Indian History

The history of India is complex, diverse, and divided into many distinct regions. The subcontinent has been home to thousands of tribes, kingdoms, and empires—heritages united in the 20th century as a single nation. The historical, cultural, and linguistic differences between its societies are still visible today.

Ancient India and the Vedic Period

India is one of the oldest known sites of human civilization. Before the arrival of modern humans, earlier hominids lived in the region for hundreds of thousands of years. The Indus Valley Civilization, also known as the Harappans, first developed around 3000 BCE. These ancient peoples were distinguished by their cities and mastery of bronze technology. Their urban centers were located in what is now Pakistan and the northwest corner of India. After nearly a thousand years of growth, the Harappans entered a period of decline and had all but disappeared by 1700 BCE.

After several centuries, a culture of migrating Indo-Iranian settlers slowly assumed control of Northern India through many small kingdoms. They are known as the Aryans, a term originally used to refer to their noble classes. These people spoke Sanskrit, and their culture is best documented through the Vedas, the oldest Hindu scriptures. During the early Vedic era, these texts were passed down orally, changing and growing over time. Aryan culture spread through cities and farms, built on a caste system that divided priests, warriors, tradesmen, and laborers. Toward the end of this period, around the 6th or 5th century BCE, Siddhartha Gautama founded a new religion, Buddhism, which rejected the caste system but did not end it. Jainism was also founded at this time.

The Mauryan and Gupta Empires

Power among the tribes, cities, and kingdoms of the Vedic period continued to consolidate. The region saw several foreign invasions, most notably by Persia and Alexander the Great. In 321 BCE, Chandragupta Maurya founded the Mauryan Empire, which stretched to all but the southernmost tip of the subcontinent. His dynasty centralized India like never before, leading to an era of booming trade and internal growth. It lasted until 185 BCE and had a long-lasting impact on the development of future states. The subcontinent fragmented again after the fall of the Mauryas.

The next major political dynasty of India was the Gupta Empire, which ruled from 320 to 550 CE. The Gupta period marked a high point in Indian culture, sometimes referred to as the Golden Age of India. During this time, its people made advances in the arts, science, architecture and philosophy. Their discoveries expanded outward through trade caravans. The common numeral system and concept of zero, for example, were invented in Gupta India and introduced to Europe by Arab scholars. The subcontinent split apart once more as the Guptas weakened, paving the way for a series of small kingdoms and new religious sects.

Medieval India and the Rise of Islam

Until the 13th century, medieval India primarily consisted of small, competing kingdoms operating within similar cultural structures. Warrior kings, later called rajputs, dominated much of the subcontinent. The Chola dynasty, meanwhile, united Southern India between the 9th and 13th centuries. All faced significant outside pressure, including the spread of Islam and invading Turkic peoples.

Many of these Turkic groups were Muslim slaves or their descendants, the Mamluks. Early raids in the 11th century turned into conquest by the 13th. The Delhi Sultanate, centered on Delhi, was not the only Turkic or Afghani kingdom in Northern India, though it was the largest. It reigned from 1206 to 1526, withstanding a series of Mongol invasions in the process. The Turkic rulers met some resistance from their subjects but often formed alliances with neighboring Rajput kingdoms. The dynamic between Muslim rulers and a majority Hindu population varied by dynasty and ruler, but it established a tension that would have ramifications through the modern day.

The Mughal Empire

The Mongol Empire tried and failed to invade India, but a Turco-Mongolian dynasty would found one of its largest empires. Babur, a descendant of Timur, led a conquest of the Punjab region from the city of Kabul. He overthrew the Sultan of Delhi in 1526 and moved his capital to Agra. His son, Humayun, inherited his throne in 1530 and faced stiff resistance on all sides. He lost ground to the Afghan Sur Empire before forming an alliance with the Persian Safavids. With their aid, he restored Mughal control and gained new ground before passing power to his son, Akbar, in 1530.

Akbar inherited a wealthy state heavily influenced by Persian arts, culture, and military customs. He consolidated power and encouraged a unified sense of identity among his subjects, including religious tolerance on an unprecedented scale. Both a scholar and a warrior, he built libraries and schools and encouraged discussion between faiths and cultures. His reign is remembered as a period of growth and prosperity, lasting from 1556 to 1605.

British Colonialism in India

Like other empires before them, the Mughals eventually declined. Their power eroded after several military defeats in the 18th century. At the same time, the British East India Company had established a strong foothold on the fractured subcontinent. Local soldiers, peasants, and nobility reacted against the Company in the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The British toppled what remained of the Mughals at the Siege of Delhi that same year. The revolt caused the British to clamp down harder on their valuable holdings in India. The Crown established the British Raj, a colonial empire that grew to encompass almost all of modern India, as well as Pakistan and Bangladesh.

British colonialism brought both improvements and hardships to the lives of average Indian people. Stability, improved medicine, railways, and new industries led to a major population boom. On the other hand, these rapid changes also brought famine, disease, and the exploitation of India’s people and natural resources. By the early 20th century, India was beginning to form its own national identity, rooted in the ideal of self-governance. The nation played a significant role in both World Wars, providing both soldiers and supplies on behalf of the British Empire. The Indian National Congress, or INC, was founded in 1885 and gained steady momentum as an independence movement.

Modern India

The INC’s most famous advocate was Mohandas K. Gandhi, an Indian lawyer trained in London. He spent his early career in South Africa before returning to India, where he led a campaign of nonviolent resistance to British rule. The efforts of the INC and other movements resulted in Indian independence in 1947. Existing conflicts between Hindu and Muslim populations, however, could not be resolved. Instead, the nations of Pakistan and India were formed separately. Millions of people migrated from one new nation to the other based on religion and ethnicity. Hundreds of thousands died along the way and in riots across the region. The two nations have dealt with border conflicts, terror attacks, and general hostility since.

The Republic of India is now the largest democracy in the world, with an estimated population of 1.3 billion. Another leader of the INC, Jawaharlal Nehru, served as its first Prime Minister. His family has since held a prominent position in Indian politics. The nation has industrialized rapidly, transitioning from a largely agricultural economy to one specializing in manufacturing, technology, and service. Regional differences in lifestyle, religion, language, and culture are still apparent, though diminishing.

References

Henderson, Carol. Culture and Customs of India. Greenwood Press. 2002.

Majumdar, Ramesh Chandra. Ancient India. Motilal Banarsidass. 1977.

Richards, John F. The Mughal Empire. Part 1. Vol. 5. Cambridge University Press. 1995.

Robb, Peter. A History of India. Macmillan International. 2011.

Thapar, Romila. A History of India. Penguin UK. 1990.

“The World Factbook: India.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 9 Oct. 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html.

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