History of Indian Heritage

Ancient IndiaI Medieval India I Modern India

India is, the cradle of the human race, the birth place of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most astructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only."Quoted by Mark Twain.
The amazing history of India can be divided into pre-historic age, ancient age, early medieval age, medieval, modern and contemporary. India, the land of Lord Rama, The Buddha, The Mahavira and Gandhi is one of the oldest surviving civilisations in the world, traces of which goes back to 5000 to 10,000 years ago. Since time immemorial, the mesmerising land of India captivated traders, invaders, to its rich soil and brought with them their own culture, which later intermingled with the intrinsic Indian culture. The intermixing of various cultures and traditions gave birth to a unique Indian culture - the values of which are praised through out the world.

Ancient India:
The Ancient Indian history of the 'golden bird' India dates back to2500 BCE, when the famous Indus or Harappan civilisation settled around the banks of the river Indus and Sutlaj in the Indian sub-continent. The cities belonging to the Harappan civilisation - Harrapa and Mohenjodaro in Pakistan, Lothal in Gujrat and Ropar in Punjab to name a few, which were excavated in the 19th century CE, came out with surprisingly interesting facts. Alike most of the modern cities, these ancient places were also constructed with well planned architecture, broad streets cutting each other at right angle, houses made of burnt bricks, a properse wage system, the Great Bath meant for holy rituals and great citadels. Almost a perfect town planning and sanatan culture set a part this uniquecivilisation from the other contemporary ones, and suddenly by about 1500 BCE, the civilisation declined perhaps due to a natural calamity or foreign invasion.

But the Harrappan civilisation was not an end to the life in the Indian subcontinent as there were many to develop with the course of time. The people moved further in their life and again started settling themselves along the rivers and plains in the land of India, or rather the entire Indian sub-continent there by forming the Vedic settlement. The Vedas, Rigveda, the earliest one, accompanied by other three Samveda, Yajurvedaand Atharvaveda, which form an integral part of the Indian culture, dates back to this period and even today are the earliest literary sources reflecting the ancient history of India and the Indians.

Soon was to evolve the 16 Mahajanapadas in the 6th century BCE, among whom the kingdom of Magadha established its paramountcy over other kingdoms of the Ganges Valley. It was at this time in the 528 BCE when a young prince denounced His luxurious life, attained enlightenment and preached others the path of Middle way, known as Buddhism. Another school of thought, Jainism also developed as per the teachings of Mahavira during this period. As these two new sects were developing, Chandragupta Maurya established the rule of the Maurayas in Magadha, which was further strengthened by his grandson, Ashoka through out northern, central, western and parts of the southern India. Ashoka, when got perturbed by the miseries created by his imperialistic policies, converted to Buddhism and spread Buddhism in different parts of the world, which soon became a major religion in most of the countries of the world.

After the death of Ashoka in 232 BCE, his successors could not match his potentials and the Mauryan empire started disintegrating to the hands of the foreign invaders Sungas, Greeks and Sakas. It took around 400 years to reorganise the things, which can more or less be credited to Samudragupta and Chandragupta II, the rulers of the Gupta dynasty. They not only strengthened their empire and established internal peace but also encouraged art, literature, culture, science and technology.The Guptas are credited for the construction of rock-cut caves of Ajantaand Ellora, beginning of the Hindu
temple architecture and last but not the least, giving protection to Kalidasa, the famous Sanskrit poet and dramatist, who compiled Abhigyana Shakuntalam, Kumarasambhavam and Meghadutam.

After the decline of the Guptas, the rulers like Harshavardhan (604 -647 CE) in Kannauj, the Cholas and Chalukyas in the southern India, accompanied by the Palas in the east and Pallavas in Kanchi further patronised the Indian culture, heritage, art and architecture. But atthe same time, they kept on expanding their boundaries, which further resulted in feud among themselves over their territories. In fact, as are sult of imperialism, the Cholas over threw the Pallavas in the 9thCentury CE and regained political primacy in south India. Through out the Indian subcontinent, the small rulers were ruling over small regions, and it was the disunity among themselves which invited the foreigninvaders to invade and rule over the Indian territories in the medievalperiod.

