The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity

The Gupta Empire and its neighbours: its rulers, coins and the Iron Pillar, the traveller Faxian, and the work of Aryabhata, Varahamihira and Kalidasa.

Key ideas

• A long period of stability let art, literature, science and mathematics flourish, so the Gupta age is called a classical age.
• The Gupta capital was Pataliputra; its main source of revenue was land tax.
• The court poet Harisena praised Samudragupta in the Prayaga prashasti; Chandragupta II was also called Vikramaditya.
• The Guptas issued fine gold coins called dinaras and recorded land grants on copper plates.
• The Iron Pillar at Mehrauli is over 1,600 years old and has not rusted, showing great skill in metalwork.
• Aryabhata explained that day and night come from the Earth spinning on its axis.
• The Vakatakas, Pallavas and Kamarupa were kingdoms of the same period.

Remember

Watch out

• Mixing up Chandragupta II (Gupta, Vikramaditya) with Chandragupta Maurya.
• Mixing up Aryabhata (Aryabhatiya) and Varahamihira (Brihat Samhita).
• Forgetting to multiply minutes by 60 before adding the seconds.

Worked example