history of india

 

History of India

The archaeological record in India (that is “Greater India” or the Indian subcontinent, encompassing the territory of the modern nations of the Republic of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal) shows first traces of Homo sapiens from ca. 34,000 years ago. Bronze Age civilization emerges contemporary to the civilizations of the Ancient Near East, from ca. 3300 BC, with the Indus Valley Civilization reaching its mature phase from around 2600 BC.The Vedic period in the Early Iron Age saw the rise of major kingdoms known as the Mahajanapadas. The births of Mahavira and Buddha in ca. the 6th century BC still fall into the prehistoric period, and the historical era sets in gradually over the 5th to 3rd centuries BC, in which period the subcontinent was also first united under the Maurya Empire. Medieval India saw a series of Muslim conquests leading to fragmentation into numerous kingdoms until renewed unification under the Mughals in the 17th century, replaced by British rule after 1858.India regained independence in 1947, being partitioned into the Republic of India and Pakistan. The two nations immediately engaged in wafare, with East Pakistan gaining independence as Bangladesh in 1971. See History of the Republic of India, History of Pakistan and History of Bangladesh for the post-1947 history of the individual states. 

The Stone Age

Stone Age civilization in the Indian subcontinent started with the beginning of human settlement, and progressed towards farming, and the development of tools derived from natural objects, or crafted from raw material. The Mehrgarh community represents the earliest stage of agriculture in the subcontinent ^{[citation needed]}, and led to the emergance of Bronze Age culture of the Indus Valley.

 The Paleolithic era

Isolated remains of Homo erectus in Hathnora in the Narmada Valley in Central India indicate that India might have been inhabited since at least the Middle Pleistocene era.^[1] The precise date of these remains is unclear, and archaeologists put it anywhere between 200,000 to 500,000 years ago.^[2] The fossils are the earliest human remains found in South Asia. Recent finds include a quarry along the Malaprabha River and Ghataprabha River in the Kaladgi Basin in Karnataka.

 The Mesolithic era

The Mesolithic period in the Indian subcontinent covered a timespan of around 25,000 years, starting around 30,000 years ago, where the earliest discovered sites of Mesolithic culture has been unearthed in Sri Lanka. Other settlements have also been found as far north as the caves of the Hindu Kush, which seem to be a direct progression from Upper Paleolithic art. Cave paintings of game animals and human activity such as hunting, have been found at Mesolithic sites, and early forms of religious activity seem to have been found at some sites^{[citation needed]}. Overall there is a great proliferation of Mesolithic culture throughout India, suggesting widespread habitation. Hunting, gathering, fishing, and other forms of hunter-gatherer subsistence seem to have dominated the period, however early forms of herding and small scale farming have been detected. Modern humans seem to have settled the subcontinent towards the end of the last Ice Age about 12,000 years ago.

The Neolithic era

The first confirmed permanent settlements appeared 9,000 years ago in Bhimbetka in modern Madhya Pradesh. By 5100 BC, people in the Indus Valley were farming and harvesting Einkorn wheat, a primitive form of wheat^{[citation needed]}. Early Neolithic culture in South Asia is represented by the Mehrgarh findings (7000 BC onwards), in present day Balochistan, Pakistan. The Mehrgarh community was mostly pastoral, lived in mud houses, wove baskets and tended to goats and their farms. By 5500 BC, pottery began to appear and later chalcolithic implements began to appear. By 2000 BC, the settlement was abandoned.Traces of a Neolithic culture have been found submerged in the Gulf of Khambat in 2002.^[3] Many of the finds recovered from the area have been radiocarbon dated to 7500 BC. Late Neolithic cultures sprang up in the Indus Valley region between 6000 and 2000 BCE (see below), and in southern India between 2800 and 1200 BC.

The Bronze Age

Bronze Age civilizations in the Indian subcontinent laid the foundations for, including urban settlements and the development of Vedic beliefs, which form the core of Hinduism. Many historians claim that the rise, and eventual decline of the Indus Valley Civilization, and the migration of nomadic peoples from Central Asia into the Indian subcontinent shaped its history during this period^{[citation needed]}.

Indus Valley Civilization

Seals with the Indus script The irrigation of the Indus Valley, which provided enough resources to support major urban centers such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro around 2500 BC, marked the beginning of the Harappan Civilization. This period marked the beginning of the earliest urban society in India, known as the Indus Valley Civilization (or, the Harappan Civilization), which thrived between 2500 and 1900 BC. It was centred on the Indus River and its tributaries, including the Ghaggar–Hakra River, and extended into the Ganges-Yamuna Doab, Gujarat, and northern Afghanistan^{[citation needed]}.The civilization is noted for its cities built of brick, road-side drainage system and multi-storied houses. The earliest historic references to India may be those to the Meluhha in Sumerian records, possibly referring to the Indus Valley Civilization^{[citation needed]}. When compared to the contemporary civilizations of Egypt and Sumer, the Indus Civilization possessed unique urban planning techniques, covered the largest geographical area, and may have been a single state, as suggested by the amazing uniformity of its measurement systems^{[citation needed]}.The Mohenjo-daro ruins were once the centre of this ancient society. Indus Civilization settlements spread as far south as present-day Bombay, as far east as Delhi, as far west as the Iranian border, and as far north as the Himalayas^{[citation needed]}. Among the settlements were the major urban centres of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, as well as Dholavira, Ganweriwala, Lothal, Kalibanga and Rakhigarhi. At its peak, some archaeologists are of the opinion that the Indus Civilization may have had a population of well over five million^{[citation needed]}. To date, over 2,500 cities and settlements have been found, mainly in the general region to the east of the Indus River in Pakistan. It is thought by some that geological disturbances and climate change, leading to a gradual deforestation may ultimately have contributed to the civilization’s downfall.Archaeological resources suggest that the diverse geography of ancient India was increasing in the amount and specialization of faunal remains around 2400 to 1500 BC. This specialization suggests that the Indus Valley Civilizations were dependent upon the alluvial soils of the rivers, which produced high yield crops. By 2600 BC, the presence of a state level society is evident, complete with hierarchical rule and large scale public works^{[citation needed]}. These include accomplishments such as irrigation, warehouses for grain, public streets, and brick-lined drainage systems for sanitation. Around the middle of the second millennium BC, the region of the Indus River basin, in which approximately two-thirds of currently known sites were located dried up, and the sites were abandoned.

