History of India

The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo

sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago hominids (Homo Erectus) from

about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread

and flourished in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent

from c. 3300 to 1300 BCE, was the first major civilization in India. A

sophisticated and technologically advanced urban culture developed

in the Mature Harappan period, from 2600 to 1900 BCE. This Bronze

Age civilization collapsed at the beginning of the second millennium

BCE and was followed by the Iron Age Vedic Civilization, which

extended over much of the Indo-Gangetic plains and which witnessed

the rise of major polities known as the Mahajanapadas. In one

kingdom, Magadha, Mahavira and Gautama Buddha were born in the

6th or 5th century BCE, who propagated their Shramanic

philosophies.

Almost all of the subcontinent was conquered by the Maurya Empire

during the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE. It subsequently became

fragmented, with various parts ruled by numerous Middle kingdoms

for the next 1,500 years. This is known as the classical period of
India, during which India is estimated to have had the largest

economy of the ancient and medieval world, controlling between one

third and one fourth of the world's wealth up to the 18th century.

Much of Northern and Central India was once again united in the 4th

century CE, and remained so for two centuries thereafter, under the

Gupta Empire. This period, of Hindu religious and intellectual

resurgence, is known among its admirers as the "Golden Age of

India". During the same time, and for several centuries afterwards,

Southern India, under the rule of the Chalukyas, Cholas, Pallavas and

Pandyas, experienced its own golden age. During this period aspects

of Indian civilization, administration, culture, and religion (Hinduism

and Buddhism) spread to much of Asia.

The southern state of Kerala had maritime business links with the

Roman Empire from around 77 CE. Islam was introduced in Kerala

through this route by Muslim traders. Muslim rule in the

subcontinent began in 712 CE when the Arab general Muhammad bin

Qasim conquered Sindh and Multan in southern Punjab, setting the

stage for several successive invasions between the 10th and 15th

centuries CE from Central Asia, leading to the formation of Muslim

empires in the Indian subcontinent such as the Delhi Sultanate and

the Mughal Empire.

Mughal rule came to cover most of the northern parts of the

subcontinent. Mughal rulers introduced middle-eastern art and

architecture to India. In addition to the Mughals and various Rajput

kingdoms, several independent Hindu states, such as the

Vijayanagara Empire, the Maratha Empire and the Ahom Kingdom,

flourished contemporaneously in Southern, Western and North-

Eastern India respectively. The Mughal Empire suffered a gradual

decline in the early eighteenth century, which provided opportunities

for the Afghans, Balochis, Sikhs and the Marathas to exercise control

over large areas in the northwest of the subcontinent until the British

East India Company gained ascendancy over South Asia.

Beginning in the mid-18th century and over the next century, India

was gradually annexed by the British East India Company.

Dissatisfaction with Company rule led to the First War of Indian

Independence, after which India was directly administered by the

British Crown and witnessed a period of both rapid development of

infrastructure and economic decline. During the first half of the 20th
century, a nationwide struggle for independence was launched by the

Indian National Congress, and later joined by the Muslim League. The

subcontinent gained independence from the United Kingdom in

1947, after being partitioned into the dominions of India and

Pakistan.

Pre-Historic era

Stone Age

Isolated remains of Homo erectus in Hathnora in the Narmada Valley

in Central India indicate that India might have been inhabited since at

least the Middle Pleistocene era, somewhere between 200,000 to

500,000 years ago. Recent finds in Tamil Nadu (at c. 75,000 years

ago, before and after the explosion of the Toba volcano) indicate the

presence of the first anatomically modern humans in the area.

The Mesolithic period in the Indian subcontinent was followed by the

Neolithic period, when more extensive settlement of the

subcontinent occurred after the end of the last Ice Age, or

approximately 12,000 years ago. The first confirmed semi-permanent

settlements appeared 9,000 years ago in the Rock Shelters of

Bhimbetka in modern Madhya Pradesh, India.

Early Neolithic culture in South Asia is represented by the Mehrgarh

findings (7000 BCE onwards) in present day Balochistan, Pakistan.

Traces of a Neolithic culture have been alleged to be submerged in

the Gulf of Khambat in India, radiocarbon dated to 7500 BCE.

However, the one dredged piece of wood in question was found in an

area of strong ocean currents. Neolithic agriculture cultures sprang

up in the Indus Valley region around 5000 BCE, in the Lower

Gangetic valley around 3000 BCE, and in later South India, spreading

southwards and also northwards into Malwa around 1800 BCE.

