Gupta Empire: Fa Xian's Travels, Aryabhata's Zero and the Rustless Pillar

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In the early fifth century the Chinese Buddhist monk Fa Xian found Gupta India lightly taxed, with free movement and criminals fined rather than mutilated. The dynasty began in the late third century with Gupta and his son Ghatotkacha, minor Maharajas of disputed caste. Chandragupta I married the Licchavi princess Kumaradevi, took the title Maharajadhiraja and minted gold coins showing the couple. Samudragupta, from about 335 CE, uprooted eight northern kings, subdued forest kingdoms and beat 12 southern kings, as recorded by Harisena on the Allahabad Pillar, using cavalry and horse archers. He performed the Ashvamedha horse sacrifice and issued coins showing himself playing the veena.

The play Devi Chandraguptam says the weak heir Ramagupta agreed to surrender his queen Dhruvaswamini to the Sakas, until his brother Chandragupta II slipped into the enemy camp, killed the Saka king, took the throne and married the queen, a story that may be self-serving propaganda. As Vikramaditya he conquered Gujarat, Saurashtra and Malwa, gaining western ports and trade with Rome, Byzantium and the Sasanids. His court at Ujjain hosted the poet Kalidasa among the Nine Jewels. Aryabhata worked with the place-value system and zero, and the Delhi iron pillar resists rust. Skandagupta repelled the Hunas, but the cost debased the coinage, and after 467 CE invaders like Mihirakula and rebel vassals ended the dynasty by 550 CE.

• Historians know Ramagupta was real from copper coins and Jain statues bearing his titles.
• The Guptas were Vaishnavite Hindus who also funded Buddhist monasteries and Jain scholars.
• Aryabhata explained that the moon shines by reflected sunlight and mapped eclipses as shadows.
• High-phosphorus iron forms a protective phosphate film that has kept the Delhi pillar intact for over 1,500 years.
• Chaturanga mirrored the army's four divisions of infantry, cavalry, chariots and elephants and led to modern chess.