Sanskrit Literature
- Though the language spoken by the people was Prakrit, the Guptas made Sanskrit the official language.
- This period was the peak for Sanskrit Literature.
- Smritis are religious texts covering a wide range of subjects such as ethics, politics, culture and art.
- Dharmasastra and Puranas form the core of this body of literature.
Sanskrit Grammar
- The Gupta period also saw the development of Sanskrit grammar based on Panini who wrote Ashtadhyayi and Patanjal who wrote Mahabhashya on the topic.
- This period is particularly memorable for the compilation of the Amarakosa, a thesaurus in Sanskrit by Amarasimha.
- A Buddhist scholar from Bengal, Chandrogomia, composed a book on grammar named Chandra Vyakaranam.
Puranas and Ithihasas
- The Puranas were composed during this time.
- The Mahabharata and the Ramayana also got their final touches and received their present shape during this period.
- Aryabhatta, in his book Surya Siddhanta, explained the true causes of solar and lunar eclipses.
Buddhist Literature
- The earliest Buddhist works are in
- Arya Deva and Arya Asanga of the Gupta Period are the most notable writers.
- The first regular Buddhist work on logic was written by
Jaina Literature
- The Jaina Canonical literature at first took shape in Prakrit dialects.
- Vimala produced a Jaina version of Ramayana.
- Siddasena Divakara laid the foundation of logic among the Jainas.
Secular Literature
- The works of Sudraka (Mrichchhakatika) Visakha, datta (Mudraraksasa and Devichandraguptam).
- Bharavi’s Kiratarjuniya is the story of the conflict between Arjuna and Shiva.
- Dandin was the author of Kavyadrsa and Dasakumaracharita.
- The Panchatantra stories were composed by Vishnusarma during the Gupta Period.