Vedic Civilization

Main article: Vedic periodThe Vedic Civilization is the Indo-Aryan culture associated with the Vedas, which are some of the oldest extant texts, orally composed in Vedic Sanskrit. Most scholars^[4] today postulate a Indo-Aryan migration into India, proposing that early Indo-Aryan speaking tribes migrated into the north-west regions of the Indian subcontinent in the early 2nd millennium BCE. The nature of this migration, the place of origin of the Proto-Indo-Iranian speakers, and sometimes even the very existence of the Aryans as a separate people are hotly debated in India, a phenomenon termed the ‘Indigenous Aryan debate‘ by Edwin Bryant.The exact connection between the genesis of this civilization and the Indus Valley Civilization on one hand, and a possible Indo-Aryan migration on the other hand, is the subject of dispute^{[citation needed]}. Early Vedic society was largely pastoral. After the Rigveda, Aryan society became increasingly agricultural, and was organized around the four Varnas. Several small kingdoms and tribes merged to form a few large ones, such as the Kuru and Pançala, some of which were often at war with each other^{[citation needed]}.In addition to the principal texts of Hinduism (the Vedas), the great Indian epics (the Ramayana and Mahabharata) including the famous stories of Rama and Krishna are said to have their ultimate origins during this period, from an oral tradition of unwritten bardic recitation^{[citation needed]}. The Bhagavad Gita, another primary text of Hinduism well-known for its philosophical nature, is contained in the Mahabharata.Early Indo-Aryan presence probably corresponds, in part, to the presence of Ochre Coloured Pottery in archaeological findings. The kingdom of the Kurus corresponds to the Black and Red Ware culture and the beginning of the Iron Age in Northwestern India, around 1000 BC (This date is most likely, contemporaneous with the composition of the Atharvaveda)^{[citation needed]}. Painted Grey Ware cultures spanning much of Northern India marks the Middle Vedic pdas]] (great lands), are referred to in the ancient literature of the period^{[citation needed]}.

The 16 Mahajanapadas of the Iron Age

  The Mahajanapadas were the sixteen most powerful kingdoms and republics of the era, located mainly across the fertile Gangetic plains, however there were a number of smaller kingdoms stretching the length and breadth of IndiaDuring the Iron Age, a number of small kingdoms or city states covered the subcontinent, many mentioned during Vedic literature as far back as 1000 BC. By 500 BC, sixteen monarchies and ‘republics’ known as the Mahajanapadas viz: Kasi, Kosala, Anga, Magadha, Vajji (or Vriji), Malla, Chedi, Vatsa (or Vamsa), Kuru, Panchala, Machcha (or Matsya), Surasena, Assaka, Avanti, Gandhara, Kamboja— stretched across the Indo-Gangetic plains from modern-day Afghanistan to Bangladesh, and many smaller clans mentioned within early literature seem to have been present across the rest of the subcontinent. The largest of these nations were Magadha, Kosala, Kuru and Gandhara^{[citation needed]}. The right of a king to his throne, no matter how it was gained, was usually legitimized through religious rite and genealogies concocted by priests who ascribed divine origins to the rulers. There is some controversy about how closely the political entities of this period can be represented by those mentioned in the Vedas, and ancient epics of India. The educated speech at that time was Sanskrit, while the dialects of the general population of northern India were referred to as Prakrits.Hindu rituals at that time were complicated and conducted by the priestly class. It is thought that the Upanishads, late Vedic texts dealing mainly with incipient philosophy, were first composed early in this period. They had a huge effect on Indian philosophy, and were contemporary to the development of Buddhism and Jainism, indicating a golden age of thought in this period, similar to that in ancient Greece. It was in 537 BC, that Gautama Buddha gained enlightenment and founded Buddhism, which was initially intended as a supplement to the existing Vedic dharma. Around the same time period, in mid-6th century BC, Mahavira founded Jainism. Both religions had a simple doctrine, and were preached in Prakrit, which helped it gain acceptance amongst the masses. While the geographic impact of Jainism was limited, Buddhist nuns and monks eventually spread the teachings of Buddha to Central Asia, East Asia, Tibet, Sri Lanka and South East Asia.Recorded history from this period of fragmented states is sparse, up until the advent of Buddhism and Jainism but the Mahajanapadas were roughly equivalent to the ancient Greek city-states of the same period in the Mediterranean, producing philosophy which would eventually form the basis of much of the eastern world’s beliefs, just as ancient Greece would produce philosophy that much of the western world’s subsequent beliefs were based on. The period effectively ended with the onset of Persian and Greek invasion, and the subsequent rise of a single Indian empire from the kingdom of Magadha.

Kuru kingdom

Main article: KuruThe location of the Kuru kingdom was in the area of modern Haryana state in India, and their capital was Indraprastha, which may have been the most powerful city in India, prior to the rise of the Magadhan city of Pataliputra. The Kuru kingdom figures prominently in the list of Mahajanapadas. At the time of Buddha, the Kuru realm was only three hundred leagues in extent, but was a cultural hub^{[citation needed]}. The kingdom corresponds in name to the Kuru dynasty mentioned in the Indian epic Mahabharata.

