History of India, c. 150 A.D. to 350 A.D.: Naga–Vakataka Imperial Period c18.s1.10

c18.s1.10

§ 209. We are thus dazzled by this atmosphere of full manhood and glory, of conquests and culture, of activity far and wide, at home and abroad, and we forget the unknown poets and patriots and teachers of the Bhāraśiva period who sowed the seed of which the Vākāṭaka and the Gupta reaped the harvest. The hundred years of the Bhāraśivas are the seed-period of this Hindu imperialism. Literary remains of that seed-period movement we have practically none. But we recognise the tree from its fruit. That ‘Dark Period’ brought light and illumination to Āryāvarta and India. The spiritual movement begun in that period assumed the form of intense bhakti in the heroic aspect of Vaishṇavism. Who were the preachers of that cult? We know not. But we can say this much that the bible of that cult was the Bhagavad-Gītā which is repeated in the inscription of Samudra Gupta. The cult is that Vishṇu comes in the form of statesmen and heroes and readjusts society, protects Dharma and His people.