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Gupta art is the art of the Gupta Empire, which ruled most of northern India, with its peak between about 300 and 480 CE, surviving in much reduced form until c. 550. The Gupta period is generally regarded as a classic peak and golden age of North Indian art for all the major religious groups.Rowland's chapter 15 is called "The Golden Age: The Gupta Period; Harle, 88 Gupta art is characterized by its "Classical decorum", in contrast to the subsequent Medieval India, which "subordinated the figure to the larger religious purpose".
Although painting was evidently widespread, the surviving works are almost all religious sculpture. The period saw the emergence of the iconic carved stone deity in Hindu art, while the production of the Buddha-figure and Jain tirthankara figures continued to expand, the latter often on a very large scale. The traditional main centre of sculpture was Mathura, which continued to flourish, with the art of Gandhara, the centre of Greco-Buddhist art just beyond the northern border of Gupta territory, continuing to exert influence. Other centres emerged during the period, especially at Sarnath. Both Mathura and Sarnath exported sculpture to other parts of northern India.
It is customary to include under "Gupta art" works from areas in north and central India that were not actually under Gupta control, in particular art produced under the Vakataka dynasty who ruled the Deccan c. 250–500.Harle, 118 Their region contained very important sites such as the Ajanta Caves and Elephanta Caves, both mostly created in this period, and the Ellora Caves which were probably begun then. Also, although the empire lost its western territories by about 500, the artistic style continued to be used across most of northern India until about 550,Harle, 89 and arguably around 650.Rowland, 215 It was then followed by the "Post-Gupta" period, with (to a reducing extent over time) many similar characteristics; Harle ends this around 950.Harle, 199
In general the style was very consistent across the empire and the other kingdoms where it was used.Harle, 89; Rowland, 216 The vast majority of surviving works are religious sculpture, mostly in stone with some in metal or terracotta, and architecture, mostly in stone with some in brick. The Ajanta Caves are virtually the sole survival from what was evidently a large and sophisticated body of painting,Harle, 88, 355–361 and the very fine coinage the main survivals in metalwork. Gupta India produced both textiles and jewellery, which are only known from representations in sculpture and especially the paintings at Ajanta.Rowland, 252–253
With the conquests of Samudragupta (r.c. 335/350-375 CE) and Chandragupta II (r.c. 380 – c. 415 CE), the Gupta Empire came to incorporate vast portions of central, northern and northwestern India, as far as the Punjab and the Arabian sea, continuing and expanding on these earlier artistic traditions and developing a unique Gupta style, rising "to heights of sophistication, elegance and glory". Unlike some other Indian dynasties before and after them, and with the exception of the imagery on their coins, the Gupta imperial family did not advertise their relationship to the art produced under them by inscriptions, let alone portraits that have survived.Harle, 88
Although the Gupta Empire is reckoned to start after King Gupta in the late 3rd century CE, the earliest known and dated sculptures of Gupta art come relatively late, about a century later, after the conquest of northwestern India under Samudragupta. Among the earliest is an inscribed pillar recording the installation of two Shiva Lingas in Mathura in 380 CE under Chandragupta II, Samudragupta's successor. Another rare example is a statue of a seated Bodhisattva in the Mathura style with dhoti and shawl on the left shoulder, coming from Bodh Gaya and dated to "year 64", presumably of the Gupta era, thought to be 384 CE. This type remained a rare occurrence, as in most of the later Gupta statues the Buddha would be shown with the samghati monastic robe covering both shoulders.
