Major Eras of Indian History
India is a home of many rich cultures and traditions. Never-ending migration of people to India even today has made the country dynamic in terms of its heritage. It is very clear from the inscriptions that man had been living in India way before 50,000 BC. Till 8000 BC they never knew to cultivate crops or building houses. How did they survive, where did they live?
They were called the Stone Age people, who lived by eating roots and fruits and lived in hills and caves. The organic evolution of humankind began after that period and that is what we shall be seeing here, the period from 8000BC till today…
Table of Contents
List of Era’s in the Indian History & Time Line
Indus Valley Civilization – Harappan Civilization
Until 1921, it was believed that Indian civilization developed only in recent times. Archeological Department of India, under the guidance of Daya Ram Sahni and R.D. Banerjee, discovered a unique and important civilization of India dated back to 2600 BC. After that, many discoveries were made which made the existence of advanced civilization in prehistoric India come to light. This was named Indus Valley Civilization or Harappa Culture. It was indeed the largest of the early civilization that existed on planet earth.
The sequence of excavations and discoveries made the archeologists believe that there was a clear transformation of nomadic stone age cave living culture to well established large cities that happened when we enter this era. From eating raw food to cultivating vegetables were also evident in many discoveries. Well-engineered cities and large houses can be found in these sites. Usage of bricks, copper was very clear from the pieces of evidence. Proper drainage systems and wells at the back of the houses make it very relevant for a well cultured and advanced civilization that existed in this period.
Agriculture was the backbone of Indus Valley Civilization. Cotton cultivation has happened remarkably during this period. People ate wheat, barley as well as bananas. They also consumed fish, mutton, beef, and pork. Bulls, Camels, Cats, Dogs were domesticated in this period.
This civilization was economically powerful, however, what race they belonged was always a controversy. Many scholars have attempted to understand their race using human skeletons and skulls. Few said people belonged to Aryans while a few said they belonged to the Sumerian race. A piece of proper evidence was provided to arrive at the conclusion that people who lived in the Indus Valley Civilization were Dravidians. But all came to an end when the scholars agreed that there existed a vast civilization that had a mixed race of people living luxuriously.
Another controversial aspect of this civilization is, what happened to the people who lived in such luxury? Many experts have many opinions about their disappearance. Some say that the decline is due to change in climatic conditions, some say deforestation and some others say, it was war. All was good for a good long period; evidence say that Indus Valley Civilization ended by 1900BC.
Indus Valley Civilization – 2600 BC to 1900BC
Vedic Civilization – Aryan Civilization
Vedic Civilization is one of the earliest civilizations of India. It has got its name through very early literature of Hindus in India called Vedas. This civilization is popularly known as Aryan Civilization. Aryans were the people who came from the Central Asian continent of the world roughly between 2000BC to 1500BC. The concept of ‘King’ came into usage during this period. A king is a person who governs the people with the help of his ministers. Like the Indus Valley civilization, Vedic also relied on agriculture and the main occupation of these people was cultivation.
Though the expert archeologists confirmed the fact Indus Valley Civilization people were of mixed race, only during Vedic Civilization the people were divided into 4 castes, also known as Varnas.1. Brahmins (Priests), 2. Kshatriyas (Warriors), 3. Vaishyas (Skilled Traders, Merchants), 4. Shudras (Unskilled Workers).
It is also widely accepted that the greatest epics of India ‘Ramayana’ and ‘Mahabharata’ happened during this period. As a part of the historical excavations, it is still not confirmed how the Vedic Civilization ended, however, it is believed that Vedic Civilization ended after the continuous war among the kings during that period.
Vedic Civilization – 1500-BC to 500BC
The Vedic Civilization is actually an urban civilization, once their decline there raised second urbanization of India around 600BC and continued to view many flamboyant periods of Indian history
Era of Buddha
This period is in Indian history is remarkable as it was the start of colonial expansion among the Indian kings. This period is named after Lord Gautama Buddha, who found Buddhism to this world as he was a prominent personality during this era. Many kings existed during this period and perished, and in Indian history, we collectively call this period as ‘Buddhist Era’.
From the Vedic period, the tribes began to form their own territorial communities and they called it ‘States’ or ‘Janapadas’. There were sixteen Mahajanapadas (Major Kingdoms) existed during this period. The kings were very eager to connect the neighboring kingdoms with themselves in the form of war. Constant wars of expansion were happening during this period with all violence and bloodshed. While these were happening, Lord Gautama Buddha attempted to purify the then ritualistic practices and, in the course, developed and formed a religion called Buddhism.
The era of Buddha – 600BC – There was no clear end to this, as few kings followed Buddhist’s preaching and many different kings from different parts of the world approached India.
Greek Invasion on India
While there were sixteen Mahajanapadas, rich trade of silk, gold, and spices was happening between Greece and India. This made way for the Greeks to enter India. Though not clearly mentioned in Indian scripts, from the Greek scripts, King Porus was an ancient Indian King who was a legendary warrior with exceptional skills.
The entry of Alexander the Great happened in 326BC where he defeated King Porus and also offered him one of his annexed kingdoms to him as a part of his heroic nature even after defeat. It is said that by the age of 30, Alexander had the largest empires in the world ancient history.
