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History of India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the northwestern 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 before the end of the second millennium BCE and was followed by the Iron Age Vedic Civilization, which extended over much of the Indo-Gangetic plain and which witnessed the rise of major polities known as the Mahajanapadas. In one of these kingdoms, Magadha, Mahavira and Gautama Buddha were born in the 6th or 5th century BCE and propagated their ramanic 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 Indian history, during which India has sometimes been 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, witnessing a 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.

History of India

Chronology of Indian history Ancient India Prehistoric India and Vedic India
Religions, Society, Mahajanapadas

Mauryan Period
Economy, Spread of Buddhism, Chanakya, Satavahana Empire

The Golden Age

Discoveries, Aryabhata, Ramayana, Mahabharata

Medieval India The Classical Age Gurjara-Pratihara Pala Empire Rashtrakuta Empire
Art, Philosophy, Literature

Islam in India
Delhi Sultanate, Vijayanagara Empire, Music, Guru Nanak

Mughal India
Architecture, Maratha Confederacy

Modern India Company Rule

Zamindari system, Warren Hastings, Mangal Pandey, 1857

British Indian Empire

Hindu reforms, Bengal Renaissance, Independence struggle, Mahatma Gandhi

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 in modern day Pakistan,[1] setting the stage for several successive invasions from Central Asia between the 10th and 15th centuries CE, leading to the formation of Muslim empires in the Indian subcontinent such as the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire. Mughal rule came from Central Asia to cover most of the northern parts of the subcontinent. Mughal rulers introduced Central Asian 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 northeastern India respectively. The Mughal Empire suffered a gradual decline in the early 18th

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century, which provided opportunities for the Afghans, Balochis, Sikhs, and Marathas to exercise control over large areas in the northwest of the subcontinent until the British East India Company gained ascendancy over South Asia.[2] 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 Indian Rebellion of 1857, 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.

Contents
1 Pre-Historic era 1.1 Stone Age 1.2 Bronze Age 2 Early historic period 2.1 Vedic period 2.2 Mahajanapadas 2.3 Persian and Greek conquests 2.4 Maurya Empire 3 Early Middle Kingdoms The Golden Age 3.1 Northwestern hybrid cultures 3.2 Kushan Empire 3.3 Roman trade with India 3.4 Gupta rule 4 Late Middle Kingdoms The Classical Age 5 The Islamic Sultanates 5.1 Delhi Sultanate 6 The Mughal era 7 Post-Mughal period 8 Colonial era 8.1 Company rule in India 8.2 British Raj 8.3 The Indian Independence movement 9 Independence and Partition 10 See also 11 References 12 Further reading 13 External links

Pre-Historic era
Stone Age
Main article: South Asian Stone Age Further information: Mehrgarh, Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, and Edakkal Caves

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Bhimbetka rock painting, Madhya Pradesh, India.

Stone age (5000 BC) writings of Edakkal Caves in Kerala, India.

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 500,000 and 200,000 years ago.[3][4] 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. Tools crafted by proto-humans that have been dated back two million years have been discovered in the northwestern part of the subcontinent.[5][6] The ancient history of the region includes some of South Asia's oldest settlements[7] and some of its major civilizations.[8][9] The earliest archaeological site in the subcontinent is the palaeolithic hominid site in the Soan River valley.[10] Soanian sites are found in the Sivalik region across what are now India, Pakistan, and Nepal.[11] 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 approximately 12,000 years ago. The first confirmed semipermanent settlements appeared 9,000 years ago in the Bhimbetka rock shelters 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.[12] Traces of a Neolithic culture have been alleged to be submerged in the Gulf of Khambat in India, radiocarbon dated to 7500 BCE.[13] 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. The first urban civilization of the region began with the Indus Valley Civilization.[14]

Bronze Age
Main article: Indus Valley Civilization See also: Economic history of India and Timeline of the economy of India 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,[8] the GangesYamuna Doab,[15] Gujarat,[16] and southeastern Afghanistan.[17] 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

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urban civilizations, along with Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt.[18] Inhabitants of the ancient Indus river valley, the Harappans, developed new techniques in metallurgy and handicraft (carneol products, seal carving), and produced copper, bronze, lead, and tin.
"Priest King" of Indus Valley Civilization

The Mature Indus civilization flourished from about 2600 to 1900 BCE, marking the beginning of the urban civilization on the Ancient Lothal as envisaged by the Archaeological subcontinent. The civilization included urban Survey of India. centers such as Dholavira, Kalibangan, Rupar, Rakhigarhi, and Lothal in modernday India, and Harappa, Ganeriwala, and Mohenjo-daro in modern-day Pakistan. The civilization is noted for its cities built of brick, roadside drainage system, and multistoried houses.

