among the Jainas. Secular Literature Samudragupta himself had established his fame as Kaviraja. It is widely believed that his court was adorned by the celebrated navaratnas like Kalidasa, Amarasimha, Visakadatta and Dhanvantri. Kalidasa’s famous dramas are Sakunthalam , Malavikagnimitram and Vikramaurvashiyam .
The works of Sudraka ( Mrichchhakatika ), Visakhadatta ( Mudraraksasa and Devichandraguptam ) and the lesser known dramatists and writers also contributed to the literary and social values in the classical age. An interesting feature of the dramas of this period is that while the elite spoke in Sanskrit, the common people spoke Prakrit. Prakrit Language and Literature In Prakrit, there was patronage outside the court circle. The Gupta age witnessed the evolution of many Prakrit forms such as Suraseni used in Mathura and its vicinity, Ardh Magadhi spoken in Awadh and Bundelkhand and Magadhi in modern Bihar.
Sanskrit Literature The Guptas made Sanskrit the official language and all their epigraphic records were written in it. The period saw the last phase of the Smriti literature. Smritis are religious texts covering a wide range of subjects such as ethics, politics, culture and art. Dharmasastras and puranas form the core of this body of literature.
Sanskrit Grammar The Gupta period also saw the development of Sanskrit grammar based on Panini who wrote Ashtadhyayi and Patanjali who wrote Mahabhashya on the topic. This period is particularly memorable for the compilation of the Amarakosa , a thesaurus in Sanskrit, by Amarasimha. A Buddhist scholar from Bengal, Chandrogomia, composed a book on grammar named Chandravyakaranam . Puranas and Ithihasas The Puranas, as we know them in their present form, were composed during this time.
They were the legends as recorded by the Brahmins. They were originally composed by bards (professional storytellers), but now, having come into priestly hands, they were rewritten in classical Sanskrit. Details on Hindu sects, rites and customs were added in order to make them sacrosanct religious documents. The succession of dynasties was recorded in the form of prophesies.
Thus what began as popular memories of the past were revived and rewritten in prophetic form and became the Brahmanical