Tools crafted by proto-humans have been discovered in the north-

western part of the subcontinent that have been dated back two

million years. The ancient history of the region includes some of

South Asia's oldest settlements and some of its major civilizations.

The earliest archaeological site in the Subcontinent is the palaeolithic

hominid site in the Soan River valley.

Village life is first attested at the Neolithic site of Mehrgarh, while the

first urban civilization of the region began with the Indus Valley

Civilization.

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age in the Indian subcontinent began around 3300 BCE

with the early Indus Valley Civilization. It was centered on the Indus

River and its tributaries which extended into the Ghaggar-Hakra

River valley, the Ganges-Yamuna Doab, Gujarat,] and southeastern

Afghanistan. The civilization is primarily located in modern day India

(Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan provinces) and Pakistan

(Sindh, Punjab, and Balochistan provinces). Historically part of

Ancient India, it is one of the world's earliest urban civilizations,

along with Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. Inhabitants of the

ancient Indus river valley, the Harappans, developed new techniques

in metallurgy and handicraft (carneol products, seal carving)

produced copper, bronze, lead and tin.

The Mature Indus civilization flourished from about 2600 BCE to

1900 BCE marked the beginning of the urban civilization on the

subcontinent. The ancient civilization included urban centers such as

Dholavira, Kalibangan, Rupar, Rakhigarhi, Lothal in modern day India

and Harappa, Ganeriwala, Mohenjo-daro in modern day Pakistan. The

civilization is noted for its cities built of brick, road-side drainage

system and multi-storied houses.

Vedic period

The Vedic period is characterized by Indo-Aryan culture associated

with the texts of Vedas, sacred to Hindus, which were orally

composed in Vedic Sanskrit. The Vedas are some of the oldest extant

texts, next to those of Egypt and Mesopotamia. The Vedic period

lasted from about 1500 BCE to 500 BCE, laid the foundations of

Hinduism and other cultural aspects of early Indian society. The

Aryas established Vedic civilization all over North India, and

increasingly so in the Gangetic Plain. This period succeeded the

prehistoric Late Harappan during which immigrations of Indo-Aryan

speaking tribes overlaid the existing civilizations of local people

whom they called Dasyus.

Early Vedic society consisted of largely pastoral groups, with late

Harappan urbanization having been abandoned. After the Rigveda,

Aryan society became increasingly agricultural, and was socially

organized around the four Varnas. In addition to the principal texts of

Hinduism the Vedas, the core themes of the Sanskrit epics Ramayana

and Mahabharata are said to have their ultimate origins during this

period. Early Indo-Aryan presence probably corresponds, in part, to

the presence of Ochre Coloured Pottery in archaeological findings.

The kingdom of the Kurus corresponds to the Black and Red Ware

and Painted Gray Ware culture and the beginning of the Iron Age in

Northwestern India, around 1000 BCE with the composition of the

Atharvaveda, the first Indian text to mention iron, as śyā ma ayas,

literally "black metal." The Painted Grey Ware culture spanning much

of Northern India was prevalent from about 1100 to 600 BCE. The

Vedic Period also established republics (such as Vaishali) which

existed as early as the sixth century BCE and persisted in some areas

until the fourth century CE. The later part of this period corresponds

with an increasing movement away from the prevalent tribal system

towards establishment of kingdoms, called Maha Janapadas.

Maha Janapadas

The Mahajanapadas were the sixteen most powerful kingdoms and

republics of the era, located mainly across the fertile Indo-Gangetic

plains, however there were a number of smaller kingdoms stretching

the length and breadth of Ancient India.

In the later Vedic Age, a number of small kingdoms or city states had

covered the subcontinent, many mentioned during Vedic, early

Buddhist and Jaina literature as far back as 1000 BCE. By 500 BCE,

sixteen monarchies and 'republics' known as the Mahajanapadas —

Kasi, Kosala, Anga, Magadha, Vajji (or Vriji), Malla, Chedi, Vatsa (or

Vamsa), Kuru, Panchala, Machcha (or Matsya), Surasena, Assaka,

Avanti, Gandhara, Kamboja — stretched across the Indo-Gangetic

plains from modern-day Afghanistan to Bengal and Maharastra. This

period was that of the second major urbanisation in India after the

Indus Valley Civilization.

