History of India#Iron Age (c. 1800 – 200 BCE)

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| image1 = Rock Shelter 15, Bhimbetka 02.jpg

| caption1 = Mesolithic rock art at the Bhimbetka rock shelters, Madhya Pradesh, showing a wild animal, perhaps a mythical one, attacking human hunters. Although the rock art has not been directly dated,{{cite book|last=Taçon|first=Paul S.C.|author-link=Paul Taçon|editor-last1=David|editor1-first=Bruno|editor-last2=McNiven|editor-first2=Ian J.|title=The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology and Anthropology of Rock Art|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tXFyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA181|date=17 October 2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-084495-0|pages=181–|chapter=The Rock Art of South and East Asia}} it has been argued on circumstantial grounds that many paintings were completed by 8000 BCE,{{cite book|last=Mithen|first=Steven J.|author-link=Steven Mithen|title=After the Ice: A Global Human History, 20,000–5000 BC|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NVygmardAA4C&pg=PA411|year=2006|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-01999-7|pages=411–}} and some slightly earlier.{{cite journal|last=Dubey-Pathak|first=Meenakshi|year=2014|title=The Rock Art of the Bhimbetka Area in India|url=https://www.rockartscandinavia.com/images/articles/a14pathak.pdf|url-status=live|journal=Adoranten|pages=16, 19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913162516/https://www.rockartscandinavia.com/images/articles/a14pathak.pdf|archive-date=13 September 2021|archive-format=PDF}}

| image2 = MarayoorDolmen.JPG

| caption2 = A dolmen erected by Neolithic people in Marayur, Kerala, India.

| image3 = EdakkalCaveCarving.jpg

| caption3 = Stone Age (6,000 BCE) carvings of Edakkal Caves in Kerala, India.

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{{Main|South Asian Stone Age}}Hominin expansion from Africa is estimated to have reached the Indian subcontinent approximately two million years ago, and possibly as early as 2.2 million years ago.{{sfn|Chauhan|2010|p=147}}{{sfn|Petraglia|Allchin|2007|p=5}}{{sfn|Petraglia|2010|pp=167–170}} This dating is based on the known presence of Homo erectus in Indonesia by 1.8 million years ago and in East Asia by 1.36 million years ago, as well as the discovery of stone tools at Riwat in Pakistan.{{sfn|Petraglia|Allchin|2007|p=5}}{{cite book|last=Mishra|first=Sheila|editor-last=Murray|editor-first=Tim|editor-link=Tim Murray (archaeologist)|year=1999|chapter=Developing an Indian stone age chronology|title=Time and Archaeology|url=https://archive.org/details/timearchaeology00murr|url-access=registration|publisher=Routledge|page=84|isbn=978-0-415-11762-3}} Although some older discoveries have been claimed, the suggested dates, based on the dating of fluvial sediments, have not been independently verified.{{sfn|Petraglia|2010|pp=167–170}}{{sfn|Chauhan|2010|pp=147–160}}

The oldest hominin fossil remains in the Indian subcontinent are those of Homo erectus or Homo heidelbergensis, from the Narmada Valley in central India, and are dated to approximately half a million years ago.{{sfn|Petraglia|Allchin|2007|p=5}}{{sfn|Chauhan|2010|pp=147–160}} Older fossil finds have been claimed, but are considered unreliable.{{sfn|Chauhan|2010|pp=147–160}} Reviews of archaeological evidence have suggested that occupation of the Indian subcontinent by hominins was sporadic until approximately 700,000 years ago, and was geographically widespread by approximately 250,000 years ago.{{sfn|Chauhan|2010|pp=147–160}}{{sfn|Petraglia|2010|pp=167–170}}

According to a historical demographer of South Asia, Tim Dyson:

Modern human beings—Homo sapiens—originated in Africa. Then, intermittently, sometime between 60,000 and 80,000 years ago, tiny groups of them began to enter the north-west of the Indian subcontinent. It seems likely that initially they came by way of the coast. It is virtually certain that there were Homo sapiens in the subcontinent 55,000 years ago, even though the earliest fossils that have been found of them date to only about 30,000 years before the present.{{sfn|Dyson|2018|p=1}}

According to Michael D. Petraglia and Bridget Allchin:

Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonisation of South Asia by modern humans originating in Africa. ... Coalescence dates for most non-European populations average to between 73–55 ka.{{sfn|Petraglia|Allchin|2007|p=6}}

Historian of South Asia, Michael H. Fisher, states:

Scholars estimate that the first successful expansion of the Homo sapiens range beyond Africa and across the Arabian Peninsula occurred from as early as 80,000 years ago to as late as 40,000 years ago, although there may have been prior unsuccessful emigrations. Some of their descendants extended the human range ever further in each generation, spreading into each habitable land they encountered. One human channel was along the warm and productive coastal lands of the Persian Gulf and northern Indian Ocean. Eventually, various bands entered India between 75,000 years ago and 35,000 years ago.{{sfn|Fisher|2018|p=23}}

Archaeological evidence has been interpreted to suggest the presence of anatomically modern humans in the Indian subcontinent 78,000–74,000 years ago,{{cite book|author-last1=Tuniz|author-first1=Claudio|author-last2=Gillespie|author-first2=Richard|author-last3=Jones|author-first3=Cheryl|title=The Bone Readers: Science and Politics in Human Origins Research|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WrJmDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA163|date=16 June 2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-315-41888-9|pages=163–}} although this interpretation is disputed.{{cite journal|first1=Michael D.|last1=Petraglia|first2=Michael|last2=Haslam|first3=Dorian Q.|last3=Fuller|first4=Nicole|last4=Boivin|first5=Chris|last5=Clarkson|s2cid=6421383|date=25 March 2010|title=Out of Africa: new hypotheses and evidence for the dispersal of Homo sapiens along the Indian Ocean rim|journal=Annals of Human Biology|volume=37|issue=3|pages=288–311|doi=10.3109/03014461003639249|pmid=20334598|url=http://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:205007/HCA15UQ205007.pdf|issn=0301-4460}}{{cite journal|first1=Paul|last1=Mellars|first2=Kevin C.|last2=Gori|first3=Martin|last3=Carr|first4=Pedro A.|last4=Soares|first5=Martin B.|last5=Richards|date=25 June 2013|title=Genetic and archaeological perspectives on the initial modern human colonization of southern Asia|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences|volume=110|issue=26|pages=10699–10704|bibcode=2013PNAS..11010699M|doi=10.1073/pnas.1306043110|pmid=23754394|pmc=3696785|doi-access=free}} The occupation of South Asia by modern humans, initially in varying forms of isolation as hunter-gatherers, has turned it into a highly diverse one, second only to Africa in human genetic diversity.{{sfn|Dyson|2018|p=28}}

According to Tim Dyson:

Genetic research has contributed to knowledge of the prehistory of the subcontinent's people in other respects. In particular, the level of genetic diversity in the region is extremely high. Indeed, only Africa's population is genetically more diverse. Related to this, there is strong evidence of 'founder' events in the subcontinent. By this is meant circumstances where a subgroup—such as a tribe—derives from a tiny number of 'original' individuals. Further, compared to most world regions, the subcontinent's people are relatively distinct in having practised comparatively high levels of endogamy.{{sfn|Dyson|2018|p=28}}

File:Mehrgarh ruins.jpg site in present-day Beluchistan, Pakistan]]

File:MET 2003 592 2 O.jpg

Settled life emerged on the subcontinent in the western margins of the Indus River alluvium approximately 9,000 years ago, evolving gradually into the Indus Valley Civilisation of the third millennium BCE.{{sfn|Wright|2010|pp=44, 51}}{{sfn|Dyson|2018|p=4-5}} According to Tim Dyson: "By 7,000 years ago agriculture was firmly established in Baluchistan... [and] slowly spread eastwards into the Indus valley." Michael Fisher adds:{{sfn|Fisher|2018|p=33}}

The earliest discovered instance ... of well-established, settled agricultural society is at Mehrgarh in the hills between the Bolan Pass and the Indus plain (today in Pakistan) (see Map 3.1). From as early as 7000 BCE, communities there started investing increased labor in preparing the land and selecting, planting, tending, and harvesting particular grain-producing plants. They also domesticated animals, including sheep, goats, pigs, and oxen (both humped zebu [Bos indicus] and unhumped [Bos taurus]). Castrating oxen, for instance, turned them from mainly meat sources into domesticated draft-animals as well.{{sfn|Fisher|2018|p=33}}

{{Main|Indus Valley Civilisation}}

{{See also|List of Indus Valley Civilisation sites}}

File:Indus Valley Civilization, Mature Phase (2600-1900 BCE).png

The Bronze Age in the Indian subcontinent began around 3300 BCE.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}} The Indus Valley region was one of three early cradles of civilisation in the Old World; the Indus Valley civilisation was the most expansive,{{sfn|Wright|2010|p=1}} and at its peak, may have had a population of over five million.

The civilisation was primarily centred in modern-day Pakistan, in the Indus river basin, and secondarily in the Ghaggar-Hakra River basin. The mature Indus civilisation flourished from about 2600 to 1900 BCE, marking the beginning of urban civilisation on the Indian subcontinent. It included cities such as Harappa, Ganweriwal, and Mohenjo-daro in modern-day Pakistan, and Dholavira, Kalibangan, Rakhigarhi, and Lothal in modern-day India.

File:Mohenjo-daro.jpg (one of the largest Indus cities). View of the site's Great Bath, showing the surrounding urban layout.]]

File:DHOLAVIRA SITE (24).jpg, a city of the Indus Valley civilisation, with stepwell steps to reach the water level in artificially constructed reservoirs{{Cite journal|author=Shuichi Takezawa|journal=Journal of Architecture and Building Science|volume=117|issue=1492|date=August 2002|page=24|url=http://news-sv.aij.or.jp/jabs/s1/jabs0208-019.pdf|title=Stepwells – Cosmology of Subterranean Architecture As Seen in Adalaj|access-date=18 November 2009}}]]

File:The drainage system at Lothal 2.JPG ]]

Inhabitants of the ancient Indus River valley, the Harappans, developed new techniques in metallurgy and handicraft, and produced copper, bronze, lead, and tin.Kenoyer, J. M., Miller, H. M.-L. [http://pascal-francis.inist.fr/vibad/index.php?action=getRecordDetail&idt=1557249 "Metal technologies of the Indus Valley tradition in Pakistan and western India."] The Archaeometallurgy of the Asian Old World, MASCA research papers in science and archaeology. 1999, Vol 16, pp 107-151; ref : 7 p.1/4. ISSN 1048-5325 The civilisation is noted for its cities built of brick, and its roadside drainage systems, and is thought to have had some kind of municipal organisation. The civilisation also developed an Indus script, the earliest of the ancient Indian scripts, which is presently undeciphered.Early India: A Concise History, D.N. Jha, 2004, p. 31 This is the reason why Harappan language is not directly attested, and its affiliation is uncertain.{{cite magazine|last1=Menon|first1=Sunil|last2=Mishra|first2=Siddhartha|date=13 August 2018|title=We Are All Harappans|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/we-are-all-harappans/300463|magazine=Outlook|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180803073245/https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/we-are-all-harappans/300463|archive-date=2018-08-03}}

File:Indus script.jpgs and their impressions showing Indus script characters alongside animals: unicorn (left), bull (centre), and elephant (right); at Guimet Museum ]]

After the collapse of Indus Valley civilisation, the inhabitants migrated from the river valleys of Indus and Ghaggar-Hakra, towards the Himalayan foothills of Ganga-Yamuna basin.{{cite journal|last1=Sarkar|first1=Anindya|last2=Mukherjee|first2=Arati Deshpande|last3=Bera|first3=M. K.|last4=Das|first4=B.|last5=Juyal|first5=Navin|last6=Morthekai|first6=P.|last7=Deshpande|first7=R. D.|last8=Shinde|first8=V. S.|last9=Rao|first9=L. S.|title=Oxygen isotope in archaeological bioapatites from India: Implications to climate change and decline of Bronze Age Harappan civilization|journal=Scientific Reports|date=May 2016|volume=6|issue=1|pages=26555|doi=10.1038/srep26555|pmid=27222033|pmc=4879637|bibcode=2016NatSR...626555S|doi-access=free}}

File:Sinauli chariot ASI.jpg solid-disk wheel cart, photograph of the Archaeological Survey of India.{{cite journal|last1=Kumar|first1=Vijay|title=A note on Chariot Burials found at Sinauli district Baghpat U.P|journal=Indian Journal of Archaeology|url=http://ijarch.org/Admin/Articles/9-Note%20on%20Chariots.pdf}}]]

During the 2nd millennium BCE, Ochre Coloured Pottery culture was in Ganga Yamuna Doab region. These were rural settlements with agriculture and hunting. They were using copper tools such as axes, spears, arrows, and swords, and had domesticated animals.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC&pg=PA220|title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century|first=Upinder|last=Singh|author-link=Upinder Singh|year=2008|publisher=Pearson Education India|pages=216–219|isbn=9788131711200|access-date=8 September 2018}}

{{See also|Iron Age in India}}

{{Main|Vedic period|Historical Vedic religion|Vedas}}

{{See also|Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan migrations}}

Starting {{circa|1900 BCE}}, Indo-Aryan tribes moved into the Punjab from Central Asia in several waves of migration.{{cite book|last=Stein|first=Burton|author-link=Burton Stein|editor-last=Arnold|editor-first=David|year=2010|title=A History of India|edition=2nd|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|place=Oxford|isbn=978-1-4051-9509-6|page=47|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QY4zdTDwMAQC}}{{sfn|Kulke|Rothermund|2004|p=31}} The Vedic period is when the Vedas were composed of liturgical hymns from the Indo-Aryan people. The Vedic culture was located in part of north-west India, while other parts of India had a distinct cultural identity. Many regions of the Indian subcontinent transitioned from the Chalcolithic to the Iron Age in this period.{{sfn|Upinder Singh|2008|p=255}}

The Vedic culture is described in the texts of Vedas, still sacred to Hindus, which were orally composed and transmitted in Vedic Sanskrit. The Vedas are some of the oldest extant texts in India.{{sfn|Antonova|Bongard-Levin|Kotovsky|1979|p=51}} The Vedic period, lasting from about 1500 to 500 BCE,{{cite book|last=MacKenzie|first=Lynn|date=1995|title=Non-Western Art: A Brief Guide|url=https://archive.org/details/nonwesternartbri00mack|url-access=registration|publisher=Prentice Hall|page=[https://archive.org/details/nonwesternartbri00mack/page/151 151]|isbn=978-0-13-104894-2}}Romila Thapar, A History of India: Part 1, pp. 29–30. contributed to the foundations of several cultural aspects of the Indian subcontinent.

File:Rigveda MS2097.jpg script of the Rigveda, originally transmitted orally{{cite book|last=Staal|first=Frits|author-link=Frits Staal|year=1986|title=The Fidelity of Oral Tradition and the Origins of Science|publisher=North Holland Publishing Company}}]]

Historians have analysed the Vedas to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab, and the upper Gangetic Plain.{{sfn|Upinder Singh|2008|p=255}} The Peepal tree and cow were sanctified by the time of the Atharva Veda.{{Cite book|last1=Singhal|first1=K. C.|last2=Gupta|first2=Roshan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hoXqCmo-Xs8C|title=The Ancient History of India, Vedic Period: A New Interpretation|date=2003|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors|isbn=81-269-0286-8|location=New Delhi|oclc=53360586|pages=150–151}} Many of the concepts of Indian philosophy espoused later, like dharma, trace their roots to Vedic antecedents.{{cite book|last=Day|first=Terence P.|date=1982|title=The Conception of Punishment in Early Indian Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fjo2gk2tBK8C|location=Ontario|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press|pages=42–45|isbn=978-0-919812-15-4}}

Early Vedic society is described in the Rigveda, the oldest Vedic text, believed to have been compiled during the 2nd millennium BCE,{{cite book|last1=Duiker|first1=William J.|author1-link=William J. Duiker|last2=Spielvogel|first2=Jackson J.|author2-link=Jackson J. Spielvogel|year=2018|orig-year=First published 1994|title=World History|publisher=Cengage|edition=9th|pages=44, 59|isbn=978-1-337-40104-3}}{{cite book|last=Nelson|first=James Melvin|title=Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality|year=2009|url=https://archive.org/details/psychologyreligi00nels|url-access=limited|page=[https://archive.org/details/psychologyreligi00nels/page/n91 77]|publisher=Springer}} in the north-western region of the Indian subcontinent.{{cite book|last=Flood|first=Gavin Dennis|author-link=Gavin Flood|title=An Introduction to Hinduism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KpIWhKnYmF0C&pg=PA37|date=13 July 1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-43878-0|page=37}} At this time, Aryan society consisted of predominantly tribal and pastoral groups, distinct from the Harappan urbanisation which had been abandoned.{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/285248/India/46837/The-appearance-of-Indo-Aryan-speakers|title=India: The Late 2nd Millennium and the Reemergence of Urbanism|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=12 May 2007}} The early Indo-Aryan presence probably corresponds, in part, to the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture in archaeological contexts.{{sfn|Reddy|2003|p=A11}}Michael Witzel (1989), Tracing the Vedic dialects in Dialectes dans les litteratures Indo-Aryennes ed. Caillat, Paris, 97–265.

At the end of the Rigvedic period, the Aryan society expanded from the north-western region of the Indian subcontinent into the western Ganges plain. It became increasingly agricultural and was socially organised around the hierarchy of the four varnas, or social classes.{{sfn|Samuel|2008|p=43, 48, 51, 86–87}} This social structure was characterised by the exclusion of some indigenous peoples by labelling their occupations impure.{{sfn|Kulke|Rothermund|2004|pp=41–43}} During this period, many of the previous small tribal units and chiefdoms began to coalesce into Janapadas (monarchical, state-level polities).{{sfn|Upinder Singh|2008|p=200}}

{{Main|Mahabharata|Ramayana}}

{{see also|List of historic Indian texts|List of Hindu texts}}

File:Kurukshetra.jpg.]]

The Sanskrit epics Ramayana and Mahabharata were composed during this period.{{cite book|author=Valmiki|author-link=Valmiki|url=https://archive.org/details/ramayanaofva01valm/page/23|title=The Ramayana of Valmiki: An Epic of Ancient India, Volume 1: Balakanda|date=10 April 1990|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0-691-01485-2|editor-last1=Goldman|editor-first1=Robert P.|editor-link1=Robert P. Goldman|location=Princeton, New Jersey|page=[https://archive.org/details/ramayanaofva01valm/page/23 23]|editor-last2=Pollock|editor-first2=Sheldon|editor-link2=Sheldon Pollock}} The Mahabharata remains the longest single poem in the world.Romila Thapar, A History of India Part 1, p. 31. Historians formerly postulated an "epic age" as the milieu of these two epic poems, but now recognise that the texts went through multiple stages of development over centuries.{{sfn|Upinder Singh|2008|pp=18–19}} The existing texts of these epics are believed to belong to the post-Vedic age, between {{circa}} 400 BCE and 400 CE.{{sfn|Upinder Singh|2008|pp=18–19}}{{Cite book|last=Brockington|first=J. L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HR-_LK5kl18C&pg=PA26|title=The Sanskrit epics, Part 2|publisher=Brill|year=1998|isbn=978-90-04-10260-6|volume=12|page=21}}

{{Main|Janapada}}

{{See also|Battle of the Ten Kings|List of ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes}}

File:Late Vedic Culture (1100-500 BCE).png with Janapadas in northern India, beginning of Iron Age kingdoms in India – Kuru, Panchala, Kosala, Videha ]]

The Iron Age in the Indian subcontinent from about 1200 BCE to the 6th century BCE is defined by the rise of Janapadas, which are realms, republics and kingdoms—notably the Iron Age Kingdoms of Kuru, Panchala, Kosala and Videha.{{cite book|title=A Sanskrit reader: with vocabulary and notes|last=Lanman|first=Charles Rockwell|author-link=Charles Rockwell Lanman|year=1912|orig-year=First published 1884|publisher=Ginn & Co.|location=Boston|url=https://archive.org/stream/sanskritreaderwi00lanmiala#page/158/mode/1up|oclc=633836|quote="... jána, m. creature; man; person; in plural, and collectively in singular, folks; a people or race or tribe ... cf. γένος, Lat. genus, Eng. kin, 'race' ..."}}{{cite book|title=Pedigree: The Origins of Words from Nature|last1=Potter|first1=Stephen|author-link1=Stephen Potter|last2=Sargent|first2=Laurens Christopher|year=1974|publisher=Taplinger Publishing Company|isbn=978-0-8008-6248-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8SNDAAAAIAAJ|quote=... *gen-, found in Skt. jana, 'a man', and Gk. genos and L. genus, 'a race' ...}}

The Kuru Kingdom ({{circa}} 1200–450 BCE) was the first state-level society of the Vedic period, corresponding to the beginning of the Iron Age in north-western India, around 1200–800 BCE,{{cite book|title=Marvels and Mysteries of the Mahabharata|last=Basu|first=Abhijit|publisher=Leadstart publishing|year=2013|page=153|isbn=978-93-84027-47-6}} as well as with the composition of the Atharvaveda.{{cite journal|last=Witzel|first=Michael|author-link=Michael Witzel|year=1995|title=Early Sanskritization. Origins and Development of the Kuru State|url=https://crossasia-journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/ejvs/article/view/823/913|journal=Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies|volume=1|issue=4|pages=1–26|doi=10.11588/ejvs.1995.4.823|access-date=20 November 2018|archive-date=7 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407172825/https://crossasia-journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/ejvs/article/view/823/913|url-status=dead}} The Kuru state organised the Vedic hymns into collections and developed the srauta ritual to uphold the social order. Two key figures of the Kuru state were king Parikshit and his successor Janamejaya, who transformed this realm into the dominant political, social, and cultural power of northern India. When the Kuru kingdom declined, the centre of Vedic culture shifted to their eastern neighbours, the Panchala kingdom. The archaeological PGW (Painted Grey Ware) culture, which flourished in north-eastern India's Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh regions from about 1100 to 600 BCE,{{sfn|Reddy|2003|p=A11}} is believed to correspond to the Kuru and Panchala kingdoms.{{sfn|Samuel|2008|p=48}}

During the Late Vedic Period, the kingdom of Videha emerged as a new centre of Vedic culture, situated even farther to the East (in what is today Nepal and Bihar state); reaching its prominence under the king Janaka, whose court provided patronage for Brahmin sages and philosophers such as Yajnavalkya, Aruni, and Gārgī Vāchaknavī.H.C. Raychaudhuri (1950), Political History of Ancient India and Nepal, Calcutta: University of Calcutta, p. 58 The later part of this period corresponds with a consolidation of increasingly large states and kingdoms, called Mahajanapadas, across Northern India.