Gandhara kingdom

Main article: GandharaThe location of the Gandhara kingdom was in the area of what is today northern Pakistan and southern Afghanistan, and major cities included Peshawar and Taxila, the latter of which is where Panini formulated his complete Sanskrit grammar around 500 BC, marking the transition from Vedic Sanskrit to Classical Sanskrit. It was one of the most powerful of the Mahajanapadas, and also appeared in the Mahabharata epic, as an ally of the Kuru kingdom. The name Gandhara only disappeared 1500 years later, as part of the conquests of the controversial Mahmood of Ghazni.

Kosala kingdom

Main article: KosalaThe location of the Kosala kingdom was in the area of Oudh in Uttar Pradesh state in India, and their capital was Ayodhya. Like Kuru, Magadha and Gandhara, they represented one of the most powerful post-Vedic states in India, but were eventually weakened and absorbed by the growing Magadhan Empire during the Haryanka dynasty, and subsequent dynasties. The area featured prominently in epic Sanskrit literature such as the Ramayana, and was visited by Buddha and Mahavira.

Anga kingdom

Main article: AngaThe location of the Anga kingdom was in the area of Bhagalpur and Monghyr in Bihar state of India. Their capital was said in the Indian epics to be the city of Malini, known later as Champa. Their territory may have at some point extended to the sea, and their capital was known as a center of commerce, perhaps trading as far away as modern Vietnam^{[citation needed]}.

Kalinga kingdom

Main article: Kalinga Kalinga was one of the many kingdoms throughout India at the time that were not one of the Mahajanapadas, however, they would play an important role in one of ancient India’s most famous events – the conquest of their kingdom by the Emperor Asoka Maurya. Located in modern Orissa, the Kalinga kingdom may have begun the cultural link between India and the islands that would later become Indonesia that persisted throughout history^{[citation needed]}.

Persian and Greek invasion

Around the 5th century BC, the northern Indian subcontinent was invaded by the Achaemenid Empire and, by the late 4th century BC, the Greeks of Alexander‘s army. This had important repercussions for Indian Civilization, as the political systems of the Persians would have an influence on later Indian political philosophy, including the administration of the Mauryan dynasty, and a melting pot of Indian, Persian, Central Asian and Greek culture was created in the modern regions of Afghanistan and western Pakistan, producing a unique hybrid culture.

 Achaemenid Empire

Main article: Achaemenid EmpireMuch of the northwestern Indian Subcontinent (present day Eastern Afghanistan and most of Pakistan) was ruled by the Persian Achaemenid Empire from c. 520 BC during the reign of Darius the Great, up until its conquest by Alexander. Lands in present-day Punjab, the Indus River from the borders of Gandhara down to the Arabian Sea, and some other parts of the Indus plain, became a satrapy of Alexander’s empire. According to Herodotus of Halicarnassus, it was the most populous and richest of all the twenty satrapies of the empire. Achaemenid rule lasted about 186 years. The Achaemenids used the Aramaic script for the Persian language. After the end of Achaemenid rule, the use of Aramaic in the Indus plain diminished, although we know from inscriptions from the time of Emperor Asoka that it was still in use two centuries later. Other scripts, such as Kharosthi (a script derived from Aramaic) and Greek became more common after the arrival of Alexander.Alexander’s conquests reached the northernmost edge of India, around the Indus river in modern day Pakistan, which was slightly further than the Achaemenid EmpireThe interaction between Hellenistic Greece and Buddhism began when Alexander the Great conquered Asia Minor and the Achaemenid Empire, reaching the north-west frontiers of the Indian subcontinent in 334 BC. There, he defeated King Puru in the Battle of the Hydaspes (near modern-day Jhelum, Pakistan) and conquered much of the Punjab. However, Alexander’s troops refused to go beyond the Hyphases (Beas) River near modern day Jalandhar, Punjab, India, he crossed the river and ordered to erect giant altars to mark the eastern most extent of his empire on the east bank of the Beas. He also set up a city named Alexandria nearby and left many Macedonian veterans there, he himself turned back and marched his army southwest.Alexander created garrisons for his troops in his new territories, and founded several cities in the areas of the Oxus, Arachosia, and Bactria, and Macedonian/Greek settlements in Gandhara (see Taxila) and the Punjab. The regions included the Khyber Pass — a geographical passageway south of the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush mountains — and the Bolan Pass, on a trade route connecting Drangiana, Arachosia and other Persian and Central Asian kingdoms to the lower Indus plain. It is through these regions that most of the interaction between South Asia and Central Asia took place, generating intense cultural exchange and trade.

Greco-Buddhist period

Main article: Greco-BuddhismGreco-Buddhism, sometimes spelled Græco-Buddhism, is the cultural syncretism between the culture of Classical Greece and Buddhism, which developed over a period of close to 800 years in the area corresponding to modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan, between the 4th century BC and the 5th century AD. Greco-Buddhism especially influenced the artistic development of Mahayana Buddhism, before it was adopted by Central and Northeastern Asia from the 1st century AD, ultimately spreading to China, Korea, and Japan. It was mainly centered about the area of Gandhara, or modern Afghanistan, the area of the subcontinent that had most been influenced by Persian and Greek contact. Gandhara was roughly contemporary to the other Mahajanapada kingdoms elsewhere in India.

The Magadha empire

Amongst the sixteen Mahajanapadas, the kingdom of Magadha rose to prominence under a number of dynasties that peaked in power under the reign of Asoka Maurya, one of India’s most legendary and famous emperors. The kingdom of Magadha had emerged as a major power following the subjugation of two neighbouring kingdoms, and possessed an unparalleled military.

Haryanka dynasty

Main article: Haryanka dynastyAccording to tradition, the Haryanka dynasty founded the Magadha Empire in 684 BC, whose capital was Rajagriha, later Pataliputra, near the present day Patna. This dynasty was succeeded by the Shishunaga dynasty.

Shishunaga dynasty

Main article: Shishunaga dynastyThis period saw the development of two of India’s major religions. Gautama Buddha in the 6th or 5th century BC was the founder of Buddhism, which later spread to East Asia and South-East Asia, while Mahavira founded Jainism. This dynasty lasted till 424 BC, when it was overthrown by the Nanda dynasty.

