India

G

International Organizations

India is a member of the United Nations (UN), the Commonwealth of Nations, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Colombo Plan. It is also a member of regional organizations, such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

VI

History

The following account of India’s history is necessarily limited in scope; only the highlights and major turning points are stressed. For supplementary information regarding Indian history and civilization, see Buddhism; Caste; Dravidian; East India Company; Hinduism; Indian Art and Architecture; Indian Dance; Indian Languages; Indian Literature; Indian Nationalist Movement; Indian Philosophy; Indus Valley; Islam; Jainism; Parsis; Sanskrit Language; Sanskrit Literature; Sikhism. For additional information on historical figures, see the biographies on the individuals mentioned.

A

Prehistory

Because the Indians of remote antiquity left no written records of their social, cultural, and political activities, historians are obliged to rely almost exclusively on archaeological discoveries for an understanding of the earliest civilizations on the subcontinent. Evidence indicates that, possibly during the Neolithic period of the Stone Age, the inhabitants of the subcontinent were dispersed and partially assimilated by invading Dravidian peoples, who probably came from the west. On the basis of archaeological discoveries in the Indus Valley, the civilization subsequently developed by the Dravidians equalled and possibly surpassed in splendour the civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt.

About the middle of the 3rd millennium bc, Dravidian India appears to have experienced an influx, perhaps in successive waves, of migrants of the Indo-European linguistic stock. These peoples, probably originating from Central Asia and usually referred to as Indo-Aryans, entered the subcontinent through the mountain passes along the north-western frontier and gradually settled in most of the territory north of the Vindhya Range and west of the River Yamuna. There is no evidence that these population changes were in the form of invasions. The influence of the migrants would seem to have been limited in southern parts of the peninsula, where Dravidian languages continue to dominate, but assimilation, including, in the view of some authorities, absorption of various aspects of existing Dravidian culture, occurred in the north-west.

B

Vedic Period

Obscurity surrounds India’s political history for many centuries after the arrival of the waves of migrants from Central Asia, but the Veda, a collection of sacred writings dating from about 1200 bc, contains considerable information on social practices, religious beliefs, and cultural attainments. As depicted in some Vedic hymns, the civilization that emerged during the early centuries after the intermingling of Indo-Aryan and Dravidian cultures on the subcontinent was notable in several respects. Tribal political organs functioned according to democratic principles, the social status of women compared favourably with that of men, and marriage was regarded as sacred. The Indo-Aryans had advanced skills in various arts and sciences, including livestock-raising, metal handicrafts, carpentry, boatbuilding, and military science.

The Vedic hymns composed during this and later periods also depict the emergence and crystallization of key features of the socio-religious system known as Hinduism. Virtually all that is known with certainty of the political situation is that in the course of the 1st millennium bc, 16 autonomous states were established in the region bounded by the Himalaya, the southern reaches of the Ganges, the Vindhya Range, and the Indus Valley. Of these states, comprising both republics and kingdoms, the most important was Kosala, a kingdom situated in the region occupied by modern Oudh. Other important kingdoms were Avanti, Vamsas, and Magadha. The last-named kingdom occupied the territory of modern Bihar, and in about the middle of the 6th century bc it became the dominant state of India. During the reign of its first great King Bimbisara (reigned about 543-491 bc), Buddha and Vardhamana Jnatiputra or Nataputta Mahavira, the respective founders of Buddhism and Jainism, preached and taught in Magadha.

In 326 bc Alexander the Great led an expedition across the Hindu Kush into northern India. He won several victories during his march into India, climaxing in the Battle of Hydaspes that ended in the defeat of King Poros near the River Hydaspes (now the Jhelum). However, Alexander did not stay in India long, and the political and cultural effects of the invasion were insignificant, except in the opportunity provided for the Mauryan King Chandragupta to expand his empire westwards utilizing the political vacuum.

C

Maurya Dynasty

In 321 bc Chandragupta, known to the Greeks as Sandrocottos, seized control of Magadha. Within the next decade Chandragupta, founder of the Maurya dynasty of Indian kings, extended his sovereignty over most of the subcontinent. He was assisted by Kautilya (or Chanakya), a Brahmin chief minister who may have been the main contributor to the Arthashastra, a textbook on politics akin to The Prince by the Italian historian Niccolò Machiavelli. The military power of the Indian Empire caused Seleucus I, one of Alexander’s generals and the founder of the Seleucid Empire, to arrange an alliance with the Maurya ruler. Concluded in 305 bc, the treaty was consolidated by a marriage arrangement between Chandragupta and a daughter of the Seleucid ruler.

As one result of the close relations between the two empires, Greek cultural influence was widespread in northern India. The Maurya dynasty endured until about 185 bc. During the reign (c. 273-232 bc) of Ashoka, the greatest Maurya sovereign, Buddhism became the dominant religion of the empire. India was, by now, a great centre of learning with universities such as those at Nalanda, and Takshasila attracting scholars from China and South East Asia. Of the dynasties that appeared in the period immediately following the downfall of the Mauryas, the Sunga endured longest, lasting more than a century. The chief event of this period (c. 184-72 bc) was the persecution and decline of Buddhism in India and the triumph of Brahmanism. In consequence of the victory of the Hindu Brahman (priests), the caste system became deeply ingrained in the Indian social structure, creating great obstacles to national unification.

An extensive section of western India was occupied in about 100 bc by invading Shakas (Scythians), then in retreat before the Yueh-chi of central Asia. Pushing southwards, the Yueh-chi subsequently settled in north-western India, where Kadphises, one of their kings, founded the Kushan dynasty in about ad 40. A large part of northern India shortly fell under the sway of the Kushan kings. One of the early Kushan monarchs established diplomatic and commercial relations with the Roman Empire. Buddhism thrived under the Kushans, and especially under the rule of Emperor Kanishka, who was a patron of learning and the arts. Mathematics and science flourished and the medical texts of Charaka were written at this time.

The rulers of the indigenous Andhra dynasty, which came to control the former Sunga dominions in about 27 bc and endured for about 460 years, made repeated attempts to expel the Shakas. These attempts ended in failure and in about ad 236 the Shakas attained complete sovereignty over western India. A decade earlier, shortly before the fall of the Andhra dynasty, the Kushan realm also disintegrated. The ensuing century was a period of political confusion throughout most of India.