RAS question
Which of the following was NOT a factor in the decline of the Gupta Empire?
Correct answer: (C) Arab invasions from the west.
Arab invasions from the west were not a factor in the decline of the Gupta Empire because they belong to a later 7th-8th century phase, after the Gupta decline.
Explanation
The Gupta decline depended on both chronology and causes. The real pressures were Huna invasions under Toramana and Mihirakula, the rise of regional feudatories such as the Vakatakas and Maukharis, fiscal strain, and weak successors after Skandagupta. NCERT's timeline places the Arab conquest of Sind at c. 712, after the Gupta phase; Gupta rule began around c. 320 CE, Chandragupta II was linked with the Vakatakas around c. 375-415 CE, and later political developments came before c. 712. Arab invasions were historically later than the Gupta decline, not a Gupta-decline cause.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Post-Skandagupta weakness was one of the real causes of Gupta decline.
- (B) Huna pressure under Toramana and Mihirakula was a direct factor in the Gupta collapse.
- (D) Assertive regional powers such as the Vakatakas and Maukharis were part of the Gupta Empire's fragmentation.
Concept
Ancient Indian polity requires separating contemporary pressures on an empire from later invasions or dynastic phases. RAS chronology often turns on whether an event belonged to the same historical phase as the decline under discussion.