Ancient India

The Indus Valley Civilization, considered an early civilization, spread and flourished in the northwestern Indian subcontinent between 3300 and 1300 BC. It was the first great civilization in South Asia. During the Harappan period, between 2600 and 1900, it developed a technologically advanced urban culture. That civilization collapsed at the beginning of the II millennium BC. c.and was succeeded by the Vedic civilization of the Iron Age. In that era, the Vedas, seminal texts of Hinduism, were composed, the janapadas (monarchical political entities) and caste-based stratification were formed. The late Vedic civilization spread over the Indo-Gangetic plain and much of the subcontinent, and saw the rise of major states known as mahajanapadas. In Magadha, one of these kingdoms, Gautama Buddha and Mahavira propagated their shramanic philosophies during the 5th and 6th centuries BC.

Much of the subcontinent was conquered by the Maurya Empire during the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. C. From the third century a pracrite and Pali literature in the north and Sangam literature in the south began to flourish. Wootz steel originated in southern India in the 3rd century BC. C. and was exported abroad .During the classical period, various parts of India were ruled by numerous dynasties for 1,500 years, most notably the Gupta Empire. Witnessing a Hindu religious and intellectual revival, this period is known as the 'golden age of India'. In this period various aspects of Indian civilization, administration, culture and religion (Hinduism and Buddhism) spread to much of Asia, while the southern Indian kingdoms maintained maritime ties to the Middle East and the Mediterranean. Indian cultural influence spread to many parts of Southeast Asia, leading to the establishment of Indianized kingdoms in that region.

Indus Valley Culture

The transition from agricultural communities to more complex urban communities began between the Mehrgarh period and the (3000 BC). This period marked the beginning of an urban society in India, known as the Indus River Valley culture - also called the civilization of Harappa and Mojensho Daro, which reached its maximum development in the span of a thousand years between (29th century BC and the 19th century BC).

It was centered between the Saraswati and Indus rivers and extended to the Ganges and Iamuna river areas, Doab, Gujarat and northern Afghanistan.

This civilization was noted for the cities it built with bricks, with drainage systems and houses with multiple rooms. The oldest historical references are those of Meluja in the records of the Sumerians. Compared to the civilizations of Egypt and Sumer (earlier by several centuries), the Indus civilization had fairly advanced urban planning and surprisingly uniform measurement systems.

The ruins of Mohenjo Daro were once the center of this society. The settlements of the Indus Civilization extended to the border with Iran (in the west), to the Himalayas (in the north), to Delhi (in the east) and to Bombay (in the south). At its height, it is estimated that this region had a population of more than five million inhabitants.

Between the towns there were urban centers of some importance such as Mohenjo-Daro, Dholavira, Ganweriwala, Lothal and Rakhigarhi.

To date, more than 2,500 cities and towns have been found, mostly on the eastern bank of the Indus River in Pakistan, along what may have been the Vedic Saraswati River. Geological and climatic changes are thought to have been responsible for drying up the Saraswati River, creating the aridity of today's region and the demise of civilization in that region.

Archaeological studies suggest that the Indus Valley civilizations depended on the alluvial soils of the rivers, which produced high yields of cereals, grains and other crops.

For the XXVIII century a. C. the presence of an organized State is evident, with hierarchical rules and public works of greater scope. In the middle of the II millennium a. C., the region of the valley of the rivers, where two thirds of the towns found were located, dried up and the towns were abandoned.

The Vedic period ( ca. 1750 BC-600 BC )

The Vedic period takes its name from the Indo-Aryan culture of northwestern India, although other parts of India had a distinct identity during this period. Vedic culture is described in the Vedas, texts still sacred to Hindus, which were composed orally in Vedic Sanskrit (a language from Indo-European Central Asia). The Vedas are some of the oldest surviving texts from India. The Vedic period spans from about 1750 to 500 BC. C. and helped form the foundations of various cultural aspects of the Indian subcontinent. In terms of culture, in this period many regions of the subcontinent went through a transition from the Copper Age to the Iron Age .

The vedic society

Historians have analyzed the Vedas to propose a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and in the upper Indo-Gangetic plain. Most of these historians also consider this period to have included several waves of Indo-Aryan migrations into the subcontinent from the northwest. The sacred fig tree and the cow were sanctified at the time the Atharvaveda was composed. Many concepts in Indian philosophy that were later adopted, such as dharma , have their roots in Vedic antecedents .

