THE POST – GUPTA AGE
(600 – 1200 A.D.)
After the collapse of the Gupta – empire northern Indian
again became a congeries of small states. Many petty kingdoms arose on the
ruins of the Gupta empire and disintegration followed in the course of next
fifty years; but under harsha of kannauj (606 647) these disintegrated units
were again brought under the central authority. He was a great lover and patron
of learning and a religious and charitable man. Himself a poet and dramatist
and the author of three plays, he extended state patronage to men of letters
like bana, the author of harshacharita and kadambari, and jayasena, a man of
encyclopedic learning. His court was famous for philosophers, poets, dramatists
and painters. He later on adopted Buddhism whose cause he served in many ways.
In his time the learned Chinese scholar and monk, Hiuen
Tsang, visited India in 630 A.D. and remained here till 643 A.D. and has given
us a fairly elaborated account of the religious, social and economic conditions
of India in those days.
The Buddhist monasteries were not only the strong – holds of
religion but also of education. The university of Nalanda which reached its
high water – mark during this period was an educational centre of international
fame. In addition to Nalanda, Textile and Ujjain were other centers of
learning: the former was renowned for its medical school and the later for its
secular learning including mathematics and astronomy. The death of harsha was a
signal for general mathematics and astronomy. The death of harsha was a signal
for general disruption and disintegration of his empire and India again lost
her political unity.
This period witnessed a new tendency in literature, namely,
the rise of the vernaculars. The period under review witnessed not only great
progress in Sanskrit literature, b7ut also the foundation of the modern
vernacular languages of India, such as, Hindi, Guajarati, Marathi and Bengali
in the Raj put period, though architecture degenerated during this period, yet
the spiritual content, the very basic principle of Indian architecture, finds
its free play in the building activity of the age.
The most famous temples of the period in the Northern India
are those of Somnath in Saurashtra, Bhubaneswar, Puri and Knar in Orissa,
Khajuraho in Bundelkhand and Abu in Rajasthan. The jagannath Temple at Puri was
constructed around 1100 A.D. while the sun temple at Konark approximately
around 1250 A.D. though Hinduism was theoretically based on the oild vedic
beliefs and practices, it had evolved its own characteristic features, such as
doctrine of avatars, redominance of the theistic sects of vaishnavism and
Saivism, the Bhakti cult, Tantricism and the construction of magnificent
temples.
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