Ancient India

Joshua J. Mark

Definition

India is a country in South Asia whose name comes from the Indus River. The name 'Bharata' is used as a designation for the country in their constitution referencing the ancient mythological emperor, Bharata, whose story is told, in part, in the Indian epic Mahabharata.

More about: Ancient India

Timeline

c. 60000 BCE - 32768 BCE
Human habitation of India.
c. 7000 BCE
Evidence of religious practices in the Indus Valley.
c. 7000 BCE - c. 600 BCE
The Indus Valley (or Harappan) Civilization.
5500 BCE
Cotton cultivation begins in India.
c. 4000 BCE
Indian village of Balathal inhabited.
c. 4000 BCE
Farming settlements are established in the Indus Valley.
c. 3300 BCE
Early Harappan Civilization of India practices burial of the dead.
c. 3000 BCE
First signs of urbanization in the Indus Valley.
c. 3000 BCE
The Aryans - nomadic northerners from central Asia - possibly begin to migrate into the Indus Valley in an early phase of migration.
c. 2800 BCE
Later Harappan Civilization turns to cremation over burial.
c. 2800 BCE - c. 1900 BCE
The rise of the great Indian cities of Mohenjo Daro and Harappa.
c. 2600 BCE
Hundreds of towns and cities are established throughout the Indus Valley.
2000 BCE
Pepper is widely used in Indian cooking.
c. 2000 BCE - c. 1500 BCE
The Aryans expand into the Ganges valley in India.
c. 1900 BCE - c. 1500 BCE
Decline of the Harappan Culture in India.
c. 1500 BCE - c. 500 BCE
The Vedic Period in India after a greater migration of the Indo-Aryans from Central Asia
c. 1500 BCE - c. 500 CE
The Gandhara Civilization flourishes in what is today the northern portion of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
c. 1500 BCE - c. 500 BCE
Indian scholars of the so-called Vedic Period commit the Vedas to written form; basic tenets of Hinduism are established.
c. 600 BCE
Charaka and Sushruta found two schools of Ayurveda.
c. 599 BCE - c. 527 BCE
Traditional dating of the life of Vardhamana, according to Jain tradition.
c. 563 BCE - c. 483 BCE
The life of Siddhartha Gautama according to modern scholarly consensus.
544 BCE - 492 BCE
Bimbisara rules the Magadha kingdom in India.
530 BCE
Persia conquers the Indus Valley.
c. 520 BCE - c. 325 CE
Achaemenid rule in the Gandhara region.
c. 500 BCE
The Indian epic the Ramayana is composed by the sage Valmiki.
c. 500 BCE
The kingdom of Magadha, ruled by Bimbisara, is the most powerful state in India.
492 BCE - 460 BCE
Ajatashatru rules the Magadha Kingdom in India.
340 BCE - 298 BCE
Life of Indian Emperor Chandragupta, first ruler of the Mauryan Empire.
327 BCE - 326 BCE
Alexander's campaign in northern India.
Sep 326 BCE
Alexander the Great halts his eastward march and turns back from the banks of the river Beas, Punjab, India.
c. 325 BCE - c. 320 BCE
Greek rule in Gandhara, ending some time after the death of Alexander the Great.
321 BCE
Dhana Nanda, king of Magadha, is killed by Chandragupta Maurya.
c. 321 BCE - c. 298 BCE
Reign of Chandragupta Maurya, first ruler of the Mauryan Empire.
c. 320 BCE - c. 180 BCE
Mauryan rule in the Gandhara region, beginning with Chandragupta Maurya.
320 BCE
Chandragupta Maurya seizes the throne of Magadhan and expands the kingdom over northern and central India.
305 BCE
Emperor Chandragupta signs a treaty with Seleucos I, establishing borders and giving the Punjab to Chandragupta in return for 500 war elephants.
298 BCE
Chandragupta voluntarily abdicates the throne in favour of his son Bindusara. Jain sources say that Chandragupta turned into an ascetic and follower of Jainism, migrated south and starved himself to death.
298 BCE
Indian ruler Chandragupta Maurya dies.
297 BCE - c. 273 BCE
Chandragupta's son, Bindusara, rules and expands the Mauryan Empire.
268 BCE - 232 BCE
Reign of Ashoka the Great, third ruler of the Mauryan Empire.
268 BCE
Ashoka becomes emperor of the Mauryan Empire in India.
232 BCE