The ancient Vedic society is described in the Rigveda, the oldest Vedic text, believed to have been compiled during the 2nd millennium BC. in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. At that time, Aryan society consisted of essentially tribal and pastoral groups, distinct from the Harappian urbanization of the Indus Valley that had been abandoned. The early presence of Indo-Aryans probably corresponds in part, in an archaeological context, to the ocher-colored pottery culture .

At the end of the Rigvedic period, the Aryan pastoral society began to expand from the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent towards the western Gangetic plain. The society became increasingly agricultural and was socially organized in a hierarchy of four varnas or social classes. That social structure was characterized both by syncretism with the native cultures of North India, as well as by the exclusion of indigenous peoples whose occupations were labeled impure. During that period, many of the tribes and small chiefdoms they began to merge into janapadas (monarchical states) .

In the fourteenth century a. C., the battle of the ten kings —between the Vedic tribal kingdoms of the Bharatas, allied with other tribes of northwestern India and guided by the sage Vishvamitra and the Trtsu-barathas, commanded by King Sudás—, caused the emergence of the Kuru kingdom, the first state-level society during the Vedic period .

Sanskritization

Since Vedic times, "the people of many strata of society in the subcontinent followed a trend of adapting their religious and social life to Brahmanical norms", a process sometimes called Sanskritization. That process is reflected in the trend of identify local deities with the gods of Sanskrit texts .

The kingdoms of the Iron Age

The Iron Age in the Indian subcontinent from about 1200 B.C. C. to the 6th century BC C. is defined by the rise of the janapadas, which were dominions, republics and kingdoms, notably the kingdoms of Kuru, Panchala, Kosala and Videha .

The Kuru kingdom was the first state-level society of the Vedic period corresponding to the beginning of the Iron Age in northwestern India, approximately between 1200 and 800 BC. C., and to the composition of the Atharvaveda (the first Indian text to mention iron, as śyāma ayas , literally 'black metal'). The state of Kuru organized the Vedic hymns into collections and developed the orthodox śrauta ritual to maintain the social order. Two key figures of the Kuru state were King Prikshit and his successor Janamejaya, who transformed their kingdom into the dominant political and cultural power in Iron Age northwest India.As the Kuru kingdom declined, the center of Vedic culture shifted to its eastern neighbors, the Panchala kingdom. The painted gray pottery culture, which flourished in the Haryana and western regions of Uttar Pradesh in the of India in the period between 1100 and 600 a. C., it is believed that it corresponds to the kingdoms of Kuru and Panchala .

During the late Vedic period, the kingdom of Videha emerged as a new center of Vedic culture, situated further east (in present-day Nepal and the Indian state of Bihar), and would rise to prominence under King Janaka, whose court patronized Brahmins and philosophers, such as Yajnavalkya and Aruni. The later part of that period corresponds to a consolidation of larger and larger states and kingdoms, called mahajanapadas , throughout northern India.

Sanskrit epics

Apart from the Vedas, the main texts of Hinduism, the main themes of the epic texts Ramayana and Mahabharata are said to have their origins during this period. The Mahabharata is currently the longest poem in the world. Previously, historians postulated a "epic age" as the setting for these two epic poems, but now recognize that the texts (which are familiar to each other) went through many stages of development over the centuries. For example, the Mahabharata could be based on a small-scale conflict (possibly around 1000 BC), which was later "turned into a gigantic epic war by bards and poets." There is no conclusive archaeological evidence as to whether the specific events of the Mahabharata have any historical basis.The extant texts of these epics are believed to be from the post-Vedic period, between 400 BCE and 400 BCE. C. and 400 d. Some have even attempted to date the events using archaeoastronomical methods, which have yielded, depending on which passages are chosen and how they are interpreted, estimated dates as far back as the mid- 2nd millennium BC . c.

