 program of Krishna Kanta Handic State Open University. I am Dr. Sukmayalama, Assistant Professor in the Department of History and today I welcome you to this program. The topic of discussion today is India under the Gupta Roop. This particular topic is meant for the first semester students pursuing BA in history. Let us begin with the topic of discussion today. The objective of our discussion today is to explain and understand as well as analyze the rise of Gupta power in India, their background and the expansion and consolidation of the Gupta Empire, the polity and administration under the Guptas and the factors leading to its downfall. The Gupta age has been described by the historians as one of the most, you know, what they say is of golden era. It is said that because of the impressive achievement it had achieved in the field of literary and art scenario. Let us move on to understand what was the background or what was the origin of the Guptas. There are lack of sources or there are very limited sources when you try to understand the origin of the Guptas. There are different theories that have been put forward by the historians and for some of the historians they say that they were rulers of a small principality in Magadha while others say that they had a base in the western Genetic plain. There are again others who say that their name itself indicates that they were from the Vaishya community but then again others accord them with the status of the Brahmana. Records like the Bhaktaka records or the Gupta records or even each Singh or the Chinese traveler mentions two earliest Gupta rulers by the name of Sri Gupta and Ghatotkaja. However, what we know is this that it was only during Chandragukta 1 that the Gupta Empire started to make its presence felt in the Indian scenario. What we see that it was because of his matrimonial alliances with the princes of the Lichchavi family which proved to be very favorable in terms of political expansion and the claim to power and acceptability. Chandragukta 1, his rule extended over Magadha, Saketa and Prayagha. He was succeeded by his son Samudra Gupta in around 335 AD and there is a eulogy or the Allahabad Preciosity actually tells us that his accession to the throne was somehow very, very mysterious. It seems that he had a rival to the throne and he had to overcome his rival. A coin of an obscure prince by the name of Kacha was found and this itself is an evidence that Samudra Gupta had to fight his way to the throne. Samudra Gupta started his career of expansion and we can say that it was during this period, during the time of Samudra Gupta that the expansionist policy of the Guptas began. He started his expansion by subjugating the neighboring kings in the Ganga-Yamuna Valley and he tried to consolidate his position at home before he started his campaign in the remote south. It was at that initial stroke that he defeated four important kings of modern UP and Central India. They were Achyuta of Ahi Chhatra, the Nagasena of Mathura and the Prince of Kota family, also the Ganapati Naga of Padnavata. His South Indian campaign was formulated with the theory of Dharmabhijaya which was marked by the three principles namely Grahana which is the capture of the army, moksha, liberation and anugraha, principle of favoring by reinstating the enemy. This particular policy is seen throughout his campaign because what we understand is that he did conquer most of the territories but the interest was more on submission and paying off tributes rather than bringing the entire territory under his control. During the course of his campaign Samudra Gupta defeated as many as 12 kings of South India whom he first captured and then liberated and ultimately reinstated in their respective kingdoms. Probably when Samudra Gupta was busy within his campaigns in the south, some of the North Indian kings or the rulers took the opportunity of his absence and started rebelling against him. To deal with this matter Samudra Gupta hurried back home and he conquered nine of the hostile North Indian kings who had formed a confederacy among themselves to resist the power of the Guptas. Point Harishena has made it very clear that Samudra Gupta not only defeated them but also uprooted them violently. Apart from these three campaigns in the north we see that he also defeated some of the forest kings or the tribal chiefs of central India and taken. Along with that nine republics including the age old Malavas, the Yodayas and Madrakas were forced to accept Gupta Suzerainty. His victory over the tribals and the republican governments however proved to be very disastrous for the later Guptas about which we will discuss again. Because we see that these kingdoms were actually working as a buffer state but because of the Gupta's aggression we see that in the later part of the Guptas the Hunas started invading this particular Gupta empire which ultimately led to its downfall. We also see that Samudra Gupta over and some of the independent or semi independent foreign powers which went beyond his own frontier for example like the Daiva Putra Shahi, Shahan Shahi, Saka Murandas etc. We also see that the king of Ceylon Sri Lanka maintained diplomatic relationships. We also know that the kings of Nepal, Punjab also gave tribute to the Gupta ruler. And what we see is that in the south his hegemony under Samudra Gupta that I am talking about reached up to the tract of Tamil Nadu. However despite all this conquest made in this Indian subcontinent the main area of his rule was much more limited around UP, Bihar, West Bengal and a portion of central province and Bindiya region. To commemorate his victory Samudra Gupta performed the Ashwamedha sacrifice or the horse sacrifice the performance of which is regarded in history as a symbol of imperialism. The next ruler who succeeded Samudra Gupta was his son Chandra Gupta II. But again his rise to power is again shrouded in mystery because it has been in a play which was written by Vishakha Datta Devi Chandra Gupta. It is mentioned that Samudra Gupta was succeeded by his elder brother Rama Gupta who in his fight with the Sakas had to surrender his wife Dhruva Devi in return for his empire. Chandra Gupta II the youngest brother was very furious and it seemed that he heroically not only saved the queen but he also killed the Sakas. It is also said that he killed his elder brother and married Dhruva Devi. The authenticity behind this particular play