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Class 7 The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity: cheat sheet
CBSE Social Science. 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
| Aryabhata | Aryabhatiya (mathematics and astronomy) |
| Varahamihira | Brihat Samhita; lived in Ujjayini |
| Kalidasa | Sanskrit poet and playwright |
| Faxian | Chinese traveller, early 5th century CE |
| Pallava capital | Kanchipuram |
| Vakataka capital | Nandivardhana, near Nagpur |
| Kamarupa | in present-day Assam |
| Time conversions | 1 minute = 60 s; 1 day = 86,400 s |
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
Aryabhata’s year was 23 minutes 45 seconds longer than the modern value. (a) How many seconds is that? (b) How much would it add up to in 1200 years? (c) About how many whole days is that?
Working: 23 × 60 + 45 = 1,425; × 1200; ÷ 86,400
Answer: (a) 1,425 seconds (b) 475 hours (c) about 19 days
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