GUPTA EMPIRE For Govt. Exams Part II

Important Points to remember of  GUPTA EMPIRE

• 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”.

• The temple at Deogarh near Jhansi and the sculptures in the temple at Garhwas near Allahabad remain important specimen of the Gupta art.

• The Bhitari monolithic pillar of Skandagupta is also remarkable.

• The paintings of the Gupta period are seen at Bagh caves near Gwalior.

• The mural paintings of Ajanta mostly illustrate the life of the Buddha as depicted in the Jataka stories.

• The paintings at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka were highly influenced by the Ajanta style.

• The Gupta coinage was also remarkable. Samudragupta issued eight types of gold coins.

• Chandragupta II and his successors had also issued gold, silver and copper coins of different varieties.

• The Sanskrit language became prominent during the Gupta period. The best of the Sanskrit literature belonged to the Gupta age.

• Samudragupta, a great poet patronized a number of scholars including Harisena.

• The court of Chandragupta II was adorned by the celebrated Navratnas. Kalidasa remain the foremost among them.

• The Panchatantra stories were composed by Vishnusarma during the Gupta period.

• 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.

• The Gupta period witnessed a brilliant activity in the sphere of mathematics, astronomy, astrology and medicine.

• Aryabhatta was a great mathematician and astronomer. He wrote the book Aryabhatiya in 499 A.D. It deals with mathematics and astronomy.

• Aryabhatta was the first to declare that the earth was spherical in shape and that it rotates on its own axis. However, these views were rejected by later astronomers like Varahamihira and Brahmagupta.

• Varahamihira composed Pancha Siddhantika, the five astronomical systems.

• 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.