The "Second Urbanization" ( ca. 600 BC-200 BC )

During the period between 800 a. C. and 200 a. C. the Shramana movement was formed, from which Jainism and Buddhism would originate. In the same period the first Upanishads were written. After 500 B.C. C. began the so-called "second urbanization", in which new urban settlements originated in the Gangetic plain, particularly in the central Gangetic plain. This region, where Maghada gained prominence to form the base of the Mauryan Empire, was a distinct cultural area with new states originating after 500 BC. during this second urbanization. The central Gangetic plain was influenced by Vedic culture, but differed markedly from the Kuru-Panchala region.It was "the oldest known rice-growing area in South Asia and by 1800 BC it was the location of an advanced Neolithic population associated with the sites of Chirand and Chechar . the shramanic movements and originated Jainism and Buddhism .

The Mahajanapadas

By the late Vedic period, the subcontinent had been covered with petty kingdoms or city-states, many of them mentioned in Vedic, Buddhist, and Jain literature as far back as 500 BCE. Sixteen monarchies and "republics" known as mahajanapadas—Kashi, Kosala, Anga, Magadha, Vajji (or Vriji), Malla, Chedi, Vatsa (or Vamsa), Kuru, Panchala, Matsya (or Machcha), Shurasena, Assaka , Avanti, Gandhara, and Kamboja—stretched across the Indo-Gangetic Plain from present-day Pakistan to Bengal and Maharashtra. That period witnessed the second great origin of Indian urbanism after the Indus Valley culture .

Many smaller clans that are mentioned in early literary works seem to have been present in the rest of the subcontinent. Some of those kingdoms were hereditary, while others elected their rulers. Early 'republics', such as the Vajji (or Vriji) confederacy centered around the city of Vaishali, existed from the 6th century BC. C. and persisted in some areas until the fourth century. The cultured language at that time was Sanskrit, while the languages ​​of the general population of North India are called Pracritic. Many of the sixteen states merged to form four larger entities around 500 BC. c. or 400 a. C., in the time of Buddha Gautama. Those four states were Vatsa, Avanti, Kosala and Maghada. Gautama Buddha's life was primarily associated with those four realms.That period corresponds in an archaeological context to the Northern Polished Black Pottery culture.

The Upanishads and the shramanic movements

Between 800 and 400 a. C. the first Upanishads were composed. The Upanishads are texts that form the theoretical basis of classical Hinduism and are known as Vedanta (conclusion of the Vedas). The oldest Upanishads launched attacks of increasing intensity on Vedic ritual. In the Brihadaranyaka-upanishad , anyone who worshiped a divinity other than their own was considered a pet of the gods. The Mundaka-Upanishad launched the most scathing attack on ritual, comparing those who valued sacrifice to an unreliable ship that was continually overtaken by old age and death .

The increasing urbanization of India in the 7th and 6th centuries BC. C. produced the origin of new ascetic or shramanic movements that challenged the orthodoxy of the rituals . .-483 BC ), founder of Buddhism, were the most prominent icons of this movement. The Shramana gave rise to the concept of the cycle of birth and death, the concept of samsara, and the concept of liberation. Buddha found a middle way that improved on the extreme asceticism found in the shramanic religions .

Around the same time, Mahavira (24th Tirthankara of Jainism) propagated a theology that would later become Jainism. However, Jain orthodoxy believes that the teachings of the Tirthankaras predate all known times. According to the researchers, the last two Tirthankaras, Pashvanatha and Mahavira, were historical figures. Rashabhanatha was the first Tinthankara. The Vedas are believed to have documented some Tirthankaras and an ascetic order similar to the shramanic movement .

The dynasties of Magadha

Magadha was one of the sixteen mahajanapadas (Sanskrit: great countries) or kingdoms of ancient India. The core area of ​​the kingdom was the Bihar area, south of the Ganges; its first capital was Rajagriha (modern Rajgir), then Pataliputra (modern Patna). Magadha expanded to include most of Bihar and Bengal with the conquest of Licchavi and Anga, respectively, and later much of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Orissa. The ancient kingdom of Magadha is much mentioned in Jain and Buddhist texts. It is also mentioned in the Ramayana, in the Mahabharata and in the Puranas.The earliest reference to the Maghada people is in the Atharvaveda, where they are listed along with the Angas, Gandharis, and Mujavats. The Magadha kingdom played an important role in the development of Jainism and Buddhism, and two of the largest empires in India, the Maurya Empire and the Gupta Empire, originated from Magadha. The Magadha kingdom included republican communities, such as the Rajakumara community. The towns had their own assemblies, under the power of local chiefs called gramakas. Their administrations were divided into executive, judicial, and military functions.

