The Gupta period (c. 320-550 AD) is traditionally called India's 'golden age' on the strength of achievements in mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, literature, and the arts. Aryabhata's calculation of pi, his heliocentric model of the solar system, and his work on place-value notation deserve to be better known in Western popular history, which tends to attribute these developments to the Islamic Golden Age that transmitted Indian mathematics to Europe.

Kalidasa, the poet and playwright who worked during this period, is frequently compared to Shakespeare in Sanskrit literary tradition. The Nalanda university complex attracted scholars from across Asia.

At the same time, we should be careful about the 'golden age' framing. The caste system was becoming more rigid and its worst features more entrenched. Women's freedoms contracted. The 'golden age' is real, but it's real for a particular class and for particular intellectual pursuits.

The Gupta Empire's decline under the White Huns (Hephthalites) from the late 5th century was gradual but ultimately decisive. By 550 AD the empire had fragmented into smaller successor kingdoms.