Early historic period

Vedic period
Main article: Vedic Civilization See also: Vedas and Indo-Aryans 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 to 500 BCE, laying the foundations of Hinduism and other cultural aspects of early Indian society. The Aryas established Vedic civilization all over north India, particularly 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.

Map of North India in the late Vedic period.

Early Vedic society consisted of largely pastoral groups, with late Harappan urbanization having been abandoned.[19] After the time of the Rigveda, Aryan society became increasingly agricultural and was socially organized around the four varnas, or social classes. In addition to the Vedas, the principal texts of Hinduism, the core themes of the Sanskrit epics Ramayana and Mahabharata are said to have their ultimate origins during this period.[20] The early Indo-Aryan presence probably corresponds, in part, to the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture in archaeological contexts.[21] The Kuru kingdom[22] corresponds to the Black and Red Ware and Painted Grey Ware cultures and to the beginning of the Iron Age in northwestern India, around 1000 BCE, as well as with the composition
The swastika is a major element of Hindu iconography.

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of the Atharvaveda, the first Indian text to mention iron, as yma ayas, literally "black metal." The Painted Grey Ware culture spanned much of northern India from about 1100 to 600 BCE.[21] The Vedic Period also established republics such as Vaishali, which existed as early as the 6th century BCE and persisted in some areas until the 4th century CE. The later part of this period corresponds with an increasing movement away from the previous tribal system towards the establishment of kingdoms, called mahajanapadas.

Mahajanapadas
Main articles: Mahajanapadas and Magadha Empire Main articles: History of Hinduism, History of Buddhism, and History of Jainism
Gautama Buddha undertaking extreme ascetic practices before his enlightenment on the bank of river Falgu in Bodh Gaya, Bihar.

See also: Adi Shankara, Siddhartha Gautama, and Mahavira Further information: Upanishads, Indian Religions, Indian philosophy, and Ancient universities of India

In the later Vedic Age, a number of small kingdoms or city states had covered the subcontinent, many mentioned in Vedic, early Buddhist and Jaina literature as far back as 1000 BCE. The Mahajanapadas were the By 500 BCE, sixteen sixteen most powerful kingdoms monarchies and "republics" and republics of the era, located known as the Mahajanapadas Kasi, mainly across the fertile IndoKosala, Anga, Magadha, Gangetic plains, however there Vajji (or Vriji), Malla, were a number of smaller Chedi, Vatsa (or Vamsa), kingdoms stretching the length Kuru, Panchala, Matsya (or and breadth of Ancient India. Machcha), Surasena, Assaka, Avanti, Gandhara, and Kamboja stretched across the Indo-Gangetic Plain from modern-day Afghanistan to Bengal and Maharastra. This period saw the second major rise of urbanism in India after the Indus Valley Civilization.

Detail of a leaf with, The Birth of Mahavira (the 24th Jain Tirthankara), from the Kalpa Sutra, c.1375-1400.

Nalanda University is considered one of the first great universities in recorded history. It was the center of Buddhist learning and research in the world from 450 to 1193 CE.

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 languages 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.[23]

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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 philosophy, were composed in the later Vedic Age and early in this period of the Mahajanapadas (from about 600 to 400 BCE). The Upanishads had a substantial effect on Indian philosophy and were contemporary with the development of Buddhism and Jainism, indicating a golden age of thought in this period. It is believed that circa 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 tirthankar according to Jains) propagated a similar theology that was to later become Jainism.[24] 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.[25] The Buddha's teachings and Jainism had doctrines inclined toward asceticism, and they 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, including vegetarianism, prohibition of animal slaughter and ahimsa (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, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia.

Persian and Greek conquests

See also: Achaemenid Empire, Greco-Buddhism, Alexander the Great, Nanda Empire, and Gangaridai Much of the northwestern subcontinent (presentday 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.[26] In 326 BCE, Alexander the Great conquered Asia Minor and the Achaemenid Empire, reaching the northwest frontiers of the Indian subcontinent. There he defeated King Porus in the Battle of the Hydaspes (near modern-day Jhelum, Pakistan) and conquered much of the Asia in 323 BCE, the Nanda Empire and Punjab.[27] Alexander's march east put him in Gangaridai Empire in relation to Alexander's confrontation with the Nanda Empire of Empire and neighbors. Magadha and the 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 River) 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 were 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 northwest 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 Empire
Main article: Maurya Empire

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Further information: Chandragupta Maurya, Bindusara, and Ashoka the Great

Maurya Empire under Ashoka the Great

Ashokan pillar at Vaishali, 3rd century BCE.