The Hindu epic poem Mahabharata mentions Brihadratha as the first ruler of Magadha. Early sources, the Buddhist Pali Canon, the Jain Agamas, and the Hindu Pranas, mention that Magadha was ruled by the Haryanka dynasty for 200 years, from ca. 600 BC c . to 413 a. C.. King Bimbisara of the Haryanka dynasty carried out an active expansionist policy and conquered Aga, in present-day West Bengal. Bimbisara was killed by his son, Prince Ajatashatru. During that period, Gautama Buddha lived much of his life in the Magadha kingdom. He attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon at Sarnath, and the first Buddhist council met at Rajgriha.The Haryanka dynasty was overthrown by the Shishunaga dynasty. The last Shishunaga ruler, Kalasoka, was assassinated in 345 BC. C. by Mahapadma Nanda, the first of the so-called Nine Nandas (Mahapadma and his eight sons).

Persian and Greek conquests of the northwestern Indian subcontinent

In 530 BC In 520 BC, Cyrus the Great, king of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, crossed the Hindukush mountains to seek tribute from the tribes of Kamboja, Gandhara, and the Trans-India region (in present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan) . C., during the reign of Darius I of Persia, much of the northwestern region of the subcontinent (Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan) came to be ruled by the Persian Empire as part of its easternmost territories. The area remained under Persian control for two centuries. During this time, India supplied mercenaries to the Persian army who would later fight in Greece. Under Persian rule, the famous city of Takshashila became a center where Vedic and Iranian teachings were mixed.Persian domination in northwestern South Asia ended with Alexander the Great's conquest of Persia in 327 BC. C.​

Around 326 BC C., Alexander the Great had already conquered Asia Minor and the Persian Empire and had reached the northwestern borders of the Indian subcontinent. There he defeated King Poros at the Battle of Hydaspes (near present-day Jhelum, Pakistan) and conquered much of Punjab. Alexander's march east brought him into confrontation with the Nanda Empire of Magadha and the Gangaridai Kingdom of Bengal. . His army, exhausted and fearful of facing larger Indian armies on the Ganges River, mutinied at the Hyphasis River (present-day Beas River) and refused to advance further east. Alexander, after meeting with his official Coenus and learning of the power of the Nanda Empire, was convinced that it was best to return.

The Persian and Greek invasions had repercussions in the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent. The Gandhara region, in present-day western Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan, became a mixture of Indian, Persian, Central Asian, and Greek cultures, giving rise to a hybrid culture, Greco-Buddhism, which would last until the 5th century AD. C. and would influence the artistic development of Mahayana Buddhism.

Mauryan Empire

The Mauryan Empire (322-185 BC) was the first empire to unify the Indian subcontinent into one state, and was the largest empire in it. At its greatest extent, the Mauryan Empire stretched north to the natural borders of the Himalayas and east into present-day Assam. To the west, it stretched beyond modern Pakistan to the Hindukush mountains in what is now Afghanistan. The empire was established by Chandragupta Maurya, assisted by Chanakya (Kautilya) in Magadha (in modern Bihar state) when he overthrew the Nanda dynasty.Chandragupta's son Bindusara succeeded to the throne around 297 BC. C .. At the time of his death, around 272 a. C., a large part of the subcontinent was under Mauryan suzerainty. However, the Kalinga region (around present-day Odisha) remained outside of Mauryan control and perhaps interfered with trade with southern India .

Bindusara was succeeded by Ashoka, whose reign lasted nearly thirty-seven years until his death in ca. 232 BC C.. his campaign against Kalinga about 260 B.C. C., although successful, resulted in immense misery and loss of life. Therefore Ashoka, full of remorse, decided to avoid violence and embrace Buddhism.The empire began to decline after his death and the last Mauryan ruler, Brihadratha, was assassinated by Pushyamitra Shunga, who established the Shunga Empire .

The Artha-shastra and Ashoka's edicts are the main written records of the Mauryan era. Archaeologically, that period falls within the era of the Northern Polished Black Pottery culture. The Mauryan Empire was based on a modern and efficient economy and society. However, the sale of merchandise was strictly regulated by the government. Although there was no banking in Mauryan society, usury was customary. A significant amount of written records of slavery have been found, suggesting a prevalence of slavery. During this period, a large amount of steel, called wootz steel, was made in southern India, which was later exported to China. and Arabia .