File:City of Kushinagar in the 5th century BCE according to a 1st century BCE frieze in Sanchi Stupa 1 Southern Gate.jpg

The period between 800 and 200 BCE saw the formation of the Śramaṇa movement, from which Jainism and Buddhism originated. The first Upanishads were written during this period. After 500 BCE, the so-called "second urbanisation"{{refn|group=note|The "First urbanisation" was the Indus Valley Civilisation.{{sfn|Samuel|2008|page=41}}}} started, with new urban settlements arising at the Ganges plain.{{sfn|Samuel|2008|p=47}} The foundations for the "second urbanisation" were laid prior to 600 BCE, in the Painted Grey Ware culture of the Ghaggar-Hakra and Upper Ganges Plain; although most PGW sites were small farming villages, "several dozen" PGW sites eventually emerged as relatively large settlements that can be characterised as towns, the largest of which were fortified by ditches or moats and embankments made of piled earth with wooden palisades.{{cite book|last=Heitzman|first=James|date=31 March 2008|title=The City in South Asia|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-28963-9|url=https://archive.org/details/cityinsouthasia0000heit|url-access=registration|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cityinsouthasia0000heit/page/12 12]–13}}

The Central Ganges Plain, where Magadha gained prominence, forming the base of the Maurya Empire, was a distinct cultural area,{{sfn|Samuel|2008|pp=47–48}} with new states arising after 500 BCE.{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/285248/India/46844/The-beginning-of-the-historical-period-c-500-150-bce|title=The beginning of the historical period, c. 500–150 BCE|year=2015|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}}{{sfn|Samuel|2008|pp=41, 43}} It was influenced by the Vedic culture,{{sfn|Samuel|2008|p=61}} but differed markedly from the Kuru-Panchala region.{{sfn|Samuel|2008|pp=48–51}} It "was the area of the earliest known cultivation of rice in South Asia and by 1800 BCE was the location of an advanced Neolithic population associated with the sites of Chirand and Chechar".{{sfn|Samuel|2008|p=49}} In this region, the Śramaṇic movements flourished, and Jainism and Buddhism originated.{{sfn|Samuel|2008|p=48}}

{{Main|Upanishads|Śramaṇa}}

{{Further|History of Hinduism|History of Buddhism|History of Jainism|Indian religions|Indian philosophy}}

{{multiple image|perrow=1/2|total_width=300|caption_align=center

| title = Upanishads and Śramaṇa movements

| image1 = MS Indic 37, Isa upanisad. Wellcome L0027330.jpg|caption1=A page of Isha Upanishad manuscript.

| image2 = Vardhaman Keezhakuyilkudi.jpg|caption2=Mahavira, the 24th and last Tirthankara of Jainism.

| image3 = Buddha's cremation stupa, Kushinagar.jpg|caption3=Gautama Buddha's cremation stupa, Kushinagar (Kushinara).

}}

The time between 800 BCE and 400 BCE witnessed the composition of the earliest Upanishads,{{cite book|last=Flood|first=Gavin Dennis|author-link=Gavin Flood|title=An Introduction to Hinduism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KpIWhKnYmF0C&pg=PA82|year=1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-43878-0|page=82}}{{cite book|last=Mascaró|first=Juan|author-link=Juan Mascaró|title=The Upanishads|url=https://archive.org/details/upanishads00masc|url-access=registration|year=1965|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-044163-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/upanishads00masc/page/7 7]–}}{{cite book|last=Olivelle|first=Patrick|author-link=Patrick Olivelle|title=Upaniṣads|year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-954025-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/upanisads00oliv/page/ xxiv–xxix]|url=https://archive.org/details/upanisads00oliv/page/|url-access=registration}} which form the theoretical basis of classical Hinduism, and are also known as the Vedanta (conclusion of the Vedas).{{cite encyclopedia|last1=Baumann|first1=Martin|editor-last1=Melton|editor-first1=J. Gordon|editor-link2=J. Gordon Melton|editor-last2=Baumann|editor-first2=Martin|encyclopedia=Religions of the World|title=Hinduism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v2yiyLLOj88C&pg=PA1324|access-date=|edition=2nd|year=2010|publisher=ABC-Clio|volume=3|isbn=978-1-59884-204-3|page=1324}}

The increasing urbanisation of India in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE led to the rise of new ascetic or "Śramaṇa movements" which challenged the orthodoxy of rituals. Mahavira ({{circa}} 599–527 BCE), proponent of Jainism, and Gautama Buddha ({{circa}} 563–483 BCE), founder of Buddhism, were the most prominent icons of this movement. Śramaṇa gave rise to the concept of the cycle of birth and death, the concept of samsara, and the concept of liberation.{{cite book|last1=Olivelle|first1=Patrick|author-link=Patrick Olivelle|editor1-last=Flood|editor1-first=Gavin|editor1-link=Gavin Flood|chapter=The Renouncer Tradition|title=The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism|year=2003|publisher=Blackwell|isbn=978-0-631-21535-6|pages=273–274|quote=The second half of the first millennium BC was the period that created many of the ideological and institutional elements that characterise later Indian religions. The renouncer tradition played a central role during this formative period of Indian religious history. ... Some of the fundamental values and beliefs that we generally associate with Indian religions in general and Hinduism, in particular, were in part the creation of the renouncer tradition. These include the two pillars of Indian theologies: samsara—the belief that life in this world is one of suffering and subject to repeated deaths and births (rebirth); moksa/nirvana—the goal of human existence ...}} Buddha found a Middle Way that ameliorated the extreme asceticism found in the Śramaṇa religions.{{cite book|last1=Laumakis|first1=Stephen|title=An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy|year=2008|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-511-38589-6|page=4}}

Around the same time, Mahavira (the 24th Tirthankara in Jainism) propagated a theology that was to later become Jainism.{{cite book|last1=Fisher|first1=Mary Pat|author-link=Mary Pat Fisher|title=Living Religions: An Encyclopedia of the World's Faiths|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780205835874/page/121/mode/1up|url-access=registration|year=2011|orig-year=First published 1991|publisher=Prentice Hall|edition=8th|isbn=978-0-205-83585-0|page=121|quote=Jainism's major teacher for this age is Mahavira ... was a contemporary of the Buddha and died approximately 527 BCE.}} However, Jain orthodoxy believes the teachings of the Tirthankaras predates all known time and scholars believe Parshvanatha (c. 872 – c. 772 BCE), accorded status as the 23rd Tirthankara, was a historical figure. The Vedas are believed to have documented a few Tirthankaras and an ascetic order similar to the Śramaṇa movement.{{cite book|last1=Fisher|first1=Mary Pat|author-link=Mary Pat Fisher|title=Living Religions: An Encyclopedia of the World's Faiths|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780205835874/page/122/mode/1up|url-access=registration|year=2011|orig-year=First published 1991|publisher=Prentice Hall|edition=8th|isbn=978-0-205-83585-0|page=122|quote=The extreme antiquity of Jainism as a non-Vedic, indigenous Indian religion is well documented. Ancient Hindu and Buddhist scriptures refer to Jainism as an existing tradition which began long before Mahavira.}}

{{Main|Mahajanapadas}}

File:Mahajanapadas (c. 500 BCE).png were sixteen powerful polities located mainly within the Indo-Gangetic Plain ]]

The period from {{circa|600 BCE|lk=no}} to {{circa|300 BCE|lk=no}} featured the rise of the Mahajanapadas, sixteen powerful kingdoms and oligarchic republics in a belt stretching from Gandhara in the north-west to Bengal in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent—including parts of the trans-Vindhyan region.{{sfn|Upinder Singh|2008|pp=260–261}} Ancient Buddhist texts, like the Aṅguttara Nikāya,Anguttara Nikaya I. p. 213; IV. pp. 252, 256, 261. make frequent reference to these sixteen great kingdoms and republics—Anga, Assaka, Avanti, Chedi, Gandhara, Kashi, Kamboja, Kosala, Kuru, Magadha, Malla, Matsya (or Machcha), Panchala, Surasena, Vṛji, and Vatsa. This period saw the second major rise of urbanism in India after the Indus Valley Civilisation.{{sfn|Reddy|2003|p=A107}}

File:Xerxes Hidush warrior 480 BCE.jpg warrior, on the Tomb of Xerxes I, circa 480 BCE.]]

Early "republics" or gaṇasaṅgha,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5irrXX0apQC&pg=PA147|title=Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300|last=Thapar|first=Romila|author-link=Romila Thapar|year=2002|publisher=University of California Press|pages=146–150|access-date=28 October 2013|isbn=978-0-520-24225-8}} such as Shakyas, Koliyas, Mallakas, and Licchavis had republican governments. {{transliteration|sa|Gaṇasaṅgha}}s, such as the Mallakas, centered in the city of Kusinagara, and the Vajjika League, centred in the city of Vaishali, existed as early as the 6th century BCE and persisted in some areas until the 4th century CE.Raychaudhuri Hemchandra (1972), Political History of Ancient India, Calcutta: University of Calcutta, p. 107 The most famous clan amongst the ruling confederate clans of the Vajji Mahajanapada were the Licchavis.{{cite book|title=Republics in ancient India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zcoUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA93|publisher=Brill Archive|pages=93–|id=GGKEY:HYY6LT5CFT0}}

This period corresponds in an archaeological context to the Northern Black Polished Ware culture. Especially focused in the Central Ganges plain but also spreading across vast areas of the northern and central Indian subcontinent, this culture is characterised by the emergence of large cities with massive fortifications, significant population growth, increased social stratification, wide-ranging trade networks, construction of public architecture and water channels, specialised craft industries, a system of weights, punch-marked coins, and the introduction of writing in the form of Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts.J.M. Kenoyer (2006), "Cultures and Societies of the Indus Tradition. In Historical Roots" in the Making of 'the Aryan, R. Thapar (ed.), pp. 21–49. New Delhi, National Book Trust.{{cite conference|title=Reurbanization: The eastern Punjab and beyond|first=Jim|last=Shaffer|author-link=Jim G. Shaffer|year=1993|conference=|volume=31|book-title=Urban Form and Meaning in South Asia: The Shaping of Cities from Prehistoric to Precolonial Times|series=Symposium Papers XV|publisher=National Gallery of Art|pages=53–67|jstor=42620472}} The language of the gentry 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 merged into four major ones by the time of Gautama Buddha. These four were Vatsa, Avanti, Kosala, and Magadha.{{sfn|Reddy|2003|p=A107}}

{{Main|Magadha|Greater Magadha}}

{{See also|Magadha period|Pradyota dynasty|Haryanka dynasty|Shaishunaga dynasty}}

File:Magadha Expansion (6th-4th centuries BCE).png – under the Haryanka dynasty and the later Shishunaga dynasty.]]

Magadha formed one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas (Sanskrit: "Great Realms") or kingdoms in ancient India. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar 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,{{cite book|title=Ancient India|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers|last=Majumdar|first=Ramesh Chandra|author-link=R. C. Majumdar|year=1977|isbn=978-81-208-0436-4|edition=8th}} followed by much of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Orissa. The ancient kingdom of Magadha is heavily mentioned in Jain and Buddhist texts. It is also mentioned in the Ramayana, Mahabharata and Puranas.{{Cite web|url=http://www.iloveindia.com/history/ancient-india/magadha-empire.html|title=Magadha Empire – Magadha Empire in India, History of Magadh Empire|website=iloveindia.com}} The earliest reference to the Magadha people occurs in the Atharva-Veda where they are found listed along with the Angas, Gandharis, and Mujavats. Magadha played an important role in the development of Jainism and Buddhism. Republican communities (such as the community of Rajakumara) are merged into Magadha kingdom. Villages had their own assemblies under their local chiefs called Gramakas. Their administrations were divided into executive, judicial, and military functions.

Early sources, from the Buddhist Pāli Canon, the Jain Agamas and the Hindu Puranas, mention Magadha being ruled by the Pradyota dynasty and Haryanka dynasty ({{circa}} 544–413 BCE) for some 200 years, {{circa}} 600–413 BCE. King Bimbisara of the Haryanka dynasty led an active and expansive policy, conquering Anga in what is now eastern Bihar and West Bengal. King Bimbisara was overthrown and killed by his son, Prince Ajatashatru, who continued the expansionist policy of Magadha. During this period, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, lived much of his life in the Magadha kingdom. He attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath and the first Buddhist council was held in Rajgriha.{{cite web|url=http://www.lumbinitrust.org/articles/view/214|publisher=lumbinitrust.org|title=Lumbini Development Trust: Restoring the Lumbini Garden|access-date=6 January 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140306041858/http://www.lumbinitrust.org/articles/view/214|archive-date=6 March 2014}} The Haryanka dynasty was overthrown by the Shaishunaga dynasty ({{circa}} 413–345 BCE). The last Shishunaga ruler, Kalasoka, was assassinated by Mahapadma Nanda in 345 BCE, the first of the so-called Nine Nandas (Mahapadma Nanda and his eight sons).

{{main|Nanda Empire}}

{{See also|Indian campaign of Alexander the Great}}

The Nanda Empire ({{circa}} 345–322 BCE), at its peak, extended from Bengal in the east, to the Punjab in the west and as far south as the Vindhya Range.{{sfn|Mookerji|1988|pp=28–33}} The Nanda dynasty built on the foundations laid by their Haryanka and Shishunaga predecessors.{{sfn|Upinder Singh|2008|p=273}} Nanda empire have built a vast army, consisting of 200,000 infantry, 20,000 cavalry, 2,000 war chariots and 3,000 war elephants (at the lowest estimates).{{sfn|Mookerji|1988|p=34}}{{cite book|last1=Raychaudhuri|first1=Hem Chandra|author1-link=Hem Chandra Raychaudhuri|last2=Mukherjee|first2=Bratindra Nath|author2-link=B. N. Mukherjee|year=1996|orig-year=First published 1923|title=Political History of Ancient India: From the Accession of Parikshit to the Extinction of the Gupta Dynasty|url=https://archive.org/details/politicalhistory0000rayc|url-access=registration|edition=8th|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=208–209|isbn=978-0-19-563789-2}}

{{Main|Maurya Empire}}

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| image1 = Maurya Empire, c.250 BCE.png

| caption1 = Maurya Empire at its peak under Ashoka the Great.

| image2 = Asokanpillar2.jpg

| caption2 = Ashokan pillar at Vaishali, 3rd century BCE.

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The Maurya Empire (322–185 BCE) unified most of the Indian subcontinent into one state, and was the largest empire ever to exist on the Indian subcontinent.{{cite journal|last1=Turchin|first1=Peter|last2=Adams|first2=Jonathan M.|last3=Hall|first3=Thomas D.|title=East–West Orientation of Historical Empires|journal=Journal of World-Systems Research|date=December 2006|volume=12|issue=2|page=223|url=http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jwsr/article/view/369/381|access-date=12 September 2016|issn=1076-156X}} At its greatest extent, the Mauryan Empire stretched to the north up to the natural boundaries of the Himalayas and to the east into what is now Assam. To the west, it reached beyond modern Pakistan, to the Hindu Kush mountains in what is now Afghanistan. The empire was established by Chandragupta Maurya assisted by Chanakya (Kautilya) in Magadha (in modern Bihar) when he overthrew the Nanda Empire.{{cite book|title=A History of India: Volume 1|author=Romila Thapar|page=70}}

Chandragupta rapidly expanded his power westwards across central and western India, and by 317 BCE the empire had fully occupied north-western India. The Mauryan Empire defeated Seleucus I, founder of the Seleucid Empire, during the Seleucid–Mauryan war, thus gained additional territory west of the Indus River. Chandragupta's son Bindusara succeeded to the throne around 297 BCE. By the time he died in {{circa}} 272 BCE, a large part of the Indian subcontinent was under Mauryan suzerainty. However, the region of Kalinga (around modern day Odisha) remained outside Mauryan control, perhaps interfering with trade with the south.{{sfn|Thapar|2003|pp=178–180}}

File:Lomas Rishi entrance.jpg, one of the Barabar Caves, {{circa}} 250 BCE]]

Bindusara was succeeded by Ashoka, whose reign lasted until his death in about 232 BCE.{{sfn|Thapar|2003|pp=204–206}} His campaign against the Kalingans in about 260 BCE, though successful, led to immense loss of life and misery. This led Ashoka to shun violence, and subsequently to embrace Buddhism.{{sfn|Thapar|2003|pp=178–180}} The empire began to decline after his death and the last Mauryan ruler, Brihadratha, was assassinated by Pushyamitra Shunga to establish the Shunga Empire.{{sfn|Thapar|2003|pp=204–206}}

Under Chandragupta Maurya and his successors, internal and external trade, agriculture, and economic activities all thrived and expanded across India thanks to the creation of a single efficient system of finance, administration, and security. The Mauryans built the Grand Trunk Road, one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads connecting the Indian subcontinent with Central Asia.{{Cite web|url=http://roadsandkingdoms.com/2016/dinner-on-the-grand-trunk-road/|title=Dinner on the Grand Trunk Road|last=Bhandari|first=Shirin|date=5 January 2016|website=Roads & Kingdoms|language=en-US|access-date=19 July 2016}} After the Kalinga War, the Empire experienced nearly half a century of peace and security under Ashoka. Mauryan India also enjoyed an era of social harmony, religious transformation, and expansion of scientific knowledge. Chandragupta Maurya's embrace of Jainism increased social and religious renewal and reform across his society, while Ashoka's embrace of Buddhism has been said to have been the foundation of the reign of social and political peace and non-violence across India.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} Ashoka sponsored Buddhist missions across the Indo-Mediterranean, into Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, West Asia, North Africa, and Mediterranean Europe.{{sfn|Kulke|Rothermund|2004|p=67}}

The Arthashastra written by Chanakya and the Edicts of Ashoka are the primary written records of the Mauryan times. Archaeologically, this period falls in the era of Northern Black Polished Ware. The Mauryan Empire was based on a modern and efficient economy and society in which the sale of merchandise was closely regulated by the government.{{cite book|title=A History of India: Volume 1|author=Romila Thapar|page=78}} Although there was no banking in the Mauryan society, usury was customary. A significant amount of written records on slavery are found, suggesting a prevalence thereof.{{sfn|Antonova|Bongard-Levin|Kotovsky|1979|p=91}} During this period, a high-quality steel called Wootz steel was developed in south India and was later exported to China and Arabia.Technology and Society by Menon, R.V.G. p. 15

{{Main|Sangam period|Sources of ancient Tamil history|Sangam literature|Five Great Epics}}

{{See also|Three Crowned Kings|Tamilakam|List of Tamil monarchs}}

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| caption1 = Tamilakam, located at the tip of South India during the Sangam period, ruled by Chera dynasty, Chola dynasty and the Pandyan dynasty.

| image2 = Puhar-ILango.jpg

| caption2 = Ilango Adigal, author of Silappatikaram, one of the five great epics of Tamil literature.{{Cite journal|title=Prince ILango Adigal, Shilappadikaram (The anklet Bracelet), translated by Alain Damelou. Review.|journal=Artibus Asiae|volume=37|issue=1/2|year=1975|pages=148–150|last=Rosen|first=Elizabeth S.|jstor=3250226|doi=10.2307/3250226}}

}}

During the Sangam period Tamil literature flourished from the 3rd century BCE to the 4th century CE. Three Tamil dynasties, collectively known as the Three Crowned Kings of Tamilakam: Chera dynasty, Chola dynasty, and the Pandya dynasty ruled parts of southern India.{{sfn|Sen|1999|pp=204–205}}

The Sangam literature deals with the history, politics, wars, and culture of the Tamil people of this period.Essays on Indian Renaissance by Raj Kumar p. 260 Unlike Sanskrit writers who were mostly Brahmins, Sangam writers came from diverse classes and social backgrounds and were mostly non-Brahmins.The First Spring: The Golden Age of India by Abraham Eraly p. 655

Around {{circa}} 300 BCE – {{circa}} 200 CE, Pathupattu, an anthology of ten mid-length book collections, which is considered part of Sangam Literature, were composed; the composition of eight anthologies of poetic works Ettuthogai as well as the composition of eighteen minor poetic works Patiṉeṇkīḻkaṇakku; while Tolkāppiyam, the earliest grammarian work in the Tamil language was developed.* Zvelebil, Kamil. 1973. The smile of Murugan on Tamil literature of South India. Leiden: Brill. Zvelebil dates the Ur-Tholkappiyam to the 1st or 2nd century BCE Also, during Sangam period, two of the Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature were composed. Ilango Adigal composed Silappatikaram, which is a non-religious work, that revolves around Kannagi,{{cite web|url=http://tamilnadu.com/arts/literature-silappathikaram.html|title=Silappathikaram Tamil Literature|publisher=Tamilnadu.com|date=22 January 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130411214545/http://tamilnadu.com/arts/literature-silappathikaram.html|archive-date=11 April 2013}} and Manimekalai, composed by Chithalai Chathanar, is a sequel to Silappatikaram, and tells the story of the daughter of Kovalan and Madhavi, who became a Buddhist Bhikkhuni.{{harvnb|Mukherjee|1999|p=277}}{{Cite web|url=http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil/4_drav/tamil/pm/pm141__u.htm|title=Cittalaiccattanar (c. 500): Manimekalai|website=gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de}}

{{Main|Classical India}}

{{Gallery|align=center

|width=160 |File:SungaEmpireMap.jpg|Ancient India during the rise of the Shunga Empire from the North, Satavahana dynasty from the Deccan, and Pandyan dynasty and Chola dynasty from the southern part of India.

|File:Karla caves Chaitya.jpg|Great Chaitya in the Karla Caves. The shrines were developed over the period from the 2nd century BCE to the 5th century CE.

|File:Udayagiri Caves - Rani Gumpha 01.jpg|Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves is home to the Hathigumpha inscription, which was inscribed under Kharavela, then Emperor of Kalinga of the Mahameghavahana dynasty.

|File:Andhra pradesh, santuario a più piani, da ghantasala, 90-110 ca..JPG|Relief of a multi-storied temple, 2nd century CE, Ghantasala Stupa.{{cite book|last1=Hardy|first1=Adam|title=Indian Temple Architecture: Form and Transformation : the Karṇāṭa Drāviḍa Tradition, 7th to 13th Centuries|date=1995|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-81-7017-312-0|page=39|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aU0hCAS2-08C&pg=PA41|language=en}}{{cite book|last1=Le|first1=Huu Phuoc|title=Buddhist Architecture|date=2010|publisher=Grafikol|isbn=978-0-9844043-0-8|page=238|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9jb364g4BvoC&pg=PA238|language=en}}

}}

The time between the Maurya Empire in the 3rd century BCE and the end of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century CE is referred to as the "Classical" period of India.{{citation|last=Stein|first=B.|author-link=Burton Stein|editor-last=Arnold|editor-first=D.|date=27 April 2010|title=A History of India|edition=2nd|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|place=Oxford|isbn=978-1-4051-9509-6|page=105|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QY4zdTDwMAQC&pg=PA105}} The Gupta Empire (4th–6th century) is regarded as the Golden Age of India, although a host of kingdoms ruled over India in these centuries. Also, the Sangam literature flourished from the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE in southern India.A Social History of Early India by Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya p. 259 During this period, India's economy is estimated to have been the largest in the world, having between one-third and one-quarter of the world's wealth, from 1 CE to 1000 CE.{{cite web|title=The World Economy (GDP) : Historical Statistics by Professor Angus Maddison|date=17 September 2006 |url=http://www.theworldeconomy.org/MaddisonTables/MaddisontableB-18.pdf|publisher=World Economy|access-date=21 May 2013}}{{cite book|last=Maddison|first=Angus|title=The World Economy – Volume 1: A Millennial Perspective and Volume 2: Historical Statistics|year=2006|publisher=OECD Publishing by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development|isbn=978-92-64-02262-1|page=656|url=http://www.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/display.asp?K=5L9ZBQKL5RLW&lang=EN&sort=sort_date%2Fd&stem=true&sf1=Title&st1=world+economy&sf3=SubjectCode&sp1=not&st4=E4+or+E5+or+P5&sf4=SubVersionCode&ds=world+economy%3B+All+Subjects%3B+&m=3&dc=26&plang=en}}

{{Main|Shunga Empire}}

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| image1 = East Gateway and Railings Bharhut Stupa.jpg

| caption1 = East Gateway and Railings, Bharhut Stupa, 2nd century BCE.

| image2 = Royal family Sunga West Bengal 1st century BCE.jpg

| caption2 = Shunga art Ancient vina, 1st century BCE.

| image3 = Plaque with a Royal Family 1st century B.C. India (West Bengal, Chandraketugarh).jpg

| caption3 = Royal family, 1st century BCE in West Bengal.

