Gupta Empire

State · 324–554 CE · at its largest around 410 CE

Often called India's classical age, when the poet Kalidasa wrote, Aryabhata explained eclipses and the earth's rotation, and decimal numerals took shape. Hindu temples, Sanskrit literature and the serene Buddhas of Sarnath flourished, and Nalanda's great monastery began.

On its lands while it lasted

Ujjain (c. 600 BCE – c. 405 CE): Capital of Janapada of Avanti (600 BCE–405 BCE), Western Satraps (43–405).
Kushan Empire (c. 30–375 CE): Empire founded by Kujula Kadphises around 30 CE that united Bactria, Gandhara and northern India, linking Rome, Parthia and Han China through trade.
Gupta Empire (c. 320–550 CE): Empire founded by Chandragupta I around 320 CE whose period is often called a classical age of Indian art, literature, science and mathematics.
Guwahati (c. 353 CE): Capital of Kamarupa Kingdom (353–1138).
Banavasi (c. 353 CE): Capital of Kadamba Empire (353–525).
Faxian’s pilgrimage to India (c. 399–412 CE): The Chinese monk Faxian travelled overland to India to collect Buddhist texts, visited Sri Lanka, and returned by sea, landing in Shandong. His account is a key source on Gupta-era India.
Works of Kalidasa (c. 400 CE): Kalidasa, the most celebrated classical Sanskrit poet and dramatist, wrote Abhijnanashakuntalam and Meghaduta, probably in the Gupta period.
Iron pillar of Delhi (c. 400 CE): Wrought-iron column over 7 m tall made in the Gupta era, remarkable for its resistance to corrosion over some 1,600 years.
Nalanda (c. 427 CE): Buddhist monastic university in Magadha founded in the Gupta period that attracted scholars from across Asia until its destruction around 1200.
Aryabhata (c. 476 CE – 550 CE): Mathematician and astronomer of Kusumapura (Patna) who used a place-value system, approximated pi and proposed that the Earth rotates on its axis.
Vallabhi (c. 476–1948 CE): Capital of Maitraka Dynasty (476–731).
Indian numerals (c. 500 CE): Indian mathematicians developed decimal positional notation with nine digits and a zero; transmitted through the Islamic world, it became the numeral system used worldwide.