Alexander the Great appeared to have left India by 325BC after a fierce battle with Indian tribes where he was wounded severely.
The Great Mauryan Empire
There was a lot of confusion over Alexander’s death. There emerged a King named Chandragupta Maurya, who had a chance to defeat the Greeks. He defeated the Greeks and annexed small kingdoms ruled by other kings. He found a glorious empire called ‘The Mauryan Empire’. King Chandragupta Maurya united all fragmented small kingdoms to one and earned the name ‘First Emperor of Bharata’.
Indian trade and connection with the outside world flourished. This period was the stabilization period in Indian history. King Chandragupta Maurya offered his throne to his son Bindusara after he embraced peace in religion. Bindusara, after his reign, offered his throne to one of the famous and greatest kings of India – Ashoka. He after a historically famous war called, the Kalinga war, he embraced Buddhism.
Indian history clearly shows they craving to be in power. As King Ashoka left his throne to his aides after converting himself to Buddhism, weak rulers attacked the Mauryan empire. It was not possible to administer the vast empire by weak aides, they surrendered to the attacks. Then came the Kingdoms of Kushanas by 1st century AD. The Kushanas ruled India till 3rd Century AD.
Dynasty of Gupta
Kushanas decline happened by attacks from local tribes, small powerful warrior kingdoms. Gupta Dynasty came to power. Guptas were from India and belonged to a small kingdom. Their warrior instinct made them came to power. First King of the Gupta Dynasty was Chandragupta I. He annexed many neighboring states by war and also got dowry as a state after his wedding.
Chandragupta I gave the throne to Samudragupta, his son. He was an elegant warrior and a strategist, who subdued the forest tribes who were a constant threat to any empire. Samudragupta offered his throne to Chandragupta II, his son also called Vikramaditya. He conquered many parts of India which gave way for the dynasty to get more wealth and prosperity. The last known kings were Narasimhagupta and Vishnugupta.
Gupta Dynasty perished after many other small kingdoms stopped paying taxes to the Dynasty and economically, they became weak as they were fighting war after war with Huns. Huns were nomadic people from Central Asia. Weal leaders were not able to cope with the administration’s troubles. On top of it, they were also attacked small rebellious kingdoms. Finally, the Gupta Dynasty came to an end in 6th Century AD, giving way to the formation of many small kingdoms with weak kings. With the invasion of other parts of the world started happening in India, we enter the next stage in Indian History.
There were many notable kings after Gupta’s decline
- Harshavardhana
- The Chalukyas of Badami
- The Pallavas of Kanchi
- Cholas of the South
- The Pandyas
- The Rashtrakutas
This part of Indian history happened for almost 3 centuries where the rise of Islamic power started to happen
Many Kings by the names who were prominent at that period were Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni, Muhammad Ghori. It was indeed Ghori’s 2nd attack on India that set the foundation of Muslim rule over India. This happened in 1192AD.
The Delhi Sultanate was formed which was almost 3 centuries between 1200AD to 1536AD. 5 dynasties ruled India during this period 1. Slave Dynasty, 2. Khilji Dynasty, 3. Tughlaq Dynasty, 4. Sayyid Dynasty, 5. Lodhi Dynasty.
During the last stages of Delhi Sultanate, another empire in the south was formed called the Vijayanagar empire. The same time raise of the Bhamani kingdom by Muslims also emerged. They both had frequent clashes during this period.
The Mughal Empire
This is a period where a new empire was formed in the center. This empire once again united the small kingdoms to one and put under one rule. India was prosperous during this period.
Names of the Kings
- Babar – 1526 to 1530
- Humayun – 1530 to 1540 and 1555 to 1556
- Akbar – 1556 to 1605
- Jehangir
- Shahjahan
- Aurangzeb
The period between 1540 and 1555, the Mughals were attacked by an Afghan ruler called Sher Shah Suri. Humayun again attacked Sher Shah Suri’s successor in 1555 to regain the power of India.
After Aurangzeb’s death, the Mughal empire started to see a decline as there were many attacks from Marathas and also from the British. The empire started to shrink and at one point in time, they had just Delhi to their name. The Mughals were ruling India till the 1857 and perished after British Attack
This marked the complete closure of the Middle stage in Indian history and slowly British dominance over India started which gave birth to the Indian struggle for freedom.
British Entry and Invasion
The East India Company entered India in the year 1617 while the Mughals gave them permission to trade through the Indian Ocean. After a period, and Mughals gradual decline, India has divided once again with small kingdoms. British used this opportunity to capture entire India and put it under their control, eventually ruling them. Indians rebelled initially and it was a patriotic revolt against the British in the year 1857. British took one year to demolish the rebels and took control of the entire India.
From 1858AD, the British colonial government saw its expansion in terms of infrastructure and economy. Education system was introduced. It is on the records that the British ruled 52% of India from 1858 to 1947 and rest 48% were the princely states where they levied a tax for being under their government.
In the 19th century, Indian nationalism boomed and claimed Indian Independence. Many movements initiated by the Congress political party along with Father of the Nation and finally India got independence on 15th August 1947, having the division of a new country Pakistan from the Indian mainland.