Coinage too was a relatively late development, also consecutive to Samugragupta's conquest of the northwest. The Gupta coinage was initially in imitation of the Kushan types."It was his conquests which brought to him the gold utilized in his coinage and also the knowledge of its technique acquired from his acquaintance with Kushan (eastern Punjab) coins. His earliest coins began as imitations of these Kushan coins, and of their foreign features which were gradually replaced by Indian features in his later coins." in Pal, 78
Both Hindu and Buddhist sculpture concentrate on large, often near life-size, figures of the major deities, respectively Vishnu, Shiva and Buddha. The dynasty had a partiality to Vishnu, who now features more prominently, where the Kushan Empire imperial family generally had preferred Shiva. Minor figures such as yakshi, which had been very prominent in preceding periods, are now smaller and less frequently represented, and the crowded scenes illustrating Jataka tales of the Buddha's previous lives are rare.Harle, 87–88 When scenes include one of the major figures and other less important ones, there is a great difference in scale, with the major figures many times larger. This is also the case in representations of incidents from the Buddha's life, which earlier had shown all the figures on the same scale.Rowland, 234
The lingam was the central murti in most temples. Some new figures appear, including of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, not yet worshipped, but placed on either side of entrances; these were "the two great rivers encompassing the Gupta heartland".Harle, 87–88, 88 quoted The main bodhisattva appear prominently in sculpture for the first time,Rowland, 235 as in the paintings at Ajanta. Hindu, Buddhist and Jain sculpture all show the same style,Rowland, 232 and there is a "growing likeness of form" between figures from the different religions, which continued after the Gupta period.
The Indian stylistic tradition of representing the body as a series of "smooth, very simplified planes" is continued, though poses, especially in the many standing figures, are subtly tilted and varied, in contrast to the "columnar rigidity" of earlier figures.Rowland, 233 The detail of facial parts, hair, headgear, jewellery and the haloes behind figures are carved very precisely, giving a pleasing contrast with the emphasis on broad swelling masses in the body.Rowland, 230–233, 232 and 233 quoted Deities of all the religions are shown in a calm and majestic meditative style; "perhaps it is this all-pervading inwardness that accounts for the unequalled Gupta and post-Gupta ability to communicate higher spiritual states".
The art of Mathura continued to become more sophisticated during the Gupta Empire. The pink sandstone sculptures of Mathura evolved during the Gupta period to reach a very high fineness of execution and delicacy in the modeling, displaying calm and serenity. The style become elegant and refined, with a very delicate rendering of the draping and a sort of radiance reinforced by the usage of pink sandstone.Mookerji, 142 Artistic details tend to be less realistic, as seen in the symbolic shell-like curls used to render the hairstyle of the Buddha, and the orante halos around the head of the Buddhas. The art of the Gupta is often considered as the pinnacle of Indian Buddhist art, achieving a beautiful rendering of the Buddhist ideal.Mookerji, 142
Gupta art is also characterized by an expansion of the Buddhist pantheon, with a high importance given to the Buddha himself and to new deities, including Bodhisattvas such as Avalokitesvara or divinities of Brahmanism inspiration, and less focus on the events of the life of the Buddha which were abundantly illustrated through Jataka stories in the art of Bharhut and Sanchi (2nd–1st centuries BCE), or in the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara (1st–4th centuries CE).Mookerji, 143
The Gupta art of Mathura was very influential throughout northern India, accompanied by a reducing of foreign influences; its style can be seen in Gupta statues to the east in areas as far as Allahabad, with the Mankuwar Buddha, dated to the reign of Kumaragupta I in 448.Mookerji, 142–143
There are a number of "problematical" Buddhist and Jain images from Mathura whose dating is uncertain; many are dated with a low year number, but which era is being used is unclear. These may well come from the early Gupta period.
The Sarnath style was the origin of Buddha images in Siam, Cambodia and Java.Harle, 109–110; Rowland, 235
File:Mankuwar Buddha with background.jpg|The Mankuwar Buddha, with inscribed date "year 129 in the reign of Maharaja Kumaragupta I", hence 448 CE. Mankuwar, District of Allahabad. Lucknow Museum.
File:Buddha, standing, inscribed Gift of Abhayamira in 154 GE 474 CE in the reign of Kumaragupta II Sarnath Museum.jpg|Buddha, standing, inscribed: "Gift of Abhayamira in 154 GE" (474 CE) in the reign of Kumaragupta II. Sarnath Museum.