Nanda dynasty

Main article: Nanda DynastyThe Nanda dynasty was established by an illegitimate son of the king Mahanandin of the previous Shishunaga dynasty. Mahapadma Nanda died at the age of 88, ruling the bulk of this 100-year dynasty. The Nandas were followed by the Maurya dynasty. It is said that rumors of the huge size of the Nanda army was in part responsible for the retreat of Alexander from India.

Maurya dynasty

Main article: Maurya Dynasty  Map depicting the largest extent of the Mauryan Empire in dark blue, and allied or friendly areas in light blueIn 321 BC, exiled general Chandragupta Maurya, under direct patronage of the genius of Chanakya, founded the Maurya dynasty after overthrowing the reigning king Dhana Nanda to establish the Maurya Empire. During that time, most of the subcontinent was united under a single government for the first time. Capitalising on the destabilization of northern India by the Persian and Greek incursions, the Mauryan empire under Chandragupta would not only conquer most of the Indian subcontinent, but also push its boundaries into Persia and Central Asia, conquering the Gandhara region. Chandragupta Maurya was influenced by the jainacharya Bhadrabahu and he adopted Jainism.He is credited for the spread of Jainism in southern Indian region. Chandragupta was succeeded by his son Bindusara, who expanded the kingdom over most of present day India, barring Kalinga, and the extreme south and east, which may have held tributary status. Modern day India is an image of the Mauryana, that tied all the peoples and cultures of the erstwhile separate kingdoms under one banner, and predicted a common destiny for all Indians (then mainly Hindus and Buddhists). The tradition was continued later by the Mughals and the British, who formed similar empires.Bindusara’s kingdom was inherited by his son Ashoka The Great who initially sought to expand his kingdom. In the aftermath of the carnage caused in the invasion of Kalinga, he renounced bloodshed and pursued a policy of non-violence or ahimsa after converting to Buddhism. The Edicts of Ashoka are the oldest preserved historical documents of India, and from Ashoka’s time, approximate dating of dynasties becomes possible. The Mauryan dynasty under Ashoka was responsible for the proliferation of Buddhist ideals across the whole of East Asia and South-East Asia, fundamentally altering the history and development of Asia as a whole. Ashoka the Great has been described as one of the greatest rulers the world has seen.Ashoka’s grandson Samprati adopted Jainism.He was influenced by the teachings of a great jain acharya Arya Suhasti. Following the lines of Ashoka, Samprati spread Jainism in many parts of this world and Indian sub-continent.It is said that Samprati built 1,25,000 Jain Temples all over India, many of which are worshipped today as well.

Sunga dynasty

Main article: Sunga DynastyThe Sunga dynasty was established in 185 BC, about fifty years after Ashoka’s death, when the king Brihadratha, the last of the Mauryan rulers, was brutally murdered by the then commander-in-chief of the Mauryan armed forces, Pusyamitra Sunga, while he was taking the Guard of Honour of his forces. Pusyamitra Sunga then ascended the throne.

Kanva dynasty

Main article: Kanva dynastyThe Kanva dynasty replaced the Sunga dynasty, and ruled in the eastern part of India from 71 BC to 26 BC. The last ruler of the Sunga dynasty was overthrown by Vasudeva of the Kanva dynasty in 75 BC. The Kanva ruler allowed the kings of the Sunga dynasty to continue to rule in obscurity in a corner of their former dominions. Magadha was ruled by four Kanva rulers. In 30 BC, the southern power swept away both the Kanvas and Sungas and the province of Eastern Malwa was absorbed within the dominions of the conqueror. Following the collapse of the Kanva dynasty, the Satavahana dynasty of the Andhra kindgom replaced the Magandhan kingdom as the most powerful Indian state.

Early middle kingdoms – the golden age

Main article: Middle kingdoms of IndiaThe middle period, especially which associated with the Gupta dynasty, is known as India’s Golden Age, a time of unparalleled cultural development. The Kushanas invaded north-western India about the middle of the 1st century AD, from Central Asia, and founded an empire that eventually stretched from Peshawar to the middle Ganges and, perhaps, as far as the Bay of Bengal. It also included ancient Bactria (in the north of modern Afghanistan) and southern Tajikistan. Their power also extended into Turkestan and helped spread Buddhism to China. In South India, several kingdoms emerged. The earliest of these is the Pandya kingdom in southern Tamil Nadu, with its capital at Madurai. Around the same time in southern India, the Pandyan kingdom began to take shape. An important source for the geography and history of that period is the Greek historian Arrian. This period lasted roughly from the rise of the Satavahanas in 200 BC as the Mauryans declined, to the end of the Guptas, around the middle of the first millennium AD, a span of 700 years, and ended with the onset of Huna invasion.

Satavahana empire

Main article: Satavahanas The Satavahanas, also known as the Andhras, were a dynasty which ruled in Southern and Central India starting from around 230 BC. Although there is some controversy about when the dynasty came to an end, the most liberal estimates are of about 450 years. Long before that their kingdom had disintegrated into successor states. Conflict with the Sakas and the rising ambitions of their feudatories, led to their decline. Several dynasties divided the lands of the kingdom among themselves.

Kuninda kingdom

Main article: Kuninda KingdomThe Kuninda kingdom is noteworthy for being a small Himalayan state that survived for almost 500 years, and like many other small kingdoms of the era, were related to states contemporary to the Mahajanapadas, and mentioned in the epics. It was documented from around the 2nd century BC, and lasted until roughly the 3rd century AD.

 Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras

 Main articles: Pandya, Chola dynasty, and CheraThree different empires, the Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras, dominated the southern part of the Indian peninsula, at different periods of time. Eventually, due to the destabalisation of the large northern empires, caused by the onset of invasion from West Asia and Central Asia, replaced the southen plains as the center of classical Indian art and culture. They formed overseas empires that stretched across South East Asia. In the time period leading up to this, the kingdoms mainly warred with each other and Deccan states, for domination of the south.