The Maurya Empire (322185 BCE), ruled by the Mauryan dynasty, was a geographically extensive and powerful political and military empire in ancient India. The empire was established by Chandragupta Maurya in Magadha what is now Bihar and it further flourished under Ashoka the Great. At its greatest extent, it stretched to the north to the natural boundaries of the Himalayas and to the east 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 extensive unexplored tribal and forested regions near Kalinga which were subsequently taken by Ashoka. Ashoka propagated Buddhism 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 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

Main article: Middle Kingdoms of India

Kharavela Empire

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Ancient India during the rise of Sunga Empire and Satavahana Empire.

Kushan Empire and Western Satraps of Ancient India in the north along with Pandyans Early Cholas in southern India

The middle period was a time of notable cultural development. The Satavahana dynasty, also known as the Andhras, ruled in southern and central India after around 230 BCE. Satakarni, the sixth ruler of the Satvahana dynasty, defeated the Sunga Empire of north India. Afterwards, Kharavela, the warrior king of Kalinga,[28] ruled a vast empire and was responsible for the propagation of Jainism in the Indian subcontinent.[28] The Kharavelan Jain empire included 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 the Malay Archipelago. The Kuninda Kingdom was a small Himalayan state that survived from around the 2nd century BCE to roughly the 3rd century CE. The Kushanas migrated from Central Asia into northwestern India in the middle of the 1st century CE 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 and contemporaries of the Kushans who ruled the northern part of the Indian subcontinent and the Satavahana (Andhra) who ruled in central and southern India. Different dynasties 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 into Southeast Asia. The kingdoms warred with each other and the Deccan states for domination of the south. The Kalabras, a Buddhist dynasty, briefly interrupted the usual domination of the Cholas, Cheras, and Pandyas in the south.

Northwestern hybrid cultures

See also: Indo-Greek kingdom, Indo-Scythians, Indo-Parthian Kingdom, and Indo-Sassanids The northwestern hybrid cultures of the subcontinent included the IndoGreeks, the Indo-Scythians, the Indo-Parthians, and the Indo-Sassinids. The first of these, the Indo-Greek kingdom Kingdom, was founded when the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius invaded the region in 180 BCE, extending his rule over various parts of present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan. Lasting for almost two centuries, the kingdom was ruled by a succession of more

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than 30 Greek kings, who were often in conflict with each other. The IndoThe founder of the Scythians were a branch of the Indo-European Sakas (Scythians) who Indo-Greek migrated from southern Siberia, first into Bactria, subsequently into Kingdom, Sogdiana, Kashmir, Arachosia, and Gandhara, and finally into India. Their Demetrius I "the kingdom lasted from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century Invincible" (205 BCE. Yet another kingdom, the Indo-Parthians (also known as the Pahlavas), 171 BCE). 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 was contemporaneous with the Gupta Empire, expanded into the region of present-day Balochistan in Pakistan, where the mingling of Indian culture and the culture of Iran gave birth to a hybrid culture under the Indo-Sassanids.

Kushan Empire
Main article: Kushan Empire The Kushan Empire expanded out of what is now Afghanistan into the northwest of the subcontinent under the leadership of their first emperor, Kujula Kadphises, about the middle of the 1st century CE. By the time of his grandson, Kanishka, (whose era is thought to have begun c. 127 CE), they had conquered most of northern India, at least as far as Saketa and Pataliputra, in the middle Ganges Valley, and probably as far as the Bay of Bengal.[29] They played an important role in the establishment of Buddhism in India and its spread to Central Asia and China. By the 3rd century, their empire in India was disintegrating; their last known great emperor being Vasudeva I (c. 190225 CE).

Roman trade with India

Main article: Roman trade with India Roman trade with India started around 1 CE, during the reign of Augustus and following his conquest of Egypt, which had been 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.[30]), by the time of Augustus, up to 120 ships set sail every year from Myos Hormos on the Red Sea to India. So much gold was used for this trade, and apparently recycled by the Kushans for their own coinage, that Pliny the Elder (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.[31]

Coin of the Roman emperor Augustus found at the Pudukottai, South India.

The maritime (but not the overland) trade routes, harbours, and trade items are described in detail in the 1st century CE Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.

