Ayuthia the ancient capital of Thailand was named after Ayodhya, the capital of the kingdom of Rama, and the hero of the Ramayana. Indian iconography was repeated in the images, which were made in these countries. Yet, with all this, they maintained their indigenous culture as well.

The Indian impact is understandable in terms of a more advanced civilization meeting a less advanced one, with the elite of the latter moulding themselves on the pattern of the former, but to re­fer to south-east Asia during this period as ‘Greater India” is certainly a misnomer. The local culture was visible in all aspects of life in these countries, whether it was the Javanese version of the Ramayana where only the bare bones of the In­dian story have been retained, the rest being the incorporation of traditional Javanese legends, or whether it was the conception of the god-king amongst the Khmer rules of Cambodia, where the idea of the god-king both had a pre-Indian origin and was also influenced by Indian thought on the subject.

Burma or Myanmar was known as Subarnabhumi during those days Indian culture reached there through Buddhism. Slowly and slowly the Indians established their colonies at various places. During Gupta Age Pegu, Arakan and Sri Kshatra were major centres of Indian reli­gion and culture. Hari Vikram, Surya Vikram, Anirudha were some of the rulers who did a lot in spreading the Indian religion, culture and civili­zation in Burma. Many Buddhist monasteries and temples of the Hindu gods were erected there. Merchants of Bharoach, Varanasi and Champa were involved in commercial activities with Subarnabhumi.

Siam maintained close connection with India from the third century onward. From this up to the sixteenth century A.D. the Indians established their domination over this land. It was first a vas­sal of the great Funan Empire and then it became independent in about the sixteenth century Indraditya was the greatest Indian ruler who ruled over this territory. One the language and litera­ture of this territory the Indian influence is still clearly visible. Even up to this day a great majority of the people of Siam are Hinayna Buddhists in their faith. The very name “Siam” or Black has much to do with the Indian traditions.

Champa is a small state lying to the north-east of Cambodia. The Hindu colonization of this ter­ritory began in the second century A.D. From the second to the fifteenth century A.D. various Hindu dynasties ruled over this kingdom for many cen­turies, the chief being Amravati. Hinduism was the dominant religion and the people were the fol­lowers of Shiva. The rulers of Champa were pow­erful who successfully checked the onslaughts of the Cambodian rulers for a very long time.

The Hindus colonized Cambodia in the first century A.D. and established a powerful kingdom in this area. Under the Kambuja Monarchs this kingdom made a great progress who conquered the neigbouring territories of Indo-China Siam and other islands. The Kambuja rulers like Jaya Varman II, Yaso Varman and Swiya Varman were great patrons of the Hindu culture and civiliza­tion. The Hindu Art and Literature greatly flour­ished under them. They laid the foundations of many beautiful cities and decorated them with splendid edifices. Angkor, the capital of Cambo­dia, was a splendid city which was decorated with beautiful pillars, gateways and a high stone-wall “In short”, remarks one art-critic, “everything was conceived on a truly noble scale, and it was one of the greatest cities in the whole world in that age”.

Bali is a small island that lies to the east of Java and retains up to this day so many traits of the Hindu civilization and culture. The people here still worship the Hindu gods and are still divided into four varnas or castes. Thus, there is no denying the fact that the Hindus must have occupied this island for many centuries and that they took great part in civilizing the people of this island. Borneo is the biggest island in the East Indies. The Hindus colonized it in about the first century A.D. Many great rulers patronized Hin­duism and consequently beautiful temples of Hindu gods were built here.

Java was one of the most important colonies of the Hindus in ancient India. They had settled in Java in about the first century A.D. In about 132 A.D. a king named Deva Varman was ruing there. When Fahein visited this Island in about 414 A.D. he found the Hindu religion flourishing there. The chief deities of the people were Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma, etc. The Hindu colonization of Sumatra began even earlier than the Christian era but it came into prominence in the third century A.D. From the third to eight centuries A.D. Sri Vijaya dynasty was all-powerful in this island. Buddhism was very powerful here and according to Itsing more than a thousand Buddhist monks were re­siding there.

Answer : Skandagupta (455-469 A.D.) was the last great ruler of the Gupta Dynasty. He saved the honour and prestige of his dynasty by defeating the Hunas. The Hunas were a wild and fierce nomadic people who originally lived in central Asia in the neighbourhood of China. Due to various causes such as expansion of the Chinese empire, infertil­ity of the land, increase of population and exist­ence of bad weather, they were forced to leave their original home in central Asia. Soon they over-ran the whole of Persia and Afghanistan and then to­wards the middle of the 5th century A.D. they poured in India in large numbers. These Hunas were very cruel people and were nothing short of demons. They took pleasure in looting the people, burning their villages and towns and slaughter­ing men, women and children. Wherever they went, they carried fire and sword.

From contemporary sources like Junagarh in­scription, Bhitri edict, Chandragarbha-Pariprichha, Chandra-Vyakarana and Katha-Saritsagar we come to know that the Hunas for the first time invaded India when Kumargupta was the ruler. The crown prince, Skandagupta, then gave them a crushing defeat. A few years later when the Hunas conquered Persia they began to attack India with a greater force. King Skandagupta once again drove them out and saved the prestige of the empire. He adopted the titles of Vikramaditya and Kramaditya after defeating the Hunas. On this occasion he established the statue of Vishnu at the Bhitargaon temple.

