| VII. | HISTORY |
India’s history begins not with independence in 1947, but more than 4,500 years earlier, when the name India referred to the entire subcontinent, including present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh. The earliest of India’s known civilizations, the Indus Valley civilization (about 2500 to 1700 bc), was known for its highly specialized artifacts and stretched throughout northern India. Another early culture—the Vedic culture—dates from approximately 1500 bc and is considered one of the sources for India’s predominantly Hindu culture and for the foundation of several important philosophical traditions. India has been subject to influxes of peoples throughout its history, some coming under arms to loot and conquer, others moving in to trade and settle. India was able to absorb the impact of these intrusions because it was able to assimilate or tolerate foreign ideas and people. Outsiders who came to India during the course of its history include the Greeks under Alexander the Great, the Kushānas from Central Asia, the Mongols under Genghis Khan, Muslim traders and invaders from the Middle East and Central Asia, and finally the British and other Europeans. India also disseminated its civilization outward to Sri Lanka and much of Southeast Asia. Buddhism, which originated in India, spread even farther.
Central to Indian history are the people of India who established complex political systems, whether local kingdoms or mighty empires, in which learning and religion flourished. Until the modern industrial era, India was a land famed for its economic as well as cultural wealth. Europeans visited the country to trade for the finest cotton textiles as well as spices. Eventually, the British colonized the region. Their exploitation of India’s economic wealth and the subsequent destruction of its indigenous industry provoked and then fueled a nationalist movement, eventually forcing the British to grant India (partitioned into India and Pakistan) its independence in 1947. Since that time India has developed into a vibrant democracy, making slow but steady progress in development.
| A. | Early Civilizations |
| 1. | Indus Valley Civilization |
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For almost 1,000 years, from around 2500 bc to around 1700 bc, a civilization flourished on the valley of the Indus River and its tributaries, extending as far to the northeast as Delhi and south to Gujarāt. The Indus Valley civilization, India’s oldest known civilization, is famed for its complex culture and specialized artifacts. Its cities were carefully planned, with elaborate water-supply systems, sewage facilities, and centralized granaries. The cities had common settlement patterns and were built with standard sizes and weights of bricks, evidence that suggests a coherent civilization existed throughout the region. The people of the Indus civilization used copper and bronze, and they spun and wove cotton and wool. They also produced statues and other objects of considerable beauty, including many seals decorated with images of animals and, in a few cases, what appear to be priests. The seals are also decorated with a script known as the Indus script, a pictographic writing system that has not been deciphered. The Indus civilization is thought to have undergone a swift decline after 1800 bc, although the cause of the decline is still unknown; theories point to extreme climatic changes or natural disasters.
| 2. | Aryan Settlement and the Vedic Age |
In about 1500 bc the Aryans, a nomadic people from Central Asia, settled in the upper reaches of the Indus, Yamuna, and Gangetic plains. They spoke a language from the Indo-European family and worshiped gods similar to those of later-era Greeks and northern Europeans. The Aryans are particularly important to Indian history because they originated the earliest forms of the sacred Vedas (orally transmitted texts of hymns of devotion to the gods, manuals of sacrifice for their worship, and philosophical speculation). By 800 bc the Aryans ruled in most of northern India, occasionally fighting among themselves or with the peoples of the land they were settling. There is no evidence of what happened to the people displaced by the Aryans. In fact they may not have been displaced at all but instead may have been incorporated in Aryan culture or left alone in the hills of northern India.
The Vedas, which are considered the core of Hinduism, provide much information about the Aryans. The major gods of the Vedic peoples remain in the pantheon of present-day Hindus; the core rituals surrounding birth, marriage, and death retain their Vedic form. The Vedas also contain the seeds of great epic literature and philosophical traditions in India. One example is the Mahabharata, an epic of the battle between two noble families that dates from 400 bc but probably draws on tales composed much earlier. Another example is the Upanishads, philosophical treatises that were composed between the 8th and the 5th centuries bc.