Gupta rule
Main article: Gupta Empire

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See also: Chandra Gupta I, Samudragupta, Chandra Gupta II, Kumaragupta I, and Skandagupta Further information: Kalidasa, Aryabhata, Varahamihira, Vishnu Sharma, and Vatsyayana Further information: Meghadta, Abhijnakuntala, Kumrasambhava, Panchatantra, Aryabhatiya, Indian numerals, and Kama Sutra The Classical Age refers to the period when much of the Indian subcontinent was reunited under the Gupta Empire (c. 320550 CE).[32][33] This period has been called the Golden Age of India[34] 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.[35] The decimal numeral system, including the concept of zero, was invented in India during this period.[36] The peace and prosperity created under leadership of Guptas enabled the pursuit of scientific and artistic endeavors in India.[37] The high points of this cultural creativity are magnificent architecture, sculpture, and painting.[38] The Gupta period produced scholars such as Kalidasa, Aryabhata, Varahamihira, Vishnu Sharma, and Vatsyayana who made great advancements in many academic fields.[39] Science and political administration reached new heights during the Gupta era. Strong trade ties also made the region an important cultural center and established it as a base that would influence nearby kingdoms and regions in Burma, Sri Lanka, the Malay Archipelago, and Indochina.

Kalidasa's Sanskrit play Abhijnakuntala is one of the Legacy of the Gupta Empire.

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 rulersChandragupta I (c. 319335), Samudragupta (c. 335376), and Chandragupta II (c. 376415) brought much of India under their leadership.[40] They successfully resisted the northwestern kingdoms until the arrival of the Hunas, who established themselves in Afghanistan by the first half of the 5th century, with their capital at Bamiyan.[41] However, much of the Deccan and southern India were largely unaffected by these events in the north.[42][43]

Late Middle Kingdoms The Classical Age

Main articles: Middle Kingdoms of India , Badami Chalukyas , Rashtrakuta , Western Chalukyas , and Vijayanagara Empire The "Classical Age" in India began with the Gupta Empire and the resurgence of the north during Harsha's conquests around the 7th century CE, and ended with the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire in the south in the 13th century, due to pressure from the invaders to the north. 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.

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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 the Deccan. The Sena dynasty would later assume control of the Pala Empire, and the Gurjara Pratiharas fragmented into various states. These were the first of the Rajput states, 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

Pala Empire under Dharmapala

Pala Empire under Devapala

Badami Chalukya Empire

kingdoms emerged in Rajasthan in the 6th century, and small Rajput dynasties later ruled much of northern India. One Gurjar[44][45] 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-7th century to the early 11th century.

Chola Empire under Rajendra Chola c. 1030 C.E.

The Chalukya dynasty ruled parts of southern and central India from Badami in Karnataka between 550 and 750, and then again from Kalyani between 970 and 1190. The Pallavas of Kanchipuram were their contemporaries further to the south. With the decline of the Chalukya empire, their feudatories, the Hoysalas of Halebidu, Kakatiyas 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 Kanauj Triangle was the

The Chola Empire at its peak covered much of the Indian focal point of empires - the subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Rajaraja Chola I conquered all Rashtrakutas of Deccan, the of peninsular south India and parts of Sri Lanka. Rajendra Chola Gurjara Pratiharas of Malwa, and I's navies went even further, occupying coasts from Burma (now the Palas of Bengal. Myanmar) to Vietnam,[46] the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Lakshadweep (Laccadive) islands, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia and the 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.

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The ports of south India were engaged in the Indian Ocean trade, chiefly involving spices, with the Roman Empire to the west and Southeast Asia to the east.[47][48] Literature in local vernaculars and spectacular architecture flourished until 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 the Islamic Bahmani Sultanate, and the clashing of the two systems caused a mingling of the indigenous and foreign cultures that left lasting cultural influences on each other. The Vijaynagar Empire eventually declined due to pressure from the first Delhi sultanates that had managed to establish themselves in the north around the city of Delhi by that time.

The Islamic Sultanates

Main article: Islamic Empires in India See also: Bahmani Sultanate and Deccan Sultanates After conquering Persia, Arab Islamic Caliphate incorporated parts of what is now Pakistan around 720 CE. The Muslim rulers were keen to invade India,[49] which was a rich region,[50] with a flourishing international trade and the only known diamond mines in the world. In 712 CE an Arab Muslim general called Muhammad bin Qasim conquered most of the Indus region in modern day Pakistan, for the Umayyad empire, to be made the "As-Sindh" province with its capital at Al-Mansurah, 72 km (45 mi) north of modern Hyderabad in Sindh, Pakistan. After Gol Gumbaz at Bijapur, has the several wars including the Battle of Rajasthan, where the Hindu second largest pre-modern dome Rajput clans defeated the Umayyad Arabs, their expansion was [citation needed] in the world after the Byzantine , many checked and contained to Sindh in Pakistan short-lived Islamic kingdoms (sultanates) under foreign rulers Hagia Sophia. were established across the north western subcontinent over a period of a few centuries. Additionally, Muslim trading communities had flourished throughout coastal south India, particularly in Kerala, where Muslim traders arrived in small numbers, mainly from the Arabian peninsula. This had marked the introduction of a third Abrahamic Middle Eastern religion, following Judaism and Christianity, often in puritanical form. Later, the Bahmani Sultanate and Deccan sultanates founded by Turkic rulers, flourished in the south.