File:Sarnath standing Buddha 5th century (detail).jpg|5th century Sarnath statue, Indian Museum.
File:Buddha Head, Gupta, 5th Century AD, Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh.jpg|Buddha head, Sarnath, 5th century
File:India, uttar pradesh, buddha stante, 450-500 dinastia gupta.JPG|Buddha, 450-500
File:Kakandi.jpg|Relief of Jain tirthankara Parshvanatha on the Kahaum pillar erected by Skandagupta in 461 CE
File:025 Shiva Linga with Face (32881354053).jpg|Udayagiri Caves mukhalinga (Cave 4), described as "pulsating with psychic power".Harle, 93
File:Clevelandart 1969.57.jpg|Head of Vishnu from Vidisha near Udayagiri, Central India, 4th century
File:Varahavtar_Panel.jpg|Vishnu in the form of Varaha, Udayagiri Caves, circa 400 CE. In front, probable relief of Chandragupta II (380–415 CE) kneeling, paying homage to Varaha.
There are also other minor centres of Gupta sculpture, particularly in the areas of Dasapura and Mandasor, where a huge eight-faced mukhalinga (probably early 6th-century) found in the river has been reinstalled in the Pashupatinath Temple, Mandsaur.Mookerji, 144; Harle, 114
The Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara continued a late phase through at least most of the Gupta period, having also been a formative influence. Very important rock-cut sites outside the Gupta Empire proper, to the south, are the Ajanta Caves and Elephanta Caves, both mostly created in the Gupta period, and the Ellora Caves which were probably begun around the end of it. As it was mainly restricted to the Gangetic plain, the vast Gupta territories included relatively few rock-cut sites with much sculpture. The later Ajanta style of sculpture is somewhat heavy, but sometimes "awe-inspiring" in the large seated shrine Buddhas, but other smaller figures are often very fine, as is the ornamental carving on columns and door-frames.Harle, 118–120 (120 quoted), 122–124
When combined with the painted walls, the effect can be considered over-decorated, and lacking "motifs on a larger scale to serve as focal points". The main internal carving was probably completed by 478, though votive figures to the sides of many cave entrances may be later. The Ajanta style is only seen at a few other sites nearby. After work ended there much of the skilled workforce, or their descendants, probably ended up working at Elephanta and then Ellora.Harle, 122
Unlike the series of caves side by side at Ajanta, the main interest at Elephanta is the largest cave, a huge Shiva temple, and above all the colossal triple-bust ( trimurti) of Shiva, tall, which "because it is so amazingly skilfully placed in relation to the various external entrances ... receives exactly the amount of light necessary to make it look as if it is emerging from a black void, manifestation from the unmanifest".Harle, 124 Also from the Mumbai area, the Parel Relief or (Parel Shiva) is an important late Gupta monolithic relief of Shiva in seven forms.Harle, 124
File:Eran Boar.jpg|The Eran Varaha, about 5 metres long, dedicated by Alchon Huns ruler Toramana circa 510 CE.
File:Vishnu Central India 5th century Gupta Period.jpg|Vishnu, Central India, 5th century
File:Mukhalinga.JPG|Shiva mukhalinga, Bhumara Temple, 5th or 6th century, Madhya Pradesh
File:Mother Goddess from entrance of Hindu Temple. Northwestern India, Rajasthan, 5th-6th century CE.jpg|Mother Goddess from entrance of a Hindu Temple, Tanesara-Mahadeva (near Udaipur), suggesting connections with the Art of Gandhara. 5th-6th or early 7th century CE.
File:Mahadeva.JPG|Cast of the Parel Relief, in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya
The Gupta period saw the production of many sculptures in terracotta of very fine quality, and they are similar in style across the empire, to an even greater extent than the stone sculpture. Some can still be seen in their original settings on the brick temple at Bhitargaon, where the large relief panels have almost worn away, but various heads and figures survive at higher levels.Harle, 115 The very elegant pair of river goddesses excavated from a temple at Ahichchhatra are 1.47 metres high.