Chola empire

Main article: Chola dynastyThe Cholas emerged as the most powerful empire in the 9th century and retained their pre-eminent position until the 12th century when the Hoysala empire was founded in Karnataka. The Cholas, like the Chalukyas and Pallavas before them, and the Hoysala and Vijayanagar after them, were responsible for some of India’s finest monuments, and being located on the south tip of the peninsula, ruled Sri Lanka, and culturally dominated most of South East Asia, where the Hindu Srivijaya and Khmer empires of Indonesia and Cambodia used south Indian temple design. The Chola Navy was the most powerful for its time having conquered the neighbouring island of Lanka and other areas across the Bay of Bengal. One particular medieval Chola ruler, Raja Raja the Great, is known as one of India’s greatest Emperors, having initiated a massive building programme, that produced some of the finest temple architecture in the subcontinent. 

Kushan empire

Main article: Kushan Empire An early Mahayana Buddhist triad. From left to right, a Kushan devotee, the Bodhisattva Maitreya, the Buddha, the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, and a Buddhist monk. 2nd-3rd century, GandharaThe Kushan Empire (c. 1st–3rd centuries) was a state that at its height, about 105–250, stretched from Tajikistan to the Caspian Sea to Afghanistan and down into the Ganges river (Ganga) valley. The empire was created by Tocharians from modern East Turkestan, China, but was culturally dominated by north India. They had diplomatic contacts with Rome, Sassanian Persia and China, and for several centuries were at the centre of exchange between the East and the West, spreading Buddhism through trade with China.

Western Kshatrapas

Main article: Western KshatrapasThe Western Kshatrapas, or Western Satraps, (35-405 CE) were Saka rulers of the western and central part of India (Saurashtra and Malwa: modern Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh states). They were contemporaneous with the Kushans who ruled the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, and the Satavahana (Andhra) who ruled in Central India. Altogether, there were 27 independent Kshatrapa rulers during a period of about 350 years. The word Kshatrapa stands for satrap, and its equivalent in Persian Ksatrapavan, which means viceroy or governor of a province.

Gupta dynasty

Main article: Gupta EmpireIn the 4th and 5th centuries, the Gupta Dynasty unified northern India. During this period, known as India’s Golden Age, Hindu culture, science and political administration reached new heights. After the collapse of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century, India was again ruled by numerous regional kingdoms. The Gupta ‘golden age’ marked a period of significant cultural development.Their origins are largely unknown; however the Chinese traveller Yi Jing(義淨) provides the first evidence of the Gupta kingdom in Magadha. The Vedic Puranas are also thought to have been written around this period. The empire came to an end with the attack of the Huns from central Asia. A minor line of the Gupta clan continued to rule Magadha after the disintegration of the empire. These Guptas were ultimately ousted by the Vardhana king Harsha, who established an empire in the first half of the seventh century that, for a brief time, rivalled that of the Guptas in extent.

White Hun invasion

Main article: HunasThe White Huns, (sometimes known as Alchon, and inaccurately portrayed as the Indo-Hephthalites), seem to have been part of the Hephthalite group, who established themselves in Afghanistan by the first half of the fifth century, with their capital at Bamiyan. They were responsible for the downfall of the Gupta dynasty, and thus brought an end to what historians consider a golden age in northern India. However, much of the Deccan and southern India were largely unaffected by this state of flux in the north.The Gupta Emperor Skandagupta repelled a Hun invasion in 455 AD, but they continued to pressure India’s northwest frontier (present day Pakistan), and broke through into northern India by the end of the fifth century, thereby hastening the disintegration of the Gupta Empire. After the end of the sixth century, little is recorded in India about the Huns, and their ultimate fate is unclear; some historians surmise that the remaining Huns were assimilated into northern India’s population. Certain historians, such as Romila Thapar, have suggested that the Huns are the ancestors of the Rajputs. Many Rajputs themselves however have hotly rejected this suggestion.

Kalabhras

Main article: KalabhrasIn the south, a Buddhist kingdom, the Kalabhras, briefly interrupted the usual domination of the Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas, imposing the only known Buddhist dynasty to have ever ruled there. However, between the 3rd and the 6th century AD, they would succeed in uniting the south.

Northwestern hybrid cultures

A series of hybrid cultures formed in the region of northwestern India, around modern Afghanistan and Pakistan, due to remnant kingdoms left by Persian and Greek conqests, who were later supplanted by invading nomads from central Asia. These unique cultures often dominated the area of the silk route where trade and culture from India, China and Persia met, gaining influence from cultures throughout the world, and spreading Indian developments to other countries connected along the trade route. Their rulers adopted Buddhism and Hinduism, and their culture influenced north Indian styles.

Indo-Greeks

 The Indo-Greek Kingdom (or sometimes Greco-Indian Kingdom) covered various parts of northwest and northern India from 180 BC to around 10 AD, and was ruled by a succession of more than thirty Greek kings, often in conflict with each other. The kingdom was founded when the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius invaded India in 180 BC, ultimately creating an entity which seceded from the powerful Greco-Bactrian Kingdom centred in Bactria (today’s northern Afghanistan).

Indo-Scythians

Main article: Indo-Scythians The Indo-Scythians are a branch of the Indo-European Sakas (Scythians), who migrated from southern Siberia into Bactria, Sogdiana, Kashmir and finally into Arachosia and then India from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century BCE. They displaced the Indo-Greeks and ruled in northern India from Gandhara to Mathura.

Indo-Parthians

Main article: Indo-Parthian KingdomThe Indo-Parthian Kingdom was established during the 1st century AD, by a Parthian leader named Gondophares, in an area covering today’s Afghanistan, Pakistan and Northern India. The Parthians ended up controlling all of Bactria and extensive territories in Northern India, after fighting many local rulers such as the Kushan Empire ruler Kujula Kadphises, in the Gandhara region. They were known in India as Pahlava.