Delhi Sultanate
Main article: Delhi Sultanate In the 12th and 13th centuries, Turks and Afghans invaded parts of northern India and established the Delhi Sultanate in the former Rajput holdings.[51] The subsequent Slave dynasty of Delhi managed to conquer large areas of northern India, approximately equal in extent to the ancient Gupta Empire, while the Khilji dynasty was also able to conquer most of central India, but were ultimately unsuccessful in conquering and uniting 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 intermingling of the local speakers of

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Qutub Minar is the world's tallest brick minaret, commenced by Qutb-ud-din Aybak of the Slave dynasty.

Sanskritic Prakrits with immigrants speaking Persian, Turkic, and Arabic under the Muslim rulers. The Delhi Sultanate is the only Indo-Islamic empire to have enthroned one of the few female rulers in India, Razia Sultana (12361240).

A Turco-Mongol conqueror in Central Asia, Timur (Tamerlane), attacked the reigning Sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud of the Tughlaq Dynasty in the north Indian city of Delhi.[52] The Sultan's army was defeated on December 17, 1398. Timur entered Delhi and the city was sacked, destroyed, and left in ruins, after Timur's army had killed and plundered for three days and nights. He ordered the whole city to be sacked except for the sayyids, scholars, and the other Muslims,; 100,000 war prisoners, mostly Hindus, were put to death in one day.[53]

The Mughal era

Main article: Mughal Empire In 1526, Babur, a Timurid descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan from Fergana Valley(modern day Uzbekistan), swept across the Khyber Pass and established the Mughal Empire, Taj Mahal, built by the Mughals covering modern day Afghanistan, [54] Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. 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 Suri and the 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 6 November 1556.

Extent of the Mughal Empire in 1700.

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 Indian Rebellion of 1857, also called the 1857 War of Independence. This period marked vast social change in the subcontinent as the Hindu majority were ruled over by the Mughal emperors, most of whom 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, several smaller states rose to fill the power vacuum and themselves were contributing factors to the decline. In 1739, Nader Shah, emperor of Iran, 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.[55] The Mughals were perhaps the richest single dynasty to have ever existed. 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 - which fought an increasingly weak

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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 jizya tax for nonMuslims. The Mughal emperors married local royalty, allied themselves with local maharajas, and attempted to fuse their Turko-Persian culture with ancient Indian styles, creating a unique IndoSaracenic architecture. It was the erosion of this tradition coupled with increased brutality and centralization that played a large part in the dynasty's downfall after Aurangzeb, who unlike previous emperors, imposed relatively non-pluralistic policies on the general population, which often inflamed the majority Hindu population.

Post-Mughal period
Main articles: Maratha Empire, Kingdom of Mysore, Hyderabad State, Sikh Empire, Rajputs, and Durrani Empire See also: History of Sikhism Further information: Shivaji, Tippu Sultan, Nizam, Oudh, Ranjit Singh, and Ahmad Shah Abdali

The Maratha Empire in 1760. The last Hindu empire of India.

Harmandir Sahib or The Golden Temple is culturally the most significant place of worship for the Sikhs.

The post-Mughal era was dominated by the rise of the Maratha suzerainty as other small regional states (mostly late Mughal tributary states) emerged, and also by the increasing activities of European powers (see colonial era below). The Maratha kingdom or confederacy was founded and consolidated by Shivaji. By the 18th century, it had transformed itself into the Maratha Empire under the rule of the peshwas (prime ministers). By 1760, the domain of the Marathas 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 Durrani at the Third Battle of Panipat (1761). The last peshwa, Baji Rao II, was defeated by the British in the Third Anglo-Maratha War. The Kingdom of Mysore in southern India was founded around 1400 CE by the Wodeyar dynasty. The rule of the Wodeyars was interrupted by Hyder Ali and his son Tipu 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 Mysore receiving some aid or promise of aid from the French.

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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 and declared 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 first and second Anglo-Sikh war marked the downfall of the Sikh Empire. Around the 18th century, the modern state of Nepal was formed by Gurkha rulers.

Colonial era
Main article: Colonial India 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.[56] The Portuguese soon set up trading-posts in Goa, Daman, Diu and Bombay. The next to arrive were the Dutch, the Britishwho set up a trading-post in the west-coast port of Surat[57] in 1619and 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.

