Gupta, a. and n.
(ˈgʊptə)
[f. Chandragupta, name of the founder of the dynasty.]
A. adj. Of or pertaining to a dynasty which ruled in north India from the fourth to the sixth century a.d. B. n. A member of this dynasty. Hence ˈGuptan a.
[1845 Encycl. Metropolitana XVI. 354/2 Four families of the Vaïdyas were raised by the same Prince to the rank of Cul{iacu}nas; their family names are Séna, Mall{iacu}ca, Datta, and Gupta.] 1871 E. Balfour Cycl. India (ed. 2) II. 440/2 The following is a table of the Gupta kings. Ibid., ‘Elder Guptas’. 1880 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 120/2 All the Gupta inscriptions are dated in the Gupta-kála, the Gupta era, the epoch of which has long been and still remains a subject of dispute. Ibid., After the Sáhs come the Guptas of Kanauj, a dynasty which must not be confounded with the Maurya dynasty. 1939 A. J. Toynbee Study Hist. VI. 193 A Guptan ‘Indian Summer’..was followed..by the blight of an irruption of Eurasian Nomads. 1947 Auden Age of Anxiety (1948) v. 103 The Ghuzz, the Guptas, the gloomy Krimchaks. 1963 Times 12 Feb. 12/4 A fifth century A.D. Gupta sandstone carving. 1969 Sunday Statesman (Calcutta) (Mag. Sect.) 27 July p. i/5 The most prolific period of Hindu art, from the Gupta age to the mediaeval times, saw the rapid development of sculptural ornamentation. |