History of India - Simple English Wikipedia

# History of India

### From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.

History of India covers thousands of years. It covers many periods and dynasties. It may be divided in the following parts:

## [edit] The Paleolithic era

Some old fossils found in India indicate presence of living beings called Homo Erectus. Archeologists think that these beings were living in India between 200,000 to 500,000 years ago. This period is known as the paleolithic era. Human beings (Homo Sapiens) settled in the Indian subcontinent at least 12,000 years before. At that time the last Ice Age had just ended. First settlements of human beings in India are found in Bhimbetka, a place near Bhopal (Madya Pradesh state, India).

## [edit] The Neolithic era

About 7000 years before, by 5100 BC, early Neolithic culture had developed in India. People had learnt farming. They tended goats, lived in houses build of mud, and had learned to make baskets. Potteries were also made.

During the period 6000 BC and 2000 BC, late Neolithic culture and the beginning of the Bronze Age was taking shape in the Indus Valley of Ancient India.

## [edit] The Bronze age

Bronze Age was an important period of India’s prehistory. From this time onwards a solid base for more development came.

### [edit] Indus Valley civilisation

### [edit] Vedic civilisation

The Vedas are the oldest texts of India. There are four Vedas, and the first one is the Rigveda. The other three are Samveda, Yajurveda and Atharvaveda. The Vedas have verses in praise of gods and others. They also have other information. At that time, the society was pastoral. After the Rigveda, society became more agricultural. People became divided into four classes depending on the type of the work. Brahmins were priests and teachers. Khastriyas were the warriors. Vaishyas did agriculture, trading and commerce. The shudras were the general working class. This type of social division is called the Varna system in Hinduism.

During the period of the Vedic civilization, there were many Aryan clans and tribes. Some of them combined and became bigger like the kingdom of the Kurus.

## [edit] The Mahajanapadas

## [edit] Persian and Greek invasion

Around the 5th century BC, north-western parts of India faced invasion by the Achaemenid Empire and the Greeks of Alexander's army. Persian way of thinking, administration and lifestyle came to India. This influence became bigger during the Mauryan dynasty.

### [edit] Achaemenid Empire

From around 520 BC, Achaemenid Empire’s Darius I ruled large part of northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent. Then Alexander conquered these areas. Herodotus, a historian of that time has written that these areas were the richest areas of Alexander’s Empire. Achaemenid rule lasted about 186 years. In modern times, there are still traces of this Greek heritage to be found in parts of northwestern India.

### [edit] Alexander’s Empire

### [edit] Greco-Buddhist period

Greco-Buddhism (also spelt as Græco-Buddhism) is a combination of culture of Greece and Buddhism. This mixture of cultures continued to develop for 800 long years, from 4th century BC untill the 5th century. . The area where it happened is modern day’s Afghanistan and Pakistan. This mixture of cultures influenced Mahayana Buddhism and spread of Buddhism to China, Korea, and Japan.

## [edit] The Magadha empire

Out of the sixteen Mahajanapadas noted above, kingdom of Magadha became most powerful. It had a big army. It started to rule other nearby kingdoms. Ashoka was the most famous ruler of the Magadha empire.

### [edit] Shishunaga dynasty

Many historians believe that the Shishunaga dynasty founded the Magadha empire in 684 BC. Rajgriha (presently in Bihar state, India) was their capital city. After some years, they changed the capital from Rajgriha to Pataliputra. Present day name of Pataliputra is Patna. Shishunaga dynasty ruled till 424 BC. Then Nanda dynasty came to power.

During this period, Buddhism and Jainism, two religions became important.

### [edit] Nanda dynasty

Nanda dynasty ruled India for about 100 years. Mahapadma Nanda of this dynasty died at the age of 88. His rule lasted longest among other kings of this dynasty. The last king of this dynasty was Dhana Nanda.

### [edit] Maurya dynasty

In 321 BC, Chandragupta Maurya defeated Dhana Nanda. Chandragupta founded the Maurya dynasty. Under his rule, almost all parts of India become united under one single government. Chandragupta Maurya conquered large parts of nearby areas, At that time, Indian borders touched Persia and Central Asia. He also conquered Gandhara and made all several such areas part of India. His son Bindusara also conquered many nearby areas.

