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— CH. 1 · INTRODUCTION —

History of India

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  • The History of India begins not with a king or a city, but with footsteps along a warm coast. Anatomically modern humans are estimated to have first reached the Indian subcontinent between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago, likely arriving by way of the shore. The historical demographer Tim Dyson put it plainly. Tiny groups of Homo sapiens began entering the north-west of the subcontinent, and it is virtually certain they were present 55,000 years ago. Yet the earliest fossils of them date to only about 30,000 years before the present.

    What happened across the tens of thousands of years that followed turned this land into one of the most genetically diverse places on earth, second only to Africa. How did scattered hunter-gatherers become the builders of brick cities? How did a single subcontinent come to hold one of the world's three earliest cradles of civilisation, and later, by some estimates, the largest economy on the planet? And how did a story that began with coastal wanderers end, in August 1947, with the partition of an empire into two new nations?

  • Mohenjo-daro and Harappa rose from the Indus river basin as something the subcontinent had never seen. The mature Indus Valley Civilisation flourished from about 2600 to 1900 BCE, and at its peak may have held a population as high as five million. It was the most expansive of the three early cradles of civilisation in the Old World. Its cities, centred mostly in modern-day Pakistan, were built of brick and laced with roadside drainage systems that hint at some kind of municipal organisation.

    The Harappans were skilled with metal, producing copper, bronze, lead, and tin, and they developed new techniques in metallurgy and handicraft. They also left behind the Indus script, the earliest of the ancient Indian scripts. It remains undeciphered to this day, which is why the Harappan language is not directly attested and its affiliation stays uncertain.

    Settled life had reached the region long before. From as early as 7000 BCE, at Mehrgarh in the hills between the Bolan Pass and the Indus plain, communities prepared land, planted grain, and domesticated sheep, goats, pigs, and oxen. Early in the second millennium BCE, persistent drought scattered the Indus population from large urban centres back into villages, sending people toward the Himalayan foothills of the Ganga-Yamuna basin.

  • The Vedas were composed by Indo-Aryan people who moved into north-west India from Central Asia in several waves of migration beginning around 1900 BCE. These liturgical hymns, orally composed and transmitted in Vedic Sanskrit, are among the oldest extant texts in India and remain sacred to Hindus. The Vedic period lasted from about 1500 to 500 BCE. Society was organised around four varnas, or social classes, a structure that excluded some indigenous peoples by labelling their occupations impure.

    The Kuru kingdom, dated to roughly 1200 to 450 BCE, became the first state-level society of this period. Its people organised the Vedic hymns into collections and developed the srauta ritual to uphold social order. When the Kuru kingdom declined, the centre of Vedic culture shifted east to the Panchala kingdom, and later still to Videha, where King Janaka's court gave patronage to sages such as Yajnavalkya, Aruni, and Gargi Vachaknavi.

    The rising cities of the 7th and 6th centuries BCE bred a challenge to ritual orthodoxy. New ascetic movements, the Sramana movements, gave rise to the ideas of samsara and liberation. Mahavira, who lived around 599 to 527 BCE, propagated the theology that became Jainism. Gautama Buddha, around 563 to 483 BCE, found a Middle Way that softened the extreme asceticism of his rivals. He attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya and gave his first sermon in Sarnath.

  • Chandragupta Maurya, assisted by Chanakya, overthrew the Nanda Empire and built the largest empire ever to exist in South Asia. The Maurya Empire, lasting from 322 to 185 BCE, stretched north to the Himalayas, east into what is now Assam, and west beyond modern Pakistan to the Hindu Kush mountains in Afghanistan. It defeated Seleucus I in the Seleucid-Mauryan war, gaining territory west of the Indus River.

    Ashoka inherited this realm and waged his campaign against the Kalingans around 260 BCE. The war succeeded but caused immense loss of life, and the misery of it turned him away from violence and toward Buddhism. He sponsored Buddhist missions across the Indo-Mediterranean, into Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, West Asia, North Africa, and Mediterranean Europe. The Arthashastra written by Chanakya and the Edicts of Ashoka are the primary written records of the era.

    The Mauryans built the Grand Trunk Road, one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads, connecting the subcontinent with Central Asia. In south India during this same broad period, a high-quality steel called Wootz steel was developed and later exported to China and Arabia. The empire began declining after Ashoka's death around 232 BCE. Its last ruler, Brihadratha, was assassinated by his general Pushyamitra Shunga, who founded the Shunga Empire.

  • The Gupta Empire, ruling from the 4th to 6th centuries CE, is remembered as the Golden Age of India, a time of cultural creativity in literature, architecture, sculpture, and painting. It produced scholars including Kalidasa, Aryabhata, Varahamihira, Vishnu Sharma, and Vatsyayana. The Guptas performed Vedic sacrifices to legitimise their rule, yet also patronised Buddhism as an alternative to Brahmanical orthodoxy.

    India's economy across this era is estimated to have been the largest in the world, holding between one-third and one-quarter of global wealth from 1 CE to 1000 CE. Aspects of Indian civilisation, administration, culture, and religion spread across much of Asia, forming Indianised kingdoms in a region sometimes called Greater India. The military exploits of the first three rulers, Chandragupta I, Samudragupta, and Chandragupta II, brought much of India under Gupta leadership.