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The Shungas originated from Magadha, and controlled large areas of the central and eastern Indian subcontinent from around 187 to 78 BCE. The dynasty was established by Pushyamitra Shunga, who overthrew the last Maurya emperor. Its capital was Pataliputra, but later emperors, such as Bhagabhadra, also held court at Vidisha, modern Besnagar.{{cite journal|last=Stadtner|first=Donald|year=1975|title=A Śuṅga Capital from Vidiśā|journal=Artibus Asiae|volume=37|issue=1/2|pages=101–104|issn=0004-3648|jstor=3250214|doi=10.2307/3250214}}

Pushyamitra Shunga ruled for 36 years and was succeeded by his son Agnimitra. There were ten Shunga rulers. However, after the death of Agnimitra, the empire rapidly disintegrated;K. A. Nilkantha Shastri (1970), [https://books.google.com/books?id=E3tDAAAAYAAJ A Comprehensive History of India: Volume 2], p. 108: "Soon after Agnimitra there was no 'Sunga empire'". inscriptions and coins indicate that much of northern and central India consisted of small kingdoms and city-states that were independent of any Shunga hegemony.Bhandare, Shailendra. "Numismatics and History: The Maurya-Gupta Interlude in the Gangetic Plain" in [https://books.google.com/books?id=efaOR_-YsIcC Between the Empires: Society in India, 300 to 400] ed. Patrick Olivelle (2006), p. 96 The empire is noted for its numerous wars with both foreign and indigenous powers. They fought with the Mahameghavahana dynasty of Kalinga, Satavahana dynasty of Deccan, the Indo-Greeks, and possibly the Panchalas and Mitras of Mathura.

Art, education, philosophy, and other forms of learning flowered during this period including architectural monuments such as the Stupa at Bharhut and the renowned Great Stupa at Sanchi. The Shunga rulers helped to establish the tradition of royal sponsorship of learning and art. The script used by the empire was a variant of Brahmi and was used to write the Sanskrit language. The Shunga Empire played an imperative role in patronising Indian culture at a time when some of the most important developments in Hindu thought were taking place.

{{Main|Satavahana Empire}}

{{multiple image|perrow=2|total_width=400|caption_align=center

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| image1 = Sanchi Stupa No.2 Front view1.jpg

| caption1=Sanchi Stupa Two and Southern Gateway, 1st century CE (UNESCO World Heritage Site).

| image2 = Indian ship on lead coin of Vashishtiputra Shri Pulumavi.jpg

|caption2=Indian ship on lead coin of Vasisthiputra Sri Pulamavi, testimony to the naval, seafaring and trading capabilities of the Sātavāhanas during the 1st–2nd century CE.

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The Śātavāhanas were based from Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh as well as Junnar (Pune) and Prathisthan (Paithan) in Maharashtra. The territory of the empire covered large parts of India from the 1st century BCE onward. The Sātavāhanas started out as feudatories to the Mauryan dynasty, but declared independence with its decline.

The Sātavāhanas are known for their patronage of Hinduism and Buddhism, which resulted in Buddhist monuments from Ellora (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) to Amaravati. They were one of the first Indian states to issue coins with their rulers embossed. They formed a cultural bridge and played a vital role in trade as well as the transfer of ideas and culture to and from the Indo-Gangetic Plain to the southern tip of India.

They had to compete with the Shunga Empire and then the Kanva dynasty of Magadha to establish their rule. Later, they played a crucial role to protect large part of India against foreign invaders like the Sakas, Yavanas and Pahlavas. In particular, their struggles with the Western Kshatrapas went on for a long time. The notable rulers of the Satavahana Dynasty Gautamiputra Satakarni and Sri Yajna Sātakarni were able to defeat the foreign invaders like the Western Kshatrapas and to stop their expansion. In the 3rd century CE, the empire was split into smaller states.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m1JYwP5tVQUC&pg=PA113|title=Studies in Indian Coins|isbn=9788120829732|last1=Sircar|first1=D. C.|year=2008|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers}}

{{Further|Silk Road transmission of Buddhism}}

File:Silk route copy.jpg and Spice trade, ancient trade routes that linked India with the Old World; carried goods and ideas between the ancient civilisations of the Old World and India. The land routes are marked as red, and the water routes are marked as blue.]]

The spice trade in Kerala attracted traders from all over the Old World to India. India's Southwest coastal port Muziris had established itself as a major spice trade centre from as early as 3,000 BCE, according to Sumerian records. Jewish traders arrived in Kochi, Kerala, India as early as 562 BCE.{{cite book|last=Schreiber|first=Mordecai|title=The Shengold Jewish Encyclopedia|year=2003|publisher=Schreiber Publishing|location=Rockville, MD|isbn=978-1-887563-77-2|page=125}} The Greco-Roman world followed by trading along the incense route and the Roman-India routes.{{sfn|Law|1978|p=164}} During the 2nd century BCE Greek and Indian ships met to trade at Arabian ports such as Aden.[http://www.unesco.org/csi/pub/source/alex5.htm Greatest emporium in the world], CSI, UNESCO. During the first millennium, the sea routes to India were controlled by the Indians and Ethiopians that became the maritime trading power of the Red Sea.

Indian merchants involved in spice trade took Indian cuisine to Southeast Asia, where spice mixtures and curries became popular with the native inhabitants.{{sfn|Collingham|2006|p=245}} Buddhism entered China through the Silk Road in the 1st or 2nd century CE.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLFXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA506|title=The Medical Times and Gazette, Volume 1|year=1867|publisher=John Churchill|location=London|page=506}} Hindu and Buddhist religious establishments of South and Southeast Asia came to be centres of production and commerce as they accumulated capital donated by patrons. They engaged in estate management, craftsmanship, and trade. Buddhism in particular travelled alongside the maritime trade, promoting literacy, art, and the use of coinage.{{sfn|Donkin|2003|pp=67, 60–70}}

{{Main|Kushan Empire}}

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| image1 = Map of the Kushan Empire.png

| caption1 = Kushan territories (full line) and maximum extent of Kushan dominions under Kanishka (dotted line), according to the Rabatak inscription

| image2 = Kanishka Buddha detail.jpg

| caption2 = Depiction of the Buddha in Kanishka's coinage, Mathura art, 2nd century CE

}}

The Kushan Empire expanded out of what is now Afghanistan into the northwest of the Indian subcontinent under the leadership of their first emperor, Kujula Kadphises, about the middle of the 1st century CE. The Kushans were possibly a Tocharian speaking tribe,{{cite book|last1=Loewe|first1=Michael|last2=Shaughnessy|first2=Edward L.|author-link1=Michael Loewe|author-link2=Edward L. Shaughnessy|title=The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cHA7Ey0-pbEC|year=1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-47030-8|access-date=1 November 2013|pages=87–88}} one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation.{{cite book|last=Runion|first=Meredith L.|title=The history of Afghanistan|url=https://archive.org/details/historyafghanist00runi_653|url-access=limited|year=2007|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport|isbn=978-0-313-33798-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/historyafghanist00runi_653/page/n66 46]|quote=The Yuezhi people conquered Bactria in the second century BCE. and divided the country into five chiefdoms, one of which would become the Kushan Empire. Recognizing the importance of unification, these five tribes combined under the one dominate Kushan tribe, and the primary rulers descended from the Yuezhi.}}{{cite book|last=Liu|first=Xinrui|title=Agricultural and pastoral societies in ancient and classical history|year=2001|publisher=Temple University Press|location=Philadelphia|isbn=978-1-56639-832-9|page=156|editor=Adas, Michael}} By the time of his grandson, Kanishka the Great, the empire spread to encompass much of Afghanistan,[https://web.archive.org/web/20120307154447/http://www.kushan.org/general/other/part1.htm Buddhist Records of the Western World] Si-Yu-Ki, (Tr. Samuel Beal: Travels of Fa-Hian, The Mission of Sung-Yun and Hwei-Sing, Books 1–5), Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd. London. 1906 and Hill (2009), pp. 29, 318–350 and then the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent.which began about 127 CE. "Falk 2001, pp. 121–136", Falk (2001), pp. 121–136, Falk, Harry (2004), pp. 167–176 and Hill (2009), pp. 29, 33, 368–371.

Emperor Kanishka was a great patron of Buddhism; however, as Kushans expanded southward, the deities of their later coinage came to reflect its new Hindu majority.{{cite book|author=Grégoire Frumkin|title=Archaeology in Soviet Central Asia|url=https://archive.org/details/archaeologyinsov0000frum|url-access=registration|year=1970|publisher=Brill Archive|pages=[https://archive.org/details/archaeologyinsov0000frum/page/51 51]–|id=GGKEY:4NPLATFACBB}}{{cite book|author=Rafi U. Samad|title=The Grandeur of Gandhara: The Ancient Buddhist Civilization of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pNUwBYGYgxsC&pg=PA93|year=2011|publisher=Algora Publishing|isbn=978-0-87586-859-2|pages=93–}} Historian Vincent Smith said about Kanishka:

{{Blockquote|He played the part of a second Ashoka in the history of Buddhism.Oxford History of India – Vincent Smith}}

The empire linked the Indian Ocean maritime trade with the commerce of the Silk Road through the Indus valley, encouraging long-distance trade, particularly between China and Rome. The Kushans brought new trends to the budding and blossoming Gandhara art and Mathura art, which reached its peak during Kushan rule.{{cite book|author1=Los Angeles County Museum of Art|author2=Pratapaditya Pal|title=Indian Sculpture: Circa 500 B.C.–A.D. 700|url=https://archive.org/details/indiansculpturec00losa|url-access=registration|year=1986|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-05991-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/indiansculpturec00losa/page/151 151]–}} The period of peace under Kushan rule is known as Pax Kushana. By the 3rd century, their empire in India was disintegrating and their last known great emperor was Vasudeva I.{{cite web|url=http://www.kushan.org/general/other/part1.htm|publisher=kushan.org|title=The History of Pakistan: The Kushans|access-date=6 January 2017|archive-date=7 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707162312/http://www.kushan.org/general/other/part1.htm|url-status=dead}}Si-Yu-Ki, Buddhist Records of the Western World, (Tr. Samuel Beal: Travels of Fa-Hian, The Mission of Sung-Yun and Hwei-Sing, Books 1–5), Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd. London. 1906

{{Main|Gupta Empire}}

{{Further|Meghadūta|Abhijñānaśākuntala|Kumārasambhava|Panchatantra|Aryabhatiya|Indian numerals|Kama Sutra}}

{{multiple image

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| image1 = Map of the Gupta Empire.png

| caption1 = Gupta Empire around 420 CE at its peak territorial extent under Kumaragupta I.

| image2 = Mahabodhitemple.jpg

| caption2 = Current structure of the Mahabodhi Temple built during the Gupta era, 5th century CE. The location are marked where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment.

}}

The Gupta period was noted for cultural creativity, especially in literature, architecture, sculpture, and painting.{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/285248/1960/The-Gupta-empire-at-the-end-of-the-4th-century|title=Gupta dynasty: empire in 4th century|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=16 May 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100330103811/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/285248/1960/The-Gupta-empire-at-the-end-of-the-4th-century|archive-date=30 March 2010}} The Gupta period produced scholars such as Kalidasa, Aryabhata, Varahamihira, Vishnu Sharma, and Vatsyayana. The Gupta period marked a watershed of Indian culture: the Guptas performed Vedic sacrifices to legitimise their rule, but they also patronised Buddhism, an alternative to Brahmanical orthodoxy. The military exploits of the first three rulers – Chandragupta I, Samudragupta, and Chandragupta II – brought much of India under their leadership.{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/gallery/photos/8.html|title=The Story of India – Photo Gallery|publisher=PBS|access-date=16 May 2010}} Science and political administration reached new heights during the Gupta era. Strong trade ties also made the region an important cultural centre and established it as a base that would influence nearby kingdoms and regions.Coedes, G. (1968) The Indianized States of Southeast Asia Edited by Walter F. Vella. Translated by Susan Brown Cowing. Canberra: Australian National University Press. Introduction... The geographic area here called Farther India consists of Indonesia, or island Southeast Asia....{{cite book|author=Bernard Philippe Groslier|title=The art of Indochina: including Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia|url=https://archive.org/details/artofindochinain00gros|url-access=registration|year=1962|publisher=Crown Publishers}} The period of peace under Gupta rule is known as Pax Gupta.

The latter Guptas successfully resisted the northwestern kingdoms until the arrival of the Alchon Huns, who established themselves in Afghanistan by the first half of the 5th century CE, with their capital at Bamiyan.Iaroslav Lebedynsky, Les Nomades, p. 172. However, much of the southern India including Deccan were largely unaffected by these events.Early History of India, p. 339, Dr V.A. Smith; See also Early Empire of Central Asia (1939), W.M. McGovern.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.

{{Main|Vakataka Empire}}

The Vākāṭaka Empire originated from the Deccan in the mid-third century CE. Their state is believed to have extended from the southern edges of Malwa and Gujarat in the north to the Tungabhadra River in the south as well as from the Arabian Sea in the western to the edges of Chhattisgarh in the east. They were the most important successors of the Satavahanas in the Deccan, contemporaneous with the Guptas in northern India and succeeded by the Vishnukundina dynasty.

The Vakatakas are noted for having been patrons of the arts, architecture and literature. The rock-cut Buddhist viharas and chaityas of Ajanta Caves (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) were built under the patronage of Vakataka emperor, Harishena.{{cite book|title=India through the ages|url=https://archive.org/details/indiathroughages00mada|last=Gopal|first=Madan|year=1990|page=[https://archive.org/details/indiathroughages00mada/page/173 173]|editor=K.S. Gautam|publisher=Publication Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India}}The precise number varies according to whether or not some barely started excavations, such as cave 15A, are counted. [http://asi.nic.in/asi_monu_whs_ajanta.asp The ASI say] "In all, total 30 excavations were hewn out of rock which also include an unfinished one", UNESCO and Spink "about 30". The controversies over the end date of excavation is covered below.

{{Gallery|align=center

|width=180|File:AJANTA CAVES - C.SHELARE (2).jpg|Ajanta Caves, 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monument built under the Vakatakas.

|File:Ajanta Cave 26 Dagoba with praying monks.jpg|Buddhist monks praying in front of the Dagoba of Chaitya Cave 26 of the Ajanta Caves.

|File:Cave 26, Ajanta.jpg|Buddhist "Chaitya Griha" or prayer hall, with a seated Buddha, Cave 26 of the Ajanta Caves.

|File:Ajanta Cave 17 frescoe.jpg|Many foreign ambassadors, representatives, and travelers are included as devotees attending the Buddha's descent from Trayastrimsa Heaven; painting from Cave 17 of the Ajanta Caves.

}}

{{Main|Kamarupa Kingdom}}

File:Copper Plate Seal of Kamarupa Kings.jpg ruins.|alt=]]

Samudragupta's 4th-century Allahabad pillar inscription mentions Kamarupa (Western Assam)Tej Ram Sharma, 1978, "Personal and geographical names in the Gupta inscriptions. (1.publ.)", p. 254, Kamarupa consisted of the Western districts of the Brahmaputra valley which being the most powerful state. and Davaka (Central Assam)Suresh Kant Sharma, Usha Sharma – 2005, "Discovery of North-East India: Geography, History, Culture, ... – Volume 3", p. 248, Davaka (Nowgong) and Kamarupa as separate and submissive friendly kingdoms. as frontier kingdoms of the Gupta Empire. Davaka was later absorbed by Kamarupa, which grew into a large kingdom that spanned from Karatoya river to near present Sadiya and covered the entire Brahmaputra valley, North Bengal, parts of Bangladesh and, at times Purnea and parts of West Bengal.The eastern border of Kamarupa is given by the temple of the goddess Tamreshvari (Pūrvāte Kāmarūpasya devī Dikkaravasini in Kalika Purana) near present-day Sadiya. "...the temple of the goddess Tameshwari (Dikkaravasini) is now located at modern Sadiya about 100 miles to the northeast of Sibsagar" {{harv|Sircar|1990|pp=63–68}}.

Ruled by three dynasties Varmanas (c. 350–650 CE), Mlechchha dynasty (c. 655–900 CE) and Kamarupa-Palas (c. 900–1100 CE), from their capitals in present-day Guwahati (Pragjyotishpura), Tezpur (Haruppeswara) and North Gauhati (Durjaya) respectively. All three dynasties claimed their descent from Narakasura.{{citation needed|date=April 2017}} In the reign of the Varman king, Bhaskar Varman (c. 600–650 CE), the Chinese traveller Xuanzang visited the region and recorded his travels. Later, after weakening and disintegration (after the Kamarupa-Palas), the Kamarupa tradition was somewhat extended until c. 1255 CE by the Lunar I (c. 1120–1185 CE) and Lunar II (c. 1155–1255 CE) dynasties.{{cite book|editor-last=Barpujari|editor-first=H.K.|date=1990|title=The Comprehensive History of Assam|edition=1st|location=Guwahati, India|publisher=Assam Publication Board|oclc=499315420}} The Kamarupa kingdom came to an end in the middle of the 13th century when the Khen dynasty under Sandhya of Kamarupanagara (North Guwahati), moved his capital to Kamatapur (North Bengal) after the invasion of Muslim Turks, and established the Kamata kingdom.Sarkar, J.N. (1992), "Chapter II The Turko-Afghan Invasions", in Barpujari, H.K., The Comprehensive History of Assam, 2, Guwahati: Assam Publication Board, pp. 35–48

{{Main|Pallava Empire}}File:Shore temple, mahabalipuram.jpg (UNESCO World Heritage Site) at Mahabalipuram built by Narasimhavarman II.|alt=]]The Pallavas, during the 4th to 9th centuries were, alongside the Guptas of the North, great patronisers of Sanskrit development in the South of the Indian subcontinent. The Pallava reign saw the first Sanskrit inscriptions in a script called Grantha.{{cite web|url=http://skyknowledge.com/pallava.htm|title=Pallava script|date=30 December 2010|publisher=SkyKnowledge.com}} Early Pallavas had different connexions to Southeast Asian countries. The Pallavas used Dravidian architecture to build some very important Hindu temples and academies in Mamallapuram, Kanchipuram and other places; their rule saw the rise of great poets. The practice of dedicating temples to different deities came into vogue followed by fine artistic temple architecture and sculpture style of Vastu Shastra.Nilakanta Sastri, pp. 412–413

Pallavas reached the height of power during the reign of Mahendravarman I (571–630 CE) and Narasimhavarman I (630–668 CE) and dominated the Telugu and northern parts of the Tamil region until the end of the 9th century.{{cite book|title=History of the World: Earliest Times to the Present Day|publisher=World Publications Group|others=John Grayson Kirk|year=2005|isbn=978-1-57215-421-6|editor1-last=Hall|editor1-first=John Whitney|location=North Dighton, MA|page=246|chapter=India|orig-year=1988}}

{{Main|Kadamba Empire}}

File:Close up view of shrines at Lakshmi Devi temple complex at Doddagaddavalli.JPG.|alt=]]

Kadambas originated from Karnataka, was founded by Mayurasharma in 345 CE which at later times showed the potential of developing into imperial proportions. King Mayurasharma defeated the armies of Pallavas of Kanchi possibly with help of some native tribes. The Kadamba fame reached its peak during the rule of Kakusthavarma, a notable ruler with whom the kings of Gupta Dynasty of northern India cultivated marital alliances. The Kadambas were contemporaries of the Western Ganga Dynasty and together they formed the earliest native kingdoms to rule the land with absolute autonomy. The dynasty later continued to rule as a feudatory of larger Kannada empires, the Chalukya and the Rashtrakuta empires, for over five hundred years during which time they branched into minor dynasties (Kadambas of Goa, Kadambas of Halasi and Kadambas of Hangal).

{{Main|Harsha|Pushyabhuti dynasty}}

Harsha ruled northern India from 606 to 647 CE. He was the son of Prabhakarvardhana and the younger brother of Rajyavardhana, who were members of the Vardhana dynasty and ruled Thanesar, in present-day Haryana.

