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History Optional PYQ Master Pack · Model answer

Factors that led to the Rise and Fall of the Gupta Empire.

  • UPSC 1996
  • Guptas, Vakatakas and Vardhanas

The Gupta Empire rose on a combination of material advantage, military adaptation and shrewd matrimonial diplomacy, and it fell through dynastic failure, administrative looseness and external pressure — which is why historians still argue over whether internal decay or invasion did more damage.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the History Optional PYQ Master Pack.

What the full answer covers

  • The Material and Political Foundations of Rise
  • The Architects of Empire
  • The Anatomy of Decline
  • Dynastic Collapse and Administrative Looseness
  • External Pressure: Hunas, Vakatakas and Yashodharman
  • Feudalisation and Fiscal Exhaustion

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