Indo-Sassanians

Main article: Indo-SassaniansThe Sassanian empire of Persia, who were close contemporaries of the Guptas, began to expand into the north-western part of ancient India (now Pakistan), where they established their rule. The mingling of Indian and Persian cultures in this region gave birth to the Indo-Sassanian culture, which flourished in the western part of the Punjab and the areas now known in Pakistan as the North West Frontier Province and Balochistan. The last Hindu kingdom in this region, the Shahi dynasty, also may have arisen from this culture.

Late Middle Kingdoms – the classical age

Main article: Middle kingdoms of IndiaLater during the middle period, the Chola kingdom emerged in northern Tamil Nadu, and the Chera kingdom in Kerala. The ports of southern India were involved in the Indian Ocean trade, chiefly involving spices, with the Roman Empire to the west and Southeast Asia to the east. In the north, the first of the Rajputs, a series of kingdoms which managed to survive in some form for almost a millennium until Indian independence from the British. This period produced some of India’s finest art, considered the epitomy of classical development, and the main spiritual and philosophical systems of India continued to be Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. This period began with the resurgence of the north during Harsha’s conquests around the 7th century, and ended with the fall of the Vijaynagar Empire in the South, due to pressure from the invaders to the north in the 13th century. 

Harsha’s empire

Main article: HarshaKing Harsha of Kannauj succeeded in reuniting northern India during his reign in the 7th century, after the collapse of the Gupta dynasty. His kingdom collapsed after his death. From the 7th to the 9th century, three dynasties contested for control of northern India: the Pratiharas of Malwa and later Kannauj; the Palas of Bengal, and the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan. King Harsha is often referred to as The Last Hindu Emperor of North India, seeing that no king until Akbar in the 16th century managed to conquer an empire as large as Harsha’s. 

The Chalukyas and Pallavas

Main articles: Chalukyas and PallavasThe Vishnukundina dynasty was located around the area of Kalinga or Orissa, starting around the 6th century, and would eventually become part of the Chalukya holdings. The Chalukya Empire ruled parts of southern and central India from 550 to 750 from Badami, Karnataka and again from 970 to 1190 from Kalyani, Karnataka. The Pallavas of Kanchi were their contemporaries to the south. Over a period of roughly a century, the two kingdoms fought a series of low-intensity wars, each conquering the other’s capitals at various points. The kings of Sri Lanka and the Keralan Cheras rendered support to the Pallavas, while the Pandyas rendered support to the Chalukyas. Whilst the northern concept of a pan-Indian empire had collapsed at the end of Harsha’s empire, the ideal instead shifted to the south. The two dynasties were responsible for some of the greatest examples of both rock-cut and free-standing temples.

Pratiharas, Palas, and Rashtrakutas

Main articles: Pratihara, Pala Empire, and RashtrakutaThe Pratiharas, also called the Gurjara-Pratiharas were an Indian dynasty who ruled kingdoms in Rajasthan and northern India from the sixth to the eleventh centuries. The Pala Empire controlled Bihar and Bengal, from the 8th to the 12th century. The Rashtrakutas of Malakheda (Karnataka) were a dynasty which ruled the Deccan during the 8th-10th centuries after the end of Chalukya rule. Each three kingdoms vied for north Indian domination around the same time that the Cholas were flourishing in the south. The Sena dynasty would later assume control of the Pala kingdom, and the Pratiharas fragmented into various Rajput states.

The Rajputs

A fine piece of Rajput architecture, Hawa Mahal or “Hall of the Winds”, Jaipur. The first recorded Rajput kingdoms emerged in Rajasthan in the 6th century, and Rajput dynasties later ruled much of northern India, including Mewar (Sisodias), Gujarat (Solankis), Malwa (Paramaras), Bundelkhand (Chandelas), and Haryana (Tomaras). One Rajput of the Chauhan dynasty, Prithviraj Chauhan, was known for bloody conflicts against the encroaching Islamic Sultanates, and the Rajputs in general, due to their location in the north of India, bore the brunt of this assault for centuries, successfully maintaining their kingdoms. Later, some of them cooperated with the Mughal empire. The Rajput period is known for its artistic and architectural contribution. The Rajputs constructed some of the most beautiful architectural marvels of India, including the Hawa Mahal in Jaipur, the palaces of Udaipur, and the temples of Khajuraho. Rajput architecture played a major role in the fruition of Mughal architecture. Rajasthani art and paintings (also called Pahari art) depicting the pastimes of Lord Krishna became a landmark, paving the way for religious and artistic movements in India during the Mughal period. Hindi was the result of amalgamation of Hindu cultures like the Rajputs with the Mughals.

Hoysalas, Kakatiyas, southern Kalachuris, Seuna Yadavas

 Sala killing tiger, Hoysala emblem, Chennakeshava temple Belur, KarnatakaWith the decline of the Kalyani Chalukya empire, their feudatories, Hoysalas of Halebidu, Kakatiya of Warangal, Seuna Yadavas of Devagiri and a southern branch of the Kalachuri divided the vast Chalukya empire amongst themselves around the middle of 12th. century. Literature in local vernaculars and spectacular architecture flourished till about the beginning of the 14th century when southern expeditions of the sultan of Delhi took their toll on these kingdoms. By 1343 A.D., all these kingdoms had ceased to exist giving rise to the Vijayanagar empire that rose to power in the domains of the Hoysalas and Kakatiya. 

 Shahi kingdom

Main article: ShahiThe Shahi dynasty ruled portions of eastern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, and Kashmir from the mid-seventh century to the early eleventh century. They are split into two eras the Buddhist Turk Shahis and the Hindu Shahis with the changeover occurring sometime around 870. They were the last Hindu or Buddhist dynasty to rule the area of Gandhara or Afghanistan, prior to the invasions of the Ghaznavids and other Sultanates or warlords.