Bindusara’s son Ashoka continued to conquer more and more areas. But, when he saw so many dead persons in the Kalinga’s war, he felt very bad. He became a Buddhist and stopped the policy of fighting and conquering new areas. He started to follow the path of Ahmisa. He sent persons to several parts of India and nearby countries like China and Sri Lanka to preach Buddhism. He also got messages engraved on rocks about Ahmisa. Ashoka is considered one of the best rulers the world has ever seen.

### [edit] Shunga dynasty

After about 50 years of Ashoka’s death, Shunga dynasty came to power in 185 BC. Pusyamitra Sunga was the first king of this dynasty.

### [edit] Kanva dynasty

Kings of a dynasty named Kanva dynasty ruled the eastern parts of India from 71 BC to 26 BC. This dynasty was founded by Vasudeva, the first king of the Kanva dynasty. Vasudeva defeated the army of Shunga dynasty. In 30 BC, powerful forces from the southern parts of India defeated the army of Kanva dynasty. Now, power passed on to the Satavahanas.

## [edit] Early middle kingdoms

### [edit] Satavahana empire

The Satavahanas came to power from around 230 BC. They are also called Andhras. For about 450 years, many Satavahanas kings ruled most parts of the southern and central India. After that they became weak for various reasons. Major reasons for their weakness was fights among themselves and fighting with the Sakas.

### [edit] Western Kshatrapas

For about 350 years, from the years 35-405, Saka kings ruled India. They ruled the western and central parts of India. Now-a-days, these areas are parts of the present day’s Indian states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. There were 27 such independent rulers. Collectively they are called the Kshatrapas.

Saka kings ruled India along aside the Kushan kings and the Satvahana kings. Kushan kings ruled the northern parts of India. Satvahana kings ruled the central and some of the southern parts of India.

### [edit] Indo-Greek kingdom

### [edit] Indo-Scythians

Indo-Scythians came to India from Siberia passing through several places like Bactria, Sogdiana, Kashmir and Arachosia. Their coming to India continued from the 2nd century BC to the 1st century BC. They defeated the Indo-Greek rulers of India, and ruled India from Gandhara to Mathura.

### [edit] Indo-Parthians

### [edit] Kushan empire

### [edit] Gupta dynasty

### [edit] Hun invasion

The fighting Huns.

By the first half of the fifth century, a group of people known as Huns has settled in Afghanistan. They became powerful. They made Bamiyan as their capital city. They started attacking northwestern parts of India. Skandagupta, an emperor of the Gupta dynasty could fight back and kept them away for some years. At last Huns could enter most parts of northern India. With this the Gupta dynasty came to an end. Most of north India became badly affected by this invasion. However, Huns could not go up to the Deccan and the southern parts of India. These parts remained peaceful. No one knows definitely about the fate of Huns after end of the sixth century. Some historians believe that they mixed up fully with the Indian people of that time.

### [edit] Indo-Sassanians

## [edit] Late Middle Kingdoms

In the history of India, Middle kingdoms of India covers a period beginning from around the 6th-7th century. In south India, Chola kings ruled Tamil Nadu, and Chera kings ruled Kerala. They also had trading relationships with the Roman Empire to the west and Southeast Asia to the east. In north India, Rajputs ruled in many kingdoms. Some of such kingdoms continued for hundreds of years.

### [edit] Harsha's empire

After the collapse of the Gupta Empire, it was Harsha of Kannauj (a place now in Madhya Pradesh state of India) who united the northern parts of India in one kingdom. After his death several dynasties tried to control north India and ruled from time to time from 7th century till the 9th century as described in some of the sections below. Some of these dynasties were the Pratiharas of Malwa and later Kannauj; the Palas of Bengal, and the Rashtrakutas of the Deccan.

### [edit] The Chalukyas and Pallavas

### [edit] Chola empire

### [edit] The Pratiharas, Palas, and Rashtrakutas

The Pratihara kings ruled kingdoms in Rajasthan and some other parts of northern India from the 6th century to the 11th century. The Palas ruled the eastern part of India. They ruled over areas which are now parts of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, and the west Bengal, and of Bangladesh. The Palas ruled from 8th century to the 12th century. In the southern parts of India, Rashtrakutas of Malakheda (Karnataka) ruled the Deccan during the 8th-10th centuries after the end of Chalukya rule. All these three dynasties always tried to control the entire north India. During all this time lasting for three to four hundred years, the Chola kings were growing in power and influence.