Many smaller clans mentioned within early literature seem to have

been present across the rest of the subcontinent. Some of these kings

were hereditary; other states elected their rulers. The educated

speech at that time was Sanskrit, while the dialects of the general

population of northern India are referred to as Prakrits. Many of the

sixteen kingdoms had coalesced to four major ones by 500/400 BCE,

by the time of Siddhartha Gautama. These four were Vatsa, Avanti,

Kosala and Magadha. Hindu rituals at that time were complicated and

conducted by the priestly class. It is thought that the Upanishads, late

Vedic texts dealing mainly with incipient philosophy, were composed

in the later Vedic Age and early in this period of the Mahajanapadas

(from about 600 - 400 BCE). Upanishads had a substantial effect on

Indian philosophy, and were contemporary to the development of

Buddhism and Jainism, indicating a golden age of thought in this

period.

It is believed that in 537 BCE, that Siddhartha Gautama attained the

state of "enlightenment", and became known as the 'Buddha' - the

enlightened one. Around the same time, Mahavira (the 24th Jain

Tirthankara according to Jains) propagated a similar theology, that

was to later become Jainism. However, Jain orthodoxy believes it

predates all known time. The Vedas are believed to have documented

a few Jain Tirthankars, and an ascetic order similar to the sramana

movement. The Buddha's teachings and Jainism had doctrines

inclined toward asceticism, and were preached in Prakrit, which

helped them gain acceptance amongst the masses. They have

profoundly influenced practices that Hinduism and Indian spiritual

orders are associated with namely, vegetarianism, prohibition of

animal slaughter and ahinsa (non-violence). While the geographic

impact of Jainism was limited to India, Buddhist nuns and monks

eventually spread the teachings of Buddha to Central Asia, East Asia,

Tibet, SriLanka and South East Asia.

Persian and Greek conquests

Asia in 323 BCE, the Nanda Empire and Gangaridai Empire in relation

to Alexander's Empire and neighbors.

Much of the northwestern subcontinent (present day Eastern

Afghanistan and Pakistan) came under the rule of the Persian

Achaemenid Empire in c. 520 BCE during the reign of Darius the

Great, and remained so for two centuries thereafter. In 326 BCE,

Alexander the Great conquered Asia Minor and the Achaemenid

Empire, reaching the north-west frontiers of the Indian subcontinent.

There, he defeated King Puru in the Battle of the Hydaspes (near

modern-day Jhelum, Pakistan) and conquered much of the Punjab.

Alexander's march East put him in confrontation with the Nanda

Empire of Magadha and Gangaridai Empire of Bengal. His army,

exhausted and frightened by the prospect of facing larger Indian

armies at the Ganges River, mutinied at the Hyphasis (modern Beas)

and refused to march further East. Alexander, after the meeting with

his officer, Coenus, was convinced that it was better to return.

The Persian and Greek invasions had important repercussions on

Indian civilization. The political systems of the Persians was to

influence future forms of governance on the subcontinent, including

the administration of the Mauryan dynasty. In addition, the region of

Gandhara, or present-day eastern Afghanistan and north-west

Pakistan, became a melting pot of Indian, Persian, Central Asian and

Greek cultures and gave rise to a hybrid culture, Greco-Buddhism,

which lasted until the 5th century CE and influenced the artistic

development of Mahayana Buddhism.

Maurya period

The Maurya Empire (322–185 B.C), ruled by the Mauryan dynasty,

was geographically extensive, powerful, and a political military

empire in ancient India. The great Maurya empire was established by

Chandragupta Maurya and this empire was flourished by Ashoka the

Great. At its greatest extent, the Empire stretched to the north along
the natural boundaries of the Himalayas, and to the east stretching

into what is now Assam. To the west, it reached beyond modern

Pakistan, annexing Balochistan and much of what is now Afghanistan,

including the modern Herat and Kandahar provinces. The Empire

was expanded into India's central and southern regions by the

emperors Chandragupta and Bindusara, but it excluded a big portion

of unexplored tribal and forested regions near Kalinga which was

won by Ashoka the Great. Ashoka propagated Buddhism across the

world and established many Buddhist monuments.

Chandragupta's minister Chanakya wrote the Arthashastra, one of the

greatest treatises on economics, politics, foreign affairs,

administration, military arts, war, and religion produced in Asia.

