The Gupta period initiated in 275 A.D. by Sri Gupta continued for a long period upto 550 A.D. The imperial Guptas had established political unity under their own supremacy. The period of the Gupta suzerainty in India is termed the `Golden Age`. The Gupta period, remarkable for the religious and intellectual renaissance, also had witnessed a brilliant development in the fields of art, architecture, sculpture and literature. The enormous wealth of the country during the imperial Guptas had led to a cultural resurgence in India. Although the political supremacy of the Guptas were crumbled in 550 A.D., yet the trend of culture in general and the type of art in particular initiated by them, continued for a century or little more. According to historians, in architecture, sculpture, painting and in other branches of art, the Gupta era is one of the most creative periods of Indian History. The period witnessed a culmination of earlier tendencies and style and the beginning of new style and technique in the field of architecture.
Buddhist art had flourished during the Gupta period. A famous rock-cut monastery in Ajanta consists of several Chaitya halls and numerous residential Viharas. Both its facades and interiors contain elegant relief sculpture. The interiors are covered with painted murals that feature superb figures drawn with a gracefully winding line. As is noticeable in all periods, there is little difference in the images of major Indian religions- Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain. Large stone figures, stone and terra-cotta reliefs and large and small bronze statuettes are made in the refined Gupta style; the level of production is uniformly high. Several significant Buddhist pieces of art were created after 7th century, during the reign of the Pala and Sena dynasties (730-1197). Images in bronze and hard black stone from Nalanda and elsewhere reveal a development of the Gupta style, with extensive attention towards ornamentation and fabrication.
The Gupta architecture is revealed through the cave and temple architecture of those times. Apart from these, there were two Buddhist stupas, which represent the stupa architecture of the era. The "Mirpur Khas stupa" was built in 4th century A.D., which contains a number of arches. The curve of this respective stupa denotes that arch-making was known to the Indians before the advent of Muslims to India. The relics of the "Dhameka Stupa" built of bricks represent the idiom of the Gupta architecture. The rock-cut caves of the Buddhist, Jains and Brahmanical sects were the important aspects of Gupta architecture. The caves of the Buddhist and Hindus sects denote the architectural pattern of the Guptas. Ajanta, Ellora and the Bagh cave paintings denote the Buddhist outline, which was very popular during the Gupta period. Hindu caves are found in Udayagiri, Bhopal. The cave paintings of Gupta period strikingly differ from the others due to their artistic finesse and design.
The Gupta Age heralded a new epoch in the history of temple architecture. Free standing sculptural temple were the chief features of temple architecture during the Gupta period. For the first time the Guptas had initiated permanent materials like brick and stone, instead of perishable materials like bamboo, wood etc. Structural temples, instead of cave temples were erected during this period for the convenience of idol worship. From the accounts of Hiuen Tsang it is known that most of the towns and cities of the period were adorned with temples of great heights. The artistic brilliance of the Gupta era found its expression in different forms and shapes in temple architecture. The Gupta architects had invented an artistic standard, which became the general rule of temple construction in the successive ages. Dr. S.K. Saraswati has classified the Gupta temples into 5 classes- square sized temple with flat roof and a `mandapam`; square sized temple with flat roof and `parikrama` space round the sanctum sanctorum of the main temple with deity; square sized temple with a low shikara dome; rectangular temple with a vaulted roof curved at the centre; circular sized temple with projected corners. The first three groups were the basic style of temple building for future ages. The stone temple in Deogarh of Dasabatara with its excellent carvings and panels on the walls, is an extant remain of Gupta architecture. The `shikara` or top of the temple are the chief attractions about these constructions. Deogarh and Bhitargaon brick temples- both belong to the third category of temples, as is suggested by Dr. S.K. Saraswati. The talent of Gupta architect found expression in the sculpture of the `dome`. The Siva temple at Nachana, the Parvati Temple at Ajaya Garh in Uttar Pradesh, the Vishnu Temple in Central Province, the Ekkalinga Siva Temple at Satana, are some of the extant remains of Gupta architectural pieces.
The artistic carvings and manufacturings were the architectural phrase of the temple during Gupta period. Gupta temple architecture had several special features like-a spacious porch joined with a big hall, where a large number of people could assemble. The main temple or the `Garvagriha` housed the image of God and the original temple was connected to the hall by a vestibule. The whole temple complex is surrounded by a spacious courtyard. One of the chief features of temple architecture was to write down texts around temple buildings, which were faithfully followed in the later years.
Next to architecture was the sculpture, where Gupta period had witnessed a stunning prosperity. The Gupta sculpture had outgrown foreign influences of the Gandhara School. The style of Gandhara art had attained an unprecedented excellence during the Gupta period. The style had originally developed in Mathura, which was carried to perfection in Sarnath and where Buddha had turned the wheel of law. Mathura and Sarnath were the two main centres of Gupta sculpture. Gupta sculpture outgrew the sculptural phrase of Bharhut and Sanchi, where the subject matter was animal figures and trees. Gupta sculpts had initiated the carvings of human figures or divine images, enlivened with spiritual meaning and physical grace. The Gupta images of Gods and Goddesses were made in human form. Plastic modelling was the chief sculptural feature of the Guptas. The images bore evidences of earthiness of the Mathura School, sensuousness of the Vengi School, blended with spiritual and rational existence. The flavour of Gupta architecture is found in the Siva-Parvati relics in Kosam, in the Ramayana panel in Deogarh and also in Sarnath. The Bodhisattva images were representative of the Mathura school of art, which had attained an unprecedented excellence during the Gupta architecture. The sculptural tradition in the Gupta Age speaks of the artistic finesse and brilliance of the Gupta sculptors. Various mudras and bhangas, i.e. postures of asanas, were most outstanding among the sculptural variety of the Gupta period. Different asanas, depicting diverse mental conditions were one of the significant sculptural features of the time. Different `mudras`, or signals of palm and fingers denoted different ideas. According to historians, usage of various mudras of asanas were originally initiated by the Guptas.
Apart from architecture and sculpture, paintings had constituted a significant position in the Gupta period. During the Gupta period, painting had assumed a secular character. Painting happened to be the most popular art amongst the rich and poor of the Gupta period. The aristocratic families had their `Pratima grihas` and `chitrashalas` or
picture gallery. Common people used to paint on scrolls of linen. The cave paintings of Ajanta, Badami and Bagh were the representations of Gupta paintings. The cave paintings mainly depicted the Jataka stories and the life of Buddha. The secular paintings portrayed the palace and balk life of Gautama Buddha. The Bodhisattva-Padmapani painting of Ajanta is the best known specimen of Gupta painting. The Bodhisattva-Padmapani painting of Ajanta represents Bodhisattva standing in a `trivanga` style. His face depicts a youth with jewelled crown atop his head, holding a white lotus in his right hand. His face glows with pathos and sympathy for the fellow beings while looking below from heaven.
The refinement and elegance of Gupta art and architecture is revealed from their gold and silver coins. The coins of the Guptas marked a high watermark in the Indian currency. Gupta emperors, especially Chandragupta II had showed considerable originality in moulding his coins. The presiding image of his coins was goddess Lakshmi, seated on a lotus rather than on a throne. Chandragupta II also had introduced the horsemen type, lion type and peacock type of coins, which marked the artistic elegance of the Guptas.
Art, architecture and sculpture of the Gupta period had scaled peak heights, for which the Gupta phase has been given the epithet "the Golden age of India".
