Rise And Fall Of The Imperial Guptas

Rise and Fall of the Imperial Guptas is based of the entire source material that has come to light since 1888 when Dr. H.F. Fleet`s epoch-making work was published as Vol. III of the Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum. Far reachinf changes in our knowledge of the history of the Guptas have been taking place in consequence of such discoveries as the Bhitari-Silver Copper Seal of Kumaragupta (1889) the Sarnath Inscriptions on Buddhs Images.

This book presents a comprehensive survey of warfare in India up to the point where the British began to dominate the sub-continent. It discusses issues such as how far was the relatively bloodless nature of pre-British Indian warfare the product of stateless Indian society? How far did technology determine the dynamics of warfare in India? Did warfare in this period have a particular Indian nature and was it ritualistic? The book considers land warfare including sieges, naval warfare, the impact of horses, elephants and gunpowder, and the differences made by the arrival of Muslim rulers and by the influx of other foreign influences and techniques. The book concludes by arguing that the presence of standing professional armies supported by centralised bureaucratic states have been underemphasised in the history of India.

Roy investigates the various factors that influenced the formation and mobilization of military forces in the region from 300 BC to the modern day.

Description: Sachindra Kumar Maity's The Imperial Guptas and their Times is an in-depth study of the most important epoch of ancient India. Marked by fresh approach and based on a study of the original sources and latest published material, the book focuses the attention of the scholars towards the achievements of the Gupta age, which has rightly been called the 'Classical' or the 'Golden Age' of Indian history. The present study, covering all the aspects of the Gupta period, is divided into ten chapters, Introduction; Foundation of the Gupta Empire and their rise to success; Skandagupta and his successors and the Decline of the Empire; The Gupta Administration; Social Life; Economic Life; Religion; Education; Language, Literature, Scripts; Scientific and other Cultural Achievements; and Gupta Art, besides an Appendix, 'Brahmi Script Through the Ages,' a detailed Bibliography and Index. A book of great merit, it should prove to be useful to students, research scholars and all others interested in the history of India.

Presenting a grand sweep of Indian history, this work covers antiquity to the later half of the 20th century. The authors examine the major political, social and cultural forces which have shaped the history of the Indian subcontinent. This third edition of the text has been updated to include current research as well as a revised preface, index and dateline.