Archaeologically, the period of Mauryan rule in South Asia falls into

the era of Northern Black Polished Ware (NBPW). The Arthashastra

and the Edicts of Ashoka are primary sources of written records of

the Mauryan times. The Lion Capital of Asoka at Sarnath, is the

national emblem of India.

Early Middle Kingdoms — The Golden Age

The middle period was a time of notable cultural development. The

Satavahanas, also known as the Andhras, was a dynasty which ruled

in southern and central India starting from around 230 BC. Satakarni,

the sixth ruler of the Satvahana dynasty, defeated the Sunga Empire

of North India. Afterwards, Kharavela the warrior king of Kalinga

ruled a vast empire and was responsible for the propagation of

Jainism in the Indian Subcontinent. The Kharavelan Jain empire also

had a formidable maritime empire with trading routes linking it to

Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Borneo, Bali,

Sumatra and Java. Colonists from Kalinga settled in Sri Lanka, Burma,

as well as the Maldives and Malay Archipelago. Kuninda Kingdom

was a small Himalayan state that survived from around the 2nd

century BC to roughly the 3rd century CE. The Kushanas migrated

into north-western India in the middle of the 1st century CE, from

Central Asia, and founded an empire that eventually stretched from

Tajikistan to the middle Ganges. The Western Satraps (35-405 CE)

were Saka rulers of the western and central part of India. They were

the successors of the Indo-Scythians (see below) and

contemporaneous with the Kushans who ruled the northern part of

the Indian subcontinent, and the Satavahana (Andhra) who ruled in

central and southern India.

Different empires such as the Pandyans, Cholas, Cheras, Kadambas,

Western Gangas, Pallavas and Chalukyas dominated the southern

part of the Indian peninsula, at different periods of time. Several

southern kingdoms formed overseas empires that stretched across

South East Asia. The kingdoms warred with each other and Deccan

states, for domination of the south. Kalabhras, a Buddhist kingdom,

briefly interrupted the usual domination of the Cholas, Cheras and

Pandyas in the South.

Northwestern hybrid cultures

The north-western hybrid cultures of the subcontinent included the

Indo-Greeks, the Indo-Scythians, the Indo-Parthians, and the Indo-

Sassinids. The first of these, the Indo-Greek Kingdom, founded when

the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius invaded the region in 180 BC,

extended over various parts of present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Lasting for almost two centuries, it was ruled by a succession of more

than 30 Greek kings, who were often in conflict with each other. The
Indo-Scythians was a branch of the Indo-European Sakas (Scythians),

who migrated from southern Siberia first into Bactria, subsequently

into Sogdiana, Kashmir, Arachosia, Gandhara and finally into India;

their kingdom lasted from the middle of the 2nd century BC to the 1st

century BC. Yet another kingdom, the Indo-Parthians (also known as

Pahlavas) came to control most of present-day Afghanistan and

northern Pakistan, after fighting many local rulers such as the

Kushan ruler Kujula Kadphises, in the Gandhara region. The Sassanid

empire of Persia, who were contemporaries of the Guptas, expanded

into the region of present-day Pakistan, where the mingling of Indian

and Persian cultures gave birth to the Indo-Sassanid culture.

Roman trade with India

Roman trade with India started around 1 CE following the reign of

Augustus and his conquest of Egypt, theretofore India's biggest trade

partner in the West.

The trade started by Eudoxus of Cyzicus in 130 BCE kept increasing,

and according to Strabo (II.5.12.), by the time of Augustus up to 120

ships were setting sail every year from Myos Hormos to India. So

much gold was used for this trade, and apparently recycled by the
Kushans for their own coinage, that Pliny (NH VI.101) complained

about the drain of specie to India:

"India, China and the Arabian peninsula take one hundred million

sesterces from our empire per annum at a conservative estimate: that

is what our luxuries and women cost us. For what percentage of

these imports is intended for sacrifices to the gods or the spirits of

the dead?"

—Pliny, Historia Naturae 12.41.84.

These trade routes and harbour are described in detail in the 1st

century CE Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.