is verified by the coins of Rama Gupta and inscriptions mentioning Dhruva Devi as the queen of Chandra Gupta II. What we know is that by the time Chandra Gupta's reign was over the empire had already expanded a lot and the only part that was left to be conquered was the west and we see that Chandra Gupta II had now taken upon him to march towards the west that was against the Sakas and his aim throughout was to isolate the Sakas and for this he entered into matrimonial alliances. What we know of is this that he married himself married the Naga princess Kuvera Naga in order to strengthen his position against the Sakas he also married off his daughter to the Vakattakarula. What happens now is this that because of these alliances he protected his empire and by isolating the Sakas from any future invasions. The conquest of western India was a boon to the Gupta empire because it opened the trade routes and expanded its boundary from the Bay of Bengal to the east to the Arabian Sea on the west. So now what we understand is this that till the time of Samyabdra Gupta the policy was to expand the empire and in times of during the time of Chandra Gupta II what we understand is this that he tried more or less to consolidate the empire that had been built by Samyabdra Gupta. Now if we move on we will try to look into the polity and the administrative system that was built by the Guptas. What we understand is that under the Gupta the monarchy was advocated as the ideal system of government in the Gupta period. The Gupta emperors adopted the high sounding titles of Maharaja Dhiraj and Parama Bhattaraka. The king was considered to be the supreme head of the government and he was assisted by the crown princess and the council of ministers. Perhaps some of the high officers were hereditary and limited to a number of families only. Among the high officials in the central administration mentioned may be made of Mahabalit Dhirata, Mahadandanayaka, Mahapratihara, Mahakapati, etc. There were other class of officials called the Kumara Matyas and Ayyukthas. They worked as a link between the central and provincial administration. When we talk of provincial administration I must also mention here that the empire which was so large was divided in a number of provinces for administrative conveniences. The names of the provinces were mostly Bhukthis, Desas and Bhogas. The provinces were again subdivided into districts called the Vishayas. A part of the Vishaya was called Vithi. The villages or the grammar were the lowest administrative units. The officers in charge of the administration at the provincial and the district level were mainly Uparikas, Vishaya Patis, Kumara Matyas and Ayyukthas. In case of judiciary or the judicial administration, we see that the Kalyayana Smriti lays down the traditional way that the king was considered to be the highest judge. He personally attended the course to listen to cases. He was assisted by the body of ministers Amatiyas, judges or Pradhavivaka and the Brahmins or the Purohitas. As far as the revenue administration goes, the main sources of royal revenue were different types of land revenues. Fines realized for offences, commercial taxes and taxes on salt and mines. There were gills or trainees which continued to flourish among the merchants and the artisans. The gills or trainees were autonomous and the gills were governed by their own laws. When we are talking about revenue administration, what I told you before was that land revenue was the main source of income for the state. This land revenue emerged because of the grant of lands during the time of the Guptas and this was one of the reasons. This again leads to one of the causes for which the Gupta Empire had to meet its death. We now move on to the next topic, that is the downfall of the Guptas. One of the main reasons behind the downfall of the Guptas was the foreign invasion or the Huna invasion. This began during the time of Kumara Gupta and in the later part during the time of Skanda Gupta. While both Kumara Gupta and Skanda Gupta were able to resist the invasion of the Hunas, it became very difficult in the later part due to their weak successors and as a result of which the continuous invasion of the Hunas led to the death nail of this Gupta Empire. The next would be the internal conflicts. We see that the breaking away of the feudatories of the Guptas was one of the major factors. One example could be the invasion of the Vakatakas. We also know, we have already discussed that Chandra Gupta I himself had established a friendly relation with the Vakatakas but the success of Chandra Gupta II had no peaceful relation. In the reign of Buddha Gupta, the Vakataka King Narendra Sena invaded some of the Central Indian region like Malwa, Kosala and Mekala. We also see that in subsequent years another Vakataka King Haricena conquering Gujarat and Malwa. There are also other feudatories like the rulers of Yashodharvan inflicting a death blow to the Gupta Empire. Because of the decentralization policy of the Guptas where some of the principalities were being allowed to rule independently, there was a rise of the feudal clans and when they got the opportunity to attack the Gupta Empire they lost no chance. And we see that this continuous conflicts and the rebellious nature of the feudatories led to the disintegration of the Gupta Empire. The next cause is the decentralization policy that again that I am talking about. The provincial governors enjoyed a very, very good deal of freedom. As I talked about, the Gupta rulers failed to erect any kind of administrative machinery to keep a check on their high-handedness. The other reason that led to the downfall of the Guptas was the growth of feudal elements. What we see is that the Gupta rulers failed to pay cash salary to their officials. In return they granted land and as a result of which the officials developed a feudal character. They identified themselves only to their local interest in defiance of the central authority. And this growth of feudal elements further accelerated the process of the decentralization of the Gupta Empire. Now these are some of the references of the books that you may go through in order to understand this particular topic. And before we wind up, let us go through the entire topic once again. What we discussed here today with you was the rise and fall of the Gupta Empire. So with this, I come to the end of this program today. Thank you very much.