Ancient India

Ancient India
Ancient
History
of
The ancient history
of India,
generally
includes the ancient history
Indiaof the Asian

History of

Subcontinent.
Bronze Age
Indus valley civilization
Iron Age
Vedic civilization
Mahajanapadas
Maurya Empire
Indo-Greek Kingdom
Sunga Empire
Kushan Empire
Middle Ages
Middle kingdoms of India
Gupta Empire
Chola Dynasty
Pala Empire
Rashtrakuta dynasty
Chalukya dynasty
Vijayanagara Empire
The history of India begins with
evidence of human activity of Homo
sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago, or
with earlier hominids including Homo
erectus from about 500,000 years ago

History of

Ancient India

Evolution

The Indian subcontinent is a diverse

and fertile region with monsoons,
droughts, plains, mountains, deserts,
and especially rivers, along which
early cities developed in the third
millennium B.C.
Along with Mesopotamia, Egypt,
China, and Mesoamerica, the ancient
Indian subcontinent was one of the
few places in the world to develop its
own system of writing. Its early
literature was written
in Sanskrit.
History
of
3

Ancient India
TimeINDUS Line
VALLEY

3200-1600 BCE: The

civilization
2300-2000 BCE: Cultural exchange
between the
INDUS
VALLEY
civilization
and
MESOPOTAMIA
1600-1500 BCE: The Aryans invade the
INDUSVALLEY region.
1600-1000 BCE: Between these dates,
the Early Vedic period of Indian
civilization unfolds.
1550 BCE: Writing disappears from
India for a time with the destruction of
the INDUS VALLEY civilization.
1000-600 BCE: During this period of
Indian civilization, the Late Vedic period,
the Aryans are integrated into Indian
culture. The caste system emerges.
1000 BCE: The Rig Veda, the first Vedic
literature, is written.
800-600 BCE: The Brahmans, a priestly
caste, begin to emerge.
800-500 BCE: The Upanishads are
written around this time.
of Buddha,
4 BCE: GautamaHistory
563
Siddharta

540 BCE: Mahavira, the founder of

Ancient
India
Jainism, is born.

TimeLine

537
BCE:
Cyrus
the
Persian
(contd)
campaigns west of the Indus River.
517-509 BCE: Darius the Persian
conquers the INDUS VALLEY region,
making the area a province of the
Persian Empire.
500-200 BCE: The Mahabharata, of
which The Bhagavad Gita is a part, is
put into final form.
400 BCE: Panini's Sutra, the earliest
Sanskrit grammer, is written.
327-326 BCE: Alexander the Great
passes through the INDUS VALLEY
installing Greek officials in the area.
323 BCE: Alexander the Great dies,
providing the opportunity for an
independent
state
in
India.
Chandragupta Maurya founds the
Maurya dynasty, the first Indian
empire. Its capital is in Patna. By 184,
this dynasty will conquer most of
India.
304 BCE: Chandragupta trades 500
war
elephants
to
Seleucus
in
exchange for the Indus region and
History of
5
regions immediately to the West.

Ancient India

TimeLine
(contd)
BCE: Asoka,
grandson

273-232
of
Chandragupta
Maurya
and
most
impressive ruler in the Maurya dynasty,
rules in India and institutes a series of
edicts designed to bring about moral
reform.
251-246 BCE: The Aryan Hindus occupy
Ceylon.
250 BCE: A general council of Buddhist
monks is held in Patna, where the canon
of Buddhist scriptures is selected.
184 BCE: The Maurya dynasty ends
when the last ruler is assassinated by an
ambitious army commander.
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
Indian history, during which India has
sometimes been 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
History of
6to the 18th century.
up

Ancient India
India Asoka
Empire

History of

Ancient India

India - Gupta
Empire

History of

Ancient India

TimeLine
Much of northern (contd)
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, witnessing a 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.
History of
9

Ancient India

TimeLine
(contd)
stage
for
several

setting
the
successive invasions from Central
Asia between the 10th and 15th
centuries
CE,
leading
to
the
formation of Muslim empires in the
Indian subcontinent such as the Delhi
Sultanate and the Mughal Empire.
Mughal rule came from Central Asia to
cover most of the northern parts of the
subcontinent.
Mughal
rulers
introduced Central Asian 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 northeastern India
respectively.
The Mughal Empire suffered a gradual
decline in the early 18th century,
which provided opportunities for the
History
1
Afghans,
Balochis, Sikhs,
and of
Marathas to

Ancient India

TimeLine
Beginning in the mid-18th
(contd)century and

Ancient India

over the next century, India was

gradually annexed by the British East
India Company.
Dissatisfaction with Company rule led
to the Indian Rebellion of 1857,
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.

History of

History of