Outline of ancient India#Culture in ancient India

{{main|History of India}}

An elaborate periodisation may be as follows:{{sfn|Michaels|2004}}

• Indian Pre-history Age ({{Circa|10,000}}–3300 BCE)
• Bhirrana culture (7570–6200 BCE)
• Mehrgarh culture ({{Circa|7000|2500 BCE}})

File:World in 2000 BC.svg]]

• Indus Valley Civilisation ({{Circa|3300|1300 BCE}}), including the "first urbanisation"
• Ahar–Banas culture ({{Circa|3000|1500 BCE}})
• Ochre Coloured Pottery culture ({{Circa|2600}}–1200 BCE)Civilsdaily, (August 15, 2017). [https://www.civilsdaily.com/pottery-evolution-and-significance/ "Case study | Pottery – Evolution and significance".]
• Cemetery H culture ({{Circa|1900}}–1300 BCE)M Rafiq Mughal Lahore Museum Bulletin, off Print, vol.III, No.2, Jul-Dec. 1990 [http://www.rafiquemughal.com/MUGHAL_1990_Decline-of-the-Indus_Lahore-Mus-Bulletin.pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626135910/http://www.rafiquemughal.com/MUGHAL_1990_Decline-of-the-Indus_Lahore-Mus-Bulletin.pdf|date=26 June 2015}}

File:East-Hem 1300bc.jpg Vedic civilization and main polities in Eurasia around 1300 BCE]]

• Iron Age India ({{Circa|1800|200 BCE}})
• Vedic civilization ({{Circa|1700|600 BCE}})
• Black and red ware culture ({{Circa|1500}}–700 BCE) in Western Ganges plainFranklin Southworth, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hTwuFUW5aEgC Linguistic Archaeology of South Asia] (Routledge, 2005), p. 177
• Northern Black Polished Ware ({{Circa|1200}}–500 BCE)Strickland, K. M., R. A. E. Coningham, et al., (2016). [http://doa.gov.np/downloadfile/190_1496827491.pdf "Ancient Lumminigame: A Preliminary Report on Recent Archaeological Investigations at Lumbini's Village Mound"], in Ancient Nepal, Number 190, April 2016, p. 10.
• Painted Grey Ware culture ({{Circa|1200}} or 700–300 BCE)Neogi, Sayantani, Charles A. I. French, Julie A. Durcan, Rabindra N. Singh, and Cameron A. Petrie, (2019). [https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/7EEB4F0A6653158B1160DB9B5ED61E90/S003358941900070Xa.pdf/geoarchaeological_insights_into_the_location_of_indus_settlements_on_the_plains_of_northwest_india.pdf "Geoarchaeological insights into the location of Indus settlements on the plains of northwest India"], in Quaternary Research, Volume 94, March 2020, p. 140.
• Brihadratha dynasty ({{Circa|1700|682 BCE}})
• Gandhara Kingdom ({{Circa|1500|545 BCE}})
• Kuru Kingdom ({{Circa|1200|345 BCE}})
• Indian Iron Age kingdoms ({{Circa|600|345 BCE}}){{cite book |last1=Lal |first1=Deepak |title=The Hindu Equilibrium: India C.1500 B.C. - 2000 A.D. |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-927579-3 |page=xxxviii |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dps-A5gOmA8C&pg=PR38 |language=en}}
• Pandyan Kingdom ({{Circa|600 BCE|650 CE}}){{cite book|title=Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India|last=Geological Survey of India (1883)|pages=80}}

File:East-Hem 200bc.jpg and main polities in Eurasia around 200 BCE]]

File:Asia 100bc.jpgs]]

• Pradyota dynasty ({{Circa|682}}–544 BCE)
• Haryanka dynasty ({{Circa|544}}–413 BCE)
• Shaishunaga dynasty ({{Circa|413}}–345 BCE)
• Nanda Empire ({{Circa|345|322 BCE}})
• Maurya Empire ({{Circa|322}}–185 BCE)
• Sangam period ({{Circa|300 BCE|300 CE}})
• Pandyan Kingdom ({{Circa|600 BCE}}–1650 CE)
• Chera Kingdom ({{Circa|300 BCE}}–1102 CE)
• Chola Kingdom ({{Circa|300 BCE}}–1279 CE)
• Kalinga Empire (until 250 BCE)
• Maha-Megha-Vahana Empire ({{Circa|2600}}–300 CE)
• Satavahana Empire (230 BCE–220 CE)
• Kuninda Kingdom ({{Circa|2600}}–350 CE)
• Shunga Empire ({{Circa|185}}–73 BCE)
• Kanva dynasty ({{Circa|73}}–26 BCE)
• Indo-Greek Kingdom (180 BCE–10 CE)
• Kanva Empire (75–26 BCE)
• Kushan Empire (30–375 CE)
• Indo-Scythian Kingdom ( {{Circa|12 BCE}}–395 CE)

File:East-Hem 500ad.jpg and main polities in Eurasia around 500 CE]]

There are varying definitions of this period.{{refn|group=note|Different periods are designated as "classical Hinduism":