File:Harshavardhana Circa AD 606-647.jpg, c. 606–647 CE.{{cite web|url=https://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=261204|title=CNG: eAuction 329. India, Post-Gupta (Ganges Valley). Vardhanas of Thanesar and Kanauj. Harshavardhana. Circa AD 606–647. AR Drachm (13 mm, 2.28 g, 1h).|website=cngcoins.com}}|alt=]]

After the downfall of the prior Gupta Empire in the middle of the 6th century, North India reverted to smaller republics and monarchical states. The power vacuum resulted in the rise of the Vardhanas of Thanesar, who began uniting the republics and monarchies from the Punjab to central India. After the death of Harsha's father and brother, representatives of the empire crowned Harsha emperor in April 606 CE, giving him the title of Maharaja.RN Kundra & SS Bawa, History of Ancient and Medieval India At the peak, his Empire covered much of North and Northwestern India, extended East until Kamarupa, and South until Narmada River; and eventually made Kannauj (in present Uttar Pradesh) his capital, and ruled until 647 CE.International Dictionary of Historic Places: Asia and Oceania by Trudy Ring, Robert M. Salkin, Sharon La Boda p. 507

The peace and prosperity that prevailed made his court a centre of cosmopolitanism, attracting scholars, artists and religious visitors. During this time, Harsha converted to Buddhism from Surya worship.{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/256065/Harsha|title=Harsha|year=2015|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica}} The Chinese traveller Xuanzang visited the court of Harsha and wrote a very favourable account of him, praising his justice and generosity. His biography Harshacharita ("Deeds of Harsha") written by Sanskrit poet Banabhatta, describes his association with Thanesar and the palace with a two-storied Dhavalagriha (White Mansion).{{cite encyclopedia|title=Sthanvishvara (historical region, India)|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/566090/Sthanvishvara|access-date=9 August 2014}}{{cite encyclopedia|title=Harsha (Indian emperor)|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/256065/Harsha|access-date=9 August 2014}}

{{Main|Medieval India|Decline of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent|Tripartite Struggle}}

Early medieval India began after the end of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century CE. This period also covers the "Late Classical Age" of Hinduism, which began after the collapse of the Empire of Harsha in the 7th century,{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=41}} and ended in the 13th century with the rise of the Delhi Sultanate in Northern India;{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=43}} the beginning of Imperial Kannauj, leading to the Tripartite struggle; and the end of the Later Cholas with the death of Rajendra Chola III in 1279 in Southern India; however some aspects of the Classical period continued until the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire in the south around the 17th century.

From the fifth century to the thirteenth, Śrauta sacrifices declined, and support for Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism expanded in royal courts, while the support for Buddhism declined.{{cite book|last=Sanderson|first=Alexis|year=2009|chapter=The Śaiva Age: The Rise and Dominance of Śaivism during the Early Medieval Period|editor-last=Einoo|editor-first=Shingo|title=Genesis and Development of Tantrism|location=Tokyo|publisher=Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo|series=Institute of Oriental Culture Special Series|volume=23|pages=41–43|isbn=978-4-7963-0188-6}} Lack of appeal among the rural masses, who instead embraced Brahmanical Hinduism formed in the Hindu synthesis, and dwindling financial support from trading communities and royal elites, were major factors in the decline of Buddhism.Sarao, Decline of Buddhism in India

In the 7th century, Kumārila Bhaṭṭa formulated his school of Mimamsa philosophy and defended the position on Vedic rituals.Sheridan, Daniel P. "Kumarila Bhatta", in Great Thinkers of the Eastern World, ed. Ian McGready, New York: HarperCollins, 1995, pp. 198–201. {{ISBN|0-06-270085-5}}.

From the 8th to the 10th 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; the Gurjara Pratiharas fragmented into various states, notably the Kingdom of Malwa, the Kingdom of Bundelkhand, the Kingdom of Dahala, the Tomaras of Haryana, and the Kingdom of Sambhar, these states were some of the earliest Rajput kingdoms;{{cite book|title=India: The Ancient Past. A History of the Indian-Subcontinent from 7000 BC to AD 1200|first=Burjor|last=Avari|author-link=Burjor Avari|location=New York|publisher=Routledge|year=2007|isbn=978-0-203-08850-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DmB_AgAAQBAJ&pg=PT204|pages=204–205|quote=Madhyadesha became the ambition of two particular clans among a tribal people in Rajasthan, known as Gurjara and Pratihara. They were both parts of a larger federation of tribes, some of which later came to be known as the Rajputs}} while the Rashtrakutas were annexed by the Western Chalukyas.{{sfn|Kamath|1980|p=93}} During this period, the Chaulukya dynasty emerged; the Chaulukyas constructed the Dilwara Temples, Modhera Sun Temple, Rani ki vav{{cite book|author=Vinod Chandra Srivastava|year=2008|title=History of Agriculture in India, Up to C. 1200 A.D.|publisher=Concept|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FvjZVwYVmNcC&pg=PA857|page=857|isbn=978-81-8069-521-6}} in the style of Māru-Gurjara architecture, and their capital Anhilwara (modern Patan, Gujarat) was one of the largest cities in the Indian subcontinent, with the population estimated at 100,000 in {{circa}} 1000.

The Chola Empire emerged as a major power during the reign of Raja Raja Chola I and Rajendra Chola I who successfully invaded parts of Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka in the 11th century.The Dancing Girl: A History of Early India by Balaji Sadasivan p. 129 Lalitaditya Muktapida (r. 724–760) was an emperor of the Kashmiri Karkoṭa dynasty, which exercised influence in northwestern India from 625 until 1003, and was followed by Lohara dynasty. Kalhana in his Rajatarangini credits king Lalitaditya with leading an aggressive military campaign in Northern India and Central Asia.{{cite book|last=Pollock|first=Sheldon|year=2006|title=The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Premodern India|publisher=University of California Press|pages=241–242|isbn=978-0-520-93202-9}}Sunil Fotedar (June 1984). [http://www.ikashmir.net/glimpses/doc/glimpses.pdf The Kashmir Series: Glimpses of Kashmiri Culture – Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari (p. 57).]R. C. Mazumdar, Ancient India, p. 383

The Hindu Shahi dynasty ruled portions of eastern Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, and Kashmir from the mid-7th century to the early 11th century. While in Odisha, the Eastern Ganga Empire rose to power; noted for the advancement of Hindu architecture, most notable being Jagannath Temple and Konark Sun Temple, as well as being patrons of art and literature.

{{Gallery|align=center

|width=180|File:Martand Sun Temple Central shrine (6133772365).jpg|Martand Sun Temple Central shrine, dedicated to the deity Surya, and built by the third ruler of the Karkota dynasty, Lalitaditya Muktapida, in the 8th century

|File:Konark Temple Panorama2.jpg|Konark Sun Temple at Konark, Orissa, built by Narasimhadeva I (1238–1264) of the Eastern Ganga dynasty

|File:Khajuraho - Kandariya Mahadeo Temple.jpg|Kandariya Mahadeva Temple in the Khajuraho complex was built by the Chandelas

|File:PURI JAGANATHA TEMPLE, PURI, ORISSA, INDIA, ASIA.jpg|Jagannath Temple at Puri, built by Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva of the Eastern Ganga dynasty

}}

{{Main|Later Gupta dynasty}}

File:Map of the Later Guptas.jpg

The Later Gupta dynasty ruled the Magadha region in eastern India between the 6th and 7th centuries AD. The Later Guptas succeeded the imperial Guptas as the rulers of Magadha, but there is no evidence connecting the two dynasties; these appear to be two distinct families.{{cite book|author=Karl J. Schmidt|title=An Atlas and Survey of South Asian History|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BqdzCQAAQBAJ|isbn=9781317476818|page=26}} The Later Guptas are so-called because the names of their rulers ended with the suffix "-gupta", which they might have adopted to portray themselves as the legitimate successors of the imperial Guptas.{{cite book|author=Sailendra Nath Sen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&pg=PA246|title=Ancient Indian History and Civilization|publisher=New Age|year=1999|isbn=9788122411980|page=246}}

{{Main|Chalukya dynasty}}

The Chalukya Empire ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries, as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynasty, known as the "Badami Chalukyas", ruled from Vatapi (modern Badami) from the middle of the 6th century. The Badami Chalukyas began to assert their independence at the decline of the Kadamba kingdom of Banavasi and rapidly rose to prominence during the reign of Pulakeshin II. The rule of the Chalukyas marks an important milestone in the history of South India and a golden age in the history of Karnataka. The political atmosphere in South India shifted from smaller kingdoms to large empires with the ascendancy of Badami Chalukyas. A Southern India-based kingdom took control and consolidated the entire region between the Kaveri and the Narmada Rivers. The rise of this empire saw the birth of efficient administration, overseas trade and commerce and the development of new style of architecture called "Chalukyan architecture". 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.

{{Gallery|align=center

|width=180|File:Galaganatha Temple, Pattadakal, Karnataka.jpg|Galaganatha Temple at Pattadakal complex (UNESCO World Heritage) is an example of Badami Chalukya architecture

|File:View of Bhutanatha temple in Badami during monsoon.jpg|Bhutanatha temple complex at Badami, next to a waterfall, during the monsoon.

|File:Vishnu image inside cave number 3 in Badami.jpg|Vishnu image inside the Badami Cave Temple Complex. Example of Indian rock-cut architecture

|File:Aihole Temple Karnataka.JPG|8th century Durga temple exterior view at Aihole complex. It includes Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples and monuments

}}

{{Main|Rashtrakuta Empire}}

Founded by Dantidurga around 753,{{sfn|Thapar|2003|p=334}} the Rashtrakuta Empire ruled from its capital at Manyakheta for almost two centuries.{{cite book|last1=Chandra|first1=Satish|title=History of Medieval India|date=2009|publisher=Orient Blackswan|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-250-3226-7|pages=19–20}} At its peak, the Rashtrakutas ruled from the Ganges-Yamuna Doab in the north to Cape Comorin in the south, a fruitful time of architectural and literary achievements.{{sfn|Kamath|1980|pp=83, 85, 97}}{{cite book|title=Mathematical Achievements of Pre-modern Indian Mathematicians|last=Puttaswamy|first=T.K.|year=2012|chapter=Mahavira|pages=231|publisher=Elsevier Publications|place=London|isbn=978-0-12-397913-1}}

The early rulers of this dynasty were Hindu, but the later rulers were strongly influenced by Jainism.{{sfn|Sen|1999|p=380}} Govinda III and Amoghavarsha were the most famous of the long line of able administrators produced by the dynasty. Amoghavarsha was also an author and wrote Kavirajamarga, the earliest known Kannada work on poetics.{{sfn|Sen|1999|pp=380–381}} Architecture reached a milestone in the Dravidian style, the finest example of which is seen in the Kailasanath Temple at Ellora. Other important contributions are the Kashivishvanatha temple and the Jain Narayana temple at Pattadakal in Karnataka.

The Arab traveller Suleiman described the Rashtrakuta Empire as one of the four great Empires of the world.{{sfn|Daniélou|2003|p=170}} The Rashtrakuta period marked the beginning of the golden age of southern Indian mathematics. The great south Indian mathematician Mahāvīra had a huge impact on medieval south Indian mathematicians.The Britannica Guide to Algebra and Trigonometry by William L. Hosch p. 105 The Rashtrakuta rulers also patronised men of letters in a variety of languages.

{{Gallery|align=center

|width=180|File:Ellora Cave 16 si0308.jpg|Kailasa temple, is one of the largest rock-cut ancient Hindu temples located in Ellora

|File:Indra Sabha Ellora Temple Maharashtra India.jpg|Shikhara of Indra Sabha at Ellora Caves

|File:Ellora cave10 002.jpg|Statue of the Buddha seated. A part of the Carpenter's cave (Buddhist Cave 10).

|File:Ellora Caves 86.jpg|Jain Tirthankara Mahavira with Yaksha Matanga and Yakshi Siddhaiki at Ellora Caves

}}

{{Main|Gurjara-Pratihara Empire}}

The Gurjara-Pratiharas were instrumental in containing Arab armies moving east of the Indus River. Nagabhata I defeated the Arab army under Junaid and Tamin during the Umayyad campaigns in India.{{cite book|last=Wink|first=André|author-link=André Wink|year=2002|orig-year=First published 1990|title=Al-Hind: The making of the Indo-Islamic World|volume=I|publisher=Brill Academic Publishers|isbn=978-0-391-04173-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2m7_R5P2oAC&pg=PA283|pages=283–284}} Under Nagabhata II, the Gurjara-Pratiharas became the most powerful dynasty in northern India. He was succeeded by his son Ramabhadra, who ruled briefly before being succeeded by his son, Mihira Bhoja. Under Bhoja and his successor Mahendrapala I, the Pratihara Empire reached its peak of prosperity and power. By the time of Mahendrapala, its territory stretched from the border of Sindh in the west to Bihar in the east and from the Himalayas in the north to around the Narmada River in the south.{{sfn|Avari|2007|p=204}} The expansion triggered a tripartite power struggle with the Rashtrakuta and Pala empires for control of the Indian subcontinent.

By the end of the 10th century, several feudatories of the empire took advantage of the temporary weakness of the Gurjara-Pratiharas to declare their independence, notably the Kingdom of Malwa, the Kingdom of Bundelkhand, the Tomaras of Haryana, and the Kingdom of Sambhar{{cite book|last=Wink|first=André|author-link=André Wink|year=2002|orig-year=First published 1990|title=Al-Hind: The making of the Indo-Islamic World|volume=I|publisher=Brill Academic Publishers|isbn=978-0-391-04173-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2m7_R5P2oAC&pg=PA283|pages=285–286}} and the Kingdom of Dahala.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}

{{Gallery|align=center

|width=180|File:Teli ka Mandir (15702266503).jpg|One of the four entrances of the Teli ka Mandir, built by the Pratihara emperor Mihira Bhoja.{{cite book|author=K.D. Bajpai|title=History of Gopāchala|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q3KcwLKuRnYC&pg=PA31|year=2006|publisher=Bharatiya Jnanpith|isbn=978-81-263-1155-2|page=31}}

|File:Sculptures near Teli Mandir, Gwalior Fort.jpg|Sculptures near Teli ka Mandir, Gwalior Fort

|File:Jain statues, Gwalior.jpg|Jainism-related cave monuments and statues carved into the rock face inside Siddhachal Caves, Gwalior Fort

|File:Baroli Temple Complex1.jpg|Ghateshwara Mahadeva temple at Baroli Temples complex. Complex of eight temples, built by the Gurjara-Pratiharas, within a walled enclosure

}}

{{Main|Gahadavala dynasty}}

Gahadavala dynasty ruled parts of the present-day Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, during 11th and 12th centuries. Their capital was located at Varanasi.{{sfn|Niyogi|1959|p=38}}

{{Main|Karnat dynasty}}

File:Pillar at Simroungarh.jpg]]

In 1097 AD, the Karnat dynasty of Mithila emerged on the Bihar/Nepal border area and maintained capitals in Darbhanga and Simraongadh. The dynasty was established by Nanyadeva, a military commander of Karnataka origin. Under this dynasty, the Maithili language started to develop with the first piece of Maithili literature, the Varna Ratnakara being produced in the 14th century by Jyotirishwar Thakur. The Karnats also carried out raids into Nepal. They fell in 1324 following the invasion of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq.{{cite journal|last1=Sinha|first1=CPN|title=Origin of the Karnatas of Mithila - A Fresh Appraisal|journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress|date=1969|volume=31|pages=66–72|jstor=44138330}}{{cite book|last1=Chakrabarty|first1=Dilip|title=The Geopolitical Orbits of Ancient India: The Geographical Frames of the Ancient Indian Dynasties|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=47–48|isbn=978-0-19-908832-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EIAyDwAAQBAJ&dq=the+focus+of+the+history+of+bihar+in+the+eleventh+and+twelfth+century+is+on+Mithila&pg=PT115}}

File:Nalanda University India ruins.jpg, a centre of Buddhist learning from 450 to 1193]]

{{Main|Pala Empire}}

The Pala Empire was founded by Gopala I.Epigraphia Indica, XXIV, p. 43, Dr N.G. Majumdar{{cite book|author=Nitish K. Sengupta|title=Land of Two Rivers: A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kVSh_TyJ0YoC&pg=PA40|date=2011|publisher=Penguin Books India|isbn=978-0-14-341678-4|pages=43–45}}{{cite book|author=Biplab Dasgupta|title=European Trade and Colonial Conquest|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YRRnRK8lEYEC&pg=PA341|date=2005|publisher=Anthem Press|isbn=978-1-84331-029-7|pages=341–}} It was ruled by a Buddhist dynasty from Bengal. The Palas reunified Bengal after the fall of Shashanka's Gauda Kingdom.{{sfn|Kulke|Rothermund|2004|pp=112, 119}}

The Palas were followers of the Mahayana and Tantric schools of Buddhism,History of Buddhism in India, Translation by A Shiefner they also patronised Shaivism and Vaishnavism.{{cite book|last1=Chandra|first1=Satish|title=History of Medieval India|date=2009|publisher=Orient Blackswan|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-250-3226-7|pages=13–15}} The empire reached its peak under Dharmapala and Devapala. Dharmapala is believed to have conquered Kanauj and extended his sway up to the farthest limits of India in the north-west.

The Pala Empire can be considered as the golden era of Bengal.{{sfn|Sen|1999|p=278}} Dharmapala founded the Vikramashila and revived Nalanda, considered one of the first great universities in recorded history. Nalanda reached its height under the patronage of the Pala Empire.{{sfn|Sen|1999|p=278}}{{cite book|title=A Comprehensive History Of Ancient India (3 Vol. Set)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gE7udqBkACwC&pg=PA201|year=2003|editor1=PN Chopra|editor2=BN Puri|editor3=MN Das|editor4=AC Pradhan|publisher=Sterling|isbn=978-81-207-2503-4|pages=200–202}} The Palas also built many viharas. They maintained close cultural and commercial ties with countries of Southeast Asia and Tibet. Sea trade added greatly to the prosperity of the Pala Empire.

{{Main|Chola dynasty|Chola Empire}}

File:Rajendra map new.svg under Rajendra Chola, {{circa}} 1030]]

Medieval Cholas rose to prominence during the middle of the 9th century and established the greatest empire South India had seen.History of Ancient India: Earliest Times to 1000 A.D. by Radhey Shyam Chaurasia p. 237 They successfully united the South India under their rule and through their naval strength extended their influence in the Southeast Asian countries such as Srivijaya. Under Rajaraja Chola I and his successors Rajendra Chola I, Rajadhiraja Chola, Virarajendra Chola and Kulothunga Chola I the dynasty became a military, economic and cultural power in South Asia and South-East Asia.{{sfn|Kulke|Rothermund|2004|p=116}}{{harvnb|Keay|2000|p=215}}: The Cholas were in fact the most successful dynasty since the Guptas ... The classic expansion of Chola power began anew with the accession of Rajaraja I in 985. Rajendra Chola I's navies occupied the sea coasts from Burma to Vietnam,{{cite web|url=http://www.en.articlesgratuits.com/the-last-years-of-cholas-the-decline-and-fall-of-a-dynasty-id1804.php|title=The Last Years of Cholas: The decline and fall of a dynasty|publisher=En.articlesgratuits.com|date=22 August 2007|access-date=23 September 2009|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100120085302/http://www.en.articlesgratuits.com/the-last-years-of-cholas-the-decline-and-fall-of-a-dynasty-id1804.php|archive-date=20 January 2010}} the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Lakshadweep (Laccadive) islands, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula. The power of the new empire was proclaimed to the eastern world by the expedition to the Ganges which Rajendra Chola I undertook and by the occupation of cities of the maritime empire of Srivijaya in Southeast Asia, as well as by the repeated embassies to China.K. A. Nilakanta Sastri, A History of South India, p. 158

They dominated the political affairs of Sri Lanka for over two centuries through repeated invasions and occupation. They also had continuing trade contacts with the Arabs and the Chinese empire.Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations by Tansen Sen p. 229 Rajaraja Chola I and his son Rajendra Chola I gave political unity to the whole of Southern India and established the Chola Empire as a respected sea power.History of Asia by B.V. Rao p. 297 Under the Cholas, the South India reached new heights of excellence in art, religion and literature. In all of these spheres, the Chola period marked the culmination of movements that had begun in an earlier age under the Pallavas. Monumental architecture in the form of majestic temples and sculpture in stone and bronze reached a finesse never before achieved in India.Indian Civilization and Culture by Suhas Chatterjee p. 417

File:Ranganathaswamy temple tiruchirappalli.jpg is the world's largest functioning Hindu temple{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5894/|title=Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam}} present in Tamil Nadu, India ]]

{{Gallery|align=center

|width=180|File:Big Temple-Temple.jpg|The granite gopuram (tower) of Brihadeeswarar Temple, 1010

|File:Chariot detail, Airavatesvara, Tamil Nadu.jpg|Chariot detail at Airavatesvara Temple built by Rajaraja Chola II in the 12th century

|File:Back view of Raja gopuram.jpg|The pyramidal structure above the sanctum at Brihadisvara Temple.

|File:Brihadeeswara Temple Entrance Gopurams, Thanjavur.JPG|Brihadeeswara Temple Entrance Gopurams at Thanjavur

}}

{{Main|Western Chalukya Empire}}

The Western Chalukya Empire ruled most of the western Deccan, South India, between the 10th and 12th centuries.A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: by Farooqui Salma Ahmed, Salma Ahmed Farooqui p. 24 Vast areas between the Narmada River in the north and Kaveri River in the south came under Chalukya control. During this period the other major ruling families of the Deccan, the Hoysalas, the Seuna Yadavas of Devagiri, the Kakatiya dynasty and the Southern Kalachuris, were subordinates of the Western Chalukyas and gained their independence only when the power of the Chalukya waned during the latter half of the 12th century.Ancient Indian History and Civilization by Sailendra Nath Sen pp. 403–405

The Western Chalukyas developed an architectural style known today as a transitional style, an architectural link between the style of the early Chalukya dynasty and that of the later Hoysala empire. Most of its monuments are in the districts bordering the Tungabhadra River in central Karnataka. Well known examples are the Kasivisvesvara Temple at Lakkundi, the Mallikarjuna Temple at Kuruvatti, the Kallesvara Temple at Bagali, Siddhesvara Temple at Haveri, and the Mahadeva Temple at Itagi.World Heritage Monuments and Related Edifices in India, Band 1 by ʻAlī Jāvīd pp. 132–134 This was an important period in the development of fine arts in Southern India, especially in literature as the Western Chalukya kings encouraged writers in the native language of Kannada, and Sanskrit like the philosopher and statesman Basava and the great mathematician Bhāskara II.History of Kannada Literature by E.P. Rice p. 32Bilhana by Prabhakar Narayan Kawthekar, p. 29

{{Gallery|align=center

|width=180|File:Profile of the vimana (sanctum outerwall and tower) of the Siddhesvara temple at Haveri 2.JPG|Shrine outer wall and Dravida style superstructure (shikhara) at Siddhesvara Temple at Haveri

|File:Ornate entrance to closed mantapa in Kalleshvara temple at Bagali.JPG|Ornate entrance to the closed hall from the south at Kalleshvara Temple at Bagali

|File:Shrine wall frieze and relief in Mallikarjuna temple at Kuruvatti.JPG|Shrine wall relief, molding frieze and miniature decorative tower in Mallikarjuna Temple at Kuruvatti

|File:Rear view showing lateral entrances of the Mahadeva Temple at Itagi in the Koppal district.JPG|Rear view showing lateral entrances of the Mahadeva Temple at Itagi

}}

{{Main|Medieval India}}

{{see also|Muslim kingdoms in the Indian subcontinent}}

The late medieval period is marked by repeated invasions by Muslim Central Asian nomadic clans,{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2006|p = 47}}{{sfn|Metcalf|Metcalf|2006|p = 6}} the rule of the Delhi Sultanate, and by the growth of other states, built upon military technology of the sultanate.{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2006|p=53}}

{{Main|Delhi Sultanate}}

The Delhi Sultanate was a series of successive Islamic states based in Delhi, ruled by several dynasties of varying origins. The polity ruled over large parts of the Indian subcontinent from the 13th to early 16th centuries.[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/156530/Delhi-sultanate Delhi Sultanate], Encyclopædia Britannica The sultanate was founded in the 12th and 13th centuries by Central Asian Turks, who invaded parts of northern India and established the state atop former Hindu holdings.{{cite web|url=http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/Ibn_Battuta/Battuta's_Trip_Seven.html|title=Battuta's Travels: Delhi, capital of Muslim India|last=Bartel|first=Nick|year=1999|website=The Travels of Ibn Battuta – A Virtual Tour with the 14th Century Traveler|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612001214/http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/Ibn_Battuta/Battuta%27s_Trip_Seven.html|archive-date=12 June 2010|url-status=dead}} The subsequent Mamluk dynasty of Delhi managed to conquer large areas of northern India. The Khalji dynasty conquered much of central India while forcing the principal Hindu kingdoms of South India to become vassal states.

