Decline of the Gupta Empire

Decline of the Guptas Empire

Reasons for the decline of the Guptas Empire such as: 

1. Hun Invasions

2. Rise of Feudatories

3. Gradual Decline in Economic Prosperity 

1. Hun Invasions: The Hun's further movement into the Indian territories was successfully repulsed by Skandagupta in the early 5th century. In the latter half of the 5th century, weak successors of Skandagupta could not check growing Hun power and the Hun chief Toramana was able to conquer large parts of western India, stretching up to Eran near Bhopal in central India. Banabhatta in his Harshcharitra refers to the Huns invasion. The inscriptions issued by the Huns and numismatic evidence shows that by 485 BCE, they had occupied what is present day Punjab, Rajasthan, Kashmir, eastern Malwa and a large part of central India. In 515 BCE, Toramana was succeeded by his son Mihirkula, who was a tyrant and an iconoclast who finally suffered defeat at the hands of Yashodharman of Malwa, Narasimhagupta Baladitya of the Gupta dynasty, and the Maukharis.

However, this victory over the Huns could not revive the Gupta Empire. 

Rise of Feudatories: The Gupta's power was severely curbed by the rise of feudatories. Yashodharman of Malwa, who belonged to Aulikara feudatory family, successfully challenged the authority of the Guptas after defeating Mihirkula, and set up 532 pillars of victory commemorating his conquest of almost the whole of northern India. Even through Yashodharman's rule was short-lived, it did cause a severe damage to the Gupta empire's reputation and image. Motivated and encouraged by these scheme of events, other feudatories too rose in rebellion against the Guptas and gradually declared themselves independent in Bihar, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Vallabhi, Gujarat, western Malwa, and so on. It is noteworthy that after the reign of Skandagupta, hardly any Gupta coin or inscription is found in western Malwa and Saurashtra.

Gradual Decline in Economic Prosperity: The gradual economic decline of the Gupta empire is indicated by the gold coins of later Gupta rulers, which have less of gold content and more of alloy. We also notice a gradual disappearance of coins in the post-Gupta period. It led the kings to make payments in form of land rather than cash. It is evident by the discovery of large scale land grant charters donating land to brahmanas and officers. This further aggravated the feudal tendencies of the empire and indicated lesser control on the part of the central government. Also, due to the loss of western India, the rich revenues from foreign trade and commerce also dropped and this further crippled the Guptas. 

The decline of the Gupta empire resulted in the emergence of numerous ruling dynasties in different parts of northern India. Prominent among them were the Pushyabhutis in Thanesar, Maukharies of Kannauj and the Maitrakas of Valabhi. The political scene in the Peninsular India was no different. The Chalukyas and the Pallavas emerged as strong regional powers in Deccan and northern Tamil Nadu, respectively.