As the Aryans slowly settled into agriculture and moved southeast through the Gangetic Plain, they relinquished their seminomadic style of living and changed their social and political structures. Instead of a warrior leading a tribe, with a tribal assembly as a check on his power, an Aryan chieftain ruled over territory, with its society divided into hereditary groups. This structure became the beginning of the caste system, which has survived in India until the present day. The four castes that emerged from this era were the Brahmans (priests), the Kshatriyas (warriors and rulers), the Vaisyas (merchants, farmers, and traders), and the Sudras (artisans, laborers, and servants).
| B. | The Emergence of Kingdoms and Empires |
By about the 7th century bc territories combined and grew, giving rise to larger kingdoms that stretched from what is now Afghanistan to what is now the state of Bihār. Cities became important during this time, and, shortly thereafter, systems of writing developed. Reform schools of Hinduism emerged, challenging the orthodox practices of the Vedic tradition and presenting alternative religious world views. Two of those schools developed into separate religions: Buddhism and Jainism.
| 1. | The Mauryan Empire |
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By the 6th century bc, Indian civilization was firmly centered at the eastern end of the Gangetic Plain (in the area of present-day Bihār), and certain kings became increasingly powerful. In the 6th century bc the Kingdom of Magadha conquered and absorbed neighboring kingdoms, giving rise to India’s first empire. At the head of the Magadha state was a hereditary monarch in charge of a centralized administration. The state regularly collected revenues and was protected by a standing army. This empire continued to expand, extending in the 4th century bc into central India and as far as the eastern coast.
| Sidebars |
| SIDEBAR |
| Languages and Scripts of Asoka's Inscriptions |
| Mauryan king Asoka, whose empire encompassed most of the Indian subcontinent in the 3rd century bc, was renowned for his promotion of Buddhism and for his humane and tolerant rule. This article by Indian professor Romila Thapar discusses what scholars have learned about the history of the ancient Mauryan empire through the multilingual inscriptions left across India by Asoka and his government. |
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As political power shifted east, the area of the upper Indus became a frontier where local kings were confronted by an expanding Persian empire. These invaders had conquered the land up to the Indus River near the end of the 6th century bc. In 326 bc, after fighting the Persians and the tribes to the west of the Indus, Alexander the Great traveled to the Beās River, just east of what is now Lahore, Pakistan. Fearing the powerful and well-equipped kingdoms that lay farther east, Alexander’s army revolted, forcing him to turn back from India. What was left after his death in Babylon in 323 bc were the Hellenistic states of what is now Afghanistan; these states later had a profound influence on the art of India.
Chandragupta Maurya, the first king of the Mauryan dynasty, succeeded the throne in Magadha in about 321 bc. In 305 bc Chandragupta defeated the ruler of a Hellenistic kingdom on the plains of Punjab and extended what became the Mauryan Empire into Afghanistan and Baluchistan to the southwest. Chandragupta was assisted by Kautilya, his chief minister. The empire stretched from the Ganges Delta in the east, south into the Deccan, and west to include Gujarāt. It was further extended by Ashoka, the grandson of Chandragupta, to include all of India (including what is now Pakistan and much of what is now Afghanistan) except the far southern tip and the lands to the east of the Brahmaputra River. The Mauryan Empire featured a complex administrative structure, with the emperor as the head of a developed bureaucracy of central and local government.
After a bloody campaign against Kalinga in what is now Orissa state in 261 bc, Ashoka became disillusioned with warfare and eventually embraced Buddhism and nonviolence. Although Buddhism was not made the state religion, and although Ashoka tolerated all religions within his realm, he sent missionaries far and wide to spread the Buddhist message of righteousness and humanitarianism. His son Mahinda and daughter Sanghamitta converted the people of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and other missionaries were sent to Southeast Asia and probably into Central Asia as well. He also sent cultural missions to the west, including Syria, Egypt, and Greece. Ashoka built shrines and monasteries and had rocks and beautifully carved pillars inscribed with Buddhist teachings. (The lion capital of one of these pillars is now the state emblem of India.)
| 2. | The Post-Mauryan Kingdoms and Empires |
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| Indian Dynasties and Rulers |
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The Mauryan Empire rapidly disintegrated after Ashoka’s death in 232 bc. In its aftermath, invaders fought for outlying territories in the north, while regional monarchies gained power in the south. The Mauryas’ original territorial core on the Gangetic Plain was defended by the Sunga dynasty, which had consolidated its power by about 185 bc. The Sungas reigned over extensive lands and were the most powerful of the north-central kingdoms. Their dynasty lasted about a century, and was succeeded by the Kanvas, whose shrunken kingdom was defeated in 28 bc by the Andhra dynasty, invading from their homeland in the south.