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 was born during the period of the Delhi Sultanate. The sultanate was the only Indo-Islamic state to enthrone one of the few female rulers in India, Razia Sultana ({{reign|1236|1240}}).

While initially disruptive due to the passing of power from native Indian elites to Turkic Muslim elites, the Delhi Sultanate was responsible for integrating the Indian subcontinent into a growing world system, drawing India into a wider international network, which had a significant impact on Indian culture and society.{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2006|pp=50–52}} However, the Delhi Sultanate also caused large-scale destruction and desecration of temples in the Indian subcontinent.Richard Eaton (2000), [https://web.archive.org/web/20150406011408/http://jis.oxfordjournals.org/content/11/3/283.extract Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States], Journal of Islamic Studies, 11(3), pp. 283–319

The Mongol invasions of India were successfully repelled by the Delhi Sultanate during the rule of Alauddin Khalji. A major factor in their success was their Turkic Mamluk slave army, who were highly skilled in the same style of nomadic cavalry warfare as the Mongols. It is possible that the Mongol Empire may have expanded into India were it not for the Delhi Sultanate's role in repelling them.{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2006|pp=50–51}} By repeatedly repulsing the Mongol raiders,{{sfn|Ludden|2002|p = 67}} the sultanate saved India from the devastation waged on West and Central Asia. Soldiers from that region and learned men and administrators fleeing Mongol invasions of Iran migrated into the subcontinent, thereby creating a syncretic Indo-Islamic culture in the north.{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2006|pp = 50–51}}

A Turco-Mongol conqueror from Central Asia, Timur (Tamerlane), attacked the reigning sultan Nasir-u Din Mehmud of the Tughlaq dynasty in Delhi.{{cite web|url=http://www.gardenvisit.com/travel/clavijo/timurconquestofindia.htm|title=Timur – conquest of India|website=Gardenvisit|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012090047/http://gardenvisit.com/travel/clavijo/timurconquestofindia.htm|archive-date=12 October 2007}} The sultan's army was defeated on 17 December 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" (artists); 100,000 war prisoners were said to have been put to death in one day.{{cite book|title=The History of India As told By Its Own Historians Vol III|author=Elliot & Dawson|pages=445–446}} The sultanate suffered significantly from the sacking of Delhi. Though revived briefly under the Sayyid and Lodi dynasties, it was but a shadow of the former. Lodi rule lasted in Delhi until the defeat of the last sultan, Ibrahim Khan Lodi, in 1526 to the forces of Babur.{{Encyclopaedia Islamica|title=Delhi Sultanate|url=https://referenceworks.brill-com/display/entries/ISLO/COM-037181.xml?rskey=FlvuV6|first1=Huda Seyyed|last1=Hussein-zadeh|first2=Isabel|last2=Miller|translator-first=Mushegh|translator-last=Asatryan|date=2018}}

{{Gallery|align=center

|width=180|File:Qutb minar ruins.jpg|Qutb Minar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, whose construction was begun by Qutb ud-Din Aibak, the first Sultan of Delhi.

|File:Nizamuddin Dargah and Jamaat Khana Masjid, Delhi.jpg|Dargahs of Sufi-saint Nizamuddin Auliya, and poet and musician Amir Khusro in Delhi.

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{{Main|Vijayanagara Empire}}

File:Sangamas of the Vijayanagara Empire.png of the Vijayanagara Empire ]]

The Vijayanagara Empire was established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I of Sangama Dynasty,History of Classical Sanskrit Literature: by M. Srinivasachariar p. 211 which originated as a political heir of the Hoysala Empire, Kakatiya Empire,{{sfn|Eaton|2005|pp=28–29}} and the Pandyan Empire.{{sfn|Sastri|2002|p=239}} The empire rose to prominence as a culmination of attempts by the south Indian powers to ward off Islamic invasions by the end of the 13th century. It lasted until 1646, although its power declined after a major military defeat in 1565 by the combined armies of the Deccan sultanates. The empire is named after its capital city of Vijayanagara, whose ruins surround present day Hampi, now a World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India.South India by Amy Karafin, Anirban Mahapatra p. 32

In the first two decades after the founding of the empire, Harihara I gained control over most of the area south of the Tungabhadra river and earned the title of Purvapaschima Samudradhishavara ("master of the eastern and western seas"). By 1374 Bukka Raya I, successor to Harihara I, had defeated the chiefdom of Arcot, the Reddys of Kondavidu, and the Sultan of Madurai and had gained control over Goa in the west and the Tungabhadra-Krishna doab in the north.{{sfn|Kamath|1980|pp=170–171}}{{sfn|Sastri|1955|p=317}}

Harihara II, the second son of Bukka Raya I, further consolidated the kingdom beyond the Krishna River and brought the whole of South India under the Vijayanagara umbrella.The success was probably also due to the peaceful nature of Muhammad II Bahmani, according to {{harvnb|Sastri|1955|p=242}} The next ruler, Deva Raya I, emerged successful against the Gajapatis of Odisha and undertook important works of fortification and irrigation.From the notes of Portuguese Nuniz. Robert Sewell notes that a big dam across was built the Tungabhadra and an aqueduct {{convert|15|mi|km|0}} long was cut out of rock ({{harvnb|Sastri|1955|p=243}}). Italian traveller Niccolo de Conti wrote of him as the most powerful ruler of India.{{cite book|editor-last=Bowman|editor-first=John Stewart|year=2000|title=Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture|publisher=Columbia University Press|page=271|isbn=0-231-11004-9}} Deva Raya II succeeded to the throne in 1424 and was possibly the most capable of the Sangama Dynasty rulers.{{sfn|Sastri|1955|p=244}} He quelled rebelling feudal lords as well as the Zamorin of Calicut and Quilon in the south. He invaded the island of Sri Lanka and became overlord of the kings of Burma at Pegu and Tanasserim.From the notes of Persian Abdur Razzak. Writings of Nuniz confirms that the kings of Burma paid tributes to Vijayanagara empire. ({{harvnb|Sastri|1955|p=245}}){{sfn|Kamath|1980|p=173}}From the notes of Abdur Razzak about Vijayanagara: a city like this had not been seen by the pupil of the eye nor had an ear heard of anything equal to it in the world (Hampi, A Travel Guide 2003, p. 11)

The Vijayanagara Emperors were tolerant of all religions and sects, as writings by foreign visitors show.From the notes of Duarte Barbosa. ({{harvnb|Kamath|1980|p=189}}) The kings used titles such as Gobrahamana Pratipalanacharya (literally, "protector of cows and Brahmins") and Hindurayasuratrana (lit, "upholder of Hindu faith") that testified to their intention of protecting Hinduism and yet were at the same time staunchly Islamicate in their court ceremonials and dress.{{cite journal|title=Sultan among Hindu Kings: Dress, Titles, and the Islamicization of Hindu Culture at Vijayanagara|first=Phillip B.|last=Wagoner|journal=The Journal of Asian Studies|date=November 1996|volume=55|issue=4|pages=851–880|doi=10.2307/2646526|jstor=2646526|s2cid=163090404}} The empire's founders, Harihara I and Bukka Raya I, were devout Shaivas (worshippers of Shiva), but made grants to the Vaishnava order of Sringeri with Vidyaranya as their patron saint, and designated Varaha (an avatar of Vishnu) as their emblem.{{sfn|Kamath|1980|pp=188-189}} Nobles from Central Asia's Timurid kingdoms also came to Vijayanagara.{{cite book|last1=Fritz|first1=John M.|last2=Michell|first2=George|year=2015|orig-year=First published 2011|title=Hampi Vijayanagara|publisher=Jaico Publishing House|page=50|isbn=978-8 1-8495-602-3}} The later Saluva and Tuluva kings were Vaishnava by faith, but worshipped at the feet of Lord Virupaksha (Shiva) at Hampi as well as Lord Venkateshwara (Vishnu) at Tirupati.{{cite book|last1=Fritz|first1=John M.|last2=Michell|first2=George|year=2015|orig-year=First published 2011|title=Hampi Vijayanagara|publisher=Jaico Publishing House|pages=41, 43|isbn=978-8 1-8495-602-3}} A Sanskrit work, Jambavati Kalyanam by King Krishnadevaraya, called Lord Virupaksha Karnata Rajya Raksha Mani ("protective jewel of Karnata Empire").{{cite book|last=Wagoner|first=Phillip B.|editor1-last=Fritz|editor1-first=John. M.|editor2-last=Michell|editor2-first=George|year=2001|chapter=Architecture and Royal Authority under the Early Sangamas|title=New Light on Hampi: Recent Research at Vijayanagara|publisher=Marg Publications|page=14|isbn=81-85026-53-X}} The kings patronised the saints of the dvaita order (philosophy of dualism) of Madhvacharya at Udupi.{{sfn|Kamath|1980|p=189}}

{{Gallery|align=center

|width=180|File:Ruins of Bala Krishna Temple Vijayanagara Hampi 1868 Edmund Lyon photo.jpg| Photograph of the ruins of the Vijayanagara Empire at Hampi, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1868"The austere, grandiose site of Hampi was the last capital of the last great Hindu Kingdom of Vijayanagar. Its fabulously rich princes built Dravidian temples and palaces which won the admiration of travellers between the 14th and 16th centuries. Conquered by the Deccan Muslim confederacy in 1565, the city was pillaged over a period of six months before being abandoned." From the brief description [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/241 UNESCO World Heritage List].

|File:Elephant's stable or Gajashaale.JPG|Gajashaala, or elephant's stable, was built by the Vijayanagar rulers for their war elephants.{{cite web|url=http://www.vijayanagara.org/html/ele_stables.html|title=Vijayanagara Research Project::Elephant Stables|publisher=Vijayanagara.org|date=9 February 2014|access-date=21 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170517222359/http://www.vijayanagara.org/html/Ele_Stables.html|archive-date=17 May 2017|url-status=dead}}

|File:Krishna Pushkarani - Hampi Ruins.jpg|Vijayanagara marketplace at Hampi, along with the sacred tank located on the side of Krishna temple.

|File:The Stone Chariot,Hampi.jpg|Stone temple car in Vitthala Temple at Hampi

}}

The empire's legacy includes many monuments spread over South India, the best known of which is the group at Hampi. The previous temple building traditions in South India came together in the Vijayanagara Architecture style. The mingling of all faiths and vernaculars inspired architectural innovation of Hindu temple construction. South Indian mathematics flourished under the protection of the Vijayanagara Empire in Kerala. The south Indian mathematician Madhava of Sangamagrama founded the famous Kerala School of Astronomy and Mathematics in the 14th century which produced a lot of great south Indian mathematicians like Parameshvara, Nilakantha Somayaji and Jyeṣṭhadeva.History of Science and Philosophy of Science by Pradip Kumar Sengupta p. 91 Efficient administration and vigorous overseas trade brought new technologies such as water management systems for irrigation.Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanat (1206–1526) by Satish Chandra pp. 188–189 The empire's patronage enabled fine arts and literature to reach new heights in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Sanskrit, while Carnatic music evolved into its current form.Art History, Volume II: 1400–present by Boundless p. 243

Vijayanagara went into decline after the defeat in the Battle of Talikota (1565). After the death of Aliya Rama Raya in the Battle of Talikota, Tirumala Deva Raya started the Aravidu dynasty, moved and founded a new capital of Penukonda to replace the destroyed Hampi, and attempted to reconstitute the remains of Vijayanagara Empire.{{sfn|Eaton|2005|pp=100–101}} Tirumala abdicated in 1572, dividing the remains of his kingdom to his three sons, and pursued a religious life until his death in 1578. The Aravidu dynasty successors ruled the region but the empire collapsed in 1614, and the final remains ended in 1646, from continued wars with the Bijapur sultanate and others.{{sfn|Kamath|1980|p=185}}{{cite book|author=Vijaya Ramaswamy|title=Historical Dictionary of the Tamils|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H4q0DHGMcjEC|year=2007|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-6445-0|pages=li–lii}}{{sfn|Eaton|2005|pp=101–115}} During this period, more kingdoms in South India became independent and separate from Vijayanagara. These include the Mysore Kingdom, Keladi Nayaka, Nayaks of Madurai, Nayaks of Tanjore, Nayakas of Chitradurga and Nayak Kingdom of Gingee – all of which declared independence and went on to have a significant impact on the history of South India in the coming centuries.{{sfn|Kamath|1980|p=185}}

{{Main|Guhila dynasty|Kingdom of Mewar}}

{{Gallery|align=center

|width=130|File:Tower of victory.jpg

|Vijaya Stambha (Tower of Victory).

|File:Temple in Rajasthan.jpg|Temple inside Chittorgarh fort

|File:Man Singh Palace as viewed in the early hours of the morning.JPG|Man Singh (Manasimha) palace at the Gwalior fort

|File:Tribute Giraffe with Attendant.jpg|Chinese manuscript Tribute Giraffe with Attendant, depicting a giraffe presented by Bengali envoys in the name of Sultan Saifuddin Hamza Shah of Bengal to the Yongle Emperor of Ming China

|File:Complete view of Mahumad Gawan.JPG|Mahmud Gawan Madrasa was built by Mahmud Gawan, the Wazir of the Bahmani Sultanate as the centre of religious as well as secular education

|||title=}}

For two and a half centuries from the mid-13th century, politics in Northern India was dominated by the Delhi Sultanate, and in Southern India by the Vijayanagar Empire. However, there were other regional powers present as well. After fall of Pala Empire, the Chero dynasty ruled much of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand from the 12th to the 18th centuries.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=399UDwAAQBAJ&q=chero+dynasty&pg=PT71|title=Bihar General Knowledge Digest|isbn=9789352667697|last1=Singh|first1=Pradyuman|date=19 January 2021|publisher=Prabhat Prakashan}}{{cite book|author=Surendra Gopal|title=Mapping Bihar: From Medieval to Modern Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mCZFDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT289|date=2017|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-351-03416-6|pages=289–295}}{{cite book|author1=Surinder Singh|author2=I. D. Gaur|title=Popular Literature and Pre-modern Societies in South Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QVA0JAzQJkYC&pg=PA77|year=2008|publisher=Pearson Education India|isbn=978-81-317-1358-7|pages=77–}} The Reddy dynasty successfully defeated the Delhi Sultanate and extended their rule from Cuttack in the north to Kanchi in the south, eventually being absorbed into the expanding Vijayanagara Empire.{{cite book|author=Gordon Mackenzie|title=A manual of the Kistna district in the presidency of Madras|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=430nAMZz8LwC&pg=PA10|year=1990|orig-year=First published 1883|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=978-81-206-0544-2|pages=9–10, 224–}}

In the north, the Rajput kingdoms remained the dominant force in Western and Central India. The Mewar dynasty under Maharana Hammir defeated and captured Muhammad Tughlaq with the Bargujars as his main allies. Tughlaq had to pay a huge ransom and relinquish all of Mewar's lands. After this event, the Delhi Sultanate did not attack Chittor for a few hundred years. The Rajputs re-established their independence, and Rajput states were established as far east as Bengal and north into the Punjab. The Tomaras established themselves at Gwalior, and Man Singh Tomar reconstructed the Gwalior Fort.{{Cite book|last=Sen|first=Sailendra|title=A Textbook of Medieval Indian History|publisher=Primus Books|year=2013|isbn=978-93-80607-34-4|pages=116–117}} During this period, Mewar emerged as the leading Rajput state; and Rana Kumbha expanded his kingdom at the expense of the Sultanates of Malwa and Gujarat.Lectures on Rajput history and culture by Dr. Dasharatha Sharma. Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass, Jawahar Nagar, Delhi 1970. {{ISBN|0-8426-0262-3}}. The next great Rajput ruler, Rana Sanga of Mewar, became the principal player in Northern India. His objectives grew in scope – he planned to conquer Delhi. But, his defeat in the Battle of Khanwa consolidated the new Mughal dynasty in India. The Mewar dynasty under Maharana Udai Singh II faced further defeat by Mughal emperor Akbar, with their capital Chittor being captured. Due to this event, Udai Singh II founded Udaipur, which became the new capital of the Mewar kingdom. His son, Maharana Pratap of Mewar, firmly resisted the Mughals. Akbar sent many missions against him. He survived to ultimately gain control of all of Mewar, excluding the Chittor Fort.John Merci, Kim Smith; James Leuck (1922). "Muslim conquest and the Rajputs". The Medieval History of India pg 67–115

In the south, the Bahmani Sultanate in the Deccan, born from a rebellion in 1347 against the Tughlaq dynasty,{{sfn|Eaton|2005|pp=41–42}} was the chief rival of Vijayanagara, and frequently created difficulties for them.Farooqui Salma Ahmed, A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: From Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century, (Dorling Kindersley Pvt. Ltd., 2011) Starting in 1490, the Bahmani Sultanate's governors revolted, their independent states composing the five Deccan sultanates; Ahmadnagar declared independence, followed by Bijapur and Berar in the same year; Golkonda became independent in 1518 and Bidar in 1528.{{cite book|editor-last=Majumdar|editor-first=R. C.|editor-link=R. C. Majumdar|year=1974|title=The Mughul Empire|url=https://archive.org/details/mughulempire00bhar/page/n6/mode/2up|series=The History and Culture of the Indian People|volume=VII|location=Bombay|publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan|page=412}} Although generally rivals, they allied against the Vijayanagara Empire in 1565, permanently weakening Vijayanagar in the Battle of Talikota.{{cite book|last1=Mitchell|first1=George|first2=Mark|last2=Zebrowski|title=Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates (The New Cambridge History of India Vol. I:7)|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1999|location=Cambridge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ju1XvgAACAAJ|isbn=0-521-56321-6|page=10}}{{sfn|Eaton|2005|p=98}}

In the East, the Gajapati Kingdom remained a strong regional power to reckon with, associated with a high point in the growth of regional culture and architecture. Under Kapilendradeva, Gajapatis became an empire stretching from the lower Ganga in the north to the Kaveri in the south.{{cite book|editor1-last=Majumdar|editor1-first=R. C.|editor1-link=R. C. Majumdar|editor2-last=Pusalker|editor2-first=A. D.|editor3-last=Majumdar|editor3-first=A. K.|title=The Delhi Sultanate|url=https://archive.org/details/delhisultanate0006rcma/page/367/mode/1up|year=1980|orig-year=First published 1960|series=The History and Culture of the Indian People|volume=VI|edition=3rd|publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan|location=Bombay|oclc=664485|pages=367|quote=[Describing the Gajapati kings of Orissa] Kapilendra was the most powerful Hindu king of his time, and under him Orissa became an empire stretching from the lower Ganga in the north to the Kaveri in the south.}} In Northeast India, the Ahom Kingdom was a major power for six centuries;{{cite book|author=Sailendra Nath Sen|title=Ancient Indian History and Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&pg=PA305|date=1999|publisher=New Age International|isbn=978-81-224-1198-0|page=305}}{{cite book|author=Yasmin Saikia|title=Fragmented Memories: Struggling to be Tai-Ahom in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WfSmsuO6QugC&pg=PA8|date=2004|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=978-0-8223-8616-2|page=8}} led by Lachit Borphukan, the Ahoms decisively defeated the Mughal army at the Battle of Saraighat during the Ahom-Mughal conflicts.{{Citation|last=Sarkar|first=J.N.|contribution=Chapter VIII Assam-Mughal Relations|editor-last=Barpujari|editor-first=H.K.|title=The Comprehensive History of Assam|volume=2|publisher=Assam Publication Board|place=Guwahati|year=1992|page=213}} Further east in Northeastern India was the Kingdom of Manipur, which ruled from their seat of power at Kangla Fort and developed a sophisticated Hindu Gaudiya Vaishnavite culture.{{Sfn|Williams|2004|pp=83–84, the other major classical Indian dances are: Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Cchau, Satriya, Yaksagana and Bhagavata Mela}}{{Sfn|Massey|2004|p=177}}{{Sfn|Devi|1990|pp=175–180}}

The Sultanate of Bengal was the dominant power of the Ganges–Brahmaputra Delta, with a network of mint towns spread across the region. It was a Sunni Muslim monarchy with Indo-Turkic, Arab, Abyssinian and Bengali Muslim elites. The sultanate was known for its religious pluralism where non-Muslim communities co-existed peacefully. The Bengal Sultanate had a circle of vassal states, including Odisha in the southwest, Arakan in the southeast, and Tripura in the east. In the early 16th century, the Bengal Sultanate reached the peak of its territorial growth with control over Kamrup and Kamata in the northeast and Jaunpur and Bihar in the west. It was reputed as a thriving trading nation and one of Asia's strongest states. The Bengal Sultanate was described by contemporary European and Chinese visitors as a relatively prosperous kingdom and the "richest country to trade with". The Bengal Sultanate left a strong architectural legacy. Buildings from the period show foreign influences merged into a distinct Bengali style. The Bengal Sultanate was also the largest and most prestigious authority among the independent medieval Muslim-ruled states in the history of Bengal. Its decline began with an interregnum by the Suri Empire, followed by Mughal conquest and disintegration into petty kingdoms.

