Ancient India Timeline

 c. 60,000 BCE - 32,768 BCE

Human habitation of India.

 5,500 BCE

Cotton cultivation begins in India.

 c. 5,000 BCE

Evidence of religious practices in the Indus Valley.

 c. 5,000 BCE - c. 1,500 BCE

The Indus Valley (or Harappan) Civilization.

 c. 4,000 BCE

Farming settlements are established in the Indus Valley.

 c. 4,000 BCE

Indian village of Balathal inhabited.

 c. 3,300 BCE

Early Harappan Civilization of India practices burial of the dead.

 c. 3,000 BCE

First signs of urbanization in the Indus Valley.

 c. 3,000 BCE - c. 2,600 BCE

The rise of the great Indian cities of Mohenjo Daro and Harappa.

 c. 2,800 BCE

Later Harappan Civilization turns to cremation over burial.

 c. 2,600 BCE

Dozens of towns and cities are established in the Indus Valley.

 2,000 BCE
 Pepper is widely used in Indian cooking.

 c. 1,700 BCE - c. 1,500 BCE

Decline of the Harappan Culture in India.

 c. 1,500 BCE - 500 BCE

The Vedic Period in India.

 c. 1,500 BCE - c. 500 CE

The Gandhara Civilization flourishes in what is today the northern portion of Pakistan and
Afghanistan.

 1,500 BCE

The Aryans - nomadic northerners from central Asia, begin to migrate into the Indus Valley.

 c. 1,000 BCE

The Aryans expand into the Ganges valley in India.

 c. 700 BCE

India is divided into 16 Aryan states or kingdoms.

 c. 700 BCE

Development of the Charvaka school of philosophy in India.

 c. 700 BCE

Indian scholars codify and reinterpret Aryan beliefs to create the Upanishads texts forming the
basis of Hinduism.

 c. 600 BCE

Charaka and Sushruta found two schools of Ayurveda.

 599 BCE - 527 BCE

Traditional dating of the life of Vardhamana, according to Jain tradition.

 544 BCE - 492 BCE

Bimbisara rules the Magadha kingdom in India.

 530 BCE

Persia conquers the Indus Valley.

 c. 520 BCE - c. 325 CE

Achaemenid rule in the Gandhara region.

 c. 500 BCE

The kingdom of Magadha, ruled by Bimbisara, is the most powerful state in India.

 c. 500 BCE

The Indian epic the Ramayana is composed by the sage Valmiki.

 492 BCE - 460 BCE

Ajatashatru rules the Magadha Kingdom in India.

 c. 490 BCE - c. 410 BCE

The life of Siddhartha Gautama according to modern scholar consensus.

 404 BCE

First Buddhist Council at Rajgir, Bihar, India.

 340 BCE - 298 BCE

Life of Indian Emperor Chandragupta, first ruler of the Mauryan Empire.

 334 BCE

Second Buddhist Council at Magadha. The first division among Buddhists occurred at this
council.

 327 BCE - 325 BCE

Alexander's campaign in northern India.

 326 BCE

Alexander the Great halts his eastward march and turns back from the banks of the river Beas,
Punjab, India.

 c. 325 BCE - c. 320 BCE

 Greek rule in Gandhara, ending some time after the death of Alexander the Great.

 322 BCE - 298 BCE

Reign of Chandragupta, first ruler of the Mauryan Empire.

 321 BCE

Dhana Nanda, king of Magadha, is killed by Chandragupta Maurya.

 c. 320 BCE - c. 180 BCE

Mauryan rule in the Gandhara region, beginning with Chandragupta Maurya.

 320 BCE

Chandragupta Maurya seizes the throne of Magadhan and expands the kingdom over northern
and central India.

 305 BCE

Emperor Changragupta signs a treaty with Seleucos I, establishing borders and giving the Punjab
to Chandragupta in return for 500 war elephants.

 298 BCE

Chandragupta voluntarily abdicates the throne in favour of his son Bindusara. Jain sources say
that Chandragupta turned into an ascetic and follower of Jainism, migrated south and starved
himself to death.