File:Goddess Ganga. Delhi National Museum ni01-11.jpg|Terracotta Ganges and attendant; 1.47 metres, from Ahichchhatra, 5th-6th century CE, National Museum, New Delhi.
File:MET DT5237 (cropped).jpg|Terracotta of Krishna battling the horse demon Keshi, Uttar Pradesh, 5th century
File:Head of Buddha Shakyamuni LACMA M.79.8 (cropped).jpg|Terracotta Buddha head, Devnimori, Gujarat, 375-400. These early terracottas show the influence of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, and belong to the art of the Western Satraps.
File:Buddha, da mirpur khas, sindh (pakistan), 410 dc ca.jpg|Buddha from the Kahu-Jo-Darro stupa at Mirpur Khas, Sindh, circa 410 CE. This is a conflation of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, and Gupta art.
The style of the Sultanganj figure, made by lost-wax casting, is comparable to slightly earlier stone Buddha figures from Sarnath in "the smoothly rounded attenuation of body and limbs" and the very thin, clinging body garment, indicated in the lightest of ways. The figure has "a feeling of animation imparted by the unbalanced stance and the movement suggested by the sweeping silhouette of the enveloping robe".
The gold coinage of the Guptas, with its many types and infinite varieties and its inscriptions in Sanskrit, are regarded as the finest coins in a purely Indian style. The Coins Of India, by Brown, C.J. p.13-20 The Gupta Empire produced large numbers of gold coins depicting the Gupta kings performing various rituals, as well as silver coins clearly influenced by those of the earlier Western Satraps by Chandragupta II.Allan, J. & Stern, S. M. (2008), coin, Encyclopædia Britannica.
The usual layout is an obverse with a portrait of the king that is normally full-length, whether standing, seated or riding a horse, and on the reverse a goddess, most often seated on a throne. Often the king is sacrificing. The choice of images can have political meaning, referring to conquests and local tastes; the types often vary between parts of the empire.Mookerji, 139–141; Bajpai, 121; Pal, 78–80
Types showing the king hunting and killing various animals: lions (the "lion-slayer" type), tigers and rhinoceros very likely refer to new conquests in the areas where those animals were still found. They may also reflect influence from Sassanian silverware from Persia.Sircar, 215–217; Pal, 74–75. The alternative explanation is that these animals were still more widespread than is usually thought. The king standing and holding a bow to one side (the "archer" type) was used by at least eight kings; it may have been intended to associate the king with Rama. Profile heads of the king are used on some silver coins for Western provinces added to the empire.Mookerji, 139–141; Pal, 73–74
Some gold coins commemorate the Vedic Ashvamedha horse sacrifice ritual, which the Gupta kings practised; these have the sacrificial horse on the obverse and the queen on the reverse.Glucklich, 111–113; Mookerji, 140; Pal, 79–80 suggests instead the female figure may represent Vijaya, the goddess of victory. Samudragupta is shown playing a string instrument, wearing huge earrings, but only a simple dhoti. The only type produced under Chandragupta I shows him and his queen standing side by side. The bird Garuda, bearer of Vishnu, is used as a symbol of the dynasty on many silver coins.Mookerji, 139–141; Pal, 73–75 Some of these were in the past misidentified as .Bajpai, 121–124
The silver coinage of the Guptas was made in imitation of the coinage of the Western Satraps following their overthrow by Chandragupta II, inserting the Gupta peacock symbol on the reverse but retaining traces of the Greek legend and the ruler's portrait on the obverse."Evidence of the conquest of Saurastra during the reign of Chandragupta II is to be seen in his rare silver coins which are more directly imitated from those of the Western Satraps... they retain some traces of the old inscriptions in Greek characters, while on the reverse, they substitute the Gupta type (a peacock) for the chaitya with crescent and star." in Rapson "A catalogue of Indian coins in the British Museum. The Andhras etc...", p. cli Kumaragupta and Skandagupta continued with the old type of coins (the Garuda and the Peacock types) and also introduced some other new types. The copper coinage was mostly confined to the era of Chandragupta II and was more original in design. Eight out of the nine types known to have been struck by him have a figure of Garuda and the name of the king on it. The gradual deterioration in design and execution of the gold coins and the disappearance of silver money, bear ample evidence to their curtailed territory.
