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History of India

History of India
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This article is about the history of the Indian Ancient India
Subcontinent prior to the Partition of India in 1947. Prehistoric India and Vedic India
Religions, Society, Mahajanapadas
For the history of the modern Republic of India, see Mauryan Period
History of the Republic of India. For the histories of Economy, Spread of Buddhism,
Chanakya, Satavahana Empire
Pakistan and Bangladesh see History of Pakistan and
The Golden Age
History of Bangladesh. Also for South India see Discoveries, Aryabhata,
History of South India. Ramayana, Mahabharata
Medieval India
The Classical Age
The history of India begins with evidence of human Art, Philosophy, Literature
activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago Islam in India
(Tamil Nadu) and hominids (Homo Erectus) from Delhi Sultanate, Vijayanagara Empire,
Music, Guru Nanak
about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Mughal India
Civilization, which spread and flourished in the north- Architecture,
Maratha Confederacy
western part of the Indian subcontinent from c. 3300 Modern India
to 1300 BCE, was the first major civilization in India. Company Rule
A sophisticated and technologically advanced urban Zamindari system, Warren Hastings,
Mangal Pandey, 1857
culture developed in the Mature Harappan period,
British Indian Empire
from 2600 to 1900 BCE. This Bronze Age civilization Hindu reforms, Bengal Renaissance,
collapsed at the beginning of the second millennium Independence struggle, Mahatma Gandhi

BCE and was followed by the Iron Age Vedic

Civilization, which extended over much of the Indo-Gangetic plains and which witnessed
the rise of major polities known as the Mahajanapadas. In one kingdom, Magadha,
Mahavira and Gautama Buddha were born in the 6th or 5th century BCE, who
propagated their Shramanic philosophies.

Almost all of the subcontinent was conquered by the Maurya Empire during the 4th and
3rd centuries BCE. It subsequently became fragmented, with various parts ruled by
numerous Middle kingdoms for the next 1,500 years. This is known as the classical
period of India, during which India is estimated to have had the largest economy of the
ancient and medieval world, controlling between one third and one fourth of the world's
wealth up to the 18th century.

Much of Northern and Central India was once again united in the 4th century CE, and
remained so for two centuries thereafter, under the Gupta Empire. This period, of Hindu
religious and intellectual resurgence, is known among its admirers as the "Golden Age of
India." During the same time, and for several centuries afterwards, Southern India, under
the rule of the Chalukyas, Cholas, Pallavas and Pandyas, experienced its own golden age.
During this period aspects of Indian civilization, administration, culture, and religion
(Hinduism and Buddhism) spread to much of Asia.
The southern state of Kerala had maritime business links with the Roman Empire from
around 77 CE. Islam was introduced in Kerala through this route by Muslim traders.
Muslim rule in the subcontinent began in 712 CE when the Arab general Muhammad bin
Qasim conquered Sindh and Multan in southern Punjab,[1] setting the stage for several
successive invasions between the 10th and 15th centuries CE from Central Asia, leading
to the formation of Muslim empires in the Indian subcontinent such as the Delhi
Sultanate and the Mughal Empire.

Mughal rule came to cover most of the northern parts of the subcontinent. Mughal rulers
introduced middle-eastern art and architecture to India. In addition to the Mughals and
various Rajput kingdoms, several independent Hindu states, such as the Vijayanagara
Empire, the Maratha Empire and the Ahom Kingdom, flourished contemporaneously in
Southern, Western and North-Eastern India respectively. The Mughal Empire suffered a
gradual decline in the early eighteenth century, which provided opportunities for the
Afghans, Balochis and Sikhs to exercise control over large areas in the northwest of the
subcontinent until the British East India Company gained ascendancy over South Asia.[2]

Beginning in the mid-18th century and over the next century, India was gradually
annexed by the British East India Company. Dissatisfaction with Company rule led to the
First War of Indian Independence, after which India was directly administered by the
British Crown and witnessed a period of both rapid development of infrastructure and
economic decline. During the first half of the 20th century, a nationwide struggle for
independence was launched by the Indian National Congress, and later joined by the
Muslim League. The subcontinent gained independence from the United Kingdom in
1947, after being partitioned into the dominions of India and Pakistan.

] Pre-Historic Era

Stone Age

Main article: South Asian Stone Age

Further information: Mehrgarh, Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, and Edakkal Caves

Bhimbetka rock painting, Madhya

Pradesh, India.

Alleged Stone age writings of Edakkal Caves in

Kerala, India.
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,
somewhere between 200,000 to 500,000 years ago.[3][4] Recent finds in Tamil Nadu (at c.
75,000 years ago, before and after the explosion of the Toba volcano) indicate the
presence of the first anatomically modern humans in the area.

