Ancient India

The History of India begins with the Indus Valley Civilization and the
coming of the Aryans. These two phases are generally described as the
pre-Vedic and Vedic periods. The earliest literary source that sheds light on
India's past is the Rig Veda. It is difficult to date this work with any accuracy
on the basis of tradition and ambiguous astronomical information contained
in the hymns. It is most likely that Rig Veda was composed between 1,500
B.C. and 1,000 B.C. In the fifth century, large parts of India were united
under Ashoka.

The 6th Century B.C. was a period of great tumult in India. The kingdom of
Magadha, one of the 16 great Janapadas had become paramount over
other kingdoms of the Ganges Valley. This period also saw the emergence
of various heterodox sects in India. This was the time when Buddhism and
Jainism emerged as popular protestant movements to pose a serious
challenge to Brahmanic orthodoxy.

This period was followed by the Mauryas of whom the most famous was
Ashoka the Great. The boundaries of his empire extended from Kashmir
and Peshawar in the North and Northwest to Mysore in the South and
Orissa in the East - but his fame rests not so much on military conquests as
on his celebrated renunciation of war.

For the next four hundred years (after the great Mauryas), India remained
politically disunited and weak. It was repeatedly raided and plundered by
foreigners. Stability was restored by the Guptas. The Gupta age was the
period of peace and prosperity and witnessed an unprecedented flowering
of art, literature and the sciences. This period also saw the beginning of
Hindu temple architecture.

After the Guptas there was only a brief afterglow, in the time of
Harshavardhana of Kannauj. A Chinese traveler, Huen-tsang visited India
from (629 - 645 A.D.) during the reign of Harshavardhana. His account
gives us an opportunity to note the changes that had taken place in the
lives of the Indian people since the days of the Guptas.

Ancient Indian Art
Each era is unique in its distinctive culture. In the same way Indian art
forms have continuously evolved over thousands of years. In ancient India,
various art forms like paintings, architecture and sculpture evolved. The
history of art in ancient India begins with prehistoric rock paintings.

Ancient Indian Geography
India and its surrounding countries are so similar in culture and climatic
conditions that the region is sometimes called the Indian sub-continent. In
ancient times the geography of India was a little different than what it is
today. In the northern part of India stand the Himalayan Mountains and the
Hindu Kush stand in the North West.

Ancient Government
In the beginning of the Vedic age people did not have a settled life and
were nomads but with development in agriculture people started to settle
down in groups. The organization was mainly tribal and the head of the
tribe was supposed to be the raja or the King, though the concept of King
had yet not developed.

Ancient India Religion
The predominant religion in ancient India was Hinduism. The roots of Hindu
religion can be traced back to the Vedic period. Hinduism is believed to be
the oldest of major religions and originated in northern India. Early Aryan,
or Vedic, culture was the early Hinduism whose interaction with non-Aryan
cultures resulted in what we call Classical Hinduism.

Ancient India Facts
According to Greek philosophers slavery did not exist in ancient India.
Aryabhatta, the great astronomer and scientist, discovered zero. The
number system was also invented in ancient India. The Indus valley
civilization was one of the most advance civilizations in terms of town
planning etc. During the ancient period there were many famous and
important centers of learning in India- Taxila and Nalanda, where
thousands of students from all over studied different subjects.

Ashoka
Asoka was one of the most powerful kings of the Indian subcontinent. A
ruler of the Mauryan Empire, Ashoka ruled over the country from 273 BC to
232 BC. The reign of Emperor Asoka covered most of India, South Asia
and beyond, stretching from present day Afghanistan and parts of Persia in
the west, to Bengal and Assam in the east, and Mysore in the south.

Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya was the founder of the Maurya Empire in India. He
is credited with bringing together the small fragmented kingdoms of the
country and combining them into a single large empire. As per the Greek
and Latin accounts, King Chandragupta Maurya is known as Sandracottos
or Andracottus.

Harshavardhan
Harshavardhana was an Indian Emperor, who ruled over the northern parts
of India for a period of more than forty years. His empire was spread over
the states of Punjab, Bengal, Orissa and the entire Indo-Gangetic plain,
lying to the north of the Narmada River.

Indus Valley Civilisation
Indus Valley Civilization was an ancient civilization that thrived in the Indus
and Ghaggar-Hakra river valleys, now in Pakistan, along with the
northwestern parts of India, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan. The civilization,
which is also known as Harappan Civilization, lasted from 3300 BC to 1700
BC. The discovery of the Ancient Indus River Valley Civilization was made,
when the Harappan city, the first city of Indus Valley, was excavated.

Vedic Age
The Vedic Period or the Vedic Age refers to that time period when the
Vedic Sanskrit texts were composed in India. The society that emerged
during that time is known as the Vedic Period, or the Vedic Age,
Civilization. The Vedic Civilization flourished between the 1500 BC and 500
BC on the Indo-Gangetic Plains of the Indian subcontinent.