The invasions of northern India came in several waves from Central Asia. Indo-Greeks conquered the northwestern portion of the empire in about 180 bc. Shortly thereafter, Menander, an Indo-Greek king, conquered much of the remainder of northern India. By the 1st century bc, the Shakas of Central Asia had brought numerous tribes in western India under their control. In south and central India, the Andhra dynasty (also known as Satavahana) ruled for almost four centuries. The Maha-Meghavahanas held territories in the southeast, while the Chola and the Pandya dynasties controlled the far south.
The first centuries ad saw the rise and triumph of another major power from Central Asia: the Kushānas. At its height, this empire stretched from Afghanistan to possibly as far as eastern Uttar Pradesh, and included Gujarāt and central India. Although it is unclear whether he converted himself, the Kushāna ruler Kanishka (who ruled in the late 1st century ad) is considered one of the great patrons of Buddhism. He is credited with convening the fourth council on Buddhism that marked the development of Mahayana Buddhism.
Between the decline of the Mauryas and the emergence of the Gupta Empire, India was at the center of a global economy, with social and religious links to all of Asia. Trade with the Roman Empire brought an abundance of Roman gold coins to India beginning in the 1st century ad. These coins were melted down and reminted by the Kushānas. Buddhism spread through Central Asia and Southeast Asia toward China. Indian art, particularly sculpture, achieved greatness in this era.
| C. | The Classical Age |
| 1. | The Gupta Dynasty |
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| Gupta Empire |
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The Kushāna dynasty collapsed in the 3rd century, leaving the Ganges River valley in the hands of several small kingdoms. In about ad 320, Chandragupta I, the ruler of the Magadha kingdom, united the many peoples of the valley and founded the Gupta dynasty. For about the next century his son Samudragupta and grandson Chandragupta II brought much of India under unified control for the first time since the Mauryan Empire, controlling the lands from the eastern hills of Afghanistan to Assam, north of the Narmada River. Samudragupta conducted a successful military expedition as far south as the city of Kānchipuram, but probably did not directly rule in those regions. The Guptas directly ruled a core area that included the east central Gangetic Plain, located in present-day Uttar Pradesh and Bihār. In addition, they conquered other areas, reinstating the kings who were then obliged to pay tribute and attend the imperial court. Both Chandragupta I and Chandragupta II made strategic marriages that extended the empire, the latter with the successors to the Andhra dynasty in central India. A policy of religious tolerance and patronage of all religions also helped consolidate their rule.
The time of the Gupta Empire has been called the golden age of Indian civilization because of the period’s great flowering of literature, art, and science. In literature, the dramas and poems of Kalidasa, who wrote the romantic drama Sakuntala, are especially well known. The Puranas, a collection of myths and philosophical dialogues, was begun around ad 400. These remain today the basic source for the tales of the gods who are now central to Hinduism: Vishnu, Shiva, and the goddess Shakti. During this era India’s level of science and technology was probably higher than that of Europe. The use of the zero and the decimal system of numerals, later transmitted to Europe by the Arabs, was a major contribution to modern mathematics.
| 2. | Regional Kingdoms after ad 500 |
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| Cave Temples of Ellora, India |
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The Gupta Empire faced many challengers. Until about ad 500 it was able to defeat internal and external enemies. In the mid-5th century the White Huns, a nomadic people from Central Asia, moved onto the Indian plains and were defeated by the Guptas. The Huns invaded India again in ad 510, when Gupta strength was in decline. This time the invasion was successful, forcing the Guptas into the northeastern part of their former empire. The Huns established their rule over much of northwest India, extending to present-day western Uttar Pradesh. However, they in turn were defeated by enemies to the west a short time later. The Buddhist monasteries and the cities of this region never recovered from the onslaught of the Huns. By ad 550 both the Hun kingdom and the Gupta Empire had fallen.
