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History of India |
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The roots of Indian civilisation stretch back in time
to pre-recorded history. The earliest human activity in the Indian sub-continent
can be traced back to the Early, Middle and Late Stone Ages (400,000-200,000
BC).
Implements from all three periods have been found from Rajasthan,
Gujarat, Bihar, parts of what is now Pakistan and the southern most tip
of the Indian Peninsula.
Historical
Temples in Goa - History
of Delhi -
The civilization that laid the bricks, one of the world's oldest, was
known as the Indus. They had a written language and were highly sophisticated.
Dating back to 3000 BC, they originated in the south and moved north,
building complex, mathematically-planned cities. Some of these towns were
almost three miles in diameter and contained as many as 30,000 residents.
These ancient municipalities had granaries, citadels, and even household
toilets. In Mohenjodaro, a mile-long canal connected the city to the sea,
and trading ships sailed as far as Mesopotamia.
At its height, the Indus
civilization extended over half a million square miles across the Indus
river valley, and though it existed at the same time as the ancient civilizations
of Egypt and Sumer, it far outlasted them.
The first group to invade India were the Aryans, who came
out of the north in about 1500 BC. The Aryans brought with them strong
cultural traditions that, miraculously, still remain in force today. They
spoke and wrote in a language called Sanskrit, which was later used in
the first documentation of the Vedas.
Though warriors and conquerors,
the Aryans lived alongside Indus, introducing them to the caste system
and establishing the basis of the Indian religions. The Aryans inhabited
the northern regions for about 700 years, then moved further south and
east when they developed iron tools and weapons. They eventually settled
the Ganges valley and built large kingdoms throughout much of northern
India. |
The Indus Valley Civilisation
From the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, the individuality of the
early village cultures began to be replaced by a more homogenous style
of existence.
By the middle of the 3rd millennium, a uniform culture had
developed at settlements spread across nearly 500,000 square miles, including
parts of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Baluchistan, Sind and the Makran
coast. This earliest known civilisation in India, the starting
point in its history, dates back to about 3000 BC. Discovered in the 1920s,
it was thought to have been confined to the valley of the river Indus,
hence the name given to it was Indus Valley civilisation. |
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This civilisation
was a highly developed urban one and two of its towns, Mohenjodaro and
Harappa, represent the high watermark of the settlements. Subsequent archaeological
excavations established that the contours of this civilisation were not
restricted to the Indus valley but spread to a wide area in northwestern
and western India. Thus this civilisation is now better known as the Harappan
civilisation. Mohenjodaro and Harappa are now in Pakistan and the principal
sites in India include Ropar in Punjab, Lothal in Gujarat and Kalibangan
in Rajasthan.
The Aryans and the Vedic Age
The Aryans are said to have entered India through the fabled Khyber pass,
around 1500 BC. They intermingled with the local populace, and assimilated
themselves into the social framework. They adopted the settled agricultural
lifestyle of their predecessors, and established small agrarian communities
across the state of Punjab.
The Aryans are believed to have brought with them the horse,
developed the Sanskrit language and made significant inroads in to the
religion of the times. All three factors were to play a fundamental role
in the shaping of Indian culture. |
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Cavalry warfare facilitated the rapid
spread of Aryan culture across North India, and allowed the emergence
of large empires. Sanskrit is the basis and the unifying factor of the vast
majority of Indian languages. The religion, that took root during the
Vedic era, with its rich pantheon of Gods and Goddesses, and its storehouse
of myths and legends, became the foundation of the Hindu religion, arguably
the single most important common denominator of Indian culture.
The Muslim Invasions
Invasions of Muslims from Central Asia lead to political dominance
of Muslims in North India and introduction of Persian culture and Islamic
religion into South Asia.The Arab Caliphate, which annexed Sind, threw
its shadow over the MiddleEast in the 700s; as it weakened during
succeeding centuries, various CentralAsian peoples, notably the Turks,
entered the area. The Turkish flood intoPersia and Mesopotamia spilled
over into India during the late tenth century.Hindu-Muslim conflict was
by then centuries old; but the Turkish invaders,only partially civilized
and recently converted Muslims, were most zealous inpursuing a holy crusade
against infidels. They were also fearsome marauders.One of their leaders,
the ruler of a small Afghan state, annexed the Punjab in1022. For another
two centuries, fighting continued between Turks and Rajputs,until Muhammed
Ghuri, another Muslim commander, conquered most of northernIndia.
| Related Information to History Travel Tourism of India |
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The Coming of the Europeans
The quest for wealth and power brought Europeans to Indian shores
in 1498 when Vasco da Gama, the Portuguese voyager, arrived in Calicut
(modern Kozhikode, Kerala) on the west coast. In their search for spices
and Christian converts, the Portuguese challenged Arab supremacy in the
Indian Ocean, and, with their galleons fitted with powerful cannons, set
up a network of strategic trading posts along the Arabian Sea and the
Persian Gulf. In 1510 the Portuguese took over the enclave of Goa, which
became the center of their commercial and political power in India and
which they controlled for nearly four and a half centuries
English company agents became familiar with Indian customs and languages,
including Persian, the unifying official language under the Mughals. In
many ways, the English agents of that period lived like Indians, intermarried
willingly, and a large number of them never returned to their home country.
The knowledge of India thus acquired and the mutual ties forged with Indian
trading groups gave the English a competitive edge over other Europeans.
The French commercial interest--Compagnie des Indes Orientales (East India
Company, founded in 1664)--came late, but the French also established
themselves in India, emulating the precedents set by their competitors
as they founded their enclave at Pondicherry (Puduchcheri) on the Coramandel
Coast. |
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Indian independence movement
The impact of English education in India led to the growth
of nationalism, resulting in freedom of thought and liberalism. It also
made the educated people blindly follow Western Culture. But a strong
reaction against the sweeping current of Western influence manifested
itself in the third quarter of the nineteenth century.
It was mainly due
to the growing knowledge of the glory and greatness of ancient India.
The revelation of India's past was one of the strongest foundations on
which Indian nationalism was built. |
The spirit of Indian nationalism was intensified by the
growing discontent and disaffection with British rule due to the racial
arrogance of the rulers. In this regard, Sir Thomas Munro wrote in 1817,
"Foreign conquerors have treated the natives with violence, but none
has treated them with so much scorn as we; none have stigmatized the whole
people as unworthy of trust, as incapable of honesty, and as fit to be
employed only where we cannot do without them. It seems not only ungenerous,
but impolite to debase the character of a people fallen under our dominion."
India achieved independence on August 15,1947. Giving voice to the sentiments
of the nation, the country's first prime minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
said, "Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time
comes when we will redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but
very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world
sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.
A moment comes, which comes
but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when
an age ends and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance
.... We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself
again."
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