Gupta-Vakatakas

Answer : India, had witnessed a number of empire building effort throughout the period of its history. Guptas appeared in Indian politics during the 4th century AD. Gupta period (starting from 4th century AD to that of 6th century AD) is an important phase of Indian history when every manifestation of life reached a peak of excellence as to a line of classicalism.We have a few important sources for the study of the Gupta polity and administration.

Some ....

Answer : The Chalukya era may be seen as the beginning in the fusion of culturesof northern and southern India. Making way for the transmission of ideas between the two regions. This is seen clearly in the field at architecture.

The Chalukyas spawned the vesara style of architecture which includes elements of the northern Nagara and southern styles. During this period the expanding Sanskrit culture mingled with local Dravidian vernaculars which were already popular. Dravidian languages maintain these ....

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 ....

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 ....

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 ....

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 ....

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 ....

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 ....

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 ....

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 ....

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 ....

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 ....

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 ....

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 ....