Gupta rule

The Classical Age refers to the period when much of the Indian

Subcontinent was reunited under the Gupta Empire (ca. 320 AD–550

AD). This period is called the Golden Age of India and was marked by

extensive achievements in science, technology, engineering, art,

dialectic, literature, logic, mathematics, astronomy, religion and

philosophy that crystallized the elements of what is generally known

as Hindu culture. The decimal numeral system, including the concept

of zero, was invented in India during this period. The peace and

prosperity created under leadership of Guptas enabled the pursuit of

scientific and artistic endeavors in India. The high points of this

cultural creativity are magnificent architectures, sculptures and

paintings. The Gupta period produced scholars such as Kalidasa,

Aryabhata, Varahamihira, Vishnu Sharma, and Vatsyayana who made

great advancements in many academic fields. Science and political

administration reached new heights during the Gupta era. Strong

trade ties also made the region an important cultural center and set

the region up as a base that would influence nearby kingdoms and

regions in Burma, Sri Lanka, Malay Archipelago and Indochina.

The Gupta period marked a watershed of Indian culture: the Guptas

performed Vedic sacrifices to legitimize their rule, but they also

patronized Buddhism, which continued to provide an alternative to

Brahmanical orthodoxy. The military exploits of the first three rulers

—Chandragupta I (ca. 319–335), Samudragupta (ca. 335–376), and

Chandragupta II (ca. 376–415) —brought much of India under their

leadership. They successfully resisted the North-Western Kingdoms

until the arrival of the Hunas who established themselves in

Afghanistan by the first half of the fifth century, with their capital at
Bamiyan. Nevertheless, much of the Deccan and southern India were

largely unaffected by this state of flux in the north.

Late Middle Kingdoms — The Classical Age

The Classical Age in India began with the Guptas and the resurgence

of the north during Harsha's conquests around the 7th century, and

ended with the fall of the Vijayanagar Empire in the South, due to

pressure from the invaders to the north in the 13th century. This

period produced some of India's finest art, considered the epitome of

classical development, and the development of the main spiritual and

philosophical systems which continued to be in Hinduism, Buddhism

and Jainism. King Harsha of Kannauj succeeded in reuniting northern

India during his reign in the 7th century, after the collapse of the

Gupta dynasty. His kingdom collapsed after his death.

From the 7th to the 9th century, three dynasties contested for control

of northern India: the Gurjara Pratiharas of Malwa, the Palas of

Bengal and the Rashtrakutas of Deccan. The Sena Empire would later

assume control of the Pala Empire, and the Gurjara Pratiharas

fragmented into various states. These were the first of the Rajputs, a

series of kingdoms which managed to survive in some form for

almost a millennium until Indian independence from the British. The

first recorded Rajput kingdoms emerged in Rajasthan in the 6th

century, and small Rajput dynasties later ruled much of northern

India. One Gurjar Rajput of the Chauhan clan, Prithvi Raj Chauhan,

was known for bloody conflicts against the advancing Islamic

Sultanates. The Shahi dynasty ruled portions of eastern Afghanistan,

northern Pakistan, and Kashmir from the mid-seventh century to the

early eleventh century.

The Chalukya Empire ruled parts of southern and central India from

550 to 750 from Badami, Karnataka and again from 970 to 1190 from

Kalyani, Karnataka. The Pallavas of Kanchi were their

contemporaries further to the south. With the decline of the Chalukya

empire, their feudatories, Hoysalas of Halebidu, Kakatiya of

Warangal, Seuna Yadavas of Devagiri and a southern branch of the

Kalachuri divided the vast Chalukya empire amongst themselves

around the middle of 12th century.

The Chola Empire at its peak covered much of the Indian

Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Rajaraja Chola conquered all of

peninsular South India and parts of the Sri Lanka. Rajendra Chola's
navies went even further, occupying coasts from Burma (now

Myanmar) to Vietnam, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,

Lakshadweep, Sumatra, and the Malaya in South East Asia and Pegu

islands. Later during the middle period, the Pandyan Empire

emerged in Tamil Nadu, as well as the Chera Empire in Kerala. By

1343, all these dynasties had ceased to exist giving rise to the

Vijayanagar empire.

The ports of South India were involved in the Indian Ocean trade,

chiefly involving spices, with the Roman Empire to the west and

Southeast Asia to the east. Literature in local vernaculars and

spectacular architecture flourished till about the beginning of the

14th century when southern expeditions of the sultan of Delhi took

their toll on these kingdoms. The Hindu Vijayanagar dynasty came

into conflict with Islamic rule (the Bahmani Kingdom) and the

clashing of the two systems, caused a mingling of the indigenous and

foreign culture that left lasting cultural influences on each other. The

Vijaynagar Empire eventually declined due to pressure from the first

Delhi Sultanates who had managed to establish themselves in the

north, centered around the city of Delhi by that time.