Company rule in India

Main articles: East India Company and Company rule in India The British East India Company had been given permission by the Mughal emperor Jahangir in 1617 to trade in India.[58] 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.[59] 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.[60] 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.[61] The East India Company monopolized the trade of Bengal. They introduced a land taxation system called the Permanent Settlement which

Map of India in 1857 at the end of Company rule.

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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.

British Raj
Main articles: British Raj and Indian rebellion of 1857 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.[62]

The British Indian Empire at its greatest extent (in a map of 1909)

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 187678, in which 6.1 million to 10.3 million people died[63] and the Indian famine of 18991900, in which 1.25 to 10 million people died.[63] 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.[64] 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.[65]

The Indian Independence movement

Main articles: Indian independence movement and Pakistan Movement See also: Mahatma Gandhi and Freedom fighters of India 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 onethird. The British employed "Divide and Rule" in British India as a means of preventing an uprising against the Raj.[66] In this environment of Hindu-Muslim disunity, the first step toward Indian independence and western-style democracy Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and was taken with the appointment of Indian councilors to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Bombay, advise the British viceroy,[67] and with the establishment of 1944. provincial Councils with Indian members; the councillors' participation was subsequently widened in legislative councils.[68] From 1920 leaders such as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi began highly popular mass movements to campaign against the British Raj, using largely peaceful methods. Some others

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adopted militant approach that sought to overthrow British rule by armed struggle; revolutionary activities against the British rule took place throughout the Indian sub-continent. The Gandhi led independence movement, opposed the British rule using non-violent methods like non-cooperation, civil disobedience and economic resistance. These movements succeeded in bringing independence to the Indian sub-continent in 1947.

Independence and Partition

Main articles: Partition of India, History of the Republic of India, History of Pakistan, and History of Bangladesh 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 participated in the formation of an interim government. 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.[69] 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).[69] In 1971, Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan and East Bengal, seceded from Pakistan. The histories of each of these modern nations can be found on the respective pages shown above.

See also
History of South Asia History of the Republic of India History of Pakistan History of Bangladesh Indianized kingdom Contributions of Indian Civilization Economic history of India Religion in India Indian Religions History of Buddhism History of Hinduism History of Jainism History of Sikhism Indian philosophy Science and technology in ancient India List of Indian inventions and discoveries Indian maritime history Military history of India Kingdoms of Ancient India Timeline of Indian history Timeline of the economy of India Historic figures of ancient India Indian nationalism Harappan mathematics

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Negationism in India - Concealing the Record of Islam Muslim conquest in the Indian subcontinent The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period (Book) List of books about India Imperialism in Asia#British in India

