DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0044
22
HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.
Guptas, 319 to 46o.
BALLABHTS, 4(i;j to 712 (?).
At the time when Fa Ilian was visiting' the sacred places in India,
the power of the Andra dynasty was passing away. It had culminated
with Gautamiputra (312 to 333), and they were fast sinking into a
second-class position among Indian princes. The dynasty that super-
seded them was that of the Guptas, who, at the end of the 4th
century of our era, seem to have attained to the position of lords
paramount in northern India. They date their inscriptions, which
are numerous and interesting, from an era established by the Andra
king Gautamiputra, four cycles of 60 years each, or 240 years after the
Saka era of a.d. 79, or in 319 ; but it was not apparently till under the
third king, Samudra, about 380, that they really obtained the empire
of northern India, which they retained till the death of Skandagupta,
about the year 4Go, or it may be a little later.
It is during their reign that we first perceive in high places the
germs of that change which was gradually creeping over the religious
system of India. That the Guptas were patrons of Buddhism is evident
from the gifts Chandragupta II. made to the tope at Sanchi in the
year 400, ami recorded on the rail of that Monument, but their other
inscriptions, on the lats at Allahabad and Bhitari, show a decided
tendency towards Hinduism, but a class of Hinduism which was still
far removed from the wild extravagances of the Puranas. There seems
little doubt that the boar at Erun, and the buildings there, belong to
this dynasty, and are consequently among the earliest if not the very
oldest temples in India, dedicated to the new religion, which was then
raising its head in defiance to Buddhism.
From their coins and inscriptions, we may feel certain that the
Guptas possessed when in the plenitude of their power the whole of
northern India with the province of Gujerat, but how far the boasts
(if Samudra Gupta on the Allahabad pillar were justified is by no means
clear. If that inscription is to be believed, the whole of the southern
country as far as Ceylon, together with Assam and Nepal, were subject
to their sway. However brilliant it may have been, their power was
of short duration. Gujerat and all the western provinces were wrested
from them by the Ballabhis, about the year 4G5, and a new kingdom
then founded by a dynasty bearing that name, which lasted till the
great catastrophe, which about two and a half centuries afterwards
revolutionised India.
Ujjain Dynasty.
Although it was becoming evident in the time of the Guptas that
a change was creeping over the religious belief of India, it was not
HISTORY OF INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.
Guptas, 319 to 46o.
BALLABHTS, 4(i;j to 712 (?).
At the time when Fa Ilian was visiting' the sacred places in India,
the power of the Andra dynasty was passing away. It had culminated
with Gautamiputra (312 to 333), and they were fast sinking into a
second-class position among Indian princes. The dynasty that super-
seded them was that of the Guptas, who, at the end of the 4th
century of our era, seem to have attained to the position of lords
paramount in northern India. They date their inscriptions, which
are numerous and interesting, from an era established by the Andra
king Gautamiputra, four cycles of 60 years each, or 240 years after the
Saka era of a.d. 79, or in 319 ; but it was not apparently till under the
third king, Samudra, about 380, that they really obtained the empire
of northern India, which they retained till the death of Skandagupta,
about the year 4Go, or it may be a little later.
It is during their reign that we first perceive in high places the
germs of that change which was gradually creeping over the religious
system of India. That the Guptas were patrons of Buddhism is evident
from the gifts Chandragupta II. made to the tope at Sanchi in the
year 400, ami recorded on the rail of that Monument, but their other
inscriptions, on the lats at Allahabad and Bhitari, show a decided
tendency towards Hinduism, but a class of Hinduism which was still
far removed from the wild extravagances of the Puranas. There seems
little doubt that the boar at Erun, and the buildings there, belong to
this dynasty, and are consequently among the earliest if not the very
oldest temples in India, dedicated to the new religion, which was then
raising its head in defiance to Buddhism.
From their coins and inscriptions, we may feel certain that the
Guptas possessed when in the plenitude of their power the whole of
northern India with the province of Gujerat, but how far the boasts
(if Samudra Gupta on the Allahabad pillar were justified is by no means
clear. If that inscription is to be believed, the whole of the southern
country as far as Ceylon, together with Assam and Nepal, were subject
to their sway. However brilliant it may have been, their power was
of short duration. Gujerat and all the western provinces were wrested
from them by the Ballabhis, about the year 4G5, and a new kingdom
then founded by a dynasty bearing that name, which lasted till the
great catastrophe, which about two and a half centuries afterwards
revolutionised India.
Ujjain Dynasty.
Although it was becoming evident in the time of the Guptas that
a change was creeping over the religious belief of India, it was not