Vijayanagar empire

Main article: Vijayanagara Empire This 14th century statue depicts Shiva (on the left) and his wife Uma (on the right}. It is housed in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.The brothers Harihara and Bukka founded the Vijayanagara Empire, in 1336 with its regal capital as Vijayanagara, which is present day Hampi in Karnataka. The Vijayanagara empire prospered during the reign of Krishnadevaraya. It suffered a major defeat in 1565 but continued for another century or so in an attenuated form. Southern Indian kingdoms of the time expanded their influence as far as Indonesia, controlling vast overseas empires in Southeast Asia. The Hindu dynasty came into conflict with Islamic rule (the Bahmani Kingdom) and the clashing of the two systems, caused a mingling of the indigenous and foreign culture that left lasting cultural influences on each other. The empire contributed greatly to arts, architecture and literature in Telugu, Sanskrit and Kannada. The vast theatre of monuments at Hampi are testimony to this.The Vijaynagar Empire eventually declined due to pressure from the first Delhi Sultanates who had managed to establish themselves in the north, centered around the city of Delhi, a former Rajput holding. This marked a new period in Indian history, and the end of the classical culture that had been created in India, and influenced the east, for almost two thousand years.

The Islamic sultanates

Main article: Islamic empires in IndiaAfter the Arab-Turkic invasion of India’s ancient northern neighbour Persia, expanding forces in that area were keen to invade India, which was the richest classical civilization, with the only known diamond mines in the world. After resistance for a few centuries by various north Indian kingdoms, short lived Islamic empires invaded and spread across the northern subcontinent over a period of a few centuries. Prior to Turkic invasions, Muslim trading communities flourished throughout coastal South India, particularly in Kerala, where they arrived in small numbers through trade links via the Indian Ocean with the Arabian peninsula, however, this marked the largescale introduction of western religion into the primarily dharmic culture of India, often in puritanical form.

Delhi sultanate

In the 12th and 13th centuries, Arabs, Turks and Afghans invaded parts of northern India and established the Delhi Sultanate at the beginning of the 13th century, from former Rajput holdings. The subsequent Slave dynasty of Delhi managed to conquer large areas of northern India, approximate to the ancient extent of the Guptas, while the Khilji Empire was also able to conquer most of central India, but were ultimately unsuccessful in conquering most of the subcontinent.See also: Islamic invasion of India and Decline of Buddhism in India

The Mughal era

Main article: Mughal era  Approximate extent of the Mughal dynasty in the 17th centuryDuring the Mughal era, the dominant political forces consisted of the Mughal Empire, its tributaries, and the rise of its successor states, including the Maratha confederacy, who fought an increasingly weak and disfavoured Mughal dynasty.

Mughal empire

Main article: Mughal EmpireIn 1526, Babur, a Timurid (Turco-Persian) descendant of Timur, swept across the Khyber Pass and established the Mughal Empire, which lasted for over 200 years. (The traditional form of “Mughal” in English is “Mogul,” leading to the use of that word as a term for a powerful businessman.) The Mughal Dynasty ruled most of the Indian subcontinent by 1600; it went into a slow decline after 1707 and was finally defeated during the Indian rebellion of 1857. This period marked vast social change in the subcontinent as the Hindu majority were ruled over by the Mughal emperors, some of whom showed religious tolerance, liberally patroning Hindu culture, and some of whom destroyed historical temples and imposed taxes on non-Muslims. During the decline of the Mughal Empire, which at its peak occupied an area slightly larger than the ancient Maurya Empire, several smaller empires rose to fill the power vacuum or themselves were contributing factors to the decline. The Mughals were perhaps the richest single dynasty to have ever existed. The Taj Mahal might have existed long before Shahjahan’s era is another debatable issue for some of the historians based on certain archaeological evidences which prove otherwise.The Mughals, while often employing brutal tactics to subjugate their empire, had a policy of integration with Indian culture, which is what made them successful where the short-lived Sultanates of Delhi had failed. This is much the same as how the earliest Mongols had conquered Asia, and then adopted local culture, whether Chinese or Persian. Akbar the Great was particularly famed for this. Akbar was greatly influenced by the teachings of JainAcharyaHir Vijay Suri and Jin Chandra Suri. Akbar gave up non-vegetarian food by their influence. Akbar declared “Amari” or non-killing of animals in the holy days of Jains like Paryushan and Mahavir Jayanti. He rolled back Zazia Tax from Jain Pilgrim places like Palitana.The Mughal Emperors quickly married local royalty, allied themselves with local Maharajas, and attempted to fuse their Turko-Persian culture with ancient Indian styles, creating unique Indo-Saracenic architecture. It was the erosion of this tradition coupled with increased brutality and centralisation that played a large part in their downfall after Aurangzeb, who unlike previous emperors, imposed relatively non-pluralistic policies on the general population, that often inflamed the majority Hindu population.

The Maratha Empire

  Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, became the first British Governor of Bengal.Main article: Maratha EmpireThe Maratha Kingdom was founded by Shivaji in 1674, when he annexed a portion of the Bijapur Sultanate. After consolidating his hold over his territories in the Deccan, Shivaji declared war on the Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb, gaining popular support against his controversial policies. By the 18th century, it had transformed itself into the Maratha Empire under the rule of the Peshwas. By 1760, the Empire had stretched across practically the entire subcontinent. This expansion was brought to an end by the defeat of the Marathas by an Afghan army led by Ahmad Shah Abdali at the Third Battle of Panipat (1761). The last Peshwa, Baji Rao II, was defeated by the British in the Third Anglo-Maratha War.

Post-Mughal regional kingdoms

The post-Mughal era was dominated by the rise of the Maratha suzerianity as other small regional states, post-Mughal tributary states, and the increasing activities of European powers, and the eventual collapse of the Marathas led to the British annexation of South Asia.

