History
of
INDIA:
Early Period
History: periods
1 Prehistoric era
1.1 Stone Age
1.2 Bronze Age
2 Early historic period
2.1 Vedic period
2.2 Mahajanapadas
2.3 Maurya Empire
3 Early Middle Kingdoms — The Golden Age
3.1 Northwestern hybrid cultures
3.2 Kushan Empire
3.3 Gupta rule
4 Late Middle Kingdoms — The Late-Classical Age
5 The Islamic Sultanates
5.1 Delhi Sultanate
6 Early modern period
6.1 Mughal Empire
6.2 Post-Mughal period
History: dates
Stone age (7000–3000 BC)
Bronze age (3000–1300 BC)
Iron age (1200–26 BC)
Classical period (1–1279 AD)
Late medieval age (1206–1596 AD)
Early modern period (1526–1858 AD)
Stone Age
Isolated remains of Homo
erectus
central India
the Middle Pleistocene era
(between 500,000 and 200,000
years ago)
The earliest archaeological site
in the Soan River valley
the Paleolithic era (two million
years ago)
First tools by proto-humans
in the northwestern part of India
the Paleolithic era (two million
years ago)
More extensive settlement
across the subcontinent
in the Neolithic period, after the
end of the last Ice Age (12,000
years ago)
The first confirmed
semipermanent settlements
in the heart of India
9,000 years ago
Early Neolithic culture
Haryana, the Gulf of Khambat
7500 BCE
Neolithic agriculture cultures
in the Indus Valley region
around 5000 BCE
in the lower Gangetic valley
around 3000 BCE
in South India, spreading
southwards/northwards
around 1800 BCE
Bronze Age
• began around 3300 BCE with the early Indus Valley Civilization (IVC)
• IVC was centered on the Indus River and its tributaries (occupying
the Ghaggar-Hakra River valley, the Ganges-Yamuna
Doab, Gujarat, and southeastern Afghanistan )
• IVC is primarily located in modern-day India
(Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan provinces) and Pakistan
• IVC is the world's earliest urban civilizations, along with Mesopotamia
and Ancient Egypt
• The Mature Indus civilization flourished from about 2600 to 1900 BCE
• urban centers:
Dholavira, Kalibangan, Rupar, Rakhigarhi, and Lothal in modern-day India
Harappa, Ganeriwala, and Mohenjo-daro in modern-day Pakistan
• Inhabitants of the ancient IVC - the Harappans introduced new techniques in metallurgy and handicraft (carneol products,
seal carving)
produced copper, bronze, lead, and tin
cities built of brick
multistoried houses
roadside drainage system
Iron Age
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Indo-Aryan culture is associated with the texts of Vedas
The Vedas are sacred to Hindus, orally composed in Vedic Sanskrit.
The Vedas are some of the oldest extant texts in the world
The Vedas laid the foundations of Hinduism and other cultural
aspects of early Indian society
The Vedic period lasted from about 1500 to 500 BCE
Early Vedic society consisted of largely pastoral groups
Aryan society was socially organized around the four varnas, or
social classes
The later part - an increasing movement away from the previous
tribal system towards the establishment of kingdoms,
called mahajanapadas
This period saw the second major rise of urbanism in India after
the Indus Valley Civilization
Many of the sixteen kingdoms had coalesced to four major ones by
500/400 BCE, - the time of Gautama Buddha
The beginnings of Buddhism and Jainism
Maurya Empire
• ruled by Mauryan dynasty in 322–185 BCE
• a geographically extensive and powerful political and
military empire
• established by Chandragupta Maurya in Magadha what
is now Bihar
• flourished under the reign of Ashoka the Great
• Ashoka ruled the Maurya Empire for 37 years from 268
BCE until he died in 232 BCE
• an active foreign policy aimed at setting up a unified
state, which failed
• was involved in a war with the state of Kalinga
• slavery developed rapidly
• Ashoka's reign propagated Buddhism
Golden Age: Early Middle Kingdoms
• The Satavahana dynasty (the Andhras) ruled in southern and central India
after around 230 BCE.
• Satakarni, the sixth ruler of the Satvahana dynasty, defeated the Sunga
Empire of north India.
• Kharavela, the king of Kalinga, ruled a vast empire and was responsible for
the propagation of Jainism in the Indian subcontinent, started colonization
in Sri Lanka, Burma, as well as the Maldives and Maritime Southeast Asia.
• The Kuninda Kingdom was a small Himalayan state that survived from
around the 2nd century BCE to the 3rd century CE.
• The Kushanas migrated from Central Asia into northwestern India in the
middle of the 1st century CE and founded an empire that stretched
from Tajikistan to the middle Ganges.
• The Western Satraps (35-405 CE) were Saka rulers of the western and
central part of India.
• The Kalabras, a Buddhist dynasty, briefly interrupted the usual domination
of the Cholas, Cheras, and Pandyas in the south.
• The northwestern hybrid cultures of the subcontinent included the IndoGreeks, the Indo-Scythians, the Indo-Parthians, and the Indo-Sassinids.
The Classical Age
• India reunited under the Gupta Empire (c. 320–
550 CE)
• extensive achievements in science,
technology, engineering, art, dialectic, literature,
logic, mathematics, astronomy, religion,
and philosophy
• Strong political administration
• Strong trade ties
• the Guptas performed Vedic sacrifices to
legitimize their rule
• patronized Buddhism
• fell under Hunas and the rise of other kingdoms
Islamic Sultanates
• Turks and Afghans - in the 12th and 13th centuries invaded parts of northern India and established
the Delhi Sultanate in the former Rajput holdings
• Under Slave dynasty – extended to the size of the Gupta
Empire
• Indian cultural renaissance
• "Indo-Muslim" fusion of cultures left lasting syncretic
monuments in architecture, music, literature, religion,
and clothing
• the language of Urdu (literally meaning "horde" or
"camp") was born during the Delhi Sultanate period = as
Sanskrit + Persian, Turk, and Arabic
• Timur (Tamerlane) defeated the army of the reigning
Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud of the Tughlaq Dynasty
in Delhi
• Delhi was sacked
Mughal Empire
• In 1526, Babur, a Timurid descendant established
the Mughal Empire, covering modern
day Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh
• His son Humayun was forced to retreat to Kabul
• a secular Hindu rule in North India from Delhi was
established till 1556
• Babur’s grandson Akbar took over the city in 1556
• Akbar’s tolerant attitude to Hindus was followed by
complete Muslim dominance imposed by his successors
(Aurangzeb)
• went into a slow decline after 1707
Lecture 4
History: from colonial times to the 21st
century
Presentation: The events that changed
India out of recognition
Discussion: Colonialism: a curse or a
blessing?