The most famous remaining monuments in a broadly Gupta style, the caves at Ajanta Caves, Elephanta Caves, and Ellora Caves (respectively Buddhist, Hindu, and mixed including Jain) were in fact produced under other dynasties in Central India, and in the case of Ellora after the Gupta period, but primarily reflect the monumentality and balance of Guptan style. Ajanta contains by far the most significant survivals of painting from this and the surrounding periods, showing a mature form which had probably had a long development, mainly in painting palaces. The Hindu Udayagiri Caves actually record connections with the dynasty and its ministers, and the Dashavatara Temple at Deogarh is a major temple, one of the earliest to survive, with important sculpture, although it has lost its mandapa and covered ambulatory for parikrama.Harle, 113–114; see also site entries in Michell (1990)
Examples of early North Indian Hindu temples that have survived after the Udayagiri Caves in Madhya Pradesh include those at Tigawa (early 5th century),Michell (1990), 192 Pataini temple (5th century), Sanchi Temple 17 (similar, but respectively Hindu and Buddhist), Deogarh, Parvati Temple, Nachna (465),Michael Meister (1987), Hindu Temple, in The Encyclopedia of Religion, editor: Mircea Eliade, Volume 14, Macmillan, , page 370 Bhitargaon, the largest Gupta brick temple to survive,Michell (1990), 157; Michell (1988), 96 and Lakshman Brick Temple, Sirpur (600–625 CE). Gop Temple in Gujarat (c. 550 or later) is an oddity, with no surviving close comparator.Harle, 111–113, 136–138; Michell (1988), 90, 96–98; see also site entries in Michell (1990)
There are a number of different broad models, which would continue to be the case for more than a century after the Gupta period, but temples such as Tigawa and Sanchi Temple 17, which are small but massively built stone prostyle buildings with a sanctuary and a columned porch, show the most common basic plan that is elaborated in later temples to the present day. Both of these have flat roofs over the sanctuary, which would become uncommon by about the 8th century. The Mahabodhi Temple, Bhitargaon, Deogarh and Gop already all show high superstructures of different shapes.Harle, 111–113; Michell (1988), 94–98 The Chejarla Kapoteswara temple demonstrates that free-standing chaitya-hall temples with barrel roofs continued to be built, probably with many smaller examples in wood.Harle, 175
File:Dhaj the Great Iron Pillar, Delhi.jpg|The iron pillar of Delhi, which features an inscription of Chandragupta II (c.375-415 CE) File:Bhitari pillar of Skandagupta.jpg|The Bhitari pillar of Skandagupta (c.455–c.467 CE) File:Kahaum pillar.jpg|The Jain Kahaum pillar of Skandagupta (461 CE) File:Eran Budhagupta pillar built circa 476–495 CE.jpg|The Buddhagupta pillar at Eran, 484/5
At Ajanta, it is thought that established teams of painters, used to decorating palaces and temples elsewhere, were brought in when required to decorate a cave. Mural paintings survive from both the earlier and later groups of the caves. Several fragments of murals preserved from the earlier caves (Caves 10 and 11) are effectively unique survivals of ancient painting in India from this period, and "show that by Sātavāhana times, if not earlier, the Indian painters had mastered an easy and fluent naturalistic style, dealing with large groups of people in a manner comparable to the reliefs of the Sanchi toraņa crossbars".Harle, 355