The Kingdom of Mysore

Main article: Kingdom of MysoreThe Kingdom of Mysore was a kingdom of southern India, which was founded around 1400 AD by the Wodeyar dynasty. The rule of the Wodeyars was interrupted by Hyder Ali and his son Tippu Sultan. Under their rule Mysore fought a series of wars sometimes against the combined forces of the British and Marathas, but mostly against the British with some aid or promise of aid from the French. After the death of Tippu Sultan in the Fourth War of Mysore in 1799, the Wodeyar dynasty regained limited power as a Princely State under the British. The Kingdom of Mysore became part of the modern day, Indian state of Karnataka.

The Hyderabad State

Main articles: Hyderabad State and Hyderabad, Andhra PradeshHyderābād and Berar under the Nizam’s, was a princely state in India. It was located in south-central India from 1724 until 1948, ruled by a hereditary Nizam, and an Indian state from 1948 to 1956. Its capital city Hyderabad was for most of that time one of India’s four largest cities.

The Punjab

Main article: Sikh EmpireThe Punjabi kingdom, ruled by members of the Sikh religious movement was a political entity that ruled the region of modern day Punjab. Founded by the ten Gurus of the Sikh faith, it expanded its borders during the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh at the height of the Sikh Empire to include surrounding areas like Kashmir, Peshawar, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, and was among the last areas of the subcontinent that was conquered by the British. The Anglo-Sikh wars marked the downfall of the Sikh Empire.

Afghanistan

Main article: Durrani EmpireIn 1748, the Afghan leader Ahmed Shah Abdali crossed the Indus River on the pretext of waging a jihad against the “Hindus“. He attacked Lahore (in present day Pakistan) in 1750, his first Indian target. Subsequently, he raided the rest of the Punjab (including Amritsar), Kashmir and finally Delhi. He also fought against the Marathas frequently. He left India with numerous treasures, including the Kohinoor diamond.

Gorkha kingdom

Main article: NepalIt was around the 18th century that modern Nepal, formerly part of several empires such as the Mauryans, was formed by Gorkha rulers, who conquered the Kathmandu valley. During later colonial rule, Nepal was made a puppet state of Great Britain, rather than annexed like other princely states, in part due to the use of Gurkhas in the British and British Indian armies.

Colonial era

During the colonial era, India, along with several ancient nations in Asia, Africa and South America, was targeted by expansionist European powers, and was eventually attempted to be incorporated as a vassal territory governed largely by the British Crown. This was a turning point in the development of modern world history. The subsequent independence struggle began with the Rebellion of 1857, and was later led by figures such as Mohandas Gandhi.

Trade-Post rule

Main article: Colonial IndiaVasco da Gama‘s discovery of a new sea route to India in 1498 paved the way for European commerce with India. The Portuguese set up bases in Goa, Daman, Diu and Bombay. They maintained the longest trade-post for 500 years until 1962. The British established their first outpost in South Asia in 1619 at Surat on the northwestern coast of India, arriving in the wake of Portuguese and Dutch visitors. Later in the century, the British East India Company opened permanent trading stations at Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta, each under the protection of native rulers.

French factories/trade posts

See also: French IndiaThe French set up base along with the British in the 17^th century. They tried to occupy large parts of southern India. However, subsequent wars with the British led to the loss of almost all of their commercial posts. They did, however, retain the trade-posts of Pondicherry – (Pondicherry, Karaikal, Yanam, and Mahé.) and Chandernagore. The French were expelled from Pondicherry in 1950.The Dutch did not have a major presence in India. They maintained trade-posts in the towns of Travancore; however they were more interested in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). They were responsible for training the military of the princely state of Kerala. In 1845, the Danish trade-post of Tranquebar was sold to the United Kingdom.

The British Raj

 The British established a foothold in Bengal when the British soldiers, funded by the East India Company, and led by Robert Clive, defeated Nawab Siraj Ud Daulah in the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and plundered the Bengali treasure. Bengal became a protectorate, and then directly went under the rule of East India Company. The British East India Company monopolized the trade of Bengal. The Bengali craftsmen were inevitably fixed at foreign posts of the Company, where they were obliged to render their labour at minimal compensation while their collective tax burden increased harshly. The result was the famine of 1769 to 1773 in which 10 million Bengalis died, followed almost a century later by the catastrophic Great Calamity period, resulting in part from an extension of similar policies, in which up to 40 million Indians perished from famine amidst the collapse of India’s native industries and skilled workforce.By the 1850s Britain controlled most of the Indian sub-continent, which included present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh. From 1830, the defeat of the Thugs played a part in securing establishing greater control of diverse Indian provinces for the British.The Indian rebellion of 1857 in the north, led by mutinous Indian soldiers and known in British history as the Great Mutiny, was crushed by the British. In the aftermath all political power was transferred from the East India Company to the Crown, which began administering most of India directly. It controlled the rest through local rulers.

The Indian Independence movement

The first step toward Indian independence and western-style democracy was taken with the appointment of Indian councillors to advise the symbolic British viceroy, and the establishment of provincial Councils with Indian members; the councillors participation was subsequently widened in legislative councils. Beginning in 1920, Indian leaders such as Subhas Chandra Bose transformed the Indian National Congress into a mass movement to campaign against the British Raj. The movement eventually succeeded in bringing a unified democratic nation-state to the people of the Indian subcontinent, by means of parliamentary action and non-violent resistance and non-cooperation. Following the division of India into the nations of India (officially secular, later the Republic of India) and Pakistan (Islamic, later the Islamic Republic of Pakistan) in August 1947, rioting broke out between Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims in several parts of India, including Punjab which was partitioned between India and Pakistan; Bengal and Delhi, leaving some 200,000 dead. Also, this period saw the largest mass migration ever recorded in modern history, with a total of 12 million Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims moved between the newly created nations of India and Pakistan.