The Mesolithic period in the Indian subcontinent was followed by the Neolithic period,
when more extensive settlement of the subcontinent occurred after the end of the last Ice
Age, or approximately 12,000 years ago. The first confirmed semi-permanent settlements
appeared 9,000 years ago in the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka in modern Madhya Pradesh,
India.

Early Neolithic culture in South Asia is represented by the Mehrgarh findings (7000 BCE
onwards) in present day Balochistan, Pakistan. Traces of a Neolithic culture have been
alleged to be submerged in the Gulf of Khambat in India, radiocarbon dated to 7500
BCE.[5] However, the one dredged piece of wood in question was found in an area of
strong ocean currents. Neolithic agriculture cultures sprang up in the Indus Valley region
around 5000 BCE, in the Lower Gangetic valley around 3000 BCE, and in later South
India, spreading southwards and also northwards into Malwa around 1800 BCE.

Tools crafted by proto-humans have been discovered in the north-western part of the
subcontinent that have been dated back two million years.[6][7] The ancient history of the
region includes some of South Asia's oldest settlements[8] and some of its major
civilizations.[9][10]

The earliest archaeological site in the Subcontinent is the palaeolithic hominid site in the
Soan River valley.[11]

Village life is first attested at the Neolithic site of Mehrgarh,[12] while the first urban
civilization of the region began with the Indus Valley Civilization.[13]

Bronze Age

Main article: Indus Valley Civilization

See also: Economic history of India and Timeline of the economy of India
Ancient Lothal as envisaged by the Archaeological Survey of India.

"Priest King" of Indus Valley Civilization

The Bronze Age in the Indian subcontinent began around 3300 BCE with the early Indus
Valley Civilization. It was centered on the Indus River and its tributaries which extended
into the Ghaggar-Hakra River valley,[9] the Ganges-Yamuna Doab,[14] Gujarat,[15] and
southeastern Afghanistan.[16]

The civilization is primarily located in modern day India (Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab and
Rajasthan provinces) and Pakistan (Sindh, Punjab, and Balochistan provinces).
Historically part of Ancient India, it is one of the world's earliest urban civilizations,
along with Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.[17] Inhabitants of the ancient Indus river
valley, the Harappans, developed new techniques in metallurgy and handicraft (carneol
products, seal carving) produced copper, bronze, lead and tin.

The Mature Indus civilization flourished from about 2600 BCE to 1900 BCE marked the
beginning of the urban civilization on the subcontinent. The ancient civilization included
urban centers such as Dholavira, Kalibangan, Rupar, Rakhigarhi, Lothal in modern day
India and Harappa, Ganeriwala, Mohenjo-daro in modern day Pakistan. The civilization
is noted for its cities built of brick, road-side drainage system and multi-storied houses.

Vedic period

Main article: Vedic Civilization

See also: Vedas and Indo-Aryans

Gautama Buddha undertaking extreme ascetic practices before his enlightenment on the
bank of river Falgu in Bodh Gaya, Bihar.

Detail of a leaf with, The Birth of Mahavira (the 24th Jain Tirthankara), from the Kalpa
Sutra, c.1375-1400.
The Mahajanapadas were the sixteen most powerful kingdoms and republics of the era,
located mainly across the fertile Indo-Gangetic plains, however there were a number of
smaller kingdoms stretching the length and breadth of Ancient India.

Nalanda University is considered "one of the first great universities in recorded history."
It was the center of Buddhist learning and research in the world from 450–1193 CE.
Main articles: Mahajanapadas and Magadha Empire
Main articles: History of Hinduism, History of Buddhism, and History of Jainism
See also: Adi Shankara, Siddhartha Gautama, and Mahavira
Further information: Upanishads, Indian Religions, Indian philosophy, and Ancient
universities of India

In the later Vedic Age, a number of small kingdoms or city states had covered the
subcontinent, many mentioned during Vedic, early Buddhist and Jaina literature as far
back as 1000 BCE. By 500 BCE, sixteen monarchies and 'republics' known as the
Mahajanapadas — 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
Bengal and Maharastra. This period was that of the second major urbanisation in India
after the Indus Valley Civilization.

Many smaller clans mentioned within early literature seem to have been present across
the rest of the subcontinent. Some of these kings were hereditary; other states elected
their rulers. The educated speech at that time was Sanskrit, while the dialects of the
general population of northern India are referred to as Prakrits. Many of the sixteen
kingdoms had coalesced to four major ones by 500/400 BCE, by the time of Siddhartha
Gautama. These four were Vatsa, Avanti, Kosala and Magadha.[22]

Alexander's march East put him in confrontation with the Nanda Empire of Magadha and
Gangaridai Empire of Bengal. His army, exhausted and frightened by the prospect of
facing larger Indian armies at the Ganges River, mutinied at the Hyphasis (modern Beas)
and refused to march further East. Alexander, after the meeting with his officer, Coenus,
was convinced that it was better to return.

