Decline of Indus Valley Civilization

How did the Indus Valley Civilization decline?  There Read More>>>

Principles of Budhism

The Buddhists did not believe in a God or a Creator on whom the destiny of man depends. In this respect and in so many others, Buddhism Read More>>>

Different sects of Budhism

Buddha had opposed any tendency among his followers to deify him, and yet by the first century A.D., his image was carved in stone and worshipped as Read More>>>

Religion of the Ajivikas

Ajivikism was popular in parts of India during the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. It was founded by Gosala who preached a sharp and consistent Read More>>>

Invasions from Abroad

India had to face foreign invasions, apart from massive migrations, several times across centuries. The earliest of these in history Read More>>>

Alexander’s invasion

The campaign of Alexander of Macedon reached the borders of western India in the 4th century B.C. Alexander’s army was well-equipped Read More>>>

The Rise of Magadha

Of the 16 mahajanapada, Magadha was the strongest. It was in what is now the southern part of the modern Indian state of Bihar. Magadha was Read More>>>

Maurya

King Chandragupta was the founder of the Maurya Dynasty of Magadha. In this attempt he was ably assisted by the scholarly political strategist Chanakya, Read More>>>

Kalinga war

Chandragupta’s son Bindusara followed the footprints of his father in his political lines and conquered more territories except the kingdom Read More>>>

Ashoka period : rewritten history

Romila Thapar, noted historian, in her book ‘History of India’, notes: “Until about a hundred years ago, Ashoka was merely one of Read More>>>

Ashoka's rule

Ashoka’s style of administration is clearly stated in the many edicts issued by him. He is named in the edicts as ‘King Piyadasi, {{devanaam Read More>>>

Inscriptions of Ashoka

Discussing the culture of the Mauryan era, ‘A History of India’ has this to say on the spread of writing during those days: “The age Read More>>>

Kushana Dynasty

After the fall of the Sunga and the Kanva dynasties, India had to face series of invasions from abroad. The Kushanas, Indo-Greeks, Indo-scythians, Read More>>>

Saka Dynasty

The Sakas were the foreign conquerors who set up their rule in the central and western India while the Kushanas entrenched themselves in the north Read More>>>

Gupta Dynasty

It was the Guptas of Magadha that came up forcefully after the Mauryas and unified the North India. The Gupta period spanned from 320 A.D through Read More>>>

Harsha Vardhana

After the fall of the Gupta dynasty, there came up a new royal dynasty in Thaneswar near Kurukshetra in the seventh century A.D. The star ruler Read More>>>

Disintegration of Indian Empire

The vast Indian empire that Harsha ruled Read More>>>

Trade relations with western Asia

Trade relations were increasing between north India and western Asia. This resulted in increased cultural relations. The trade routes Read More>>>

History of South India

When the northern empires collapsed, India was presenting a different spectacle in its south. Around 230 BC., the Satavaahanas established Read More>>>

Chera

The Chera or Cheraas the dynasty which came to power even before the Sangha period ruled over Kerala and some parts of the modern {{Tamil Read More>>>

Pandya

It was the Pandya or Paandya dynasty that ruled over the Tamil Kingdom from the age of the Puranas to 15th century A.D. who encouraged and supported Read More>>>

Chola

The Tamil country’s life and politics depended heavily on a Royal Line and that was the Chola or Cholaas. In determining the way the life Read More>>>

Pallava

For about five centuries the Pallavas or Pallavas ruled over the northern parts of what is the Tamil Nadu of today. Their Read More>>>

Kadamba and Ganga dynasty

The Kadambaa or Kadamba dynasty and Gangaa or Ganga dynasty were the rulers in certain parts of Karnataka. Of them the Kadmabaas were in power from Read More>>>

Chalukya

The central and southern India was under the rule of the Chaalukyas from 6th century to the 12th. Though known commonly as Chaalukyas, there were Read More>>>

Rashtrakuta

The dynasty in Karnataka that ruled over the southern and central areas of Deccan during the 8th through the 10th centuries were the Rashtrakutas. Read More>>>

Vijayanagara

One of the greatest kingdoms in South India was the Vijayanagara that stood strong and well-known from the Read More>>>

Hoysala and Kakatiya

The four centuries (950 – 1346) of the Hosysalas who ruled from Karnataka was a period of tremendous encouragement and progress for architecture. Read More>>>

North East India

It is noteworthy that in the general descriptions of Indian History, very little is seen mentioned about the people and their history of the North Eastern Read More>>>

Assam

Before the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Misoram and Nagaland were formed, those areas carried a common name Read More>>>

People of Assam

There had been large scale and repeated migration of the people of Mongolian origin centuries ago through the mountain passes of the Assam-Myanmar (Burma) Read More>>>

