400 CE
The Guptas conquer the last remaining Saka kingdom (in present-day Gujarat) and commission the Udayagiri Caves (in present-day Madhya Pradesh), establishing the precedent for the identification of kings with gods, especially Vishnu and his avatars. Sanskrit increasingly becomes adopted as a language of power, and is used in political as well as literary contexts.
Gupta hegemony in northern India is marked by the construction of a large number of brick temples to Hindu deities, the best surviving examples of which are the Bhitargaon Temple and the Deogarh Dashavatara Temple in present-day Uttar Pradesh. These are among the earliest known examples of a proto-Nagara architectural mode, financed by Gupta officials and feudatories. The core features of these temples are a shikhara (a tall, pyramidal superstructure) above the garbhagriha (main sanctum or shrine), sharing a jagati (common plinth) with one or more mandapas (prayer and ceremony halls), and no boundary walls.
Harle, J. C. The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994.
Huntington, Susan L, and John C. Huntington. The Art of Ancient India: Buddhist, Hindu, Jain. New York: Weather Hill, 1985.
Chanchani, Nachiket. Mountain Temples and Temple Mountains: Architecture, Religion, and Nature in the Central Himalayas. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2019.
First Published: March 11, 2024
Last Updated: July 2, 2024