- belied that Gupta were feudatory of Kushanas
- Sri Gupta in mid 3rd Century AD, founded this dynasty
- followed by his son Ghatotkatcha
Chandragupta I
- regarded as real founder of Gupta Dynasty based in Prayag
- took title of Maharajadhiraj
- married Kumardevi of Licchavi
- to celebrate his marriage, special types of Kumardevi Coins minted
- first time in indian history, coins were issued with image of a king along with queens
- on reverse side of coin, Three Forms of Shakti
- Parvati
- Saraswati
- Lakshmi
Samudragupta (SG) (335 AD-375 AD)
- second Chakravarty Samrat
- court poet Harisena wrote the Prayag Prashasthi
- highly eulogized SG
- wrote that SG won > 100 battles and was never defeated
- added that SG was prolific poet & musician
- deep believer in hinduism
- performed 2 Ashwamedh Yajna
- generous & accommodating
- acc to Chinese records, he funded & supported Sri Lankan ruler Meghvarman to create a Buddhist Monastery in Bodh Gaya
- further started tradition of creating Simhavahini (goddes durga on lion)
Chandragupta II
- defeated western branch of Sakas
- took title of Vikramaditya
- created second capital of Guptas at Ujjain
- regarded as most enlightened ruler of Gupta History
- during his tenure, there was holistic development in fields of
- art
- architecture
- religious literature
- sanskrit literature
- astrology
- astronomy
- mathematics
- medicine
- regarded as golden age of art & architecture
- maintained 9 luminaries (Navratnas) in his court eg
- Kalidasa
- Amarsimha
- Vararuchi
- Varahmihira
- Dhanvantri
- followed policy of matrimonial alliances
- married Kubernaga from north east
- gave the hand of his daughter to Prabhavati to Vakataka ruler Rudrasena
- The Vakataka areas was ruled under guidance of Chandragupta II
- during his tenure, Fa-Hien visited india and mentioned his experiences in the book Fu-Koki
- Chandragupta II was succeeded by Kumargupta who laid the foundation of Nalanda University regarded as the first Modern University of India
- Physical Infra
- classroom
- library (> 5L books)
- hostels
- Course Infra
- pre-defined syllabus
- regular exam
- promotion based on grades
- Pre fixed fee
Skandagupta
- last imp gupta ruler
- during his tenure, a barbaric tribe Hunas started invasion of the Gupta territories
- Skandagupta fought and removed threat
- also added in the Junagarh inscription that he repaired the Sudarshana Lake
- after his death, Hunas started re-invading under leadership of Tormana & Mihirkula
- thoroughly looted gupta cities
- took imp possessions
- gold coins
- gold minting machines
- led to irreversible decline of Guptas
- by 550AD, Gupta Rule completely disappeared