The last great king of the Gupta was Skanda Gupta was ascended the
throne about 455 A.D. Even during the later years of Kumar Gupta's
reign, the empire was attacked by a tribe called Pushyamitra but it was
repulsed, And immediately after the accession of Skanda Gupta, Hunas
made inroads, but they too were repelled.
However, fresh waves of Invaders arrived and shattered the fabric of the
Gupta Empire. Although in the beginning the Gupta king Skanda Gupta
tried effectively to stem the march of the Hunas into India, his
successors proved to be weak and could not cope with the Huna invaders,
who excelled in horsemanship and who possibly used stirrups made of
metal, Although the Huna power was soon overthrown by Yasodharman of
Malwa, the Malwa prince successfully challenged the authority of the
Guptas and set up Pillars of victory commorating his conquest (AD 532)
of almost the whole of northern India. Indeed Yasodharman's rule was
short lived, but he dealt a severe blow to the Gupta empire.
The Gupta empire was further undermined by the rise of the feudatories.
The governors appointed by the Gupta kings in north Bengal and their
feudatories in Samatata or south-east Bengal broke away from the Gupta
control. The later Gutpas of Magadha established their power in Bihar.
Besides, the Maukharis rose to power in Bihar and Uttar Pradeshand had
their capital at Kanauj. Proabably by AD 550 Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and
passed out of gupta hands. And the rulers of Valabhi established their
authority in Guajarat and Western Malw
ANOTHER CAUSE:
After the reign of Skanda Gupta (467 AD) any Gupta coin or inscription
has been found in western Malwa and Saurashtra. The migration of guild
of Silk weavers from Gujarata to Malwa in AD 473 and their adoption of
non-productive professions show that there was not much demand for cloth
produced by them. The advantages from Gujarat trade gradually
disappeared. After the middle of the fifth century the Gupta kings made
desperate attempts to maintain their gold currency by reducing the
content of pure gold in it. The loss of western India complete by the
end of the fifth century, must have deprived the Gutpas of the rich
revenues from trade and commerce and crippled them economically, and the
princes of Thaneswar established their power in Haryana and then
gradually moved on to Kanauj.
ADDITIONAL NOTE :
The causes of the downfall of disappearence of the Guptas were basically
not different from those that brought the end many ancient and medieval
dynasties. Over and above the usual causes of administrative
inefficiency, weak successors and stagnant the fall of the Guptas:
dynastic dissensions, foreign inassions and some internal rebellions.
DYNASTIC DISSENSIONS AND WEAK RULERS:
There is evidence to show that following the death of Kumaragupta and
Skandagupta, there were civil wars and struggles for the throne. For
instance, wehave the successors of Buddhagupta, highlighting the rule of
more than just one king. Those were Vinayagupta in Bengal and
Bhanugupta in
Iran.
Absence of law of primogeniture along with strong centralized authority
in ancient and medieval periods led to chaos. Thus we see that the
resources of the empire were frittered away in petty squabbles and wars
for the throne.
Besides circumstances weakening the Gupta monarchy, the very
personalities of the later Gupta Kings contributed to the ultimate fall
of this
dynasty. They were not only men of weak character but also some of them
followed
pacifies that affected other spheres of administration, particularly
that of military efficiency.
FOREIGN INVASIONS:
Foreign invasions was the second major factor in the decline and
disappearance of the Gutpas. The invasion of barbaric
tribe Pushyamitra was not the decisive. A far more important invasion
was that of the White Huns, who, after settling in the Oxus vally,
invaded India. First appeared during the reign of Budhagupta. Again they
reappeared under the command of Toramana who annexed a large portion of
the north-western region including parts of Moder U.P. He followed by
hisson, Mihirakula, who became the overlord of north India. Indeed he
was defeated by Yashodharman of Malwa but the repercussions of these
invasions were disastrous for the Gupta Empire.
INTERNAL REBELLIONS :
As a result of the weakning of Central Authoriy a number of feudal
chieftans, principally those of the north-western region, assumed the
status of independent rulers might more some names in this regard such
as Maitrakas (of Kathiawar), Panivarajaks (of Budndhelkhand),
Unchkalpas, Laxman in Allahabad. Etc.
After the reign of Buddhagupta, the status of certain, governors of
North Bengal and Yamuna - Narmada area around Magadh too assumed
independence and became to be known as the later Guptas.
By fat one of the most important rebellions was that of Yashodharman of
western Malwa who became independentand established his kingdom. He
defeated Mihirakula and sesms to have made extensive conquests from the
Himalayas to Brahamputra. However, his empire did not last very long.
Nevertheless, it set a pattern for other feudal cheiftans, who in due
course, broke away from Central authority.
Last but not the lest, we might note that the change in the Gupta polity
from one of militancy to that of pacifism greatly affected the
composition of the empire. We do have instance some of the later Gupta
kings who changed from Hinduism to Buddhism and this was
reflected inmate total military inefficiency of the later Guptas.
Apart from these three major groups of causes, that led to the final
disappearance of the Gupta empire, it is to be borne mind that no empire
after the Mauryas was a reality. Ver often they were total
fictions. With the disappearance of the Mauryan empire no empire in its
full connotation came into existence in India since we had no tradition
like that of the Greeks where it is held that the State comes into
existence for the necessities of life but continues to exist for the
good of life, and man, by nature, is a political animal. Somehow, after
the Mauryan
era the thinking of India became apolitical. The first factor that
contributed for this
outlook of Indians was the emergence of feudalism about which evidence
is there from the days of the Satavahanas. This tendency grew in the
Christian ara and was firmly established by the seventh century AD.
Along with this development one more saboteur of political consciousness
was the religious perception of ancient Indians. Beginning before the
Christian are it came to be gradually established that the kingship has
its own dharma known as rajya-dhrma while the people had a handul of
dharmas like varnashrama dharma and the grihadharma. All these dharmas
led the individual loyalty or perception towards a non-political entity.
This thinking is given religious sanction by the priestly order. This
thinking is given religious sanction by the priestly order of the day.
Thus the State never was the architectonic factor in the life of ancient
Indian except during the Mauryan era. It is this perception of ancient
India that made the emergence and disappearance of hundreds of States
mere non-events.
