The sculptures pertaining to the period of c. 300 – 600 CE shows the introduction of new styles in the temple architecture. The inspiration for the themes for the sculpture was drawn from Hindu, Buddhist, and Jaina traditions.
The historian V. A. Smith has called Samudragupta the ‘Napoleon’ of India because of his policy of war and conquest. He started with the conquest of his immediate neighbours and then by campaigns to the east and the south.
In the 6th century BCE the cultivable land was divided between the people. The beneficiaries were granted only the revenue of these lands and no administrative authority. There was emergence of the notion of private property, as there are references to the gift and sale of land.
The earliest Satavahana inscriptions belong to the 1st century BCE. In the 1st century BCE the Satavahana defeated the Kanvas and established their rule over parts of central India.