Chapter 18 discusses the many achievements of the Gupta Empire. You learned that this period was called a golden age because it was a time of great prosperity and achievement.

Imagine traveling to India during this amazing time period. Fa-hsien, a Buddhist monk from China, did just that. He went to India to learn more about Buddhism. He recorded his experiences in a diary that gives a firsthand look into the Gupta Empire and the surrounding kingdoms in India.

Below is an excerpt from Fa-hsien's records, The Travels of Fa-hsien or Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms (394 to 414 c.e.). In many places in his journal, Fa-hsien describes India as "prosperous." As you read, think about what information supports his opinion.

The people are numerous and happy; they have not to register their households, or attend to any magistrates [officials] and their rules; only those who cultivate [farm] the royal land have to pay a portion of the gain from it. If they want to go, they go; if they want to stay on, they stay.. The king's body-guards and attendants all have salaries.. The cities and towns of this country are the greatest of all in the Middle Kingdom. The inhabitants are rich and prosperous, and vie [compete] with one another in the practice of benevolence [kindness] and righteousness. Every year on the eighth day of the second month they celebrate a procession of images.. They make figures of divas [goddesses], with gold, silver, and lapis lazuli [a type of gem] grandly blended and having silken streamers and canopies hung out over them.. The Heads of the Vaisya [merchant] families in them [kingdoms of India] establish in the cities houses for dispensing charity and medicines. All the poor and destitute in the country, orphans, widowers, and childless men, maimed people and cripples, and all who are diseased, go to those houses, and are provided with every kind of help, and doctors examine their diseases. They get the food and medicines that their cases require, and are made to feel at ease; and when they are better, they go away of themselves.. In the city there are many Vaisya elders and foreign merchants, whose houses are stately and beautiful. The lanes and passages are kept in good order.

Investigating Primary Sources

Signs of prosperity or economic health can help historians to call a time period a golden age. Historians might look for the existence of a merchant class or the productivity of trade. Fa-hsien's writings give us a firsthand look into ancient India and its economy. Answer these questions to evaluate Fa-hsien's diary:

1.	Culture includes such things as art, celebrations, and social classes. What facts does Fa-hsien give about various aspects of Indian culture during this golden age?
2.	What opinions does Fa-hsien express about India?
3.	Fa-hsien describes ancient India as "prosperous." What evidence about the health of India's economy can be drawn from Fa-hsien's writings? List at least three pieces of evidence.
4.	Are these pieces of evidence verifiable? Verifiable information is information that can be proven by examining other sources. Unverifiable information is information that cannot be proven by examining other sources.
5.	How useful are Fa-hsien's records to historians studying about India during its golden age? Do his writings really prove anything? Explain.

History Alive! The Ancient World, Investigating Primary Sources