ART AND CULTURAL CONTRIBUTIONS:
Golden Age of India
The “Golden Period of Indian Architecture” is typically referred to as the beginning of the Gupta Empire in the 4th century A.D.
While the older Gupta monarchs were Buddhists who preserved Buddhist architectural traditions, temple building rose to prominence under the patronage of the later Gupta rulers who were Hindus.
Similarly, during the Gupta period, Buddhist and Jain art achieved their pinnacle.
• Red ware pottery was made during this age.
Six Schools of Philosophy
• Yoga
• Propounded by Patanjali in Yogasutra.
• Belive that salvation can be achieved through
meditation and yoga asanas.
• Nyaya
• Founded by Gautama who wrote Nyaya Sutra.
• Believe that to achieve salvation, one must use the technique of logical thinking.
• Stressed on systematic reasoning and use of logical tools to verify the truth of a proposition.
• Vaishesika
• Founded by Maharishi Kanada.
• Believe that everything in the world was created by the material elements called Dravya (fire, earth, water, air, sky)
• It believes in atomic theory i.e.; all material objects are made of atoms.
• Responsible for beginning of physics in India.
• Believe that God reviews karmas and decides if a person goes to heaven or hell.
• Sankhya
• Propounded by Kapil Muni in Samkhya Sutra.
• Belive that salvation can be achieved through acquisition of knowledge.
• Believe in dualism/ dvaitavada i.e., the soul and matter are separate entities.
• Use scientific system of enquiry and stated that real knowledge can be acquired through:
• Pratyaksha: Perception
• Anumana: Inference
• Shabda: Hearing
• Vedanta
• Propounded in Brahmasutra of Badrayana.
• Believe that Brahm and atma are the reality of life and everything else is unreal or Maya. They are indestructible and eternal.
• Upholds Upanishads.
• Shankaracharya propounded Advaita Vedanta in 9th Century AD and stated that knowledge is the means to attain salvation.
• Believe in cycle of rebirth and karma.
• Mimansa
• Propounded in Sutras of Jamini and later furthered by Sabar Swami and Kumarila Bhatta.
• Believe that Vedas contain the eternal truth, and they are the repositories of all knowledge.
• To achieve salvation, one has to perform Vedic rituals. However, use of reasoning, interpretation and application is necessary to understand the meaning behind the rituals and truly achieve salvation.
Temples
• Guptas were the first dynasty to build permanent free-standing Hindu temples and so they began a long tradition of Indian temple architecture.
• The Gupta style was influenced by Kushana, Mathura, and Gandhara and borrowed the common features of T-shaped doorways, decorated door jambs, sculpted panels with high-relief figures, and laurel-wreath and acanthus motifs.
• It started with the development of a square sanctum and a pillared portico during the Gupta period. There was a gradual progression from the flat-roofed, monolithic
temples in the initial stages to the sculptured ‘shikhara’ in the later years.
• Built from sandstone, granite, and brick, temples from the Gupta period contributed to the region's architectural legacy, featuring horseshoe-shaped gavaksha arches and uniquely curved shikhara towers, often crowned with a ribbed disk ornament known as an amalaka.
• Most Gupta temples follow a square layout, with a single cubical garbhagriha at the center.
• These temples were dedicated to a wide array of Hindu gods, rather than focusing on a single deity.
Important Gupta Temples:
• The Parvati temple at Nachna Kuthara, dating to the late 5th century CE, is notable for its well-preserved second- story shrine room.
• Starting in the 6th century CE, Gupta temples began to be constructed on platforms (jagatis), with the Dashavatara temple at Deogarh in Madhya Pradesh serving as a prime example, featuring depictions from the Ramayana.
• The temple at Bhitargaon in Uttar Pradesh is one of the most intact surviving Gupta temples. It stands as a rare and early example of a Hindu temple built entirely from brick, dating to the late 5th century CE.
• Copper metal statues: Sultanganj Buddha.
Buddhist Stupas & Scupltures
Stupas were found at Samat (UP), Ratnagiri (Odisha) and Mirpur Khas (Sind). Dhamek Stupa at Sarnath near Varanasi is marked as a spot where Buddha gave his first sermon.
Sculptures: During the Gupta period, a new school of sculpture developed around Sarnath. It was characterised by the use of cream coloured sandstone and the use of metal. The sculptures of this school were immaculately dressed and lacked any form of nakedness. The halo around the head of Buddha was intricately decorated.
• Varaha sculpture at Udayagiri was prominent sculpture.
Rock Cut Temples
Guptas established the temples of Buddhist rock-cut at Bagh, Madhya Pradesh, and Ajanta, Maharashtra.
The Ajanta caves
• They are situated at a distance of about 100 km north of Aurangabad in Maharashtra. Totally 30 caves have been scooped out of volcanic rocks. Though chiefly famous for mural paintings, there are some sculptures too. They lie in the gorge of Waghora River.
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• The Ajanta caves were inscribed by the Buddhist monks, under the patronage of the Vakataka kings – Harishena being a prominent one.
• Architecturally, the Ajanta caves are divided into two categories: Chaityas and Viharas. The chaityas feature vaulted ceilings and long halls, with a statue of Buddha placed at the rear end of the hall. The Buddha sculpture in the garbhagriha follows the classical style, embodying benevolence.
• The first phase of the caves dates from around 200 BCE to 200 CE, while the second phase spans from approximately 200 CE to 400 CE.
• The figures in these caves were created using the fresco painting technique, showcasing a high degree of naturalism.
• The pigments were derived from local vegetation and minerals. The outlines of the paintings were initially drawn in red, and the inner portions were filled with color. Notably, blue is absent from the paintings.
• The themes of the paintings are primarily centered on Buddhism, depicting the life of Buddha and various Jataka tales.
Ellora Caves:
These caves were developed between the 5th and 11th centuries AD, making them more recent than the Ajanta Caves. They were created by various guilds from Vidarbha, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, resulting in a rich diversity in both thematic elements and architectural styles.
• Caves 1–12: Buddhist
• Caves 13–29: Hindu
• Caves 30–34: Jain (Digambara sect)
The Hindu and Buddhist Caves were predominantly constructed by Rashtrakuta dynasty and Jain Caves by Yadava dynasty.
• Cave No. 10 is a Buddhist Chaitya cave known as Visvakarma Cave or Carpenter’s Cave. Buddha is seated in Dharmachakra Mudra here with the Bodhi tree carved at his back.
Bagh Caves:
Situated on the banks of the Baghni River in Madhya Pradesh, this group of nine Buddhist caves dates back to the 5th-6th centuries AD. Architecturally, they closely resemble the Ajanta caves. The most notable cave in the complex is the Rang Mahal. The paintings in the Bagh caves are more focused on material themes than spiritual ones.