People of North East

Manipur is where the Maiteyi Hindus live. They are believed to be the descendents of the Tatars who migrated from North West China during Read More>>>

The Muslim occupation of north India

Right from very ancient times, the Muslims from the Arabian Peninsula had trade relations with Kerala. But they did not have any Read More>>>

Muhammad Ghuri

The next invader was Muhammad Ghuri, the brother of the ruler of Ghur, which was a small vassal state under Mohamed of Ghazni. The Ghurs took advantage Read More>>>

Sultanate of Delhi

Muhammad Ghori was killed by one of his slaves. Then comes in Qutb-ud-din- Aibak (1206-1210), the man whom Ghuri once trusted as his Read More>>>

Timur invades Delhi

It was then that another emperor from abroad attacked North India in 14th century – Timur, also known as Tamerlane. He was a Turko-Mongol, Read More>>>

Delhi Sultanate I

Indologists K. Antonova, G. Bongard-Levin and G. Kotovsky evaluates the socio-economic position of the Delhi sultanate as follows:

“The Read More>>>

Delhi Sultanate II

Indologists K. Antonova, G. Bongard-Levin and G. Kotovsky evaluates the socio-economic position of the Delhi sultanate as follows :

“It Read More>>>

Mughal

After the dazzling period of the Gupta Empire and the Read More>>>

Islamic rule

Indologist Dr. Percival Spear, in his major work on the history of India (Penguin) begins his account of the emergence of the Mughals, giving a prelude Read More>>>

Taimur’s attack

....In 1398 the Turkish conqueror Taimur or Tamerlane ended all this with his bloody raid on India and sack of Delhi. The monuments of the next Read More>>>

Babur’s description of India

Though he established the Mughal Empire in India, he himself took a poor view of the Delhi-Agra Read More>>>

Mughal Empire

That was about the founder. Now let us turn to the rest of it. During the reign of emperor Humayun, who succeeded Babur, Sher Shah Suri Read More>>>

Shah Jehan

Who was the best among the Mughal rulers? Opinions differ. Akbar was an extra-ordinary ruler of universal acceptance, and the one who quashed Read More>>>

Maratha Empire

The Mughal empire reached its zenith in its reach during Aurangazeb's reign. The irony was that the collapse of the empire was also Read More>>>

Shivaji

The anti-Hindu policies pursued by the Mughal rulers and the administrators of Deccan were the main reason for the dissatisfaction among the Hindus Read More>>>

Nizams

Even after the death of Aurangazeb, the Marathas launched continuous attacks and this weakened the Mughals in Deccan. In 1724 a Read More>>>

Kingdom of Mysore

Mysore was a vassal territory of Vijayanagara Read More>>>

Tipu Sultan

The Mysore Tiger, as Tipu was called, ruled from 1782 till he died in 1799. In 1766 Hyder Ali attacked Malabar and conquered Kozhikode. Hyder, Read More>>>

The advent of the Europeans & Colonization

By the time Babur laid the foundation (1526) for the Mughal Empire, the Europeans had arrived in India with their trading Read More>>>

Colonization by Portuguese

The Portuguese, after establishing their hold on certain pockets in India, began to attack the Arabs who were in India only for trade. They made themselves Read More>>>

Portuguese Colony

The Portuguese made Goa their base and moved their tentacles to Daman, Diu and Bombay. When King Charles II of England married Princess Read More>>>

French Colony

The French concentrated their attention in various parts of South India. They lost in several encounters with the British and had to content themselves Read More>>>

Dutch Colony

The Dutch concentrated their trade centers in Madras (now Tamil Nadu), Kerala, Bengal and the Andaman islands. They were defeated by the army of the Read More>>>

British colonization

The British East India Company opened their first trading center at Surat, Read More>>>

British India expands

The Anglo-Mysore battles (1766 – 99), and Anglo-Maratha battles (1772 – 1818) proved the superiority of the British strategies and these Read More>>>

Rebellions

The British East India company’s evil designs, cruelties, opportunism and greed had caused a general feeling of widespread dissatisfaction Read More>>>

First Struggle for Indian Independence

The rule of the British East India Company in India was brought to an end by the armed struggle of 1857, known in India as the First Read More>>>

First struggle for Indian independence crushed

The soldiers in the Delhi cantonment turned infidel to the Company and revolted. They captured the control of the city. They declared {{Bahadur Shah Read More>>>

British India

The mutiny of 1857 marked the end of the British East India Company. And in August 1858 Queen Victoria of England issued a declaration Read More>>>

August 15, 1947

The Indian freedom struggle is the most wonderful of all struggles that any nation has waged for freedom. Millions of people joined this one, Read More>>>

Trade relations with western Asia

Trade relations were increasing between north India and western Asia. This resulted in increased cultural relations. The trade routes became busier, Read More>>>