• Smart calls the period between 1000 BCE and 100 CE "pre-classical". It is the formative period for the Upanishads and Brahmanism{{refn|group=subnote|Smart distinguishes "Brahmanism" from the Vedic religion, connecting "Brahmanism" with the Upanishads.{{sfn|Smart|2003|p=52, 83-86}}}} Jainism and Buddhism. For Smart, the "classical period" lasts from 100 to 1000 CE, and coincides with the flowering of "classical Hinduism" and the flowering and deterioration of Mahayana-buddhism in India.{{sfn|Smart|2003|p=52}}
• For Michaels, the period between 500 BCE and 200 BCE is a time of "Ascetic reformism",{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=36}} whereas the period between 200 BCE and 1100 CE is the time of "classical Hinduism", since there is "a turning point between the Vedic religion and Hindu religions".{{sfn|Michaels|2004|p=38}}
• Muesse discerns a longer period of change, namely between 800 BCE and 200 BCE, which he calls the "Classical Period". According to Muesse, some of the fundamental concepts of Hinduism, namely karma, reincarnation and "personal enlightenment and transformation", which did not exist in the Vedic religion, developed in this time.{{sfn|Muesse|2003|p=14}}}}

{{main|Middle kingdoms of India}}

• Gupta Empire ({{Circa|320}}–650 CE)
• Later Gupta dynasty ({{Circa|490–750 CE}})
• Vakataka Empire ({{Circa|250|500 CE}})
• Pallava Empire ({{Circa|275}}–901 CE)
• Kadamba dynasty ({{Circa|345}}–1347 CE)
• Western Ganga dynasty ({{Circa|350}}–1024 CE)
• Vishnukundina Empire ({{Circa|420}}–624 CE)
• Maitraka dynasty ({{Circa|475|776 CE}})
• Rai dynasty ({{Circa|489}}–632 CE)

• Music in ancient India
• Carnatic music
• Hindustani music

• Vedic Sanskrit
• Proto-Dravidian
• Ancient scripts of the Indian subcontinent
• Tamil-Brahmi
• Pallava script
• Gupta script
• Kadamba script

• History of Jainism
• History of Hinduism
• Historical Vedic religion
• Vedas
• Vedic mythology
• Vedic priesthood
• History of Buddhism

• Traditional games of India

• Science and technology in ancient India
• Indian mathematics
• Indian astronomy
• List of Indian inventions and discoveries
• Indian martial arts
• Malla-yuddha
• Kalaripayattu
• Ancient Indian medicine
• Siddha medicine
• Ayurveda
• Architecture
• Dravidian architecture
• Indian in Sanskrit epics

• India (clockwise)
• National Museum, New Delhi
• Patna Museum
• Indian Museum, Kolkata
• Government Museum, Bangalore
• Goa State Museum
• Kutch Museum, Bhuj, Gujarat
• United Kingdom
• British Museum, London

{{reflist|group=note|2}}

;Subnotes

{{reflist|group=subnote}}

{{reflist|25em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{Citation | last =Flood | first =Gavin D. | year =1996 | title =An Introduction to Hinduism | publisher =Cambridge University Press}}
• {{Citation | last =Khanna | first =Meenakshi | year = 2007 | title =Cultural History Of Medieval India | publisher =Berghahn Books}}
• {{Citation | last1 =Kulke | first1 =Hermann | last2 =Rothermund | first2 =Dietmar | year =2004 | title =A History of India | publisher =Routledge}}
• {{Citation | last =Michaels | first =Axel | year =2004 | title =Hinduism. Past and present | place =Princeton, New Jersey | publisher =Princeton University Press}}
• {{Citation | last =Misra | first =Amalendu | year =2004 | title =Identity and Religion: Foundations of Anti-Islamism in India | publisher =SAGE}}
• {{Citation | last =Muesse | first =Mark William | year =2003 | title =Great World Religions: Hinduism | url =http://www.docshut.com/rquv/lectures-on-great-world-religions-hinduism.html}}
• {{Citation | last =Muesse | first =Mark W. | year =2011 | title =The Hindu Traditions: A Concise Introduction | publisher =Fortress Press}}
• {{Citation | last =Smart | first =Ninian | year =2003 | title =Godsdiensten van de wereld (The World's religions) | place =Kampen | publisher =Uitgeverij Kok}}
• {{Citation | last =Stein | first =Burton | year =2010 | title =A History of India | publisher =John Wiley & Sons | isbn =9781444323511 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=QY4zdTDwMAQC&q=history+of+india}}
• {{Citation | last =Thapar | first =Romila | year =1978 | title =Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations | publisher =Orient Blackswan | url =http://www.philoshistorydepartment.weebly.com/uploads/1/2/8/7/12870319/ancient_indian_social_history_some_interpretation_by_romila_thapar.pdf}}

{{refend}}

{{commons category-inline|Ancient India}}

{{sister project links|Ancient India}}

• [http://www.ancientindia.co.uk/ Ancient India - The British Museum]
• [https://www.worldhistory.org/india/ Ancient India - World History Encyclopedia]
• [http://www.timemaps.com/civilization-ancient-india TimeMaps Civilization: Ancient India]

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