### [edit] The Rajputs

In the 6th century several Rajput kingdoms came into being in Rajasthan. Many other Rajput kings ruled in different parts of north India. Some of these kingdoms continue to survive for hundreds of years during different periods of the history of India.

### [edit] Vijayanagar empire

In 1336, two brothers named Harihara and Bukka founded the Vijayanagara Empire in an area which is now in Karnataka state of India. The most famous king of this empire was Krishnadevaraya. In 1565, rulers of this empire were defeated in a battle. But, the empire continued for about next one hundred years.

A number of kingdoms of south India had trading relations with the Arabs in the west, and with Indonesia and other countries of the east.

## [edit] The Islamic sultanates

### [edit] Delhi sultanate

## [edit] The Mughal era

### [edit] The Maratha confederacy

### [edit] The Kingdom of Mysore

The Kingdom of Mysore was a kingdom of southern India. People known as Wodeyars founded this kingdom in the year 1400. Later on, Hyder Ali and his son, Tipu Sultan, fought with the Wodeyar rulers. They also fought with the forces of the British Raj, but were defeated. Under the British Raj, Wodeyar kings continued to rule a large part of Karnataka. When India became independent on 15th August 1947, Wodeyars’ kingdom chose to become a part of India.

### [edit] The Punjab

Guru Nanak founded Sikhism and his followers were called Sikhs. The power of Sikhs continued to increase in the northwestern part of India. The Sikhs became rulers of large part of the northwestern India. This is called the Sikh Empire. Ranjit Singh was the most famous ruler of the Sikh Empire. He expanded the borders of the Sikh Empire and at the time of his death, this empire covered areas of Punjab, and present day Kashmir and parts of Pakistan. The Sikhs and forces of the British Raj fought many wars. At last, they made an agreement and the Sikh Empire became a part of the British Raj.

### [edit] Durrani Empire

For a short period, a person named Ahmed Shah Durrani ruled some parts of northwestern India. Historians have named his rule as the Durrani Empire. In 1748, he crossed the Indus River and attacked Lahore, now a part of Pakistan. He also attacked many parts of Punjab. Then, he attacked Delhi. At that time, Delhi was the capital of the Mughal Empire. He took many valuable things from India. This included the famous diamond named Kohinoor.

## [edit] Colonial era

Colonial period means the period during which Western countries ruled India. These countries also ruled many other countries of Asia, Africa, and South America. By 1857, India became a part of the British Empire and queen Victoria became the empress of India.

### [edit] Company rule

### [edit] The British Raj

### [edit] The independence movement

## [edit] Republic of India

Emblem of India

On 15th August 1947, India was partitioned into two countries, India and Pakistan. With this the British Raj in the Indian subcontinent ended. On 26th January, 1950, India adopted a constitution. From that day, India became the Republic of India.

During last 60 years, India has seen different stages in its national life. Some of them are as follows:

- It fought four wars against Pakistan, and one war against China. Wars with Pakistan were fought in 1947, 1965, and 1971. The war with China was fought in 1962. In 1971, India also helped Bangladesh in its freedom struggle.
- Under the leadership of [[Jawaharlal Nehru) (the first Prime Minister of India), India had adopted a socialist economy. Some economists think it was a mixed economy. In a mixed economy, socialism and capitalism continue together. During this period, lasting for several years up to end-1980s, India could rapidly develop its infrastructure, science and technology.
- By early 1990s, India had changed its economic policies. It started several reforms to attract more capital from other countries. Local businessmen and industrialist also got more freedom to carry out their activities.
- In 1974, India had already detonated its first nuclear bomb. It repeated the same in 1998. With this, it became a nuclear power.

Presently (2006), India is currently the tenth largest economy in terms of gross GDP. It is the 4th largest economy of the world when accounting for purchasing power parity. Some economists think that in coming decades, India’s economy shall become still larger.

## [edit] See also

- Ancient India
- India

## [edit] Further reading

- Allan, J. T. Wolseley Haig, and H. H. Dodwell, The Cambridge Shorter History of India (1934)
- Majumdar, R. C., H.C. Raychaudhuri, and Kaukinkar Datta. An Advanced History of India London: Macmillan. 1960. ISBN 033390298x
- Smith, Vincent. The Oxford History of India (1981)

## [edit] External links

- A Concise History of India
- A Timeline of Indian History

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Category: History of India

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