The Islamic Sultanates

After conquering Persia, Islamic Caliphate incorporated parts of what

is now Pakistan around 720 CE. They were keen to invade India,

which was the richest classical civilization, with a flourishing

international trade and the only known diamond mines in the world.

After several wars over three centuries between various north Indian

kingdoms and the Caliphate, short lived Islamic empires (Sultanates)

were established and spread across the northern subcontinent over a

period of a few centuries. But, prior to Turkic invasions, Muslim

trading communities had flourished throughout coastal South India,

particularly in Kerala, where they arrived in small numbers, mainly

from the Arabian peninsula, through trade links via the Indian Ocean.

However, this had marked the introduction of an Abrahamic Middle

Eastern religion in Southern India's pre-existing Indian religions,

often in puritanical form. Later, the Bahmani Sultanate and Deccan

Sultanates flourished in the south.

Delhi Sultanate

In the 12th and 13th centuries, Turkics and Pashtuns invaded parts

of northern India and established the Delhi Sultanate at the beginning

of the 13th century, in the former Rajput holdings. The subsequent

Slave dynasty of Delhi managed to conquer large areas of northern

India, approximate to the ancient extent of the Guptas, while the

Khilji Empire was also able to conquer most of central India, but were

ultimately unsuccessful in conquering and uniting most of the

subcontinent. The Sultanate ushered in a period of Indian cultural

renaissance. The resulting "Indo-Muslim" fusion of cultures left

lasting syncretic monuments in architecture, music, literature,

religion, and clothing. It is surmised that the language of Urdu

(literally meaning "horde" or "camp" in various Turkic dialects) was

born during the Delhi Sultanate period as a result of the inter-

mingling of the local speakers of Sanskritic Prakrits with the Persian,

Turkic and Arabic speaking immigrants under the Muslim rulers. The

Delhi Sultanate is the only Indo-Islamic empire to stake a claim to

enthroning one of the few female rulers in India, Razia Sultan (1236–

1240).

A Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur began a trek starting in 1398 to

invade the reigning Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud of the Tughlaq

Dynasty in the north Indian city of Delhi. The Sultan's army was

defeated on December 17, 1398. Timur entered Delhi and the city
was sacked, destroyed and left in ruins; his army fell killing and

plundering for three days and nights. He ordered except for the

Sayyids, the scholars, and the other Mussulmans, the whole city to be

sacked; 100,000 war prisoners, mostly Hindus, were put to death in

one day.

The Mughal era

In 1526, Babur, a Timurid descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan,

swept across the Khyber Pass and established the Mughal Empire.

However, his son Humayun was defeated by the Afghan warrior Sher

Shah Suri in the year 1540, and Humayun was forced to retreat to

Kabul. After Sher Shah's death his son Islam Shah and Hindu king

Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya, who had won 22 battles from

Punjab to Bengal and had established a secular Hindu Raj, ruled

North India from Delhi till 1556, when Akbar's forces defeated and

killed Hemu in the Second Battle of Panipat on 6th Nov. 1556. The

Mughal Dynasty ruled most of the Indian subcontinent by 1600; it

went into a slow decline after 1707 and was finally defeated during

the 1857 War of Independence also called the Indian Rebellion of

1857. This period marked vast social change in the subcontinent as

the Hindu majority were ruled over by the Mughal emperors; most of

them showed religious tolerance, liberally patronising Hindu culture.

The famous emperor Akbar, who was the grandson of Babar, tried to

establish a good relationship with the Hindus. However, later

emperors such as Aurangazeb tried to establish complete Muslim

dominance and as a result several historical temples were destroyed

during this period and taxes imposed on non-Muslims. During the

decline of the Mughal Empire, which at its peak occupied an area

similar to the ancient Maurya Empire, several smaller empires rose

to fill the power vacuum or themselves were contributing factors to

the decline. The Mughals were perhaps the richest single dynasty to

have ever existed. In 1739, Nader Shah defeated the Mughal army at

the huge Battle of Karnal. After this victory, Nader captured and

sacked Delhi, carrying away many treasures, including the Peacock

Throne.[53] During the Mughal era, the dominant political forces

consisted of the Mughal Empire and its tributaries and, later on, the

rising successor states - including the Maratha confederacy - who

fought an increasingly weak and disfavoured Mughal dynasty. The

Mughals, while often employing brutal tactics to subjugate their

empire, had a policy of integration with Indian culture, which is what

made them successful where the short-lived Sultanates of Delhi had

failed. Akbar the Great was particularly famed for this. Akbar

declared "Amari" or non-killing of animals in the holy days of Jainism.