The absence of these centralizing powers left India to be ruled by regional kingdoms. These kingdoms often warred with each other and had fairly short spans of power. They developed a political system that emphasized the tribute of smaller chieftains. Later, starting in the 11th century and especially in the south, they legitimized this rule by establishing great royal temples, supported by grants of land and literally hundreds of Brahmans. Literature and art continued to flourish, particularly in south and central India. The distinctive style of temple architecture and sculpture that developed in the 7th and 8th centuries can be seen in the pyramid-shaped towers and heavily ornamented walls of shrines at Māmallapuram (sometimes called Mahabalipuram) and Kānchipuram south of Chennai, and in the cave temples carved from solid rock at Ajanta and Ellora in Mahārāshtra. The religious tradition of bhakti (passionate devotion to a Hindu god), which emerged in Tamil Nādu in the 6th century and spread north over the next nine centuries, was expressed in poetry of great beauty. With the decline of Buddhism in much of peninsular India (it continued in what is now Bangladesh), Hinduism developed new and profound traditions associated with the philosophers Shankara in the early 800s and Ramanuja in about 1100.
The regional kingdoms were not small, but only Harsha, who ruled from 606 to 647, attempted to create an expansive empire. From his kingdom north of Delhi, he shifted his base east to present-day central Uttar Pradesh. After extending his influence as far west as the Punjab region, he tried to move south and was defeated by the Chalukya king Pulakeshin II of Vatapi (modern Bādāmi) in about 641. By then the Pallava dynasty had established a powerful kingdom on the east coast of the southern Indian peninsula at Kānchipuram. During the course of the next half-century the Pallavas and the neighboring Chalukyas of the Deccan Plateau struggled for control of key peninsular rivers, each alternately sacking the other’s capital. The eventual waning of the Pallavas by the late 8th century allowed the Cholas and the Pandya dynasty to rule virtually undisturbed for the next four centuries.
Elsewhere in India, the 8th century saw continued power struggles among states. Harsha died in 647 bc and his kingdom contracted to the west, creating a power vacuum in the east that was quickly filled by the Pala dynasty. (The Palas ruled the Bengal region and present-day southern Bihār state from the 8th through the 12th centuries.) Harsha’s capital of Kanauj was conquered by the Gurjara-Pratiharas, who were based in central India, and who managed to extend their rule west to the borders of Sind (in what is now Pakistan). The Gurjara-Pratiharas fought with the Rashtrakutas for control of the trade routes of the Ganges. The Rashtrakutas controlled the Deccan Plateau from their capital in Ellora, near present-day Aurangābād. Their frequent military campaigns into north and central India kept the small kingdoms ruled by Muslims in Sind and southern Punjab confined. The Western Chalukyas also fought with, and were finally overthrown by, the Rashtrakutas in the 8th century.
The kingdoms persisted despite this protracted warfare because they were more or less equally matched in resources, administrative and military capacities, and leadership. Although particular dynasties did not last long, these kingdoms, which shifted the center of rule in India to areas south of the Vindhya Range, had a remarkable stability, lasting in one form or other in particular regions for centuries.
The kingdoms of the south, especially the Pallavas and Cholas, had links with Southeast Asia. Temples in the style of the early 8th-century Pallavas were built in Java soon after those in the Pallava kingdom. In pursuit of trade, the Cholas made successful naval expeditions at the end of the 10th century to Ceylon, the region of Bengal, Sumatra, and Malaya. They also established direct trade with China. By the 12th century the cities of the southwestern coast of India, in what is now Kerala and southern Karnātaka, housed Jewish and Arab traders who drew on a network centered in the Persian Gulf and reaching through Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea and Italy.
| D. | Muslim and Mongol Invaders |
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| Tamerlane |
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By the 10th century Turkic Muslims began invading India, bringing the Islamic religion to India. The Ghaznavids, a dynasty from eastern Afghanistan, began a series of raids into northwestern India at the end of the 10th century. Mahmud of Ghaznī, the most notable ruler of this dynasty, raided as far as present-day Uttar Pradesh state. Mahmud did not attempt to rule Indian territory except for the Punjab area, which he annexed before his death in 1030.
