(500-750 A.D.)
The political scene in India from the decline of the Guptas until the
rise of Harsha was bewildering. Large scale displacement of peoples
continued for some time. Small kingdoms vied with each other for the
heritage of Guptas. Northern India was divided into four kingdoms of
later Guptas of Magadha, the Maukharis, the Push-abhutis and the
Maitrakas. The Maukharis first held the region of western U.P. around
Kanauj. Gradually they ousted the later Guptas and made them move to
Malwa. The pushyabhut is ruled to Thaneswar north of Delhi. They had a
marriage alliance with the Maukharis. After the death of the last
Maukhari king, probably the Maukhari kingdom and that of pusyabhuti were
united into one kingdom. Probably the Maitrakas were of Iranian origin
and ruled in Gujarat. They developed Vallabhi as their capital which
became an important center of learning. On the periphery of these four
kingdoms a number of small principalities were continuously fighting
with each other. All the kingdoms came into prominence after the
Huninvasion since it left a political vacuum in northern India.
Although the political picture was discouraging, there were a few
formatives trends in this period. The Gupta imperial tradition seems to
have continued. Numerous inscriptions of kings reveal that the kings
claimed descent from the Gupta Vakataka dynasties. In the same period
even the character of the Hun invaders underwent change. Tormana was no
savage but a Hinduised frontier king attacking a decaying empire. He
ceased to be a foreigner. His successor, Mihirakula, was undoubtedly one
of the known tyrants of history. Let by Baladitya Gupta, the last great
monarch of the imperial dynasty, the rulers of north India combined to
attack him and overthrow his power in a great battle of 528 A.D. The hun
dynasty ended with it.
After this event the kingdoms of the age carried on the traditions of
the empire. In and around the Vindhyas the Vakatakas rules with
effective authority. In the Gangetic valley the Maukhari kings
consolidated their rule. True, the imperial tradition was under eclipse,
but the country, as a whole was peaceful and prosperous and it was not
subject to anarchical disruption.
The university of Nalanda flourished in the sixth century. Saintly
Sthiramati was its head in the middle of the sixth century. Dharmapala,
who extended his patronage to the university in the latter half of the
century was an eminent scholar. As a matter of fact, Nalanda witnessed
its golden period in this period.
It is also to be kept in mind that classical Sanskrit reached its
perfection in the sixth century. Bharavi, Kumaradasa and Dandin among
the poets and Vishkhadatta among the dramatists lived in the sixth
century A.D. Some historians ascribe the development of Indian
mathematics and astronomy to the sixth century. Varahamira is said to
have died in 587 A.D. Aryabhata was born in 476.
It can equally be said that philosophy, logic and mimamsa matured
during this period. Buddhist and Hindu systems of logic witnessed their
golden age. It is also noteworthy that vernacular literatures began to
grow. Prakrit evolved into a literary language possessing its own
grammars. It was this development that enabled Rajasekhara and other to
create classical literature of Prakrit in the next century.
Thus the old view that the sixth century was a period of anarchy and
the age of Harsha that followed it was the last glow of ancient period,
cannot be sustained. On the other hand the sixth century was a germinal
period which sowed the seeds of later developments.
