The Vakataka–Gupta Age (circa 200–550 A.D.) c3.7

c3.7

We are fully conscious of the defects and imperfections of this volume. Most of its chapters were written during the unusual circumstances created by the second World War, when some of our contributors were denied the facilities of good reference libraries, as many of them had removed important books for safety. The proofs also could not be sent to some of our contributors owing to want of time. The fact that this, the sixth volume of the series, had to be published before its predecessors has also created some peculiar difficulties particularly with reference to controversial points of the earlier periods, which have their bearing on our age as well. We could not also know how the earlier history of the various cultural movements treated in this volume would be dealt with by other writers in the preceding volumes. We have, however, tried our best to give as complete and comprehensive a picture of the political and cultural history of the age as was possible in a volume of about 500 pages. The political history with its wars and conquests is not allowed to dominate the scene; cultural history, describing the religion and philosophy, the social and economic condition, the literature and sciences, and the art and architecture of the age occupies almost equal space with the political history. Nor have we looked at the history of our country from the view-point of the isolationist. India's commercial, cultural and religious contacts with and influence upon its neighbours, both in the east and the west, have been adequately described.