The Persian and Greek invasions had important repercussions on Indian civilization. The
political systems of the Persians was to influence future forms of governance on the
subcontinent, including the administration of the Mauryan dynasty. In addition, the
region of Gandhara, or present-day eastern Afghanistan and north-west Pakistan, became
a melting pot of Indian, Persian, Central Asian and Greek cultures and gave rise to a
hybrid culture, Greco-Buddhism, which lasted until the 5th century CE and influenced
the artistic development of Mahayana Buddhism.

Maurya Period
Main article: Maurya Empire
Further information: Chandragupta Maurya, Bindusara, and Ashoka the Great

Ashokan pillar at Vaishali, 3rd century BCE.

Maurya Empire under Ashoka the Great

The Maurya Empire (322–185 B.C), ruled by the Mauryan dynasty, was geographically
extensive, powerful, and a political military empire in ancient India. The great Maurya
empire was established by Chandragupta Maurya and this empire was flourished by
Ashoka the Great. At its greatest extent, the Empire stretched to the north along the
natural boundaries of the Himalayas, and to the east stretching into what is now Assam.
To the west, it reached beyond modern Pakistan, annexing Balochistan and much of what
is now Afghanistan, including the modern Herat and Kandahar provinces. The Empire
was expanded into India's central and southern regions by the emperors Chandragupta
and Bindusara, but it excluded a big portion of unexplored tribal and forested regions

Northwestern hybrid cultures

The founder of the Indo-Greek Kingdom, Demetrius I "the Invincible" (205–171 BCE).
See also: Indo-Greek kingdom, Indo-Scythians, Indo-Parthian Kingdom, and Indo-
Sassanids

The north-western hybrid cultures of the subcontinent included the Indo-Greeks, the
Indo-Scythians, the Indo-Parthians, and the Indo-Sassinids. The first of these, the Indo-
Greek Kingdom, founded when the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius invaded the region in
180 BC, extended over various parts of present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. Lasting for
almost two centuries, it was ruled by a succession of more than 30 Greek kings, who
were often in conflict with each other. The Indo-Scythians was a branch of the Indo-
European Sakas (Scythians), who migrated from southern Siberia first into Bactria,
subsequently into Sogdiana, Kashmir, Arachosia, Gandhara and finally into India; their
kingdom lasted from the middle of the 2nd century BC to the 1st century BC. Yet another
kingdom, the Indo-Parthians (also known as Pahlavas) came to control most of present-
day Afghanistan and northern Pakistan, after fighting many local rulers such as the
Kushan ruler Kujula Kadphises, in the Gandhara region. The Sassanid empire of Persia,
who were contemporaries of the Guptas, expanded into the region of present-day
Pakistan, where the mingling of Indian and Persian cultures gave birth to the Indo-
Sassanid culture.

Roman trade with India

Main article: Roman trade with India

Coin of the Roman emperor Augustus found at the Pudukottai, South India.

Roman trade with India started around 1 AD following the reign of Augustus and his
conquest of Egypt, theretofore India's biggest trade partner in the West.

The ports of South India were involved in the Indian Ocean trade, chiefly involving
spices, with the Roman Empire to the west and Southeast Asia to the east.[46][47] 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. The Hindu Vijayanagar 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
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
by that time.

The Islamic Sultanates

Gol Gumbaz at Bijapur, has the second largest pre-modern dome in the world after the
Byzantine Hagia Sophia.
Main article: Islamic Empires in India
See also: Bahmani Sultanate and Deccan Sultanates

After conquering Persia, Islamic Caliphate incorporated parts of what is now Pakistan
around 720 CE. They were keen to invade India[48], which was the richest classical
civilization[49], with a flourishing international trade and the only known diamond mines
in the world. After several wars over three centuries between various north Indian
kingdoms and the Caliphate, short lived Islamic empires (Sultanates) were established
and spread across the northern subcontinent over a period of a few centuries. But, prior to
Turkic invasions, Muslim trading communities had flourished throughout coastal South
India, particularly in Kerala, where they arrived in small numbers, mainly from the
Arabian peninsula, through trade links via the Indian Ocean. However, this had marked
the introduction of an Abrahamic Middle Eastern religion in Southern India's pre-existing
Indian religions, often in puritanical form. Later, the Bahmani Sultanate and Deccan
Sultanates flourished in the south.