    The empire waned under invasions by the Huna people and the loss of core territories. The Alchon Huns established themselves in Afghanistan in the first half of the 5th century CE, with their capital at Bamiyan. Regional rulers including Yashodharman, supported by the Later Guptas, checked the invaders. Harsha later ruled northern India from 606 to 647 CE, making Kannauj his capital. The Chinese traveller Xuanzang visited his court and praised his justice and generosity.

  • Madhava of Sangamagrama founded the Kerala School of Astronomy and Mathematics in the 14th century, but the south's intellectual depth ran far older. During the Sangam period, Tamil literature flourished from the 3rd century BCE to the 4th century CE under the Three Crowned Kings of Tamilakam: the Chera, Chola, and Pandya dynasties. Unlike the mostly Brahmin Sanskrit writers, Sangam writers came from diverse classes and were largely non-Brahmins. Ilango Adigal composed Silappatikaram, a non-religious work revolving around Kannagi.

    The Chola dynasty rose to its greatest height during the reigns of Rajaraja Chola I and Rajendra Chola I. Rajendra's navies occupied sea coasts from Burma to Vietnam, reaching the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Lakshadweep islands, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula. He undertook an expedition to the Ganges and occupied cities of the maritime empire of Srivijaya in Southeast Asia. The Cholas dominated Sri Lanka for over two centuries through repeated invasions.

    The spice trade drew traders from across the Old World. India's southwest coastal port Muziris had become a major spice centre as early as 3,000 BCE according to Sumerian records, and Jewish traders arrived in Kochi as early as 562 BCE. Indian mathematics, including Hindu numerals, influenced the Arab world in the early medieval period, contributing to the creation of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system that the world still counts with.

  • Central Asian Turks founded the Delhi Sultanate in the 12th and 13th centuries, establishing their state atop former Hindu holdings. It produced an Indo-Muslim fusion that left syncretic monuments in architecture, music, literature, religion, and clothing, and it is surmised that the Urdu language was born during this period. The sultanate enthroned Razia Sultana, one of the few female rulers in India. It also repelled the Mongol invasions during the rule of Alauddin Khalji, sparing India the devastation visited on West and Central Asia.

    Timur, the Turco-Mongol conqueror from Central Asia, shattered that strength. He defeated the sultan's army on the 17th of December 1398, then sacked Delhi and left it in ruins after three days and nights of killing and plundering. Lodi rule survived in Delhi until the last sultan, Ibrahim Khan Lodi, was defeated in 1526 by the forces of Babur.

    In the south, the Vijayanagara Empire was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I. Its kings were tolerant of all religions, using titles such as protector of cows and Brahmins while keeping staunchly Islamicate court ceremonials. The empire declined after the Battle of Talikota in 1565, when the combined armies of the Deccan sultanates defeated it. Its final remains ended in 1646. In the north, Rajput states held firm, and Maharana Pratap of Mewar firmly resisted the Mughal emperor Akbar, who sent many missions against him.

  • The Mughal Empire conquered most of the subcontinent in the 16th century and made India the biggest global economy and manufacturing power, marking a period of proto-industrialisation. Its decline came in the early 18th century, driven largely by the rising power of the Marathas, who took control of extensive regions, and by numerous Afghan invasions.

    The East India Company, acting as a sovereign force on behalf of the British government, gradually seized huge areas of India between the middle of the 18th and the middle of the 19th centuries. Its policies of company rule led to the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After that, India was ruled directly by the British Crown in the British Raj. Following World War I, the Indian National Congress launched a nationwide struggle for independence led by Mahatma Gandhi, while the All-India Muslim League advocated for a separate Muslim-majority nation state.

    In August 1947, the British Indian Empire was partitioned into the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan, each gaining its independence. The same coast that drew the first Homo sapiens tens of thousands of years earlier now bordered two sovereign nations, and the long arc from coastal wanderers to brick cities to partitioned dominions had reached a new beginning.

Common questions

When did humans first arrive in India?

Anatomically modern humans are estimated to have first arrived on the Indian subcontinent between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago, likely coming by way of the coast. The earliest known human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago.

What was the Indus Valley Civilisation in the history of India?

The Indus Valley Civilisation was one of three early cradles of civilisation in the Old World and the most expansive of them. Its mature phase flourished from about 2600 to 1900 BCE, centred mostly in modern-day Pakistan, with brick cities such as Harappa and Mohenjo-daro and a population that may have reached five million.

Who was Ashoka in the history of India?

Ashoka was the Mauryan king whose campaign against the Kalingans around 260 BCE caused immense loss of life, leading him to shun violence and embrace Buddhism. He sponsored Buddhist missions across the Indo-Mediterranean, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, West Asia, North Africa, and Mediterranean Europe, and ruled until his death around 232 BCE.

Why is the Gupta Empire called the Golden Age of India?

The Gupta Empire of the 4th to 6th centuries CE is called the Golden Age of India for its cultural creativity in literature, architecture, sculpture, and painting. It produced scholars including Kalidasa and Aryabhata, and India's economy during this era is estimated to have been the largest in the world.

How did the Delhi Sultanate affect the history of India?

The Delhi Sultanate, founded by Central Asian Turks in the 12th and 13th centuries, produced an Indo-Muslim fusion of cultures and is credited with the likely birth of the Urdu language. It repelled the Mongol invasions during the rule of Alauddin Khalji, sparing India devastation visited on West and Central Asia.

When did India gain independence from the British?

The British Indian Empire was partitioned in August 1947 into the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan, each gaining its independence. The independence movement after World War I was led by the Indian National Congress under Mahatma Gandhi.

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