Indus Valley Civilization

The Indus Valley Civilization was an

ancient civilization that flourished in the
Indus River basin. Primarily centered
along the Indus river, the civilization
encompassed most of Pakistan, including
its Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan
provinces, and extending into modern day
Indian states of Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab
and Rajasthan.
Ancient India
 Ancient 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.
• Though most traces of the out of Africa
migration along the shores of the Indian
Ocean seem to have been lost.
 Ancient India
• Due to flooding in the post-Ice Age period,
recent finds in Tamil Nadu (at c. 75,000 years
ago, before and after the explosion of the Toba
vulcano) indicate the presence of the first
anatomically modern humans in the area.
• The Mesolithic period in the Indian subcontinent
covered a timespan of around 25,000 years,
starting around 30,000 years ago.
• More extensive settlement of the subcontinent
occurred after the end of the last Ice Age, or
approximately 12,000 years ago.
 Bronze Age
• The Bronze Age on the Indian subcontinent
began around 3300 BCE with the beginning of
the Indus Valley Civilization
• t is primarily centred in modern day India
(Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan) and
today's Pakistan (Sindh and Punjab).
• Inhabitants of the ancient Indus river valley, the
Harappans, developed new techniques in
metallurgy and produced copper, bronze, lead
and tin.
• The Indus Valley Civilization which 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

1500 BC – 500 BC
 Vedic Period
• The Vedic period is characterized by Indo-Aryan
culture associated with the texts of Vedas,
sacred to Hindus, which were orally composed
in Vedic Sanskrit.
• The Vedas are some of the oldest extant texts,
next to those of Egypt and Mesopotamia.
• The Vedic period lasted from about 1500 BCE to
500 BCE, laid the foundations of Hinduism and
other cultural aspects of early Indian society.
• The Aryas established Vedic civilization all over
North India, and increasingly so in the Gangetic
Plain.
 Vedic Period
• This period was a result of immigrations of Indo-
Aryan speaking tribes who called themselves
Arya (ārya, Aryans). They overlaid the existing
civilizations of local people whom they called
Dasyus.
• Early Vedic society consisted of largely pastoral
groups, with late Harappan urbanization having
been abandoned.
• After the Rigveda, Aryan society became
increasingly agricultural, and was socially
organized around the four Varnas.
 Vedic Period
• In addition to the principal texts of
Hinduism the Vedas, the core themes of
the Sanskrit epics Ramayana and
Mahabharata are said to have their
ultimate origins during this period.
Mahajanapadas Period
 Mahajanapadas Period
• Refers to the 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.
 Mahajanapadas Period
• 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.
 Mahajapanadas Period
• 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.
• Hindu rituals at that time were complicated and
conducted by the priestly class.
 Mahajapanadas Period
• It is thought that the Upanishads, late Vedic
texts dealing mainly with incipient philosophy,
were composed in the later Vedic Age and early
in this period of the Mahajanapadas (from about
600 - 400 BCE).
• Upanishads had a substantial effect on Indian
philosophy, and were contemporary to the
development of Buddhism and Jainism,
indicating a golden age of thought in this period.
 Mahajanapadas Period
• It is believed that in 537 BCE, that
Siddhartha Gautama attained the state of
"enlightenment", and became known as
the 'Buddha' - the awakened one.
• Around the same time, Mahavira (the 24th
Jain Tirthankara according to Jains)
propagated a similar theology, that was to
later become Jainism.
Persian and Greek Invasions
 Persian and Greek Invasions
• Much of the northwestern Indian
Subcontinent (present day Eastern
Afghanistan and Pakistan) came under the
rule of the Persian Achaemenid Empire in
c. 520 BCE during the reign of Darius the
Great, and remained so for two centuries
thereafter.
 Persian and Greek Invasions
• In 326 BCE, Alexander the Great
conquered Asia Minor and the
Achaemenid Empire, reaching the north-
west frontiers of the Indian subcontinent.
• He defeated King Puru in the Battle of the
Hydaspes (near modern-day Jhelum,
Pakistan) and conquered much of the
Punjab.
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

322 BC – 185 BC
 Maurya Period
• 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.
 Maurya Period
• 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 near Kalinga which was won by Ashoka
the Great.
Early Middle Kingdoms

The Golden Age

 Early Middle Kingdom
• The middle period was a time of notable cultural
development.
• The Satavahanas, also known as the Andhras, were a
dynasty which ruled in Southern and Central India
starting from around 230 BCE.
• Satakarni, the sixth ruler of the Satvahana dynasty,
defeated the Sunga dynasty of North India
• Gautamiputra Satakarni was another notable ruler of the
dynasty.
• Kuninda Kingdom was a small Himalayan state that
survived from around the 2nd century BCE to roughly the
3rd century CE.
 Early Middle Kingdom
• The Kushanas invaded north-western India about the
middle of the 1st century CE, 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.
• The Western Satraps (35-405 CE) were Saka rulers of
the western and central part of India.
• They were the successors of the Indo-Scythians and
contemporaneous with the Kushans who ruled the
northern part of the Indian subcontinent, and the
Satavahana (Andhra) who ruled in Central India.
 Early Middle Kingdom
• Different empires such as the Pandyan Kingdom, Chola
Empire, Chera dynasty, Kadamba Dynasty, Western
Ganga Dynasty, Pallavas and Chalukya dynasty
dominated the southern part of the Indian peninsula, at
different periods of time.
• Several southern kingdoms formed overseas empires
that stretched across South East Asia.
• The kingdoms warred with each other and Deccan
states, for domination of the south. Kalabhras, a
Buddhist kingdom, briefly interrupted the usual
domination of the Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas in the
South.
Northwestern Hydrid Cultures
 Northwestern Hybrid Cultures
• 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 BCE,
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.
 Northwestern Hybrid Cultures
• The Indo-Scythians were 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 BCE to the 1st century
BCE.
 Northwestern Hybrid Cultures
• 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
 Roman Trade with India
• Roman trade with India started around 1
CE following the reign of Augustus and his
conquest of Egypt, theretofore India's
biggest trade partner in the West.
• The trade started by Eudoxus of Cyzicus
in 130 BCE kept increasing, and according
to Strabo, by the time of Augustus up to
120 ships were setting sail every year
from Myos Hormos to India.
Gupta Dynasty
 Gupta Dynasty
• In the 4th and 5th centuries, the Gupta Dynasty
unified northern India.
• During this period, known as India's Golden Age
of Hindu renaissance, Hindu culture, science
and political administration reached new heights.
• Chandragupta I, Samudragupta, and
Chandragupta II were the most notable rulers of
the Gupta dynasty.
• The earliest available Puranas are also thought
to have been written around this period.
 Gupta Dynasty
• The empire came to an end with the attack of the
Huns from central Asia.
• After the collapse of the Gupta Empire in the 6th
century, India was again ruled by numerous
regional kingdoms.
• 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.
 Gupta Dynasty
• The White Huns, who seem to have been part of
the Hephthalite group, 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. Nevertheless, much of the Deccan and
southern India were largely unaffected by this
state of flux in the north.