Delhi Sultanate
Qutub Minar is the world's tallest brick minaret, commenced by Qutb-ud-din Aybak of
the Slave dynasty.
Main article: Delhi Sultanate

In the 12th and 13th centuries, Turkics and Pashtuns invaded parts of northern India and
established the Delhi Sultanate at the beginning of the 13th century, in the former Rajput
holdings.[50] 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 and uniting most of the subcontinent. The Sultanate ushered in a period of
Indian cultural renaissance. The resulting "Indo-Muslim" fusion of cultures left lasting
syncretic monuments in architecture, music, literature, religion, and clothing. It is
surmised that the language of Urdu (literally meaning "horde" or "camp" in various
Turkic dialects) was born during the Delhi Sultanate period as a result of the inter-
mingling of the local speakers of Sanskritic Prakrits with the Persian, Turkic and Arabic
speaking immigrants under the Muslim rulers. The Delhi Sultanate is the only Indo-
Islamic empire to stake a claim to enthroning one of the few female rulers in India, Razia
Sultan (1236-1240).

A Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur began a trek starting in 1398 to invade the reigning
Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud of the Tughlaq Dynasty in the north Indian city of Delhi.[51]
The Sultan's army was defeated on December 17, 1398. Timur entered Delhi and the city
was sacked, destroyed and left in ruins; his army fell killing and plundering for three days
and nights. He ordered except for the Sayyids, the scholars, and the other Mussulmans,
the whole city to be sacked; 100,000 war prisoners, mostly Hindus, were put to death in
one day.[52]

The Mughal era

Approximate extent of the Mughal Empire in the 17th
century. Taj Mahal, built by the Mughals
Main article: Mughal Empire
See also: Babur, Humayun, Akbar the Great, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb

In 1526, Babur, a Timurid descendant of Timur and chenghis Khan, swept across the
Khyber Pass and established the Mughal Empire.[53] However, his son Humanyun was
defeated by the Afghan warrior Sher Shah Suri in the year 1540, and Humayun was
forced to retreat to Kabul. After Sher Shah's death his son Islam Shah and Hindu king
Hem Chandra Vikramaditya, popularly known as Hemu, who had won 22 battles from
Punjab to Bengal and had established a secular Hindu Raj, ruled North India from Delhi
till 1556, when Akbar's forces defeated and killed Hemu in the Second Battle of Panipat
on 6th Nov. 1556. 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 1857 War of
Independence also called 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; most of them showed religious tolerance, liberally patronising Hindu culture.
The famous emperor Akbar, who was the grandson of Babar, tried to establish a good
relationship with the Hindus. However, later emperors such as Aurangazeb tried towas
establish complete Muslim dominance and as a result several historical temples were
destroyed during this period and taxes imposed on non-Muslims. During the decline of
the Mughal Empire, which at its peak occupied an area similar to 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. In 1739, Nader Shah defeated the Mughal army at the huge Battle of
Karnal. After this victory, Nader captured and sacked Delhi, carrying away many
treasures, including the Peacock Throne.[54] During the Mughal era, the dominant political
forces consisted of the Mughal Empire and its tributaries and, later on, the rising
successor states - including the Maratha confederacy - who fought an increasingly weak
and disfavoured Mughal dynasty. 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. Akbar the
Great was particularly famed for this. Akbar declared "Amari" or non-killing of animals
in the holy days of Jainism. He rolled back the Jazia Tax for non-Muslims. The Mughal
Emperors 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 centralization 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.

Post-Mughal Regional Kingdoms

Main articles: Maratha Empire, Kingdom of Mysore, Hyderabad State, Sikh Empire,
Rajputs, and Durrani Empire
See also: History of Sikhism
Further information: Shivaji, Tippu Sultan, Nizam, Ranjit Singh, and Ahmad Shah Abdali

Harmandir Sahib or The Golden Temple is

The Maratha Empire in 1760. The last culturally the most significant place of worship
Hindu empire of India. for the Sikhs.

The post-Mughal era was dominated by the rise of the Maratha suzerainty as other small
regional states (mostly post-Mughal tributary states) emerged, and also by the increasing
activities of European powers (see colonial era below). The Maratha Kingdom was
founded and consolidated by Shivaji. 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.

Mysore was a kingdom of southern India, which was founded around 1400 CE 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. Hyderabad was founded by the Qutb Shahi dynasty of
Golconda in 1591. Following a brief Mughal rule, Asif Jah, a Mughal official, seized
control of Hyderabad declaring himself Nizam-al-Mulk of Hyderabad in 1724. It was
ruled by a hereditary Nizam from 1724 until 1948. Both Mysore and Hyderabad became
princely states in British India.

The

The Indian Independence movement

Rabindranath Tagore is Asia's first Nobel laureate and composer of India's national
anthem.

Gandhi and Nehru in 1937.

The physical presence of the British in India was not significant. Yet the British were
able to rule two-thirds of the subcontinent directly, and exercise considerable leverage
over the Princely States that accounted for the remaining one-third. The British employed
"Divide and Rule" in British India as a means of preventing an uprising against the Raj.[65]

In his historical survey Constantine's Sword, James P. Carroll writes: