How have the histories of the Gupta rulers been reconstructed? Explain the sources.

Or

Describe the sources of reconstructing the histories of the Gupta rulers.

We know about Gupta rulers from variety of sources and the nature of their rule. As we that the period from 4th century BCE onwards there are large evidence of writings. Huge production of crafts, wares, settlements in the gangetic region, trade both internal and external. And most importnatly we see many travellers making visit in Indian Subcontinents and leaving behind their memoir and travelogue. We also see compilaton of oral traditions into written form, for example the jataka tales and sangam literature in the south.
Thus to reconstruct the history of Gupta's the sources are

1. Archaeological- As mentined above it was the time when the region surrounding gangetic plains gained its prominence. Hence archaeological evidences like buildings are found in abundance to reconstruct how they lived. Moreover it was also the era of huge craft production, thus we also find the evidences of pottery, ornaments, implements made of iron etc.
There are also archaeological evidence of inscription on rocks, pillar, on metal objects. The reason for which varies, some are grants, exemptions from duties, declaration etc. this kind of evidences has lot of values in reconstructing the for example about the economy, society of the period.

Literature- Literary evidences also provides a lots of help in reconstructing the history of Gupta period. Because as we can see it was a period when many traveller travelled to the indian subcontinent. For example chinese Buddhist traveller Fa Hsien makes a lo of mention of gupta empire. Morover it was also the time when Jataka tales came into being, here too we find the mention of society of this period. And on top of it , there are Prashastis, work composed in praise of the ruler. Although it is a work of poetry but in some places it does help in reconstructing the history of the guptas.