Sangam period

During the Sangam period, Tamil literature flourished from the 3rd century BC. C. until the fourth century AD. During this period, three Tamil dynasties, collectively called the "Three Crowned Kings of Tamikalam ": the Chera dynasty, the Chola dynasty, and the Pandya dynasty, ruled parts of southern India .

Sangam literature deals with the history, politics, wars and culture of the Tamil people during this period. The sages of the Sangam period arose from among the common people who sought the patronage of the Tamil kings, but wrote about the common people and their concerns. Unlike the Sanskrit writers who were mostly Brahmins, the Sangam writers came from different social classes and were mostly not Brahmins . They belonged to different faiths and professions, such as farmers, craftsmen, merchants, monks, priests, and even princes, and very few of them were even women .

Classic period ( ca. 200 BC-1200 AD )

The period between 200 a. C. and 1200 d. c.a. C. is the "Classical Era" of India. It can be divided into several subperiods, depending on the periodization that is chosen. The classical period begins after the decline of the Mauryan Empire and the corresponding rise of the Satavahana dynasty, beginning with Simuka in 230 BC. The Gupta Empire ( 4th-6th century AD ) is considered the "golden age" of Hinduism, although many kingdoms ruled India in those centuries. Sangam literature flourished between the 3rd century B.C. C. and the third century AD. C. in southern India. During that period, India is estimated to have had the world's largest economy and controlled between a third and a quarter of the world's wealth .

Early Classic period ( ca. 200 BC-320 AD )

Satavahana dynasty

The Satavahana Empire was an empire ruled by an Indian royal dynasty centered in Amaravati, Andra Pradesh, as well as Junnar (Pune) and Prathisthan (Paithan) in Maharashtra. The empire's territory occupied much of India from 230 BC. c.onwards. The Satavahanas began as feudatories of the Mauryan dynasty, but declared their independence with the decline of the latter. They are known as patrons of Hinduism and Buddhism, giving rise to Buddhist monuments from Ellora to Amaravathi. The Satavahanas were one of the first Indian states to mint coins with their rulers engraved. They formed a cultural bridge and played an important role in trade and the transfer of ideas and culture between the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the southern tip of India. They had to compete with the Shunga Empire and later with the Kanva dynasty of Magadha to establish their rule. Later, they played a crucial role in protecting a large part of India against foreign invaders, such as the Sakas, Yavanas and Pahlavas. In particular, their fights against the Western Kshatrapas continued for a long time. The notable rulers of the Satavahana dynasty, Gautamiputra Satakarni and Sri Yajna Satakarni, were able to defeat foreign invaders such as the Western Kshatrapas and stop their expansion. At3rd century AD C. , the empire was divided into smaller states.

Shunga Empire ( 185 BC-75 BC )

The Shunga Empire was founded by an ancient Indian dynasty from Magadha that controlled vast areas of the Indian subcontinent from about 187 BC. c . to 78 a. C.. The dynasty was founded by Pushyamitra Shunga, which destroyed the Maurya Empire. The capital of the new state was Pataliputra, but later emperors such as Bhagabhadra also held court at Vidisha in eastern Malwa. Pushyamitra Shunga reigned for thirty-six years; he succeeded him his son Agnimitra. There were ten Shunga rulers, but after Agnimitra's death the empire rapidly declined and disintegrated; inscriptions and coins indicate that much of northern and central India was held by petty kingdoms and city-states. that they were not subject to shunga authority.The empire is notable for its numerous wars against foreign and indigenous powers. They fought battles against the Kalingas, Satavahanas, Indo-Greeks, and possibly the Panchalas and Mitras.

Art, education, philosophy, and other forms of knowledge flourished during this period. Small terracotta figures, large stone sculptures and architectural monuments such as the Bharhut stupa and the great Sanchi stupa are preserved from it. Shunga monarchs helped establish the tradition of royal patronage of education and the arts. The script used in the empire was a Brahmi variant and was used to write the Sanskrit language. The Shunga Empire stood out as a sponsor of Indian culture at a time when Hindu thought was at its height, an attitude that favored the strengthening of the State.