A little more than a century after Mahmud’s death, his magnificent capital of Ghaznī was destroyed in warfare among rivals within Afghanistan. In 1175 one of the successors to Mahmud’s dismembered empire, the Muslim conqueror Muhammad of Ghur, began his conquest of northern India. Within 20 years he had conquered all of north India, including the Bengal region. In 1206 Qutubuddin Aybak, one of Muhammad of Ghur’s generals, founded the Delhi Sultanate with its capital at Delhi and began the Slave dynasty. Also in 1206 Genghis Khan united the Mongol tribes and established the Mongol Empire. He then moved rapidly into China and westward, reaching the Indus Valley about 1221. In the following three centuries the Mongols remained the dominant power in northwest India, gradually merging with the Turkic Muslim peoples there.
The Delhi Sultanate engaged in constant warfare during its 300-year reign, subduing intermittent rebellions of the nobles of the Bengal region, repelling incursions of Mongols to the northwest, and conquering and looting Hindu kingdoms as far south as Madurai in Tamil Nādu. Beginning with the Slave dynasty, the sultanate was ruled by a succession of five dynasties before it was finally overthrown by the Mughal emperor Humayun in 1556. During the reign of the short-lived Khalji dynasty (1290-1320), the warrior leader Alauddin financed his successful campaigns to south India with an established system of local revenue. The next dynasty, that of the Tughluqs, weakened when Muhammad Tughluq moved his capital from Delhi to the more centrally located Daulatabad in an effort to assert more permanent rule over his southern lands. He lost control over the Delhi area, and nobles in the south and in Bengal also established their independence. In 1398 the Mongol conqueror Tamerlane invaded India, sacking Delhi and massacring its inhabitants. Tamerlane withdrew from India shortly after the sack of Delhi, leaving the remnants of the empire to Mahmud, who as last of the Tughluqs ruled from 1399 to 1413. Mahmud was succeeded by the Sayyid dynasty (1414-1451), under which the Delhi Sultanate shrank to virtually nothing. The Lodi dynasty (1451-1526), of Afghan origin, later revived the rule of Delhi over much of north India, although it was unable to give its rule a firm military and financial foundation. The rest of India remained under the rule of other kings, some Muslim and some Hindu. The greatest of these polities was the Hindu empire of Vijayanagar, which existed from 1336 to 1565, centered in what is now Karnātaka.
Many Indians converted to Islam during this era. One of the areas where a great majority of the population became Muslim was in the Punjab region, which by the end of the Delhi Sultanate had been under the continuous rule of Muslim kings for more than 500 years. Muslims did marry Hindus (the founder of the Khalji dynasty was the offspring of one such marriage), and Hindus did convert to Islam. In general, Muslim kings were far from tolerant, even despising their Hindu subjects, but there is no record of forced mass conversions. The region that is now Bangladesh also became overwhelmingly Muslim during this period. This area had been mainly Buddhist before the Muslims arrived. Even in south India, where the Hindu revival inspired by the works of Shankara and others had its greatest influence, a small minority of people became Muslim.
| E. | The Mughal Empire |
| 1. | Rise of the Mughals |
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| Fatehpur Sikri |
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The Mughal Empire was founded in 1526 by Babur, a descendant of Tamerlane. It is famous for its extent (it covered most of the Indian subcontinent) and for the heights that music, literature, art, and especially architecture reached under its rulers. The Mughal Empire was born when Babur, with the use of superior artillery, defeated the far larger army of the Lodis at Pānīpat, near Delhi. Babur’s kingdom stretched from beyond Afghanistan to the Bengal region along the Gangetic Plain. His son Humayun, however, lost the kingdom to Bihār-based Sher Khan Sur (later Sher Shah) and fled to Persia (