{{Main|Bhakti movement|Buddhism in India|Sikhism}}

{{See also|History of Sikhism}}

The Bhakti movement refers to the theistic devotional trend that emerged in medieval Hinduism{{sfnp|Schomer|McLeod|1987|p=1}} and later revolutionised in Sikhism.{{cite book|last1=Johar|first1=Surinder|title=Guru Gobind Singh: A Multi-faceted Personality|date=1999|publisher=MD Publications|isbn=978-81-7533-093-1|page=89}} It originated in the seventh-century south India (now parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala), and spread northwards.{{sfnp|Schomer|McLeod|1987|p=1}} It swept over east and north India from the 15th century onwards, reaching its zenith between the 15th and 17th century.{{sfnp|Schomer|McLeod|1987|pp=1–2}}

• The Bhakti movement regionally developed around different gods and goddesses, such as Vaishnavism (Vishnu), Shaivism (Shiva), Shaktism (Shakti goddesses), and Smartism.Lance Nelson (2007), An Introductory Dictionary of Theology and Religious Studies (Editors: Orlando O. Espín, James B. Nickoloff), Liturgical Press, {{ISBN|978-0-8146-5856-7}}, pp. 562–563SS Kumar (2010), Bhakti – the Yoga of Love, LIT Verlag Münster, {{ISBN|978-3-643-50130-1}}, pp. 35–36Wendy Doniger (2009), [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/63933/bhakti Bhakti], Encyclopædia Britannica; [http://www.himalayanacademy.com/readlearn/basics/four-sects The Four Denomination of Hinduism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113071854/https://www.himalayanacademy.com/readlearn/basics/four-sects |date=13 January 2020 }} Himalayan Academy (2013) The movement was inspired by many poet-saints, who championed a wide range of philosophical positions ranging from theistic dualism of Dvaita to absolute monism of Advaita Vedanta.{{sfnp|Schomer|McLeod|1987|p=2}}{{cite journal|last=Novetzke|first=Christian|s2cid=144065168|year=2007|title=Bhakti and Its Public|journal=International Journal of Hindu Studies|volume=11|issue=3|pages=255–272|jstor=25691067|doi=10.1007/s11407-008-9049-9}}
• Sikhism is a monotheistic and panentheistic religion based on the spiritual teachings of Guru Nanak, the first Guru,Singh, Patwant (2000). The Sikhs. Alfred A Knopf Publishing. p. 17. {{ISBN|0-375-40728-6}}. and the ten successive Sikh gurus. After the death of the tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, the Sikh scripture, Guru Granth Sahib, became the literal embodiment of the eternal, impersonal Guru, where the scripture's word serves as the spiritual guide for Sikhs.Louis Fenech and WH McLeod (2014), Historical Dictionary of Sikhism, 3rd Edition, Rowman & Littlefield, {{ISBN|978-1-4422-3600-4}}, p. 17William James (2011), God's Plenty: Religious Diversity in Kingston, McGill Queens University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7735-3889-4}}, pp. 241–242{{cite book|last=Mann|first=Gurinder Singh|year=2001|title=The Making of Sikh Scripture|url=https://archive.org/details/makingsikhscript00mann|url-access=limited|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=United States|isbn=978-0-19-513024-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/makingsikhscript00mann/page/n33 21]}}
• Buddhism in India flourished in the Himalayan kingdoms of Namgyal Kingdom in Ladakh, Sikkim Kingdom in Sikkim, and Chutia Kingdom in Arunachal Pradesh of the Late medieval period.

{{Gallery|align=center

|width=180|File:Rang Ghar Sibsagar.jpg|Rang Ghar, built by Pramatta Singha in Ahom kingdom's capital Rangpur, is one of the earliest pavilions of outdoor stadia in the Indian subcontinent

|File: Chittorgarh fort.JPG| Chittor Fort is the largest fort on the Indian subcontinent; it is one of the six Hill Forts of Rajasthan

|File:Chaumukha Jain temple at Ranakpur in Aravalli range near Udaipur Rajasthan India.jpg|Ranakpur Jain temple was built in the 15th century with the support of the Rajput state of Mewar

|File:GolGumbaz2.jpg|Gol Gumbaz built by the Bijapur Sultanate, has the second largest pre-modern dome in the world after the Byzantine Hagia Sophia

}}

The early modern period of Indian history is dated from 1526 to 1858, corresponding to the rise and fall of the Mughal Empire, which inherited from the Timurid Renaissance. During this age India's economy expanded, relative peace was maintained and arts were patronised. This period witnessed the further development of Indo-Islamic architecture;{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2006|p = 115}}{{sfn|Robb|2001|pp = 90–91}} the growth of Marathas and Sikhs enabled them to rule significant regions of India in the waning days of the Mughal empire.{{cite web|title=India before the British: The Mughal Empire and its Rivals, 1526–1857|website=University of Exeter|url=http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/history/modules/hih1407/}} With the discovery of the Cape route in the 1500s, the first Europeans to arrive by sea and establish themselves, were the Portuguese in Goa and Bombay.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ITxsDwAAQBAJ&q=early+modern+India|title=Unwanted Neighbours: The Mughals, the Portuguese, and Their Frontier Zones|isbn=978-0-19-909368-7|last1=Flores|first1=Jorge|date=5 June 2018|publisher=Oxford University Press}}

{{Main|Mughal Empire}}

{{See also|Bengal Subah|Muslin trade in Bengal|Mughal architecture|Army of the Mughal Empire|Mughal clothing|Mughal painting}}

{{multiple image

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| image1 = Joppen1907India1700a.jpg

| caption1 = Map of the Mughal Empire at its peak in year 1700

| image2 = Taj Mahal (Edited).jpeg

| caption2 = Taj Mahal is the jewel of Muslim architecture in India UNESCO World Heritage Site declaration, 1983.{{Cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/252/|title=Taj Mahal|first=UNESCO World Heritage|last=Centre|website=UNESCO World Heritage Centre}}

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In 1526, Babur swept across the Khyber Pass and established the Mughal Empire, which at its zenith covered much of South Asia.{{cite web|url=https://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/empires/mughals/|title=The Islamic World to 1600: Rise of the Great Islamic Empires (The Mughal Empire)|website=University of Calgary|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927170951/http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/empires/mughals/|archive-date=27 September 2013}} However, his son Humayun was defeated by the Afghan warrior Sher Shah Suri in 1540, and Humayun was forced to retreat to Kabul. After Sher Shah's death, his son Islam Shah Suri and his Hindu general Hemu Vikramaditya established secular rule in North India from Delhi until 1556, when Akbar ({{Reign|1556|1605}}), grandson of Babur, defeated Hemu in the Second Battle of Panipat on 6 November 1556 after winning Battle of Delhi. Akbar tried to establish a good relationship with the Hindus. Akbar declared "Amari" or non-killing of animals in the holy days of Jainism. He rolled back the jizya tax for non-Muslims. 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 Indo-Persian culture and Indo-Saracenic architecture.

Akbar married a Rajput princess, Mariam-uz-Zamani, and they had a son, Jahangir ({{Reign|1605|1627}}).Jeroen Duindam (2015), [https://books.google.com/books?id=5ky2CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA105 Dynasties: A Global History of Power, 1300–1800, p. 105], Cambridge University Press Jahangir followed his father's policy. The Mughal dynasty ruled most of the Indian subcontinent by 1600. The reign of Shah Jahan ({{Reign|1628|1658}}) was the golden age of Mughal architecture. He erected several large monuments, the most famous of which is the Taj Mahal at Agra.

It was one of the largest empires to have existed in the Indian subcontinent,{{cite journal|last1=Turchin|first1=Peter|author-link=Peter Turchin|last2=Adams|first2=Jonathan M.|last3=Hall|first3=Thomas D|date=December 2006|title=East-West Orientation of Historical Empires|url=https://peterturchin.com/PDF/Turchin_Adams_Hall_2006.pdf|journal=Journal of World-Systems Research|volume=12|issue=2|page=223|issn=1076-156X|access-date=2 October 2021|archive-date=14 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210914101602/https://peterturchin.com/PDF/Turchin_Adams_Hall_2006.pdf|url-status=dead}} and surpassed China to become the world's largest economic power, controlling 24.4% of the world economy,Maddison, Angus (2003): [https://books.google.com/books?id=rHJGz3HiJbcC&pg=PA261 Development Centre Studies The World Economy Historical Statistics: Historical Statistics], OECD Publishing, {{ISBN|92-64-10414-3}}, p. 261 and the world leader in manufacturing,{{Citation|title=Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not: Global Economic Divergence, 1600–1850|given=Prasannan|surname=Parthasarathi|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-1-139-49889-0|page=2}} producing 25% of global industrial output.{{Cite web|url=http://www.tcd.ie/Economics/staff/orourkek/Istanbul/JGWGEHNIndianDeind.pdf|title=India's Deindustrialization in the 18th and 19th Centuries|author=Jeffrey G. Williamson, David Clingingsmith|publisher=Harvard University|date=August 2005|access-date=18 May 2017}} The economic and demographic upsurge was stimulated by Mughal agrarian reforms that intensified agricultural production,{{cite book|last=Richards|first=John F.|author-link=John F. Richards|year=1995|orig-year=First published 1993|title=The Mughal Empire|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHyVh29gy4QC&pg=PA190|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=190|isbn=978-0-521-56603-2}} and a relatively high degree of urbanisation.{{cite book|author=Abraham Eraly|year=2007|title=The Mughal World: Life in India's Last Golden Age|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zpa8gyGW_twC&pg=PA5|publisher=Penguin Books|page=5|isbn=978-0-14-310262-5}}

{{Gallery|align=center|title=Other Mughal UNESCO World Heritage Sites

|width=180|File:Agra Fort 20180908 143826.jpg|Agra Fort showing Yamuna river and Taj Mahal in the background

|File:Fatehput Sikiri Buland Darwaza gate 2010.jpg|Fatehpur Sikri, near Agra, showing Buland Darwaza, the complex built by Akbar, the third Mughal emperor

|||File:Red Fort in Delhi 03-2016 img1.jpg|Red Fort, Delhi, constructed in the year 1648

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The Mughal Empire reached the zenith of its territorial expanse during the reign of Aurangzeb ({{Reign|1658|1707}}), under whose reign India surpassed Qing China as the world's largest economy.Maddison, Angus (2003): [https://books.google.com/books?id=rHJGz3HiJbcC&pg=PA259 Development Centre Studies The World Economy Historical Statistics: Historical Statistics], OECD Publishing, {{ISBN|9264104143}}, pages 259–261{{cite book|title=How India Clothed the World: The World of South Asian Textiles, 1500–1850|author=Giorgio Riello, Tirthankar Roy|publisher=Brill Publishers|year=2009|page=174|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=niuwCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA174|isbn=9789047429975}} Aurangzeb was less tolerant than his predecessors, reintroducing the jizya tax and destroying several historical temples, while at the same time building more Hindu temples than he destroyed,{{cite book|author1=Ian Copland|author2=Ian Mabbett|author3=Asim Roy|author4=Kate Brittlebank|author5=Adam Bowles|title=A History of State and Religion in India|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-45950-4|page=119|display-authors=3}} employing significantly more Hindus in his imperial bureaucracy than his predecessors, and advancing administrators based on ability rather than religion.{{cite book|title=Aurangzeb: The Life and Legacy of India's Most Controversial King|author=Audrey Truschke|author-link=Audrey Truschke|publisher=Stanford University Press|year=2017|pages=56, 58|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oUUkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT50|isbn=978-1-5036-0259-5}} However, he is often blamed for the erosion of the tolerant syncretic tradition of his predecessors, as well as increasing religious controversy and centralisation. The English East India Company suffered a defeat in the Anglo-Mughal War.{{Cite journal|title=Conflict and Cooperation in Anglo-Mughal Trade Relations during the Reign of Aurangzeb|first=Farhat|last=Hasan|journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient|volume=34|issue=4|year=1991|pages=351–360|doi=10.1163/156852091X00058|jstor=3632456}}{{Cite journal|title=John Company Armed: The English East India Company, the Anglo-Mughal War and Absolutist Imperialism, c. 1675–1690|first=James|last=Vaugn|journal=Britain and the World|volume=11|issue=1|date=September 2017}}

File:1751 map of India from "Historical Atlas of India", by Charles Joppen.jpg

The Mughals suffered several blows due to invasions from Marathas, Rajputs, Jats and Afghans. In 1737, the Maratha general Bajirao of the Maratha Empire invaded and plundered Delhi. Under the general Amir Khan Umrao Al Udat, the Mughal Emperor sent 8,000 troops to drive away the 5,000 Maratha cavalry soldiers. Baji Rao easily routed the novice Mughal general. In 1737, in the final defeat of Mughal Empire, the commander-in-chief of the Mughal Army, Nizam-ul-mulk, was routed at Bhopal by the Maratha army. This essentially brought an end to the Mughal Empire.{{citation needed|date=May 2024}} While Bharatpur State under Jat ruler Suraj Mal, overran the Mughal garrison at Agra and plundered the city.{{cite book|author=Royina Grewal|title=In the Shadow of the Taj: A Portrait of Agra|year=2007|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-310265-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ATpFImGZdVEC&pg=PA220|page=220}} In 1739, Nader Shah, emperor of Iran, defeated the Mughal army at the Battle of Karnal.{{cite book|author1=Dupuy, R. Ernest|name-list-style=and|author2=Trevor N. Dupuy|title=The Harper Encyclopedia of Military History|edition=4th|publisher=Harper Collins Publishers|year=1993|page=711}} After this victory, Nader captured and sacked Delhi, carrying away treasures including the Peacock Throne.{{cite web|website=avalanchepress.com|title=Iran in the Age of the Raj|url=http://www.avalanchepress.com/Soldier_Shah.php|access-date=6 January 2017}} Ahmad Shah Durrani commenced his own invasions as ruler of the Durrani Empire, eventually sacking Delhi in 1757.{{Cite book |last=Gupta |first=Hari Ram |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TmU9AAAAMAAJ |title=Marathas and Panipat |date=1961 |publisher=Panjab University |language=en|page=326}} Mughal rule was further weakened by constant native Indian resistance; Banda Singh Bahadur led the Sikh Khalsa against Mughal religious oppression; Hindu Rajas of Bengal, Pratapaditya and Raja Sitaram Ray revolted; and Maharaja Chhatrasal, of Bundela Rajputs, fought the Mughals and established the Panna State.{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2006|p=265}} The Mughal dynasty was reduced to puppet rulers by 1757. Vadda Ghalughara took place under the Muslim provincial government based at Lahore to wipe out the Sikhs, with 30,000 Sikhs being killed, an offensive that had begun with the Mughals, with the Chhota Ghallughara,A Popular Dictionary of Sikhism: Sikh Religion and Philosophy, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vcSRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA86 p. 86], Routledge, W. Owen Cole, Piara Singh Sambhi, 2005 and lasted several decades under its Muslim successor states.Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, Volume I: 1469–1839, Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1978, pp. 127–129

{{Main|Maratha Empire}}

{{Further|Maratha Army|Maratha Navy|Battles involving the Maratha Empire}}

{{multiple image

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| caption1 = Maratha Empire at its peak in 1760 (yellow area), covering much of the Indian subcontinent, stretching from South India to present-day Pakistan

| image2 = Shaniwarwada gate.JPG

| caption2 = Shaniwarwada palace fort in Pune, the seat of the Peshwa rulers of the Maratha Empire until 1818

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The Maratha kingdom was founded and consolidated by Chatrapati Shivaji.Shivaji and his Times (1919) – J.N. Sarkar However, the credit for making the Marathas formidable power nationally goes to Peshwa (chief minister) Bajirao I. Historian K.K. Datta wrote that Bajirao I "may very well be regarded as the second founder of the Maratha Empire".An Advanced History of India, Dr. K.K. Datta, p. 546

In the early 18th century, under the Peshwas, the Marathas consolidated and ruled over much of South Asia. The Marathas are credited to a large extent for ending Mughal rule in India.{{cite journal|last=Pearson|first=M.N.|date=February 1976|title=Shivaji and the Decline of the Mughal Empire|journal=The Journal of Asian Studies|volume=35|issue=2|pages=221–235|doi=10.2307/2053980|jstor=2053980|s2cid=162482005}}{{cite book|title=Delhi, the Capital of India|author=Capper, J.|date=1918|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=978-81-206-1282-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aqqBPS1TDUgC&pg=PA28|page=28|access-date=6 January 2017}}{{cite book|title=An Advanced History of Modern India|author=Sen, S.N.|date=2010|publisher=Macmillan India|isbn=978-0-230-32885-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bXWiACEwPR8C&pg=PA1941-IA82|page=1941|access-date=6 January 2017}} In 1737, the Marathas defeated a Mughal army in their capital, in the Battle of Delhi. The Marathas continued their military campaigns against the Mughals, Nizam, Nawab of Bengal and the Durrani Empire to further extend their boundaries. At its peak, the domain of the Marathas encompassed most of the Indian subcontinent.{{Cite web|date=2023-12-01|title=Maratha empire {{!}} History, Definition, Map, & Facts {{!}} Britannica|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Maratha-Empire|access-date=2024-01-21|website=www.britannica.com|language=en}} The Marathas even attempted to capture Delhi and discussed putting Vishwasrao Peshwa on the throne there in place of the Mughal emperor.{{cite book|last=Ghazi|first=Mahmood Ahmad|author-link=Mahmood Ahmed Ghazi|year=2002|title=Islamic Renaissance in South Asia 1707–1867: The Role of Shāh Walī Allāh and His Successors|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QO4KjzuJ52QC&q=vishwasrao+peshwa+throne+delhi&pg=PA129|publisher=Islamic Research Institute|pages=129–130|isbn=969-408-232-3}}

The Maratha empire at its peak stretched from Tamil Nadu in the south,{{cite book|last=Mehta|first=Jaswant Lal|year=2005|title=Advanced Study in the History of Modern India, 1707–1813|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d1wUgKKzawoC&pg=PA204|publisher=New Dawn Press|page=204|isbn=978-1-932705-54-6|quote=The Maratha Governor of Trichinopoly}} to Peshawar (modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan{{cite book|author=Sailendra Nath Sen|title=An Advanced History of Modern India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bXWiACEwPR8C&pg=PR22|year=2010|publisher=Macmillan India|isbn=978-0-230-32885-3|page=16}} {{#tag:ref|Many historians consider Attock to be the final frontier of the Maratha EmpireBharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bharatiya Itihasa Samiti, Ramesh Chandra Majumdar – The History and Culture of the Indian People: The Maratha supremacy|group=note}}) in the north, and Bengal in the east. The Northwestern expansion of the Marathas was stopped after the Third Battle of Panipat (1761). However, the Maratha authority in the north was re-established within a decade under Peshwa Madhavrao I.{{cite book|author=N.G. Rathod|title=The Great Maratha Mahadaji Scindia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uPq640stHJ0C&pg=PA8|year=1994|publisher=Sarup & Sons|isbn=978-81-85431-52-9|page=8}}

Under Madhavrao I, the strongest knights were granted semi-autonomy, creating a confederacy of United Maratha states under the Gaekwads of Baroda, the Holkars of Indore and Malwa, the Scindias of Gwalior and Ujjain, the Bhonsales of Nagpur and the Puars of Dhar and Dewas. In 1775, the East India Company intervened in a Peshwa family succession struggle in Pune, which led to the First Anglo-Maratha War, resulting in a Maratha victory.{{Cite book|last=Naravane|first=M.S.|title=Battles of the Honorourable East India Company|publisher=A.P.H. Publishing Corporation|year=2014|isbn=978-81-313-0034-3|pages=63}} The Marathas remained a major power in India until their defeat in the Second and Third Anglo-Maratha Wars (1805–1818).

{{Main|Sikh Empire}}

{{See also|Sikh architecture}}

The Sikh Empire was a political entity that governed the Northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent, based around the Punjab, from 1799 to 1849. It was forged, on the foundations of the Khalsa, under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780–1839).{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

Maharaja Ranjit Singh consolidated much of northern India into an empire using his Sikh Khalsa Army, trained in European military techniques and equipped with modern military technologies. Ranjit Singh proved himself to be a master strategist and selected well-qualified generals for his army. He successfully ended the Afghan-Sikh Wars. In stages, he added central Punjab, the provinces of Multan and Kashmir, and the Peshawar Valley to his empire.{{cite journal|last=Singh|first=Gulcharan|date=July 1981|title=Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the Principles of War|journal=USI Journal|volume=111|issue=465|pages=184–192}}{{cite book|last=Grewal|first=J.S.|author-link=J. S. Grewal|year=1990|title=The Sikhs of the Punjab|publisher=Cambridge University Press|series=The New Cambridge History of India|volume=II.3|pages=101, 103–104|isbn=978-0-521-26884-4|quote=Aggrandisement which made him the master of an empire ... the British recognized Ranjit Singh as the sole sovereign ruler of the Punjab and left him free to ... oust the Afghans from Multan and Kashmir ... Peshawar was taken over ... The real strength of Ranjit Singh's army lay in its infantry and artillery ... these new wings played an increasingly decisive role ... possessed 200 guns. Horse artillery was added in the 1820s ... nearly half of his army in terms of numbers consisted of men and officers trained on European lines ... In the expansion of Ranjit Singh's dominions ... vassalage proved to be nearly as important as the westernized wings of his army.}}

At its peak in the 19th century, the empire extended from the Khyber Pass in the west, to Kashmir in the north, to Sindh in the south, running along Sutlej river to Himachal in the east. After the death of Ranjit Singh, the empire weakened, leading to conflict with the British East India Company. The First Anglo-Sikh War and Second Anglo-Sikh War marked the downfall of the Sikh Empire, making it among the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to be conquered by the British.

File:India 1763 EN.svg

The Kingdom of Mysore in southern India expanded to its greatest extent under Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan in the later half of the 18th century. Under their rule, Mysore fought series of wars against the Marathas and British or their combined forces. The Maratha–Mysore War ended in April 1787, following the finalising of treaty of Gajendragad, in which Tipu Sultan was obligated to pay tribute to the Marathas. Concurrently, the Anglo-Mysore Wars took place, where the Mysoreans used the Mysorean rockets. The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1798–1799) saw the death of Tipu. Mysore's alliance with the French was seen as a threat to the British East India Company, and Mysore was attacked from all four sides. The Nizam of Hyderabad and the Marathas launched an invasion from the north. The British won a decisive victory at the Siege of Seringapatam (1799).