Answer : It was situated at a distance of about eight miles from Rajagraha. According to the Buddhist tradition it was founded in the fifth century A.D. by one Sakraditya, who is generally identified with the Gupta mon­arch Kumaragupta I (414-455 A.D.). Originally it was a mango orchard and Sakraditya built a Bud­dhist monastery there. Additional grants of money and land were made to this establishment by the other Gupta monarchs like Buddhagupta, Baladitya and others. It followed a wide curricu­lum of studies and day by day it rose to pre-emi­nence. Later on other Indian rulers also gave their patronage to this university and by their lavish gifts and rich endowments they greatly contrib­uted to its popularity. Consequently students from all parts of India and even from many foreign coun­tries (like China, Tibet central Asia, Bokhara, Ko­rea, etc.) flocked here to satisfy their thirst for knowledge. Hieun-Tsang, studies in this univer­sity for about five years and another Chinese pil­grim Itsing studied there for more than ten years.

During Harsha’s times as many as 10,000 students were studying in this university and as many as 1,510 teachers were busy in imparting knowl­edge to the students. Harsha, who is renowned for his charity and generosity, also built a monas­tery at Nalanda. According to Hieun-Tsang this monastery (built by Harsha) was about one hun­dred feet in height and was covered with brass-plates. Indians as well as some foreign rulers thought it to be their good fortune if they were allowed to add anything to this university.

The admission to this university was very dif­ficult to get. Every student had to appear in an admission test which was so difficult that, accord­ing to Hieun-Tsang, “only two or three out of ten succeeded in getting admission”. Those who were fortunate enough to get the admission were pro­vided free board and lodging. Even fees were not charged from them. All its expenses were met out of the revenues of a hundred villages which were specially attached with this university for its up­keep. Slowly and slowly the number of these vil­lages rose to two hundred. In addition to this many generous rulers like Harsha had built here many monasteries to provide accommodation to about 10,000 students. There were separate arrange­ments for hostel facilities, college education and libraries.

Answer : The Gupta dynasty came into its own with the accession of Chandra Gupta I, who made his kingdom more than a mere principality. Chandra Gupta married a Lichchhavi princess. The Lichchhavis were an old established tribe and marrying into their royal family doubtless set a seal of acceptability to the Gupta dynasty. This was obviously a political advance for the Guptas. Samudra Gupta took advantages of the fragmented powers of North India and adopted a sound policy of war and diplomacy to make a powerful empire. Its northern extremities touched the Himalayas while its southern boundaries reached up to the Narmada. But the Deccan and many other neighbouring states acknowledged his suzerainty and regarded him as their over-lord.

After Skandgupta (455-467) all his successors were weak and impotent and they were quite incompetent to maintain the great empire of their ancestors. The Gupta monarchs did not follow any definite law of succession and after the death of almost every monarch there was a war of succession. The Gupta monarchs began to neglect the defence of their frontiers. The result of this negligence was that the foreign invaders and especially the Huns began to enter India without any check. Because of the continuous wars which Kumargupta and his son Skandgupta had to fight against Pusyamitra tribe and the Huns, the treasury became quite empty and it became very difficult for them to carry on the day-to-day administration. Under such financial bankruptcy the machinery of the Guptas ceased to function and the Gupta Empire had to see the evil days.

Answer : Harsha Vardhana was the last great ruler of Ancient India. His reign marks the culmination of the Hindu culture. Only four years after the Prayag Assembly which Hieun-Tsang, the famous Chinese pilgrim attended, Harsh died in the beginning of 647 A.D., when he had hardly reigned for 41 years” The withdrawal of his strong arm let loose all the pent up forces of anarchy” and dark clouds of disintegration once again ap­peared on the Indian horizon.

Confusion once again reigned supreme and a large number of small states rose up on the grave of his empire. From this time onward till the Muhammadan invasion (i.e., 647 to 1192 A.D.) the national unity of the country was completely lost and this whole period was, “a wearisome chronicle of innumerable states which were con­tinually being formed, dissolved and formed again.” Most of these states were under the rule of people who are generally called “Rajputs” by the historians. It is because of this fact that the period from the death of Harsha to the Muslim occupa­tion of India (i.e., 647 to 1192 A.D.) is usually called “the Rajput period in the history of India.

The object of political ambition at this time was to conquer and hold the city of Kanauj, which had become a symbol of imperial power, perhaps ow­ing to its connection with Harsha and with Yashovarman, who maintained this status for the city. Kanauj became a bone of contention between three powers, the Rashtrakutas, the Pratiharas, and the Palas, and much of the military activity of these powers was directed towards its conquest. This was to exhaust all three of them, leaving the field open to their feudatories, which resulted in the founding of small regional kingdoms all over northern India.

The almost simultaneous decline of Kanauj and Roman empires temporarily affected the for­tunes of Indian trade and industry. Coins are few, debased and glued, pointing to great economic decline in the country. New markets were, how­ever, being sought. The Pallavas and later the co­las in the South maintained active maritime trade relations with South East Asia. The Palas also did not lag behind, as may be inferred from some Kambuja inscriptions using proto-Bengali script and also from the Nalanda copper plate of year 39 of Davapala.

From about the middle of the 9th century A.D. Indian merchants faced keen competition from the Arabs who monopolized at least the carrying trade of the Arabian Sea. The Arab merchants Sulaiman and Masudi speak highly of the prosperity of the Pala, Rastrakuta and Gurjana-Pratihara king­doms. Another important feature of economic life in the post-Gupta period was the growing ten­dency towards feudalisation of land. Numerous grants show that lands were allotted to officials as rewards for military service, or as an obligation for such service. Instances of sub-infeudation of land also are not wanting.