Northwestern kingdoms and hybrid cultures

The northwestern kingdoms and hybrid cultures of the Indian subcontinent included the Indo-Greeks, Indo-Scythians, Indo-Parthians, and Hindu-Sassanians.

• Indo- Greek kingdom: the Indo-Greek Menander I, who reigned between 155 a. C. and 130 a. C. , he led the Greco-Bactrians out of Gandhara and beyond the Hindukush and became king soon after his victory. His territories covered Panjshir and Kapisa in present-day Afghanistan and extended into the Punjab region, with many tributary states to the south and east. The capital Sagala (present-day Sialkot) prospered greatly under Menander's rule. The classical Buddhist text Milinda Pañha praises Menander, saying that there was "no one equal to Menander in all of India." The kingdom, which lasted nearly two centuries, It was ruled by a succession of more than 30 Indo-Greek kings, who were frequently in conflict with each other.
• Indo- Scythian Kingdom: The Indo-Scythians were descendants of the Sakas (Scythians) who migrated from southern Siberia to Pakistan and from Arachosia to India from the mid- 2nd century BC. C. to the 1st century AD C. They displaced the Indo-Greeks and ruled a kingdom that stretched from Gandhara to Mathura. The power of the Saka rulers began to decline in the 2nd century AD. After the Scythians were defeated by the South Indian emperor Gautamiputra Satakarni of the Satavahana dynasty , the Saka kingdom was completely destroyed by Chandragupta II of the Gupta Empire of eastern India in the 4th century. .
• Indo-Parthian Kingdom: The Indo-Parthian kingdom was ruled by the Gondopharid dynasty, named for its first ruler, Gondophares. They ruled parts of present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northwestern India, during the 1st century AD. c.or shortly before. For most of their history, the Gondofarid kings had Taxila (in today's Pakistani province of Punjab) as their residence and ruled from there, but during the last years of the kingdom's existence, the capital changed between Kabul and Peshawar. These kings have traditionally been called Indo-Parthians, as their coinage was frequently inspired by the Arsacid dynasty, but they probably belonged to larger groups of Iranian tribes living east of Parthia proper and there is no evidence that all kings who held the title of gondofaros, which means "bearer of glory", have been related.
• Hindu-Sasanian Kingdom: The Sassanid Empire of Persia, which was contemporary with the Gupta Empire, expanded into the region of present-day Balochistan in Pakistan, where the mixture of Indian and Iranian cultures gave rise to a hybrid culture under Hindu-Sassanid rule.

Trade and travel to India

Kerala's spice trade attracted traders from all over the Old World to India. Early written sources and Neolithic Stone Age engravings indicate that the port of Muziris, in Kerala, on India's southwestern coast, was a major center of the spice trade, the "spice garden of India." It was the place where merchants and exporters wanted to go, including Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama and others .

Buddhism reached China via the Silk Road in the 1st or 2nd century AD. C. The interplay of cultures resulted in a number of Chinese travelers and monks traveling to India. The most notable were Faxian, Yijing, Song Yun, and Xuanzang. These travelers wrote detailed accounts of the Indian subcontinent, including the political and social aspects of the region .

Hindu and Buddhist religious establishments in South Asia became associated with economic activity and commerce as their patrons allocated large funds which were then used to benefit the local economy through farm management, crafts and the promotion of activities. commercial. Buddhism in particular spread through maritime trade and promoted coinage, art, and literacy. Indian merchants engaged in the spice trade brought Indian cuisine to Southeast Asia, where it became popular among the natives.

The Greco-Roman world traded through the Frankincense Route and others linking Rome with India. During the first millennium, the sea routes to India were controlled by Indians and Ethiopians, who became the Red Sea's maritime trading power. .

According to Posidonius, later cited in Strabo 's Geography , the Indian Ocean monsoon wind system was first used by Eudoxus of Cyzicus in 118 BC. C. or 116 a. C. Posidonius mentions a shipwrecked sailor from India who was rescued in the Red Sea and brought before Ptolemy VIII in Alexandria. Strabo is skeptical that the above was true. Modern scholarship considers it relatively credible. During the second century a. C. , Greek and Indian ships coincided in Arab ports such as Aden.Another Greek navigator, Hippalus, is sometimes credited with discovering the route of the monsoon winds to India. It has been suggested that Hippalus may have participated in the expeditions of Eudoxus .

