Learn Some Amazing Things about the History of Gupta Empire

Mintage World
3 min readJan 27, 2018

--

When you dig into history, out comes some very interesting topics like the history of Gupta Empire and you can’t help yourself but learn about it. There are many topics that bring curiosity to the mind but history is something that is interesting and at the same time fascinating. And the best historical era was of the Gupta Empire. Sri Gupta was the founder of the Gupta Empire. And the most notable rulers of the dynasty were Chandragupta I, Samudragupta, and Chandragupta II. They were great men with qualities of courage, creativity and bravery. And when such great men are born in a period of excellence, marvelous results are expected. Therefore, there were many experts who excelled in their respective fields. And among various professionals, scientists of Gupta period flourished tremendously.

Origin

According to many historians, the Gupta Dynasty was a Jat dynasty. However, there is controversy among scholars about the original homeland of the Guptas. Experts have different views with regard to this topic, therefore the origin of the Guptas is uncertain. But many historians, who have studied numismatic art of Gupta Empire have concluded that the Guptas were inhabitants of northeastern India. Gupta Dynasty coins definitely helped scholars gain huge amounts of knowledge about their culture, arts and architecture.

Military

The Gupta Dynasty Rulers couldn’t have achieved their successes through force of arms without an efficient martial system. But throwing some light on the military tactics, a document from the ancient times, the Siva-Dhanur-veda, offers some insight into the military system of the Guptas. The Guptas depended heavily on infantry archers, and the bow was one of the dominant weapons of their army. And the reason they succeeded was because they were highly disciplined in their military tactics. There were able commanders such as Samudragupta and Chandragupta II who would have likely understood the need for combined armed tactics and proper logistical organization. And it is because of these skillful leaders the Gupta Empire was popularly known as golden age of Indian history.

Religion

The Gupta Dynasty was a Baniya Dynasty, although they were pretty conservative in their outlook, they never forced their beliefs on the rest of the population. However, during their time, Buddhism and Jainism were encouraged.

Art and Architecture

For the Gupta Empire, art and architecture was at its peak. The period saw the emergence of the iconic carved stone deity in Hindu art, as well as the Buddha figure and Jain tirthankara figures. The two great centres of sculpture were Mathura and Gandhara. But if you want to be amazed, you should definitely visit Ajanta, Ellora and Elephanta caves that are most famous for Gupta art. The Gupta numismatic art also flourished during the period. When it came to Gupta literature, some excellent art of Hindu culture can be seen during the reign of Chandragupta II.

The Gupta period was magnificent as it gave birth to rich art and culture. The Gupta Empire certainly was a period of marvel and many scholars and historians are till now fascinated by it. For more interesting topics, Mintage World is the place to acquire all the knowledge about coins, currencies and stamps and all history related topics.

--

--