The expansive Gupta Empire ruled for hundreds of years over
northern India, stretching from the mouth of the Ganges River in the Bay of
Bengal to the Indus River pouring into the Arabian Sea. Successive generations
of rulers such as Chandragupta and Samudragupta added substantial territory to
their influence as well as securing important trade routes that funded the
flourishing empire. In the middle fifth century, however, invasion from the
north seemed it would break apart imperial rule.
Skandagupta, who came to the throne as the lesser son of
Kumaragupta after a forceful seizure of power in about 455, sought to defend
his lands from the Huna, also known as Alchon Huns or White Huns, whose
migratory conquests marched south from Central Asia. The Huna had gained political
recognition by the Sassanid Empire to the west, guarding each other’s flanks while
the Sassanids fought Byzantines in the Middle East and the Huna sought to
expand. Skandagupta used the heavy cavalry, supported by war elephants and
infantry, that had brought together the Gupta Empire to drive away the Huna
incursion. It was obvious, however, that Skandagupta’s victory would only be
temporary as the Huna were a quickly growing power.
Pondering the issue, Skandagupta looked out over his empire,
which was often presented as the most advanced in the world. Analytical texts
such as Kama Sutra had studied
aspects of the human experience that many considered beyond understanding, Jainist
mathematicians had defined principles of infinity, and creators had synthesized
the logic of warfare into the game that the world would come to know as chess.
No problem should be beyond their collective minds, so Skandagupta put out an
edict that whoever discovered the best solution would be given a great reward.
Numerous designs for innovative weapons and techniques flooded the palace at
Pataliputra. Skandagupta’s choice was one that had been a part of human
strategy for centuries: biological warfare.
The strength of the Huna rested in their herds, particularly
their warhorses. Gathering sick horses from outbreaks in corners of the empire
of diseases such as equine influenza and glanders, the imperial guard smuggled
them into the northwest to be sold, allowed to be stolen, or simply let go to blend
in with the Huna’s own. One strategy even had horses the guise of an Ashvamedha
sacrifice in which soldiers would protect a horse as it wandered freely through
the empire for one year, proving the stability of the imperial rule. Proving to
be much less expensive than keeping up a large army to deter Huna invasion,
Skandagupta and his descendants repeatedly introduced waves of plagues among
the horsemen, devastating their herds and base of their economy.
In generations to come, however, the Guptas felt the
consequences of the plagues as they often spread back into the empire from the
west. Horse populations dropped, and the empire found itself with a dire
shortage of beasts of burden. Attempts were made to expand the use of elephants
and even camels, but elephants took a long time to propagate and camels did not
do well in more humid climates. In about 500, Skandagupta’s great-grandson
Budhagupta followed his ancestor’s example to appeal for ideas to resolve the
burden issue.
By then, the Gupta Empire had grown by leaps in its science.
Aryabhata had summarized Indian knowledge of mathematics and astronomy into one
great work and clarified the place-value system that implied the existence of a
“zero.” While he supported a geocentric model of the universe, he did show the
Earth was round and rotated on an axis with the moon using reflected sunlight.
Art and architecture had thrived with the imperial households increasingly
supporting Buddhism with new temples. Numerous scholars focused their attention
on contagions to better understand how to protect local horse herds. After
reviewing complex schemes for mass canal systems and improved designs for
carts, Budhagupta approved an engine that mimicked the power of a horse by steam
from a boiler. Steadily steam engines came into use with iron soon replacing
early brass models.
While the first steam engines were used to pull carts, soon
the devices were being used in stationary form at mills. Religious objection to
using forests for fuel were met with increased mining of the empire’s extensive
coal resources. Demand for iron drove Gupta conquests southward into the
kingdoms of the Vakatakas, beginning a new era of expansion for the empire. As the
economic middle classes grew throughout the caste system, the newly rich
patronized engineers and scholars, especially when their discoveries in
chemistry or physics could make money. Varahamihira furthered geometry and
trigonometry and define reflection and refraction in optics, leading to the
development of lenses that soon allowed for telescopy, microscopy, and
photography.
The Gupta Empire lasted approximately three hundred years
before its satellite provinces in Southeast Asia broke into smaller states and
revolution changed the imperial structure for more representation. By then, the
technology and culture of India had spread widely, and, even in a different
political form, northern India remained the scientific and economic center of
the world. Indian steamships circumnavigated Africa to Europe and reached as
far as Japan and New Zealand, establishing colonies for trade all along their
paths. Buddhism, the imperially supported religion above others, spread along
with the economic wealth, creating a complex mixture of versions of related
religions throughout the world. Buddhism grew further under the Indian-influenced
Song dynasty in China, where scholar-bureaucrats continued the Guptan practice
of encouraging technological development and launched expeditions to map the
western hemisphere.
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In reality, the Huna continued generational invasions of
northern India going as far as Eran midway through the subcontinent. Conquerors
such as Toramana and Mihirakula were seen as bitterly cruel, especially as
Mihirakula’s beliefs in Shiva drove him to destroy temples and any recorded
knowledge. Eventually the Guptas and their allies defeated the Huna, but by
then the trade routes had been wrecked and the empire had been worn down.
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