Kushan Empire (30-375)

The Kushan Empire expanded from present-day Afghanistan across the northwestern subcontinent under the leadership of its first emperor, Kujula Kadphises, in the mid- 1st century AD. They originated from an Indo-European-speaking Central Asian tribe called the Yuezhi, a branch of which became known as the Kushans. By the time of Kujula Kadphises's grandson, Kanishka the Great, the empire had spread to encompass much of Afghanistan and then the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent as far as Saketa and Sarnath near Varanasi.

Emperor Kanishka was a great patron of Buddhism. However, as the Kushans expanded south, the deities on their coins came to reflect their new Hindu majority .

The Kushans played an important role in the establishment of Buddhism in India and its spread to Central Asia and China.

According to historian Vincent Smith, Kanishka played the role of a second Asoka in the history of Buddhism .

The empire linked maritime trade in the Indian Ocean with trade on the Silk Road and promoted long-distance trade, especially between China and Rome. The Kushans brought new trends to the nascent and flourishing period of Gandharan art, which reached its peak during the Kushan rule.

By the 3rd century, the Kushan Empire in India disintegrated and its last known great emperor was Vasudeva I.

Middle classical period

Gupta Empire: The Golden Age (320-550)

Classical India was the historical period in which much of the Indian subcontinent was united and formed part of the Gupta Empire (approximately AD 320 to 550). This period has been called the "golden age" of India. India, which was marked by great advances in science, technology, engineering, art, dialectics, literature, logic, mathematics, astronomy, religion and philosophy that materialized the elements of what is known as Hindu culture.Hindu-Arabic numerals, a positional notation system, originated in India and then spread throughout the Arab territories and later Europe. The earliest Indian numerals only consisted of nine symbols, until the period between AD 600 and 800. C., when the zero symbol was developed. The peace and prosperity that reigned in the empire of the Gupta sovereigns allowed the realization of scientific and artistic enterprises .

The pinnacle of this cultural creativity is magnificent architectural, sculptural, and pictorial works. The Gupta period produced intellectuals such as Kalidasa, Aryabhata, Varahamihira, Vishnu Sharma, and Vatsyayana, who made great strides in many academic fields. It was a turning point in Indian culture: the Guptas performed Vedic sacrifices to legitimize their rule, but they also supported Buddhism, which remained an alternative to Brahmanical orthodoxy. The military exploits of the first three monarchs – Chandragupta I, Damadragupta and Chandragupta II – enabled them to subjugate much of India.Science and political administration flourished during the Gupta era. Close trade ties also made the region an important cultural center that influenced neighboring territories such as the Malay Archipelago, Burma, Ceylon, and Indochina.

The last Guptas successfully resisted the onslaught of the northwestern kingdoms until the arrival of the Alchon Huns, who settled in Afghanistan in the first half of the 5th century and had Bamiyan as their capital. However, much of the Deccan and southern of India were unaffected by these developments in the north .

Vakataka dynasty (c. 250-c. 500)

The Vakataka Empire originated in the Deccan in the mid- 3rd century AD. Their state is believed to have stretched from the southern borders of Malwa and Gujarat in the north to the Tungabhadra River in the south and from the Arabian Sea in the west to the Chhattisgarh border in the east . They were the most important successors of the Satavahanas in the Deccan and contemporaries of the Guptas in northern India.

The Vakatakas are known to have been protectors of the arts, architecture and literature. They sponsored many public works and some of their monuments are a legacy that is still preserved. The viharas and chaytias of the Ajanta grottoes, a series of thirty rock-cut monuments, were built under the patronage of Emperor Vakataka Harishena .

Kamarupa Kingdom (350-1140)

Samudragupta's 4th-century Allahabad Pillar Inscription mentions Kamarupa (Western Assam) and Davaka (Central Assam) as neighboring kingdoms of the Gupta Empire. Davaka was absorbed into Kamarupa, which grew into a great kingdom stretching from the Karatoya River to near the present city of Sadiya, encompassing the entire Brahmaputra valley, northern Bengal, parts of Bangladesh, and sometimes Purnea. and parts of West Bengal.

