Description of the Gupta dynasty

It is a time of peace. The people are numerous and happy. They do not have to register with the government, or answer to any judges and their rules. Only those who farm the royal land have to pay the royal government part of what they earn from the land. If the want to leave their land, they go, if they want to stay on their land they stay.

The king governs without beheadings or other harsh bodily unfit punishments. Criminals are simply fined, lightly or heavily, according to the facts of each case. Even in cases of repeated rebellion against the government, the culprits only have their right hands cut off… All through the entire country the people do not kill any living creature, nor drink alcoholic beverages or eat any onions or garlic…

As it is a powerful and prosperous civilization, the people who dwell in the cities and towns are rich and prosperous, and compete with one another in doing acts of charity and good deeds… The heads of the Vaishya (merchants, artisans, and cultivators) families set up centers in the cities to give out alms and medicines. All the poor and poverty-stricken people in the country go to those centers- orphans, widowers and childless men, maimed people and cripples, and all those who are sick.

At this centers, they receive every kind of help, and doctors examine their illnesses. They get the food and medicines that they need, and are made to feel comfortable and rested. When they are better, they go away by their own choice.

I can also testify to the fact that the arts, including the Buddhist arts, is flourishing under the tolerant open society of the Guptas. This also shows that the leader supports learning and the arts.