Culture · c. 320–550 CE
The Gupta age in India
Pataliputra (Patna, India)
From Pataliputra, Chandragupta I (crowned c. 320), his son Samudragupta and grandson Chandragupta II built an empire across northern India.
The period is often called India's golden age, a label some historians dispute; the poet Kalidasa, the astronomer Aryabhata and the visiting Chinese monk Faxian, who praised its mild government, all belong to it. Hun invasions from the late 490s and rising regional rulers broke the empire up by the mid-6th century.
Why it mattered
Gupta-era scholars produced lasting works of Sanskrit literature and science: Aryabhata, writing around 500, used place-value notation and gave π as about 3.1416, part of the tradition that produced modern numerals.
Related
- The world in 300: Rome of Four Emperors chapter
- Constantine, Christianity and a new Rome previous moment · 312–330 CE
- Aksum becomes a Christian kingdom next moment · c. 325–340 CE