He rolled back the Jazia Tax for non-Muslims. The Mughal Emperors

married local royalty, allied themselves with local Maharajas, and

attempted to fuse their Turko-Persian culture with ancient Indian

styles, creating unique Indo-Saracenic architecture. It was the

erosion of this tradition coupled with increased brutality and

centralization that played a large part in their downfall after

Aurangzeb, who unlike previous emperors, imposed relatively non-

pluralistic policies on the general population, that often inflamed the

majority Hindu population.

Post-Mughal period

The post-Mughal era was dominated by the rise of the Maratha

suzerainty as other small regional states (mostly post-Mughal

tributary states) emerged, and also by the increasing activities of

European powers (see colonial era below). The Maratha Kingdom

was founded and consolidated by Shivaji. By the 18th century, it had

transformed itself into the Maratha Empire under the rule of the
Peshwas. By 1760, the Empire had stretched across practically the

entire subcontinent. This expansion was brought to an end by the

defeat of the Marathas by an Afghan army led by Ahmad Shah Abdali

at the Third Battle of Panipat (1761). The last Peshwa, Baji Rao II,

was defeated by the British in the Third Anglo-Maratha War.

Mysore was a kingdom of southern India, which was founded around

1400 CE by the Wodeyar dynasty. The rule of the Wodeyars was

interrupted by Hyder Ali and his son Tippu Sultan. Under their rule

Mysore fought a series of wars sometimes against the combined

forces of the British and Marathas, but mostly against the British with

some aid or promise of aid from the French. Hyderabad was founded

by the Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golconda in 1591. Following a brief

Mughal rule, Asif Jah, a Mughal official, seized control of Hyderabad

declaring himself Nizam-al-Mulk of Hyderabad in 1724. It was ruled

by a hereditary Nizam from 1724 until 1948. Both Mysore and

Hyderabad became princely states in British India.

The Punjabi kingdom, ruled by members of the Sikh religion, was a

political entity that governed the region of modern day Punjab. This

was among the last areas of the subcontinent to be conquered by the

British. The Anglo-Sikh wars marked the downfall of the Sikh Empire.

Around the 18th century modern Nepal was formed by Gorkha

rulers.

Colonial era

Vasco da Gama's maritime success to discover for Europeans a new

sea route to India in 1498 paved the way for direct Indo-European

commerce. The Portuguese soon set up trading-posts in Goa, Daman,

Diu and Bombay. The next to arrive were the Dutch, the British—who

set up a trading-post in the west-coast port of Surat in 1619—and the

French. The internal conflicts among Indian Kingdoms gave

opportunities to the European traders to gradually establish political

influence and appropriate lands. Although these continental

European powers were to control various coastal regions of southern

and eastern India during the ensuing century, they would eventually

lose all their territories in India to the British islanders, with the

exception of the French outposts of Pondicherry and Chandernagore,

the Dutch port of Travancore, and the Portuguese colonies of Goa,

Daman, and Diu.

The British Raj

The British East India Company had been given permission by the

Mughal emperor Jahangir in 1617 to trade in India. Gradually their

increasing influence led the de-jure Mughal emperor Farrukh Siyar to

grant them dastaks or permits for duty free trade in Bengal in 1717.

The Nawab of Bengal Siraj Ud Daulah, the de facto ruler of the Bengal

province, opposed British attempts to use these permits. This led to

the Battle of Plassey in 1757, in which the 'army' of East India

Company, led by Robert Clive, defeated the Nawab's forces. This was

the first political foothold with territorial implications that the British

acquired in India. Clive was appointed by the Company as its first

'Governor of Bengal' in 1757. This was combined with British

victories over the French at Madras, Wandiwash and Pondicherry

that, along with wider British successes during the Seven Years War,

reduced French influence in India. After the Battle of Buxar in 1764,

the Company acquired the civil rights of administration in Bengal

from the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II; it marked the beginning of

its formal rule, which was to engulf eventually most of India and

extinguish the Moghul rule and dynasty itself in a century. The East

India Company monopolized the trade of Bengal. They introduced a

land taxation system called the Permanent Settlement which

introduced a feudal-like structure (See Zamindar) in Bengal. By the

1850s, the East India Company controlled most of the Indian sub-

continent, which included present-day Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Their policy was sometimes summed up as Divide and Rule, taking

advantage of the enmity festering between various princely states

and social and religious groups.