Indian ruler Ashoka dies and the Mauryan Empire declines within fifty years.
c. 200 BCE
Beginning of the Greco-Bactrian conquests in India.
c. 200 BCE - c. 600 CE
Construction of the 30 Buddhist cave-shrines at Ajanta, many of which display features of Gupta architecture.
186 BCE
Demetrios wins a decisive battle in Gandhara, beginning the Yona (or Greek era) in India.
c. 180 BCE - 80 BCE
Period of Indo-Greek rule in the Gandhara region.
c. 165 BCE
The Greco-Bactrian king Eucratides invades India.
160 BCE - 135 BCE
Indo-Greek king Menander rules the Punjab.
c. 130 BCE
Eucratids flee from Bactria to India. Rivalry between Eucratids and Euthydemids takes place in the Indo-Greek kingdoms.
c. 80 BCE - c. 75 CE
The combined Scytho-Parthians rule Gandhara.
c. 50 BCE - c. 600 CE
The Perfection of Wisdom texts are written by Mahayana Buddhist sages in India; expounding upon the central vision of the Buddha.
30 BCE
Pepper is directly imported by Roman ships from India and its price decreases.
c. 1 CE
First non-stop voyages from Egypt to India.
c. 1 CE - c. 100 CE
The Mahayana movement begins in India with its belief in bodhisattva - saintly souls who helped the living.
c. 75 CE - c. 450 CE
Kushan rule in the Gandhara region, arguably the golden era of the Gandhara civilization in which art, architecture and the propagation of the Buddhist religion excelled.
c. 320 CE - c. 550 CE
Gupta period, considered a golden age of ancient India in art and architecture.
320 CE
Gupta I founds the Gupta Empire in northern India
380 CE - 415 CE
Reign of Chandra Gupta II in northern India.
450 CE
India is invaded by the White Huns across the Hindu Kush.
455 CE - 484 CE
Reign of the Tegin Tunjina or Khingila of the White Huns in the region known as Gandhara.
470 CE
Beginning of White Hun Raids into India.
484 CE - 515 CE
Reign of the White Hun king Tormana, son of Tunjina.
c. 500 CE
Life of Ajita Kesakambali, prominent member of the Charvaka school.
c. 500 CE - c. 600 CE
In India the Tantric expands the number of deities to include helpful demons, contactable through ritual.
515 CE - 533 CE
Reign of the king Mihirakula of the White Huns in Gandhara.
c. 535 CE - 566 CE
Reign of Chalukya ruler Pulakesin I.
c. 550 CE
The end of the reign of Visnugupta Chandraditya, last of the Gupta rulers in northern India.
554 CE - 606 CE
The Maukhari Dynasty flourishes in northern India.
610 CE - 642 CE
Reign of Chalukya ruler Pulakesin II.
630 CE - 634 CE
Harsha fights and gets defeated by Pulakesin II.
655 CE - 681 CE
Reign of Chalukya ruler Vikramaditya I.
712 CE
Muslim general Muhammed bin Quasim conquers northern India.
c. 770 CE
The Kailasa rock-cut temple at Ellora is completed and dedicated to Shiva.
c. 950 CE
The Mukteshvara Temple is built at Bhubaneswar.
985 CE - 1014 CE
Reign of Chola king Rajaraja I in southern and central India, whose capital was at Thanjavur.
c. 1010 CE - c. 1025 CE
The Brihadishvara Temple is built at Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India.
1012 CE - 1044 CE
Reign of Chola king Rajendra I who controlled most of India.
21 Apr 1526 CE
The First Battle of Panipat is fought at Panipat, India resulting in a decisive victory for the Mughal forces led by Babur, ending the Delhi Sultanate and establishing the Mughal Empire in India.
14 Feb 1556 CE
The Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great (reign 1556-1605) is crowned at the age of 13, expanding the Mughal Empire throughout India and encouraging religious tolerance, stability, the development of arts and sciences, and land reforms.
3 Mar 1575 CE
The Battle of Tukaroi concludes with a decisive victory for the forces of the Mughal Empire, under Mun`im Khan, over those of the Sultanate of Bengal and Bihar under Daud Khan Karrani. The victory led directly to the annexation of Bengal by the Mughal Empire.
31 Jul 1658 CE
Mughal Emperor Alamgir I (better known as Aurangzeb) is crowned, beginning a reign that would see the absolute heights of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent.