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. The Nizams lost considerable territory and paid tribute to the Maratha Empire after being routed in multiple battles, such as the Battle of Palkhed.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ga-pmgxsWwoC&q=Bajirao+I&pg=PA12|title=History Modern India|first=S. N.|last=Sen|date=15 August 2006|publisher=New Age International|isbn=9788122417746|via=Google Books}} However, the Nizams maintained their sovereignty from 1724 until 1948 through paying tributes to the Marathas, and later, being vassals of the British. Hyderabad State became a princely state in British India in 1798.

The Nawabs of Bengal had become the de facto rulers of Bengal following the decline of Mughal Empire. However, their rule was interrupted by Marathas who carried out six expeditions in Bengal from 1741 to 1748, as a result of which Bengal became a tributary state of Marathas. On 23 June 1757, Siraj ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal was betrayed in the Battle of Plassey by Mir Jafar. He lost to the British, who took over the charge of Bengal in 1757, installed Mir Jafar on the Masnad (throne) and established itself to a political power in Bengal.{{cite book|last1=Chaudhury|first1=Sushil|last2=Mohsin|first2=KM|year=2012|chapter=Sirajuddaula|chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Sirajuddaula|editor1-last=Islam|editor1-first=Sirajul|editor1-link=Sirajul Islam|editor2-last=Jamal|editor2-first=Ahmed A.|title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh|edition=Second|publisher=Asiatic Society of Bangladesh|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614191817/http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Sirajuddaula|archive-date=14 June 2015|access-date=15 August 2018}} In 1765 the system of Dual Government was established, in which the Nawabs ruled on behalf of the British and were mere puppets to the British. In 1772 the system was abolished and Bengal was brought under the direct control of the British. In 1793, when the Nizamat (governorship) of the Nawab was also taken away, they remained as mere pensioners of the British East India Company.{{cite book|last=Singh|first=Vipul|date=2009|title=Longman History & Civics (Dual Government in Bengal)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=75avUTXB11AC&pg=PA29|publisher=Pearson Education India|pages=29–|isbn=978-8131728888}}{{cite book|date=2009|title=Madhya Pradesh National Means-Cum-Merit Scholarship Exam (Warren Hasting's system of Dual Government)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QnyaLNskRfEC&pg=PA11|publisher=Upkar Prakashan|pages=11–|isbn=978-81-7482-744-9}}

In the 18th century, the whole of Rajputana was virtually subdued by the Marathas. The Second Anglo-Maratha War distracted the Marathas from 1807 to 1809, but afterward Maratha domination of Rajputana resumed. In 1817, the British went to war with the Pindaris, raiders who were fled in Maratha territory, which quickly became the Third Anglo-Maratha War, and the British government offered its protection to the Rajput rulers from the Pindaris and the Marathas. By the end of 1818 similar treaties had been executed between the other Rajput states and Britain. The Maratha Sindhia ruler of Gwalior gave up the district of Ajmer-Merwara to the British, and Maratha influence in Rajasthan came to an end.{{Citation|title=A Military History of Britain: from 1775 to the Present|first=Jeremy|last=Black|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2006|isbn=978-0-275-99039-8|location=Westport, Conn.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hNVtQY4sXYMC&q=9780275990398|page=78}} Most of the Rajput princes remained loyal to Britain in the Revolt of 1857, and few political changes were made in Rajputana until Indian independence in 1947. The Rajputana Agency contained more than 20 princely states, most notable being Udaipur State, Jaipur State, Bikaner State and Jodhpur State.

After the fall of the Maratha Empire, many Maratha dynasties and states became vassals in a subsidiary alliance with the British. With the decline of the Sikh Empire, after the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1846, under the terms of the Treaty of Amritsar, the British government sold Kashmir to Maharaja Gulab Singh and the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, the second-largest princely state in British India, was created by the Dogra dynasty.{{Cite web|url=http://www.kashmir-issue.com/images3/treatyOfamritsar.pdf|title=Treaty of Amritsar|access-date=25 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826235201/http://www.kashmir-issue.com/images3/treatyOfamritsar.pdf|archive-date=26 August 2014|url-status=dead}}{{Cite book|last=Rai|first=Mridu|title=Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=2004|pages=27, 133|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x5azvT2hjW0C|isbn=978-0-691-11688-4}} While in eastern and north-eastern India, the Hindu and Buddhist states of Cooch Behar Kingdom, Twipra Kingdom and Kingdom of Sikkim were annexed by the British and made vassal princely state.

After the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire, Polygar states emerged in Southern India; and managed to weather invasions and flourished until the Polygar Wars, where they were defeated by the British East India Company forces.{{cite book|title=Indian History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MazdaWXQFuQC&pg=SL3-PA114|publisher=Allied Publishers|isbn=978-81-8424-568-4|pages=C-114|year=1988}} Around the 18th century, the Kingdom of Nepal was formed by Rajput rulers.{{cite book|author=Karl J. Schmidt|title=An Atlas and Survey of South Asian History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BqdzCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA138|date=20 May 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-47681-8|pages=138–}}

{{Main|Colonial India}}

File:Gama route 1.svg's first voyage (1497–1499)p]]

In 1498, a Portuguese fleet under Vasco da Gama discovered a new sea route from Europe to India, which paved the way for direct Indo-European commerce. The Portuguese soon set up trading posts in Velha Goa, Damaon, Dio island, and Bombay. The Portuguese instituted the Goa Inquisition, where new Indian converts were punished for suspected heresy against Christianity and non-Christians were condemned.{{cite book|author=Glenn Ames|editor=Ivana Elbl|title=Portugal and its Empire, 1250–1800 (Collected Essays in Memory of Glenn J. Ames).: Portuguese Studies Review, Vol. 17, No. 1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hld-AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA12|year=2012|publisher=Trent University Press|pages=12–15 with footnotes, context: 11–32}} Goa remained the main Portuguese territory until it was annexed by India in 1961.{{Cite book|last=Praval|first=K. C.|year=2009|orig-year=First published 1987|title=Indian Army after Independence|location=New Delhi|publisher=Lancer|page=214|isbn=978-1-935501-10-7}}

The next to arrive were the Dutch, with their main base in Ceylon. They established ports in Malabar. However, their expansion into India was halted after their defeat in the Battle of Colachel by the Kingdom of Travancore during the Travancore-Dutch War. The Dutch never recovered from the defeat and no longer posed a large colonial threat to India.{{cite book|first1=M.O.|last1=Koshy|title=The Dutch Power in Kerala, 1729–1758|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ro8SLhyAc9AC|year=1989|publisher=Mittal Publications|isbn=978-81-7099-136-6|page=61}}[http://mod.nic.in/samachar/april15-04/body.html#l1 http://mod.nic.in] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312081154/http://mod.nic.in/samachar/april15-04/body.html |date=12 March 2016}} 9th Madras Regiment

The internal conflicts among Indian kingdoms gave opportunities to the European traders to gradually establish political influence and appropriate lands. Following the Dutch, the British — who set up in the west coast port of Surat in 1619 — and the French both established trading outposts in India. Although continental European powers controlled various coastal regions of southern and eastern India during the ensuing century, they eventually lost all their territories in India to the British, with the exception of the French outposts of Pondichéry and Chandernagore, and the Portuguese colonies of Goa, Daman and Diu.{{Cite web|website=themaparchive.com|title=The British in India – The Map Archive|date=18 February 2022 |url=https://www.themaparchive.com/the-british-in-india/|access-date=2024-11-16|language=en-GB}}{{Cite journal|last=Magedera|first=Ian H.|date=November 2010|title=Arrested Development: The Shape of 'French India' after the Treaties of Paris of 1763 and 1814|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369801X.2010.516092|journal=Interventions|language=en|volume=12|issue=3|pages=331–343|doi=10.1080/1369801X.2010.516092|issn=1369-801X}}

{{Main|East India Company|Company rule in India}}

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The English East India Company was founded in 1600. It gained a foothold in India with the establishment of a factory in Masulipatnam on the Eastern coast of India in 1611 and a grant of rights by the Mughal emperor Jahangir to establish a factory in Surat in 1612. In 1640, after receiving similar permission from the Vijayanagara ruler farther south, a second factory was established in Madras on the southeastern coast. The islet of Bom Bahia in present-day Mumbai (Bombay) was a Portuguese outpost not far from Surat. It was presented to Charles II of England as dowry in his marriage to Catherine of Braganza. Charles in turn leased Bombay to the Company in 1668. Two decades later, the company established a trade post in the River Ganges delta. During this time other companies established by the Portuguese, Dutch, French, and Danish were similarly expanding in the subcontinent.

The company's victory under Robert Clive in the 1757 Battle of Plassey and another victory in the 1764 Battle of Buxar (in Bihar), consolidated the company's power, and forced emperor Shah Alam II to appoint it the diwan, or revenue collector, of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa. The company thus became the de facto ruler of large areas of the lower Gangetic plain by 1773. It also proceeded by degrees to expand its dominions around Bombay and Madras. The Anglo-Mysore Wars (1766–99) and the Anglo-Maratha Wars (1772–1818) left it in control of large areas of India south of the Sutlej River. With the defeat of the Marathas, no native power represented a threat for the company any longer.{{cite book|year=2004|orig-year=First published 1994 as Histoire de l'Inde Moderne|editor-first=Claude|editor-last=Markovits|title=A History of Modern India, 1480–1950|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uzOmy2y0Zh4C&pg=PA271|edition=2nd|location=London|publisher=Anthem Press|pages=271–|isbn=978-1-84331-004-4}}

The expansion of the company's power chiefly took two forms. The first of these was the outright annexation of Indian states and subsequent direct governance of the underlying regions that collectively came to comprise British India. The annexed regions included the North-Western Provinces (comprising Rohilkhand, Gorakhpur, and the Doab) (1801), Delhi (1803), Assam (Ahom Kingdom 1828) and Sindh (1843). Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Kashmir were annexed after the Anglo-Sikh Wars in 1849–56 (Period of tenure of Marquess of Dalhousie Governor General). However, Kashmir was immediately sold under the Treaty of Amritsar (1850) to the Dogra Dynasty of Jammu and thereby became a princely state. In 1854, Berar was annexed along with the state of Oudh two years later.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

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|width=180 |File:Warren Hastings greyscale.jpg|Warren Hastings, the first governor-general of Fort William (Bengal) who oversaw the company's territories in India

|File:India 1835 2 Mohurs.jpg|Gold coin, minted 1835, with obverse showing the bust of William IV, king of United Kingdom from 26 June 1830 to 20 June 1837, and reverse marked "Two mohurs" in English (do ashrafi in Urdu) issued during Company rule in India

|File:Railway bridge bhor ghaut incline1855.jpg|Photograph (1855) showing the construction of the Bhor Ghaut incline bridge, Bombay; the incline was conceived by George Clark, the Chief Engineer in the East India Company's Government of Bombay

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The second form of asserting power involved treaties in which Indian rulers acknowledged the company's hegemony in return for limited internal autonomy. Since the company operated under financial constraints, it had to set up political underpinnings for its rule.{{Harvnb|Brown|1994|p=67}} The most important such support came from the subsidiary alliances with Indian princes. In the early 19th century, the territories of these princes accounted for two-thirds of India. When an Indian ruler who was able to secure his territory wanted to enter such an alliance, the company welcomed it as an economical method of indirect rule that did not involve the economic costs of direct administration or the political costs of gaining the support of alien subjects.{{Harvnb|Brown|1994|p=68}}

In return, the company undertook the "defense of these subordinate allies and treated them with traditional respect and marks of honor." Subsidiary alliances created the Princely States of the Hindu maharajas and the Muslim nawabs. Prominent among the princely states were Cochin (1791), Jaipur (1794), Travancore (1795), Hyderabad (1798), Mysore (1799), Cis-Sutlej Hill States (1815), Central India Agency (1819), Cutch and Gujarat Gaikwad territories (1819), Rajputana (1818),{{Harvnb|Ludden|2002|p=133}} and Bahawalpur (1833).

{{Main|Indian indenture system}}

The Indian indenture system was an ongoing system of indenture, a form of debt bondage, by which 3.5 million Indians were transported to colonies of European powers to provide labour for the (mainly sugar) plantations. It started from the end of slavery in 1833 and continued until 1920. This resulted in the development of a large Indian diaspora that spread from the Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean and the growth of large Indo-Caribbean and Indo-African populations.

{{Main|Indian Rebellion of 1857}}

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|width=140|File:Rani of jhansi.jpg|Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi, one of the principal leaders of the rebellion who earlier had lost her kingdom as a result of the Doctrine of lapse.

|File:Bahadur Shah II of India.jpg|Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal Emperor. Crowned Emperor of India by the rebels, he was deposed by the British and died in exile in Burma.

|File:Charles Canning, 1st Earl Canning - Project Gutenberg eText 16528.jpg|Charles Canning, the Governor-General of India during the rebellion.

|File:Dalhousie.jpg|Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General of India from 1848 to 1856, who devised the Doctrine of Lapse.

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The Indian rebellion of 1857 was a large-scale rebellion by soldiers employed by the British East India Company in northern and central India against the company's rule. The spark that led to the mutiny was the issue of new gunpowder cartridges for the Enfield rifle, which was insensitive to local religious prohibition. The key mutineer was Mangal Pandey.Saul David, p. 70, The Indian Mutiny, Penguin Books 2003 In addition, the underlying grievances over British taxation, the ethnic gulf between the British officers and their Indian troops and land annexations played a significant role in the rebellion. Within weeks after Pandey's mutiny, dozens of units of the Indian army joined peasant armies in widespread rebellion. The rebel soldiers were later joined by Indian nobility, many of whom had lost titles and domains under the Doctrine of Lapse and felt that the company had interfered with a traditional system of inheritance. Rebel leaders such as Nana Sahib and the Rani of Jhansi belonged to this group.{{Harvnb|Bandyopadhyay|2004|p=172}}, {{Harvnb|Bose|Jalal|2003|p=91}}, {{Harvnb|Brown|1994|p=92}}

After the outbreak of the mutiny in Meerut, the rebels very quickly reached Delhi. The rebels had also captured large tracts of the North-Western Provinces and Awadh (Oudh). Most notably, in Awadh, the rebellion took on the attributes of a patriotic revolt against British presence.{{Harvnb|Bandyopadhyay|2004|p=177}}, {{Harvnb|Bayly|2000|p=357}} However, the British East India Company mobilised rapidly with the assistance of friendly Princely states, but it took the British the better part of 1858 to suppress the rebellion. Due to the rebels being poorly equipped and having no outside support or funding, they were brutally subdued.Christopher Hibbert, The Great Mutiny: India 1857 (1980)

In the aftermath, all power was transferred from the British East India Company to the British Crown, which began to administer most of India as provinces. The Crown controlled the company's lands directly and had considerable indirect influence over the rest of India, which consisted of the Princely states ruled by local royal families. There were officially 565 princely states in 1947, but only 21 had actual state governments, and only three were large (Mysore, Hyderabad, and Kashmir). They were absorbed into the independent nation in 1947–48.{{Citation|first=Wilhelm von|last=Pochhammer|title=India's road to nationhood: a political history of the subcontinent|publisher=Allied Publishers|year=1981|isbn=978-81-7764-715-0}}

{{Main|British Raj}}

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| image1 = British Indian Empire 1909 Imperial Gazetteer of India.jpg

| caption1 = The British Indian Empire in 1909. British India is shown in pink; the princely states in yellow.

| image2 = Victoriaterminus1903.JPG

| caption2 = A 1903 stereographic image of Victoria Terminus a terminal train station, in Mumbai, completed in 1887, and now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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After 1857, the colonial government strengthened and expanded its infrastructure via the court system, legal procedures, and statutes. The Indian Penal Code came into being."Law Commission of India – Early Beginnings" In education, Thomas Babington Macaulay had made schooling a priority for the Raj in 1835 and succeeded in implementing the use of English for instruction. By 1890 some 60,000 Indians had matriculated.{{cite journal|author=Suresh Chandra Ghosh|year=1995|title=Bentinck, Macaulay and the introduction of English education in India|journal=History of Education|volume=24|issue=1|pages=17–25|doi=10.1080/0046760950240102}} The Indian economy grew at about 1% per year from 1880 to 1920, and the population also grew at 1%. However, from 1910s Indian private industry began to grow significantly. India built a modern railway system in the late 19th century which was the fourth largest in the world.{{cite journal|author=I.D. Derbyshire|year=1987|title=Economic Change and the Railways in North India, 1860–1914|journal=Modern Asian Studies|volume=21|issue=3|pages=521–545|doi=10.1017/S0026749X00009197|jstor=312641|s2cid=146480332}} Historians have been divided on issues of economic history, with the Nationalist school arguing that India was poorer due to British rule.{{cite journal|last=Robb|first=Peter|date=November 1981|title=British Rule and Indian 'Improvement'|journal=Economic History Review|volume=34|issue=4|pages=507–523|jstor=2595587|doi=10.2307/2595587}}

In 1905, Lord Curzon split the large province of Bengal into a largely Hindu western half and "Eastern Bengal and Assam", a largely Muslim eastern half. The British goal was said to be efficient administration but the people of Bengal were outraged at the apparent "divide and rule" strategy. It also marked the beginning of the organised anti-colonial movement. When the Liberal party in Britain came to power in 1906, he was removed. Bengal was reunified in 1911. The new Viceroy Gilbert Minto and the new Secretary of State for India John Morley consulted with Congress leaders on political reforms. The Morley-Minto reforms of 1909 provided for Indian membership of the provincial executive councils as well as the Viceroy's executive council. The Imperial Legislative Council was enlarged from 25 to 60 members and separate communal representation for Muslims was established in a dramatic step towards representative and responsible government.S.A. Wolpert, Morley and India, 1906–1910, (1967) Several socio-religious organisations came into being at that time. Muslims set up the All India Muslim League in 1906 to protect the interests of the aristocratic Muslims. The Hindu Mahasabha and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) sought to represent Hindu interests though the latter always claimed it to be a "cultural" organisation.Democracy and Hindu nationalism, Chetan Bhatt (2013) Sikhs founded the Shiromani Akali Dal in 1920.Harjinder Singh Dilgeer. Shiromani Akali Dal (1920–2000). Sikh University Press, Belgium, 2001. However, the largest and oldest political party Indian National Congress, founded in 1885, attempted to keep a distance from the socio-religious movements and identity politics.The History of the Indian National Congress, B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya (1935)

{{Gallery|align=center

|width=140|File:VictoriaQueen1862Empress1886.jpg|Two silver rupee coins issued by the British Raj in 1862 and 1886 respectively, the first in obverse showing a bust of Victoria, Queen, the second of Victoria, Empress. Victoria became Empress of India in 1876.

|File:Sir R. Ross on steps of laboratory in Calcutta, 1898 Wellcome L0011943.jpg| Ronald Ross, left, at Cunningham's laboratory of Presidency Hospital in Calcutta, where the transmission of malaria by mosquitoes was discovered, winning Ross the second Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1902.

|File:'552. Darjeeling. The loop No. 3, near Candaria', albumen print, c.1870.jpg| A Darjeeling Himalayan Railway train shown in 1870. The railway became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999.

|File:NewDelhiInaugurationSecondDayCancellation27Feb1931.jpg|A second-day cancellation of the stamps issued in February 1931 to commemorate the inauguration of New Delhi as the capital of the British Indian Empire. Between 1858 and 1911, Calcutta had been the capital of the Raj.

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{{Main|British Raj|Bengali Renaissance}}

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|width=140|File:Syed Ahmed Khan.jpg|Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817–1898), the author of Causes of the Indian Mutiny, was the founder of Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College, later the Aligarh Muslim University

|File:Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati 1858-1922 front-page-portrait.jpg|Pandita Ramabai (1858–1922) was a social reformer, and a pioneer in the education and emancipation of women in India

|File:Rabindranath Tagore unknown location.jpg|Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) was a Bengali language poet, short-story writer, and playwright, and in addition a music composer and painter, who won the Nobel prize for Literature in 1913

|File:Srinivasa Ramanujan - OPC - 2 (cleaned).jpg|Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887–1920) was an Indian mathematician who made seminal contributions to number theory

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The Bengali Renaissance refers to a social reform movement, dominated by Bengali Hindus, in the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a period of British rule. Historian Nitish Sengupta describes the renaissance as having started with reformer and humanitarian Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1775–1833), and ended with Asia's first Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941).{{cite book|author=Nitish Sengupta|author-link=Nitish Sengupta|year=2001|title=History of the Bengali-speaking People|publisher=UBS Publishers' Distributors|pages=210–213|isbn=978-81-7476-355-6|quote=Producing in about three quarters of a century so many creative stalwarts in literature, art, music, social and religious reform and also trading and industry ... The Bengal Renaissance can be said to have started with Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1775–1833) and ended with Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941) ... On the whole, it remained an elitist movement restricted to Hindu bhadralok (gentry) and zamindars.}} This flowering of religious and social reformers, scholars, and writers is described by historian David Kopf as "one of the most creative periods in Indian history."{{cite journal|last=Kopf|first=David|author-link=David Kopf|date=December 1994|title=Amiya P. Sen. Hindu Revivalism in Bengal 1872|type=Book review|journal=American Historical Review|volume=99|issue=5|pages=1741–1742|doi=10.2307/2168519|jstor=2168519}}

During this period, Bengal witnessed an intellectual awakening that is in some way similar to the Renaissance. This movement questioned existing orthodoxies, particularly with respect to women, marriage, the dowry system, the caste system, and religion. One of the earliest social movements that emerged during this time was the Young Bengal movement, which espoused rationalism and atheism as the common denominators of civil conduct among upper caste educated Hindus.{{cite web|last=Sharma|first=Mayank|title=Essay on 'Derozio and the Young Bengal Movement'|date=January 2012|url=http://www.preservearticles.com/2012010119327/essay-on-derozio-and-the-young-bengal-movement.html|access-date=9 August 2017|archive-date=14 November 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181114224008/http://www.preservearticles.com/2012010119327/essay-on-derozio-and-the-young-bengal-movement.html|url-status=dead}} It played an important role in reawakening Indian minds and intellect across the Indian subcontinent.

