Gupta dynasty

Indian hereditary rulers that reunified and ruled over much of northern and central India 320-550. The dynasty's stronghold lay in the Magadha region of the middle Ganges valley, with the capital Pataliputra. Gupta influence was extended through military conquest east, west, and south by Chandragupta I, Chandragupta II, and Samudragupta. Hun raids in the northwest from the 6th century undermined the Guptas' decentralized administrative structure.

The dynasty grew out of the array of states left from the disintegration of the Kushan empire (about 200). Its conquest brought about varying degrees of independence and created a prosperous society in which Sanskrit grew out of its religious sphere to become the official language, at least in northern India.

At the empire's height, the Hindu and Buddhist religions, commerce, and the arts flourished in what is seen as a golden or classical age of Indian civilization.