During the Gupta age India did not live a life of isolation. She maintained commercial contact with China, Sri Lanka, Persia. Arabia, Myanmar, Java, Sumatra, Tibet, Japan and the Roman Empire. Buddhism provided the vital link in the commercial and cultural interaction with the outside world. The Buddhist missionaries were the first to traverse the perilous seas, full of pirates even without a mariner’s compas. Traders followed them.
A long period of internal peace and stability helped the growth of foreign trade. The discovery of Roman gold coins in different parts of south India indicates the volume of trade of the period with the west. Trade contacts with south East Asia produced far-reaching results on both sides. The missionaries as well as the traders carried Indian culture to the countries of South East Asia. The cultural assimilation finally resulted in the establishment of Great India or Indian colonies. Java was one of the colonies of India. Fa Hien during his visit to Java in 414 A,.D. has described Java as a Hindu kingdom.
Numerous Chinese and Buddhist monks visited India. Fa Hien, the first of the three famous Chinese pilgrims, visited India from 405 A.D. to 411 A.D. during the reign of Chandragupta II. Inspite of the visit of a number of Chinese scholars, India has been little affected by the Chinese culture whereas in 379 A.D. Buddhism was declared as the state religion in China.
Numerous inscriptions prove that the local kings of South East Asia and Indonesia adopted Hindu customs and made Sanskrit their official language. Many Indians settled in Central Asia like Kumarajiva, the Buddhist philosopher who settled at Kuchi. He was instrumental in translating 106 Sanskrit texts into Chinese and explaining the principles of Buddhism to the people of China.
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Contact with the outside world resulted in the construction of many magnificent monuments abroad and vice versa. King Meghavarna of Sri Lanka built a monastery at Bodh Gaya after obtaining due permission from Samudragupta. Similarly, Buddhist and Hindu monuments sprang up outside India. The stupa of Borobudur in Java and the great Vishnu temple of Angkorvat in Cambodia are the finest examples of Indian art and architecture abroad.
The Gupta ushered in an age of social and cultural reconstruction unparalleled in any other age in Indian history. There was an all-round progress in field of art, literature and science. Liberal patronage extended by a succession of powerful rulers established a culture par excellence. Many features of the Gupta age have left rich legacies for the future. The great works of Kalidasa and Aryabhatta have immortalized the age. The frescoes of Ajanta continue to enthrall spectators even today.