{{Main|Famine in India|Timeline of major famines in India during British rule}}

{{See also|Demographics of India}}

{{Gallery

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|width=180 |File:FaminesMapOfIndia1800-1885.jpg|Map of famines in India during British Empire in year 1800–1885.

|File:Bellary Zilla,Great Famine of 1876–78..jpg|Engraving from The Graphic, October 1877, showing the plight of animals as well as humans in Bellary district, Madras Presidency, British India during the Great Famine of 1876–1878

|File:FamineReliefAhmedabad1901.jpg|Government famine relief, Ahmedabad, India, during the Indian famine of 1899–1900

|File:OrphansWhoSurvivedBengalFamine1943.jpg|A picture of orphans who survived the Bengal famine of 1943, a man-made disaster by the British government

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During British East India Company and British Crown rule, India experienced some of deadliest ever recorded famines. These famines, usually resulting from crop failures and often exacerbated by policies of the colonial government, included the Great Famine of 1876–1878 in which 6.1 million to 10.3 million people died,Davis, Mike. Late Victorian Holocausts. 1. Verso, 2000. {{ISBN|1-85984-739-0}} p. 7 the Great Bengal famine of 1770 where between 1 and 10 million people died,{{Cite book|last=Datta|first=Rajat|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/44927255|title=Society, economy, and the market : commercialization in rural Bengal, c. 1760-1800|date=2000|publisher=Manohar Publishers & Distributors|isbn=81-7304-341-8|location=New Delhi|pages=262, 266|oclc=44927255}}{{cite book|author=Amartya Sen|title=Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation|url=https://archive.org/details/povertyfamineses0000sena|url-access=registration|year=1981|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-828463-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/povertyfamineses0000sena/page/39 39]}} the Indian famine of 1899–1900 in which 1.25 to 10 million people died,Davis, Mike. Late Victorian Holocausts. 1. Verso, 2000. {{ISBN|1-85984-739-0}} p. 173 and the Bengal famine of 1943 where between 2.1 and 3.8 million people died.{{cite book|last=Greenough|first=Paul Robert|date=1982|title=Prosperity and Misery in Modern Bengal: The Famine of 1943–1944|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-503082-2}} The Third plague pandemic in the mid-19th century killed 10 million people in India.{{cite web|url=https://www.who.int/vaccine_research/diseases/zoonotic/en/index4.html|title=Plague|access-date=5 July 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090217172854/http://www.who.int/vaccine_research/diseases/zoonotic/en/index4.html|archive-date=17 February 2009}}. World Health Organisation. Despite persistent diseases and famines, the population of the Indian subcontinent, which stood at up to 200 million in 1750,{{cite book|author=Colin Clark|title=Population Growth and Land Use|publisher=Springer Science+Business Media|year=1977|page=64|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0KKvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA64|isbn=978-1-349-15775-4}} had reached 389 million by 1941.[http://www.petersoninstitute.org/publications/chapters_preview/98/1iie2806.pdf "Reintegrating India with the World Economy"]. Peterson Institute for International Economics.

{{Main|Indian Army during World War I}}

{{Gallery|align=center

|width=140|File:Hodsons Horse France 1917 IWM Q 2061.jpg|Indian Cavalry on the Western front 1914

|File:2nd Indian Cav Div.jpg|Indian cavalry from the Deccan Horse during the Battle of Bazentin Ridge in 1916.

|File:Indian Army QF 3.7 inch gun battery Jerusalem 1917.jpg|Indian Army gunners (probably 39th Battery) with 3.7-inch mountain howitzers, Jerusalem 1917

|File:India Gate in New Delhi 03-2016.jpg|India Gate is a memorial to 70,000 soldiers of the British Indian Army who died in the period 1914–21 in the First World War

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During World War I, over 800,000 volunteered for the army, and more than 400,000 volunteered for non-combat roles, compared with the pre-war annual recruitment of about 15,000 men.{{harvnb|Pati|1996|p=31}} The Army saw early action on the Western Front at the First Battle of Ypres. After a year of front-line duty, sickness and casualties had reduced the Indian Corps to the point where it had to be withdrawn. Nearly 700,000 Indians fought the Turks in the Mesopotamian campaign. Indian formations were also sent to East Africa, Egypt, and Gallipoli.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mgtrust.org/ind1.htm|title=Participants from the Indian subcontinent in the First World War|website=Memorial Gates Trust|access-date=12 September 2009}}

Indian Army and Imperial Service Troops fought during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign's defence of the Suez Canal in 1915, at Romani in 1916 and to Jerusalem in 1917. India units occupied the Jordan Valley and after the German spring offensive they became the major force in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force during the Battle of Megiddo and in the Desert Mounted Corps' advance to Damascus and on to Aleppo. Other divisions remained in India guarding the North-West Frontier and fulfilling internal security obligations.

One million Indian troops served abroad during the war. In total, 74,187 died,{{cite web|url=http://www.cwgc.org/document.asp?menuid=5&submenuid=24&id=6&menuname=%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20Annual%20report&menu=subsub|title=Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2007–2008 Online|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926220138/http://www.cwgc.org/document.asp?menuid=5&submenuid=24&id=6&menuname=%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20Annual%20report&menu=subsub|archive-date=26 September 2007}} and another 67,000 were wounded.{{sfn|Sumner|2001|p=7}} The roughly 90,000 soldiers who died fighting in World War I and the Afghan Wars are commemorated by the India Gate.

{{Main|India in World War II}}

{{Gallery|align=center

|width=140|File:Monty, wavvel, auk.jpg|General Claude Auchinleck (right), Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, with the then Viceroy Wavell (centre) and General Montgomery (left)

|File:Indian women training for air raid precautions (ARP) duties in Bombay, 1942. IND1492.jpg|Indian women training for Air Raid Precautions (ARP) duties in Bombay in 1942

|File:INDIAN TROOPS IN BURMA, 1944.jpg|Indian infantrymen of the 7th Rajput Regiment about to go on patrol on the Arakan front in Burma, 1944

|File:VictoryWorldWar2BritishRaj.jpg|The stamp series "Victory" issued by the Government of British India to commemorate allied victory in World War II

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British India officially declared war on Nazi Germany in September 1939.{{cite book|last=Kux|first=Dennis|title=India and the United States: estranged democracies, 1941–1991|publisher=Diane Publishing|isbn=978-1-4289-8189-8|year=1992}} The British Raj, as part of the Allied Nations, sent over two and a half million volunteer soldiers to fight under British command against the Axis powers. Additionally, several Princely States provided large donations to support the Allied campaign. India also provided the base for American operations in support of China in the China Burma India Theatre.

Indians fought throughout the world, including in the European theatre against Germany, in North Africa against Germany and Italy, against the Italians in East Africa, in the Middle East against the Vichy French, in the South Asian region defending India against the Japanese and fighting the Japanese in Burma. Indians also aided in liberating British colonies such as Singapore and Hong Kong after the Japanese surrender in August 1945. Over 87,000 soldiers from the subcontinent died in World War II.

The Indian National Congress denounced Nazi Germany but would not fight it or anyone else until India was independent. Congress launched the Quit India Movement in August 1942, refusing to co-operate in any way with the government until independence was granted. The government immediately arrested over 60,000 national and local Congress leaders. The Muslim League rejected the Quit India movement and worked closely with the Raj authorities.

Subhas Chandra Bose (also called Netaji) broke with Congress and tried to form a military alliance with Germany or Japan to gain independence. The Germans assisted Bose in the formation of the Indian Legion;{{sfn|Müller|2009|p=55}} however, it was Japan that helped him revamp the Indian National Army (INA), after the First Indian National Army under Mohan Singh was dissolved. The INA fought under Japanese direction, mostly in Burma.{{Harvnb|Fay|1993|p=viii}} Bose also headed the Provisional Government of Free India (or Azad Hind), a government-in-exile based in Singapore.{{Harvnb|Sarkar|1989|p=410}}{{Harvnb|Bandyopadhyay|2004|p=426}}

By 1942, neighbouring Burma was invaded by Japan, which by then had already captured the Indian territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Japan gave nominal control of the islands to the Provisional Government of Free India on 21 October 1943, and in the following March, the Indian National Army with the help of Japan crossed into India and advanced as far as Kohima in Nagaland. This advance on the mainland of the Indian subcontinent reached its farthest point on Indian territory, retreating from the Battle of Kohima in June and from that of Imphal on 3 July 1944.

The region of Bengal in British India suffered a devastating famine during 1940–1943. An estimated 2.1–3 million died from the famine, frequently characterised as "man-made",{{harvnb|Arnold|1991|pp=97–98}} with most sources asserting that wartime colonial policies exacerbated the crisis.{{harvtxt|Devereux|2000|p=6}}

{{Main|Indian independence movement}}

{{See also|Indian independence activists|Pakistan Movement}}

{{Gallery|align=center

|width=140|File:1st INC1885.jpg|The first session of the Indian National Congress in 1885. A. O. Hume, the founder, is shown in the middle (third row from the front). The Congress was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Empire in Asia and Africa.{{citation|last=Marshall|first=P. J.|title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire|url={{Google books|S2EXN8JTwAEC|page=PA179|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}}|year=2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-00254-7|page=179}} Quote: "The first modern nationalist movement to arise in the non-European empire, and one that became an inspiration for many others, was the Indian Congress."

|||File:Bhagat Singh's execution Lahore Tribune Front page.jpg|Front page of the Tribune (25 March 1931), reporting the execution of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev by the British for the murder of 21-year-old police officer J. P. Saunders. Bhagat Singh quickly became a folk hero of the Indian independence movement.

|File:Nehru gandhi.jpg|From the late 19th century, and especially after 1920, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi (right), the Congress became the principal leader of the Indian independence movement.{{cite web|title=Information about the Indian National Congress|url=http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/indian-national-congress|website=open.ac.uk|publisher=Arts & Humanities Research council|access-date=29 July 2015}} Gandhi is shown here with Jawaharlal Nehru, later the first prime minister of India.

}}

The numbers of British in India were small,{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/CensusOfIndia1931/Census+of+India+1931#page/n437/mode/2up|title=Census Of India 1931|website=archive.org|year=1933}} yet they were able to rule 52% of the Indian subcontinent directly and exercise considerable leverage over the princely states that accounted for 48% of the area.{{cite book|author=Markovits, Claude|title=A history of modern India, 1480–1950|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uzOmy2y0Zh4C|year=2004|publisher=Anthem Press|pages=386–409|isbn=978-1-84331-004-4}}

One of the most important events of the 19th century was the rise of Indian nationalism,Modern India, Bipin Chandra, p. 76 leading Indians to seek first "self-rule" and later "complete independence". However, historians are divided over the causes of its rise. Probable reasons include a "clash of interests of the Indian people with British interests", "racial discriminations",India Awakening and Bengal, N.S. Bose, 1976, p. 237 and "the revelation of India's past".British Paramountcy and Indian Renaissance, Part–II, Dr. R.C. Majumdar, p. 466

The first step toward Indian self-rule was the appointment of councillors to advise the British viceroy in 1861 and the first Indian was appointed in 1909. Provincial Councils with Indian members were also set up. The councillors' participation was subsequently widened into legislative councils. The British built a large British Indian Army, with the senior officers all British and many of the troops from small minority groups such as Gurkhas from Nepal and Sikhs.{{cite news|url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/india-s-well-timed-diversification-of-army-helped-democracy-115032000283_1.html|newspaper=Business Standard|title='India's well-timed diversification of army helped democracy' | Business Standard News|access-date=6 January 2017}} The civil service was increasingly filled with natives at the lower levels, with the British holding the more senior positions.Anil Chandra Banerjee, A Constitutional History of India 1600–1935 (1978) pp. 171–173

Bal Gangadhar Tilak, an Indian nationalist leader, declared Swaraj (home rule) as the destiny of the nation. His popular sentence "Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it"{{cite book|title=Bal Gangadhar Tilak: Struggle for Swaraj|author1=R, B.S.|author2=Bakshi, S.R.|date=1990|publisher=Anmol Publications Pvt. Ltd|isbn=978-81-7041-262-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LOjhv5g629UC|access-date=6 January 2017}} became the source of inspiration. Tilak was backed by rising public leaders like Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai, who held the same point of view, notably they advocated the Swadeshi movement involving the boycott of imported items and the use of Indian-made goods; the triumvirate were popularly known as Lal Bal Pal. In 1907, the Congress was split into two factions: The radicals, led by Tilak, advocated civil agitation and direct revolution to overthrow the British Empire and the abandonment of all things British. The moderates, led by leaders like Dadabhai Naoroji and Gopal Krishna Gokhale, on the other hand, wanted reform within the framework of British rule.{{cite book|last1=Chandra|first1=Bipan|author1-link=Bipan Chandra|last2=Mukherjee|first2=Mridula|author2-link=Mridula Mukherjee|last3=Mukherjee|first3=Aditya|last4=Mahajan|first4=Sucheta|last5=Panikkar|first5=K.N.|author5-link=K. N. Panikkar|year=2016|orig-year=First published 1987|title=India's Struggle for Independence|edition=Revised and updated|publisher=Penguin Books|page=128|isbn=978-0-14-010781-4}}

The partition of Bengal in 1905 further increased the revolutionary movement for Indian independence. The disenfranchisement lead some to take violent action.

The British themselves adopted a "carrot and stick" approach in response to renewed nationalist demands. The means of achieving the proposed measure were later enshrined in the Government of India Act 1919, which introduced the principle of a dual mode of administration, or diarchy, in which elected Indian legislators and appointed British officials shared power.Albert, Sir Courtenay Peregrine. The Government of India. Clarendon Press, 1922. p. 125 In 1919, Colonel Reginald Dyer ordered his troops to fire their weapons on peaceful protestors, including unarmed women and children, resulting in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre; which led to the Non-cooperation Movement of 1920–1922. The massacre was a decisive episode towards the end of British rule in India.{{cite magazine|last=Bond|first=Brian|date=October 1963|title=Amritsar 1919|magazine=History Today|volume=13|issue=10|pages=666–676}}

From 1920 leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi began highly popular mass movements to campaign against the British Raj using largely peaceful methods. The Gandhi-led independence movement opposed the British rule using non-violent methods like non-co-operation, civil disobedience and economic resistance. However, revolutionary activities against the British rule took place throughout the Indian subcontinent and some others adopted a militant approach like the Hindustan Republican Association, that sought to overthrow British rule by armed struggle.

The All India Azad Muslim Conference gathered in Delhi in April 1940 to voice its support for an independent and united India.{{cite book|last1=Qasmi|first1=Ali Usman|last2=Robb|first2=Megan Eaton|title=Muslims against the Muslim League: Critiques of the Idea of Pakistan|date=2017|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-62123-6|page=2|language=en}} Its members included several Islamic organisations in India, as well as 1,400 nationalist Muslim delegates.{{cite book|last1=Haq|first1=Mushir U.|title=Muslim politics in modern India, 1857–1947|date=1970|publisher=Meenakshi Prakashan|page=114|language=en|quote=This was also reflected in one of the resolutions of the Azad Muslim Conference, an organization which attempted to be representative of all the various nationalist Muslim parties and groups in India.}}{{cite web|last1=Ahmed|first1=Ishtiaq|title=The dissenters|url=https://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/the-dissenters/|work=The Friday Times|language=en|date=27 May 2016|quote=However, the book is a tribute to the role of one Muslim leader who steadfastly opposed the Partition of India: the Sindhi leader Allah Bakhsh Soomro. Allah Bakhsh belonged to a landed family. He founded the Sindh People's Party in 1934, which later came to be known as 'Ittehad' or 'Unity Party'. ... Allah Bakhsh was totally opposed to the Muslim League's demand for the creation of Pakistan through a division of India on a religious basis. Consequently, he established the Azad Muslim Conference. In its Delhi session held during April 27–30, 1940 some 1,400 delegates took part. They belonged mainly to the lower castes and working class. The famous scholar of Indian Islam, Wilfred Cantwell Smith, feels that the delegates represented a 'majority of India's Muslims'. Among those who attended the conference were representatives of many Islamic theologians and women also took part in the deliberations ... Shamsul Islam argues that the All-India Muslim League at times used intimidation and coercion to silence any opposition among Muslims to its demand for Partition. He calls such tactics of the Muslim League as a 'Reign of Terror'. He gives examples from all over India including the NWFP where the Khudai Khidmatgars remain opposed to the Partition of India.}}{{cite web|last1=Ali|first1=Afsar|title=Partition of India and Patriotism of Indian Muslims|url=http://www.milligazette.com/news/15756-partition-of-india-and-patriotism-of-indian-muslims|work=The Milli Gazette|language=en|date=17 July 2017}} The pro-separatist All-India Muslim League worked to try to silence those nationalist Muslims who stood against the partition of India, often using "intimidation and coercion". The murder of the All India Azad Muslim Conference leader Allah Bakhsh Soomro also made it easier for the pro-separatist All-India Muslim League to demand the creation of a Pakistan.

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|quote="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."

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|source = — From, Tryst with destiny, a speech given by Jawaharlal Nehru to the Constituent Assembly of India on the eve of independence, 14 August 1947.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/series/greatspeeches|title=Great speeches of the 20th century|work=The Guardian|date=8 February 2008}}

}}

In January 1946, several mutinies broke out in the armed services, starting with that of RAF servicemen frustrated with their slow repatriation. The mutinies came to a head with mutiny of the Royal Indian Navy in Bombay in February 1946, followed by others in Calcutta, Madras, and Karachi. The mutinies were rapidly suppressed. In early 1946, new elections were called and Congress candidates won in eight of the eleven provinces.

Late in 1946, the Labour government decided to end British rule of India, and in early 1947 it announced its intention of transferring power no later than June 1948 and participating in the formation of an interim government.

Along with the desire for independence, tensions between Hindus and Muslims had also been developing over the years. Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah proclaimed 16 August 1946 as Direct Action Day, with the stated goal of highlighting, peacefully, the demand for a Muslim homeland in British India, which resulted in the outbreak of the cycle of violence that would be later called the "Great Calcutta Killing of August 1946". The communal violence spread to Bihar, Noakhali in Bengal, Garhmukteshwar in the United Provinces, and on to Rawalpindi in March 1947 in which Sikhs and Hindus were attacked or driven out by Muslims.

File:Literacy India 1901 2011 Detail.png grew very slowly until independence in 1947. An acceleration in the rate of literacy growth occurred in the 1991–2001 period.]]

{{Main|Partition of India|South Asia#Contemporary era|History of India (1947–present)|History of Pakistan (1947–present)|History of Bangladesh}}

{{Gallery

|align=center

|width=180 |File:Brit IndianEmpireReligions3.jpg|A map of the prevailing religions of the British Indian empire based on district-wise majorities based on the Indian census of 1909, and published in the Imperial Gazetteer of India. The partition of the Punjab and Bengal was based on such majorities.

||Rural Sikhs in a long oxcart train headed towards India (1947)

|File:Gandhi Badshah Khan in Bela Bihar 1947.jpg|Gandhi touring Bela, Bihar, a village struck by religious rioting in March 1947. On the right is Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan.

|File:Lord Mountbatten swears in Jawaharlal Nehru as the first Prime Minister of free India on Aug 15, 1947.jpg|Jawaharlal Nehru being sworn in as the first prime minister of independent India by viceroy Lord Louis Mountbatten at 8:30 AM 15 August 1947.

}}

In August 1947, the British Indian Empire was partitioned into the Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. In particular, the partition of the Punjab and Bengal led to rioting between Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs in these provinces and spread to other nearby regions, leaving some 500,000 dead. The police and army units were largely ineffective. The British officers were gone, and the units were beginning to tolerate if not actually indulge in violence against their religious enemies.Philip Ziegler, Mountbatten(1985) p. 401.{{cite book|last=Symonds|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Symonds (academic)|title=The Making of Pakistan|year=1950|publisher=Faber and Faber|location=London|oclc=1462689|page=74|quote=At the lowest estimate, half a million people perished and twelve millions became homeless.}}{{cite web|last1=Abid|first1=Abdul Majeed|title=The forgotten massacre|url=https://nation.com.pk/29-Dec-2014/the-forgotten-massacre|website=The Nation|date=29 December 2014|quote=On the same dates [4 and 5 March 1947], Muslim League-led mobs fell with determination and full preparations on the helpless Hindus and Sikhs scattered in the villages of Multan, Rawalpindi, Campbellpur, Jhelum and Sargodha. The murderous mobs were well supplied with arms, such as daggers, swords, spears and fire-arms. (A former civil servant mentioned in his autobiography that weapon supplies had been sent from NWFP and money was supplied by Delhi-based politicians.)}} Also, this period saw one of the largest mass migrations anywhere 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). In 1971, Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan and East Bengal, seceded from Pakistan.{{cite book|author=Srinath Raghavan|title=1971|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2S-wAQAAQBAJ|year=2013|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-73129-5}}

{{col div|colwidth=18em}}

• Adivasi
• Early Indians
• List of Indian periods
• The Cambridge History of India
• Outline of ancient India
• Timeline of Indian history

• Culture
• Economy
• Historiography
• Foreign relations
• Maritime
• Languages
• Military
• Physical culture
• Medieval taxation

{{colend}}

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• {{cite book|last=Bannerjee|first=Gauranganath|year=1921|title=India as known to the ancient world|url=https://archive.org/stream/indiaasknowntoan00banerich#page/n3/mode/2up|location=London|publisher=Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press}}
• {{cite journal|last1=Bayly|first1=C.A.|date=November 1985|title=State and Economy in India over Seven Hundred Years|journal=The Economic History Review|volume=38|issue=4|pages=583–596|doi=10.1111/j.1468-0289.1985.tb00391.x|jstor=2597191}}
• Bose, Mihir. "India's Missing Historians: Mihir Bose Discusses the Paradox That India, a Land of History, Has a Surprisingly Weak Tradition of Historiography", History Today 57#9 (2007) pp. 34–. [https://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5023376478 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110915152404/http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5023376478 |date=15 September 2011 }}
• {{cite book|last1=Elliot|first1=Henry Miers|first2=John|last2=Dowson|year=1867|url=http://persian.packhum.org/persian/main?url=pf%3Ffile%3D80201010%26ct%3D0|title=The History of India, as told by its own historians. The Muhammadan Period|publisher=London: Trübner and Co.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090825184925/http://persian.packhum.org/persian/main?url=pf%3Ffile%3D80201010%26ct%3D0|archive-date=25 August 2009}}
• {{cite book|last=Kahn|first=Yasmin|chapter=Remembering and Forgetting: South Asia and the Second World War|editor1=Martin Gegner|editor2=Bart Ziino|title=The Heritage of War|publisher=Routledge|year=2011|pages=177–193}}
• {{cite book|last=Jain|first=M.|title=The India They Saw: Foreign Accounts|chapter=4|publisher=Delhi: Ocean Books|year=2011}}
• {{cite book|last=Lal|first=Vinay|title=The History of History: Politics and Scholarship in Modern India|year=2003}}
• {{cite book|last=Palit|first=Chittabrata|title=Indian Historiography|year=2008}}
• {{cite book|author-link=Arvind Sharma|title=Hinduism and Its Sense of History|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-19-566531-4|last=Sharma|first=Arvind}}
• {{cite book|first=E.|last=Sreedharan|title=A Textbook of Historiography, 500 B.C. to A.D. 2000|year=2004}}
• {{cite book|last=Warder|first=A.K.|title=An introduction to Indian historiography|year=1972}}

• {{cite book|title=The Imperial Gazetteer of India|date=1908–1931|url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/}} Highly detailed description of all of India in 1901.

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