<P> According to many scholars and historians, the Gupta Dynasty was of Vaishya origin . Historian Ram Sharan Sharma asserts that the Vaishya Guptas "appeared as a reaction against oppressive rulers". A.S. Altekar, a historian and archaeologist, who has written several books on Gupta coinage, also regarded the caste of the Guptas as Vaishya on the basis of the ancient Indian texts on law, which associate the Gupta name suffix with a member of the Vaishya caste . According to historian Michael C. Brannigan, the rise of the Gupta Empire was one of the most prominent violations of the caste system in ancient India . </P> <P> However Gupta Empire records and Chinese records provided by the later I - Tsing, furnished the names of the first three rulers of the Gupta Dynasty: Maharaja Sri Gupta, Maharaja Sri Ghatotkacha and Ghatotokacha's son, and Maharajadhiraja Sri Chandragupta, who is considered the first Gupta emperor . Recently, the historian Ashvini Agarwal, on the basis of the matrimonial alliances of the Guptas with the Vakataka, assumed that they belong to the Brahmin caste . Another modern historian, S. Chattopaddhyaya, has put forth a different theory about the ancestry of the Guptas . According to him, in the Panchobh Copper Plate, some kings bearing the title Guptas and related to the imperial Gupta Dynasty, claimed themselves as Vaishyas . Nepalese historian D.R. Regmi says that the imperial Guptas were descendants of Abhira Guptas who had ruled the Kathmandu valley in present - day Nepal . </P> <P> There is controversy among scholars about the original homeland of the Guptas . Jayaswal has pointed out that the Guptas were originally inhabitants of Prayaga (Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh, in north India, as the vassal of the Nagas or Bhaarshivas . Thereafter they rose in prominence . Another scholar, Gayal supported the theory of Jayaswal, suggesting that the original home of the Guptas was Antarvedi and embracing the regions of Oudh and Prayag . These historians have derived their theory from several Gupta Dynasty coins found in those regions, and this study of numismatic evidence led to the theory that the Guptas were the original inhabitants of that region of northeastern India . However, another historian of this time in Indian history, D.K. Ganguly, has offered a different view about the original Gupta homeland . According to him the Guptas' homeland is further south, the Murshidabad region of Bengal, and not Magadha in Bihar . He based his theory on the statement of the Chinese Buddhist monk, Yijing (I - Tsing), who visited India during 675 and 695 CE . J.F. Fleet and other historians, however, criticize Ganguly's theory because Sri Gupta ruled during the end of the 3rd century, but Yijing placed him at the end of the 2nd century . Hence the theory of historians, who have provided their views based on the accounts of Yijing, are considered less valid than theories based on other sources such as coinage . </P> <P> From these theories, several conflicting opinions about the original homeland and the Empire of the Guptas are available . According to John Allan and a few other scholars, the Guptas were initially concentrated in the region of Magadha and from there they extended their sway to Bengal . According to other groups, the original homeland of the Guptas was Varendri or the Varendra Bhumi in Bengal, wherefrom they extended their Empire to Magadha . Whatever the theory is, the rule of the Guptas initiated the Golden Age in history of ancient India and with passage of time they became the sole authority of entire Northern India . </P>

Why gupta period is known as the golden age