(4th6th centuries) Rulers of an empire in northern and parts of central and western India.
The dynasty was founded by Chandra (Candra) Gupta I (r. 320 0441; 330). The Gupta era was once regarded as India's Classical period, but new archaeological evidence has given the Mauryan empire that designation. Nevertheless, the Gupta period is noted for the flourishing of Sanskrit literature (see Kalidasa ), its sophisticated metal coins, its advanced mathematics (which made use of decimal notation and the numeral zero and at that time was more advanced than anywhere else), and its astronomical advances.