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36. ^ "Gupta Empire in India, art in the Gupta empire, Indian history" (http://www.indianchild.com/gupta_empire.htm) . Indianchild.com. http://www.indianchild.com/gupta_empire.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-16. 37. ^ "Gupta dynasty (Indian dynasty)" (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/249590/Guptadynasty) . Encyclopdia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/249590/Guptadynasty. Retrieved 2010-05-16. 38. ^ "Gupta dynasty: empire in 4th century" (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topicart/285248/1960/The-Gupta-empire-at-the-end-of-the-4th-century) . Encyclopdia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/285248/1960/The-Gupta-empire-at-the-end-of-the-4thcentury. Retrieved 2010-05-16. 39. ^ "The Gupta Empire of India | Chandragupta I | Samudragupta" (http://www.historybits.com/gupta.htm) . Historybits.com. 2001-09-11. http://www.historybits.com/gupta.htm. Retrieved 2010-05-16. 40. ^ "The Story of India - Photo Gallery" (http://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/gallery/photos/8.html) . PBS. http://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/gallery/photos/8.html. Retrieved 2010-05-16. 41. ^ Iaroslav Lebedynsky, "Les Nomades", p172. 42. ^ Early History of India, p 339, Dr V. A. Smith; See also Early Empire of Central Asia (1939), W. M. McGovern. 43. ^ Ancient India, 2003, p 650, Dr V. D. Mahajan; History and Culture of Indian People, The Age of Imperial Kanauj, p 50, Dr R. C. Majumdar, Dr A. D. Pusalkar. 44. ^ Dasharatha Sharma (1975). Early Chauhn dynasties: a study of Chauhn political history, Chauhn political institutions, and life in the Chauhn dominions, from 800 to 1316 A.D. (http://books.google.com/? id=n4gcAAAAMAAJ&q=bhandarkar++gurjara&dq=bhandarkar++gurjara&cd=6) . Motilal Banarsidass. p. 280. ISBN 0842606181, ISBN 978-0-8426-0618-9. http://books.google.com/? id=n4gcAAAAMAAJ&q=bhandarkar++gurjara&dq=bhandarkar++gurjara&cd=6. "According to a number of scholars, the agnikula clas were originally Gurjaras." 45. ^ Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (1834). Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 1999 (http://books.google.com/? id=TPgAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA651) . Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland.. p. 651. http://books.google.com/?id=TPgAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA651. "By that marriage Haarsha had contracted an alliance with the dominant race of the Gurjaras, of whom the chauhans were a prominent clan." 46. ^ "The Last Years of Cholas: The decline and fall of a dynasty" (http://www.en.articlesgratuits.com/thelast-years-of-cholas-the-decline-and-fall-of-a-dynasty-id1804.php) . En.articlesgratuits.com. 2007-08-22. http://www.en.articlesgratuits.com/the-last-years-of-cholas-the-decline-and-fall-of-a-dynastyid1804.php. Retrieved 2009-09-23. 47. ^ Miller, J. Innes. (1969). The Spice Trade of The Roman Empire: 29 B.C. to A.D. 641. Oxford University Press. Special edition for Sandpiper Books. 1998. ISBN 0-19-814264-1. 48. ^ Search for India's ancient city (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4970452.stm) . BBC News. Retrieved on June 22, 2007. 49. ^ "History Sindh, Invasions, Arab contact, trade, civilization, India, Pakistan, Islam" (http://india_resource.tripod.com/sindh.html) . India_resource.tripod.com. http://india_resource.tripod.com/sindh.html. Retrieved 2010-05-16. 50. ^ http://www.indianscience.org/essays/22-%20E--Gems%20&%20Minerals%20F.pdf 51. ^ Battuta's Travels: Delhi, capital of Muslim India (http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/Ibn_Battuta/Battuta's_Trip_Seven.html) 52. ^ Timur - conquest of India (http://www.gardenvisit.com/travel/clavijo/timurconquestofindia.htm) 53. ^ Elliot & Dawson. The History of India As told By Its Own Historians Vol III. pp. 445446. 54. ^ The Islamic World to 1600: Rise of the Great Islamic Empires (The Mughal Empire) (http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/empires/mughals/) 55. ^ Iran in the Age of the Raj (http://www.avalanchepress.com/Soldier_Shah.php) 56. ^ "Vasco da Gama: Round Africa to India, 1497-1498 CE" (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1497degama.html) . Internet Modern History Sourcebook. Paul Halsall. June 1998. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1497degama.html. Retrieved 2007-05-07. From: Oliver J. Thatcher, ed., The Library of Original Sources (Milwaukee: University Research Extension Co., 1907), Vol. V: 9th to 16th Centuries, pp. 26-40. 57. ^ "Indian History - Important events: History of India. An overview" (http://www.indianchild.com/history_of_india.htm) . History of India. Indianchild.com. http://www.indianchild.com/history_of_india.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-07. 58. ^ "The Great Moghul Jahangir: Letter to James I, King of England, 1617 A.D." (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/india/1617englandindies.html) . Indian History Sourcebook:

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England, India, and The East Indies, 1617 CE. Internet Indian History Sourcebook, Paul Halsall. June 1998. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/india/1617englandindies.html. Retrieved 2007-05-07. From: James Harvey Robinson, ed., Readings in European History, 2 Vols. (Boston: Ginn and Co., 1904-1906), Vol. II: From the opening of the Protestant Revolt to the Present Day, pp. 333335. ^ "KOLKATA (CALCUTTA) : HISTORY" (http://www.calcuttaweb.com/history.shtml) . Calcuttaweb.com. http://www.calcuttaweb.com/history.shtml. Retrieved 2007-05-07. ^ Rickard, J. (1 November 2000). "Robert Clive, Baron Clive, 'Clive of India', 17251774" (http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_cliveofindia.html) . Military History Encyclopedia on the Web. historyofwar.org. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/people_cliveofindia.html. Retrieved 2007-05-07. ^ Prakash, Om. "The Transformation from a Pre-Colonial to a Colonial Order: The Case of India" (http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/economicHistory/GEHN/GEHN%20PDF/Transformation% 20from%20a%20Pre-Colonial%20-%20Om%20Prakash.pdf) (PDF). Global Economic History Network. Economic History Department, London School of Economics. pp. 340. http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/economicHistory/GEHN/GEHN%20PDF/Transformation%20from% 20a%20Pre-Colonial%20-%20Om%20Prakash.pdf. Retrieved 2007-05-07. ^ Kashmir: The origins of the dispute (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1762146.stm) , BBC News, January 16, 2002 ^ a b Davis, Mike. Late Victorian Holocausts. 1. Verso, 2000. ISBN 1-85984-739-0 pg 7 ^ Plague (http://www.who.int/vaccine_research/diseases/zoonotic/en/index4.html) . World Health Organization. ^ Reintegrating India with the World Economy (http://www.petersoninstitute.org/publications/chapters_preview/98/1iie2806.pdf) . Peterson Institute for International Economics. ^ The Partition of India (http://www.english.emory.edu/Bahri/Part.html) ^ Mohsin, K.M.. "Canning, (Lord)" (http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/C_0035.htm) . Banglapedia. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/C_0035.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-07. "Indian Council Act of 1861 by which non-official Indian members were nominated to the Viceroy's Legislative Council." ^ "Minto-Morley Reforms" (http://www.storyofpakistan.com/articletext.asp?artid=A119) . storyofpakistan.com. Jin Technologies. June 1, 2003. http://www.storyofpakistan.com/articletext.asp? artid=A119. Retrieved 2007-05-07. ^ a b Symonds, Richard (1950). The Making of Pakistan. London: Faber and Faber. p. 74. OCLC 1462689 (http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1462689) . ASIN B0000CHMB1. "at the lowest estimate, half a million people perished and twelve million became homeless"