 298 BCE

Indian ruler Chandragupta Maurya dies.

 298 BCE - 272 BCE

Chandragupta's son, Bindusara, rules and expands the Maurya Empire.

 273 BCE - 236 BCE

Reign of Ashoka, third ruler of the Mauryan Empire.

 c. 268 BCE

Ashoka becomes emperor of the Maurya dynasty in India.

 232 BCE
 Indian ruler Ashoka dies and the Maurya empire declines.

 c. 200 BCE - c. 600 CE

Construction of the 30 Buddhist cave-shrines at Ajanta, many of which display features

of Gupta architecture.

 c. 200 BCE

Beginning of the Greco-Bactrian conquests in India.

 c. 200 BCE - c. 185 BCE

Demetrios is general for his father and then becomes king, greatly extending the kingdom
in India.

 186 BCE

Demetrios wins a decisive battle in Gandhara, beginning the Yona (or Greek era) in India.

 c. 180 BCE - 80 BCE

Period of Indo-Greek rule in the Gandhara region.

 c. 165 BCE

The Greco-Bactrian king Eucratides invades India.

 16 0 BCE - 135 BCE

Indo-Greek King Menander rules the Punjab.

 c. 130 BCE

Eucratids flee from Bactria to India. Rivalry between Eucratids and Euthydemids takes place
in the Indo-Greek kingdoms.

 c. 80 BCE - c. 75 CE

The combined Scytho-Parthians rule Gandhara.

 30 BCE

Pepper is directly imported by Roman ships from India and its price decreases.

 c. 1 CE - c. 100 CE
 The Mahayana movement begins in India with its belief in bodhisattva - saintly souls who helped
the living.

 c. 1 CE

First non-stop voyages from Egypt to India.

 c. 75 CE - c. 450 CE

Kushan rule in the Gandhara region, arguably the golden era of the Gandhara civilizationin
which art, architecture and the propagation of the Buddhist religion excelled.

 c. 100 CE

The large series of Mahayana Buddhist texts named in Sanskrit Prajnaparamita “Perfection of
wisdom” begins to be written in Southern India.

 c. 320 CE - c. 550 CE

Gupta period, considered a golden age of ancient India in art and architecture.

 320 CE

Gupta I founds the Gupta dynasty in northern India

 380 CE - 415 CE

Reign of Chandra Gupta II in northern India.

 450 CE

India is invaded by the White Huns across the Hindu Kush.

 455 CE - 484 CE

Reign of the Tegin Tunjina or Khingila of the White Huns in the region known as Gandhara.

 470 CE

Beginning of White Hun Raids into India.

 484 CE - 515 CE

Reign of the White Hun king Tormana, son of Tunjina.

 c. 500 CE - c. 600 CE
 In India the Tantric expands the number of deities to include helpful demons, contactable
through ritual.

 c. 500 CE

Life of Ajita Kesakambali, prominent member of the Charvaka school.

 515 CE - 533 CE

Reign of the king Mihirakula of the White Huns in Gandhara.

 c. 535 CE - 566 CE

Reign of Calukya ruler Pulakasin I.

 c. 550 CE

The end of the reign of Visnugupta Chandraditya, last of the Gupta rulers in northern India.

 610 CE - 642 CE

Reign of Calukya ruler Pulakasin II. .

 630 CE - 634 CE

Harsha fights and gets defeated by Pulakesin II.

 630 CE

Hiuen Tsang comes to India.

 3655 CE - 681 CE

Reign of Calukya ruler Vikramaditya I.

 712 CE

Muslim general Muhammed bin Quasim conquers northern India.

 c. 770 CE

The Kailasa rock-cut temple at Ellora is completed and dedicated to Shiva.

 c. 950 CE

The Mukteshvara Temple is built at Bhubaneswar.

 985 CE - 1,014 CE

Reign of Chola king Rajaraja I in southern and central India, whose capital was at Thanjavur.

 c. 1,010 CE - c. 1,025 CE

The Brihadishvara Temple is built at Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India.

 1,012 CE - 1,044 CE

Reign of Chola king Rajendra I who controlled most of India.