16 May 1739 CE
The Battle of Vasai, fought between the Maratha Empire and the Portuguese Empire in the state of Maharashtra, India, ends in a decisive victory for the Maratha, ending Portuguese hopes for colonizing the region.
20 Jun 1756 CE
The infamous Black Hole of Calcutta event occurs in Calcutta (present-day Kolkata) India as either 146 or 64 British prisoners of war are thrown into a small cell at Fort William during the conflict between the British East India Company and the native Nawab of Bengal. Depending on which numbers are accepted, either 123 out of 146 or 43 out of 64 prisoners died, mostly of suffocation.
24 Apr 1837 CE
The Great Fire of Surat, India breaks out, lasting until 26 April, destroying over 9,000 homes and businesses, and killing over 500 people.
3 Nov 1838 CE
*The Times of India*, the oldest English-language newspaper in India and the largest-selling English-language newspaper daily in the world is founded.
11 Dec 1845 CE
The First Anglo-Sikh War (1845-1846) begins between the Sikh Empire and British Empire in the Punjab, modern-day India, when the Sikh army crosses the Sutlej River. The war ended in a British victory which was short-lived as the Second Anglo-Sikh War broke out in 1848.
16 Apr 1853 CE
The Great Indian Peninsula Railway opens as the first passenger line in India, traveling between Bori Bunder and Thane, 21 miles (34 km), and carrying 400 passengers. The event heralded the development of rail travel in India.
29 Mar 1857 CE
Sepoy Mangal Pandey, 34th Regiment, Bengal Native Infantry, mutinies against the officers of the East India Company at Barrackpore, India. Although subdued and later hanged on 8 April, his one-man revolt inspired others and is understood as the first strike of the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 that ended the East India Company.
10 May 1857 CE
The Sepoy Uprising in India begins as sepoys (indigenous soldiers) mutiny against British officers in the town of Meerut. The event – also known as the First War of Independence – was sparked earlier by sepoy Mangal Pandey on 29 March and the conflict lasted through 1858 but failed to bring down the British East India Company and win independence.
13 Apr 1919 CE
The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre (Amritsar Massacre) occurs in Amritsar, Punjab, India when British troops under Brigadier General Reginald Dyer open fire on unarmed, peaceful protesters, killing between 379-1,500 people. Dyer was later honored for his service. The massacre inspired the non-cooperation movement led by Mahatma Gandhi to free India from English colonial rule.
30 Jan 1948 CE
Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated in New Delhi, India by Nathuram Godse who was angered by Gandhi's political and religious views. Gandhi was shot three times at close range and died at the scene. Godse was tried, found guilty, and executed by hanging on 15 November 1949.
26 Nov 1949 CE
The Constitution of India is ratified by the Constituent Assembly of India and is the longest written national constitution in the world with 448 articles, 12 schedules, 5 appendices, and approximately 146,000 words in its English-language translation. The original document was handwritten by Constituent Assembly Chairman Dr. B.R. Ambedkar.
26 Jan 1950 CE
Dr. Rajendra Prasad is elected the first President of India and the Constitution of India comes into effect. Prasad served from 26 January 1950-13 May 1962 and is the only president of India to serve two full terms.
3 Dec 1984 CE
The Bhopal Disaster occurs in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India when the Union Carbide pesticide plant leaks toxic gas shortly after midnight when almost everyone in the vicinity was sleeping, resulting in upwards of 10,000 deaths and 500,000 injuries. It is regarded as the world's worst industrial disaster.