Further reading
Bannerjee, Dr. Gauranganath (1921). India as known to the ancient world (http://www.archive.org/stream/indiaasknowntoan00banerich#page/n3/mode/2up) . Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, London. http://www.archive.org/stream/indiaasknowntoan00banerich#page/n3/mode/2up. Basham, A. L. (1954), The wonder that was India. Sidgwick and Jackson, London. Danilou, Alain (2003). A Brief History of India ISBN 0-89281-923-5 Elliot, Henry Miers; John Dowson (186777). The History of India, as told by its own historians. The Muhammadan Period (http://persian.packhum.org/persian/main?url=pf% 3Ffile%3D80201010%26ct%3D0) . London: Trbner and Co. Keay, John (2000). India: A History (http://books.google.com/books?id=3aeQqmcXBhoC) . New York, USA: Grove Press. ISBN 0802137970. http://books.google.com/books? id=3aeQqmcXBhoC. Kulke, Hermann and Dietmar Rothermund. A History of India (http://books.google.com/books?id=V73N8js5ZgAC) . 3rd ed. (1998) R.C. Majumdar, H.C. Raychaudhuri, and Kaukinkar Datta. An Advanced History of India. London: Macmillan. 1960. ISBN 0-333-90298-X R.C. Majumdar, The History and Culture of the Indian People, New York: The Macmillan Co., 1951.

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Mcleod, John. The History of India (http://books.google.com/books?id=DAwmUphO6eAC) (2002) Rothermund, Dietmar. An Economic History of India: From Pre-Colonial Times to 1991 (http://books.google.com/books?id=7cZ_oJGWWK0C) (1993) Sharma, R.S., India's Ancient Past, Oxford University Press Sims-Williams, Nicholas and J. Cribb (1995-1996) "A new Bactrian inscription of Kanishka the Great", in Silk Road Art and Archaeology No. 4, 1995-1996. Singhal, D.P. (1983), A History of the Indian People. Methuen, London. Smith, Vincent. The Oxford History of India (1981) Spear, Percival. The History of India Vol. 2 (1990) Tavernier, Jean Baptiste - Baron of Aubonne; Ball, Valentine (tr. from the Org French Ed. 1676) (1899). Travels in India (Vol. 1) (http://www.archive.org/stream/travelsinindia00unkngoog#page/n8/mode/2up) . Macmillan & Co., London. http://www.archive.org/stream/travelsinindia00unkngoog#page/n8/mode/2up. Tavernier, Jean Baptiste; Ball, Valentine (tr. from the Org French Ed. 1676) (1899). Travels in India (Vol. 2) (http://www.archive.org/details/travelsinindia00tavegoog) . Macmillan & Co., London. http://www.archive.org/details/travelsinindia00tavegoog. Thapar, Romila. Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300 (http://books.google.com/books? id=-5irrXX0apQC) (2004) Wolpert, Stanley. A New History of India. 6th ed. (1999) Chirol, Valentine Indian Unrest and India Old and New London 1910 Ghosh, Aurobindo, Bankim, Tilak Dayanand Calcutta 1947 K.C.Yadav & Arya K.S. Arya Samaj and Freedom Movement, Manohar Publications Delhi 1988 Kohn Hans A History of Nationalism in the East, New York 1929 Lajpat Rai, India's Will to Freedom Madras 1921 Macdonald, J Ramsay The Awakening of India, London 1910 Romain Rolland, The Prophets of New India London 1930

External links
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