Against the grain of mainstream occidentally inspired historians of the current era who are big on downsizing gupta-s, I’d say the gupta run was unique for having a 4-5 generation excellence. In classical historical India it exceeded there was never one like it before or after.
In many ways, it was a defining event for the H nation beginning or completing the transition from:
- the vaidika metaphor of the state to the tAntro-pauranic 1;
- From the arthashAstric to the dharmashAstric state;+++(4)+++
- multifocal to temple-centric urbanism;+++(4)+++
- Localization to massive centralization in civil engineering & religious expertise.+++(5??)+++
This template was refined for almost 6 further centuries before the curtains came down on the H with the coming of ekarAkShasatvam. To be blunt we are to a degree partial to monarchy over other forms of government because it places the social contract between the masses & the government in a more robust & larger time frame – usually multi-generational. However, there some caveats for that to work & the gupta run largely fulfilled the best that could come from a monarchy.
Due to my leanings, we all tend to measure civilizational performance via the sciences. While I’m hardly one who would say that there was no Indian science of note before the gupta-s (a position held by many occidental mainstream workers +++(4)+++), I do think the H scientific productivity in the gupta period was so definitive (outside of linguisitics) that it more-or-less displaced the prior efforts & probably defined the form of the pan-Indian intellectual network from then on.
There was the brilliant naturalist varAhamihira, AryabhaTa-I – scientist/mathematician/engineer, prashastapAda, etc who rose during or in the gupta aftermath. While tragically the intellectual sphere chose brahmagupta a great mathematician but not so good scientist for AryabhaTa, the latter’s work was the foundation of the greatest heights scaled by premodern H science& mathematics. Whatever the case, that gupta cusp came at a time when Greek knowledge was extinguished by the ekarAkShasa-s in the west. Thus, it led to the H intellectual tradition being the best in the world for another ~500-600 years.
Where there downsides, perhaps yes – IMO the tantro-paurANic religious-, uttaramImAMsic philosophical-, the dharmashAstric political syntheses had some downsides but I can’t say this was fatal. The brilliant kAshmirian flash before the end could have put things back on track if only the political philosophy to resist marUnmAda had retained the vigor with which it started.+++(5)+++