Kamarupa was ruled by three dynasties: Varman (ca. 350-650), Mlechchha (ca. 655-900), and Pala (900-1100), whose capitals were Guwahati (Pragiyotishpura), Tezpur (Haruppeswara), and Northern Gauhati ( Durjaya), respectively. All three dynasties claimed descent from Narakasura, an immigrant from Aryavarta.During the reign of the Varman king Bahskar (ca. 600-650), the Chinese traveler Xuanzang visited the region and recorded his travels. Later, after its decline and disintegration, the Kamarupa tradition extended in certain respects until ca. 1255 with the Lunar I (ca. 1120-1185) and Lunar II (ca. 1155-1255) dynasties .

Pallava dynasty (275-897)

As with the Gupta in the north, the Pallava were major sponsors of Sanskrit development in the southern Indian subcontinent between the 4th and 9th centuries. The first Sanskrit inscriptions in Grantha script appeared in the Pallava kingdom. The first Pallavas had different ties with the countries of Southeast Asia. The Pallavas used Dravidian architecture to build major Hindu temples and academies at Mamallapuram, Kanchipuram, and other sites; During his rule great poets emerged. The practice of dedicating temples to different deities became fashionable and was followed by the refined architecture and sculpture of Vastu shastra style temples .

The Pallavas reached the height of their power during the reign of Mahendravarman I (571-630) and Narasimhavarman I (630-668) and dominated the Telugu region and the northern part of the Tamil region for approximately six hundred years until the end of the 9th century.​

Kadamba dynasty

The Kadamba originated in Karnataka, India. The dynasty was founded by Mayurasharma in 345 and would later show potential for development of imperial proportions, hints of which are provided by the titles and epithets assumed by its rulers. King Mayurasharma defeated the armies of the Pallava of Kanchi possibly with the help of some native tribes. The fame of the Kadamba reached its peak during the reign of Kakushthavarma, a remarkable ruler with whom even the kings of the Gupta dynasty forged marriage alliances. The Kadamba were contemporaries of the Western Ganga Dynasty and together, both dynasties formed the oldest native kingdoms that ruled the country with absolute autonomy. After its decline, the dynasty continued to rule as a feudatory of larger Kannada empires,

The Alchon Huns

The Indohephthalites (or Alchon Huns) were a nomadic confederation of Central Asia during Late Antiquity. The Alchon Huns settled in what is now Afghanistan around the first half of the 5th century. Led by their military leader Toramana, they invaded northern Pakistan and northern India. Toramana's son Mihirakula, a Shivaist Hindu, moved as far east as near Pataliputra and as far as Gwalior in central India. Hiuen Tsiang recounts Mihirakula's ruthless persecution of the Buddhists and the destruction of their monasteries, although the description is disputed as to its authenticity.The Huns were defeated by an alliance of Indian rulers, the Maharajah (Great King) Yasodharman of Malwa and the Gupta Emperor Narasimhagupta in the 6th century. Some were expelled from India and others assimilated into Indian society .

Harsha's Empire

Harsha ruled northern India from 606 to 647. He was the son of Prabhakarvardhana and younger brother of Rajyavardhana, who were members of the Pushyabhuti dynasty and ruled Thanesar in what is now the state of Haryana.

After the fall of the Gupta Empire in the middle of the 6th century, small monarchical states and republics once again predominated in northern India. The power vacuum led to the rise of the Vardhana dynasty of Thanesar, which began to unite the republics and monarchies from Punjab to central India. After the death of Harsha's father and brother, representatives of the empire crowned Harsha emperor in an assembly in April 606 and gave him the title of maharajah when he was only 16 years old. At the height of its power, the empire it encompassed much of northern and northwestern India, extending east to Kamarupa and south to the Narmada River. Harsha made the city of Kannauj (in the state of Uttar Pradesh) his capital and ruled until 647 .

The peace and prosperity that prevailed made Harsha's court a cosmopolitan center that attracted intellectuals, artists, and religious visitors from far away. During this time, Harsha converted from the cult of Surya to Buddhism. The Chinese traveler Xuanzang visited the court of Harsha and wrote favorable judgments of him praising his justice and generosity. His biography, Harshacharita ("The Deeds of Harsha"), written by the poet Banabhatta, describes his association with Thanesar, as well as mentioning the defensive wall, a moat and palace with a two-story dhavalagriha (white house) .