Four of the later caves have large and relatively well-preserved mural paintings which "have come to represent Indian mural painting to the non-specialist", and represent "the great glories not only of Gupta but of all Indian art".Harle, 356 They fall into two stylistic groups, with the most famous in Caves 16 and 17, and what used to thought of as later paintings in Caves 1 and 2. However, the widely accepted new chronology proposed by Spink places both groups in the 5th century, probably before 478.Harle, 355–361; Spink
The paintings are in "dry fresco", painted on top of a dry plaster surface rather than into wet plaster.Harle, 361 All the paintings appear to be the work of painters supported by discriminating connoisseurship and sophisticated patrons from an urban atmosphere. Unlike much Indian mural painting, compositions are not laid out in horizontal bands like a frieze, but show large scenes spreading in all directions from a single figure or group at the centre.Harle, 359 The ceilings are also painted with sophisticated and elaborate decorative motifs, many derived from sculpture.Harle, 355–361 The paintings in cave 1, which according to Spink was commissioned by Harishena himself, concentrate on those Jataka tales which show previous lives of the Buddha as a king, rather than as a deer or elephant or other animal. The Ajanta paintings have seriously deteriorated since they were rediscovered in 1819, and are now mostly hard to appreciate at the site. A number of early attempts to copy them met with misfortune.
Only mural paintings survive, but it is clear from literary sources that portable paintings, including portraits, were common, probably including illustrated manuscripts.
File:Meister des Mahâjanaka Jâtaka 001.jpg|One of four frescos for the Mahajanaka Jataka tale. The king announces he abdicates to become an asceticism. File:Ajanta Cave 1 Mahajanaka Jataka mural detail.jpg|Sibi Jataka: king undergoes the traditional rituals for renouncers. He receives a ceremonial bath.Benoy Behl (2004), Ajanta, the fountainhead, Frontline, Volume 21, Issue 20 File:Bodhi Ajanta.jpg|The Bodhisattva of compassion Padmapani with lotus. File:Ajanta_cave_17_foreigners.jpg|Foreigners in Cave 17, Ajanta
| Dated statuary under the Guptas (319–543 CE) | |||||||||
| File:Varaha at Udayagiri.jpg | File:Bodh Gaya Bodhisattva inscribed Gupta Year 64, ie 385 CE.jpg | File:Standing Buddha Set-up by Buddist Monk Yasadinna - 434 CE - Govind Nagar - ACCN 76-25 - Government Museum - Mathura 2013-02-23 5548 (retouched).jpg | File:Mankuwar Buddha with background.jpg | File:Kakandi.jpg|alt= File:Buddha, standing, inscribed Gift of Abhayamira in 154 GE 474 CE in the reign of Kumaragupta II Sarnath Museum.jpg | File:Buddha statue inscribed reign of Budhagupta year 157 (476 CE) Sarnath Museum.jpg | File:Ancient Varaha Narasimha Vishnu Varaha and inscriptions site, Eran Madhya Pradesh (top detail).jpg | File:Eran_pillar_of_Goparaja_(detail).jpg | ||
File:0111321 Sondhni Vijayastambha, Mandasor Victory Pillars site, Mandsaur Madhya Pradesh 041.jpg|Sondani, two Dvarapalas, circa 525 CE
File:0111321 Sondhni Vijayastambha, Mandasor Victory Pillars site, Mandsaur Madhya Pradesh 072.jpg|Sondani pillar capital, circa 525 CE
File:Vidyadharas.jpg|Vidyadhara, Sondani, circa 525 CE. National Museum, New Delhi
File:Prakasheshvara in Mandasor Fort.jpg|Shiva in Mandsaur Fort
File:Harihara (musée Guimet) (6364064821).jpg|Harihara statue, Cambodia, 7th century CE
File:Buddha dvaravatistyle.jpg|A seated Buddha in Dvaravati style, 6th century CE
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