The first major movement against the British Company's high handed

rule resulted in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, also known as the

"Indian Mutiny" or "Sepoy Mutiny" or the "First War of

Independence". After a year of turmoil, and reinforcement of the East

India Company's troops with British soldiers, the Company overcame

the rebellion. The nominal leader of the uprising, the last Mughal

emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, was exiled to Burma, his children were

beheaded and the Moghul line abolished. In the aftermath all power

was transferred from the East India Company to the British Crown,

which began to administer most of India as a colony; the Company's

lands were controlled directly and the rest through the rulers of what

it called the Princely states. There were 565 princely states when the
Indian subcontinent gained independence from Britain in August

1947.

During the British Raj, famines in India, often attributed to failed

government policies, were some of the worst ever recorded,

including the Great Famine of 1876–78, in which 6.1 million to 10.3

million people died and the Indian famine of 1899–1900, in which

1.25 to 10 million people died. The Third Plague Pandemic started in

China in the middle of the 19th century, spreading plague to all

inhabited continents and killing 10 million people in India alone.

Despite persistent diseases and famines, however, the population of

the Indian subcontinent, which stood at about 125 million in 1750,

had reached 389 million by 1941.

The Indian Independence movement

The physical presence of the British in India was not significant. Yet

the British were able to rule two-thirds of the subcontinent directly,

and exercise considerable leverage over the Princely States that

accounted for the remaining one-third. The British employed "Divide

and Rule" in British India as a means of preventing an uprising

against the Raj.

In this environment of Hindu-Muslim disunity, the first step toward

Indian independence and western-style democracy was taken with

the appointment of Indian councilors to advise the British viceroy,

and with the establishment of provincial Councils with Indian

members; the councillors' participation was subsequently widened in

legislative councils. From 1920 leaders such as Mohandas

Karamchand Gandhi began highly popular mass movements to

campaign against the British Raj, using largely peaceful methods.

Some other revolutionaries adopted militant approach; revolutionary

activities against the British rule took place throughout the Indian

sub-continent. The profound impact Gandhi had on India and his

ability to gain independence through a totally non-violent mass

movement made him lead by example, wearing a minimum of

homespun clothes to weaken the British textile industry and

orchestrating a march to the sea, where demonstrators proceeded to

make their own salt in protest against the British monopoly. Indians

gave him the name Mahatma, or Great Soul, first suggested by the

Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore. Subash Chandra Bose, a great

freedom fighter, had organised a formidable army to fight against the

British rule. Bhagat Singh was another Indian freedom fighter,

considered to be one of the most influential revolutionaries of the

Indian independence movement; he is often referred to as Shaheed

Bhagat Singh (the word shaheed means "martyr"). These movements

succeeded in bringing Independence to the Indian sub-continent in

1947. One year later, Gandhi was assassinated. However, he did live

long enough to free his homeland and is thus recognised as the father

of his nation.

Independence and Partition

Along with the desire for independence, tensions between Hindus

and Muslims had also been developing over the years. The Muslims

had always been a minority, and the prospect of an exclusively Hindu

government made them wary of independence; they were as inclined

to mistrust Hindu rule as they were to resist the foreign Raj, although

Gandhi called for unity between the two groups in an astonishing

display of leadership. The British, extremely weakened by the World

War II, promised that they would leave and the British Indian

territories gained independence in 1947, after being partitioned into

the Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. Following the

controversial division of pre-partition Punjab and Bengal, rioting

broke out between Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims in these provinces and

spread to several other parts of India, leaving some 500,000 dead.

Also, this period saw one of the largest mass migrations ever

recorded in modern history, with a total of 12 million Hindus, Sikhs

and Muslims moving between the newly created nations of India and

Pakistan (which gained independence on 15 and 14 August 1947

respectively). In 1971, Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan and East

Bengal, seceded from Pakistan.