Medieval India:
The foreigners, mainly the Arabs and the Turks, who were allured by the Indian wealth and territories, took advantage of the rivalry among the Indian rulers and carried on several invasions of India, looted the hugebooties and destroyed numerous works of art, including the temples. However, none of them settled in India, till in 1192, a Turk invader Muhammad Ghori defeated a brave Indian Rajput ruler, Prithviraj Chauhanin the battle of Terrain and made his deputy Qutub Ud Din Aibek thein-charge of the Indian territory. The later became the ruler of Delhi after the death of his master and thus laid the foundation of the Delhi sultanate in India under the slave dynasty. Qutub Ud Din Aibek, who built the famous Qutub Minar in Delhi, a magnificent work of architecture, was succeeded by Iltutmish, the father of the first lady ruler of India. The Delhi sultanate after the Slave dynasty, witnessed the rule of the Khiljis, Tughlaqs, Sayaids and Lodis.

Ibrahim Lodi, the last ruler of the Lodi dynasty, was disliked by the people of the state and his courtiers, some of whom invited Babar, a Mughal from Kabul to replace Ibrahim Lodhi. The first battle of Panipat took place in 1526, in which Babar defeated the Lodi ruler and thus was laid the foundation of the Mughal dynasty in India. But Babar's son Humayun had to face defeat from a Afghan chieftain, Sher Shah, who assumed the power in his hands for a short while and Humayun had to flee from India.

Sher Shah, who built the famous Grand Trunk road from Peshawar to Patnaand reformed the revenue system in India, had to taste a bitter defeatin the Second battle of Panipat from Akbar, the son of Humayun in 1556. Akbar( 1556-1605 CE) restored the Mughal empire in India, strengthenedit and worked a lot for the welfare of the common people irrespective of caste, creed and religion. His son, Jahangir (1605-1627 CE) and grandson Shah Jahan (1628-1648 CE) further carried on the reforms started by Akbar. The last of all the powerful Mughalm rulers, Aurangzeb (reign -1658-1707), who was a staunch Muslim, started suppressing people of different faiths with Hindus as his main target, and despite being an efficient administrator, he became unpopular among the Indian masses. Hewas succeeded by a chain of weak rulers, who failed to hold back the glory of the Mughal empire in India.

The Art and Culture under the Mughals: The Mughals, who were greatpatron of art and culture, promoted the artists, scientists, poets, musicians and architects among many others. The Taj Mahal in Agra, the Red Fort in Delhi, Fatehpur Sikri in Agra and Agra Fort are some of themarvellous edifices raised by the Mughal emperors. The compilation of Babar Nama(Babar) and Tuzuke Jahangiri(Jahangir) further proves theirlove for the art, culture and literature.

Modern India:
India has never been the same, and yet it was to witness a new change as India was now to be a home for the Europeans as well. Since the time India was discovered by Vasco da Gama of Portugal in 1498, the Europeans had been hearing of the famous south Indian spices, muslin and many other stuffs, which allured them to establish their market in India. The Portuguese were the first one to establish themselves in Goa in the first half of the 16th century. Later in the 17th century, the Italians, British, French and Dutch, who came to India basically for trade, started taking advantage of the disunity among the Indians and tried to establish their imperial colonies in India. In the mean time, all these European companies faced a tough competition from each other, and the British emerged as a winner by the end of the 18th century.

After conquering over their counter parts, the British now looked forward to consolidate their position in India and having seen the disunity among the Indian kings, they started defeating them one by one,and soon controlled over the power of India. Soon after the British EastIndia company started ruling over India, they exploited the Indians somuch that a famous revolt in 1857 took place against them, often calledas the first war of Indian independence under the leadership of RaniLaskshmibai(Jhansi), the Muhghal ruler Bahadur Shah Zafar (Delhi), Tatya Tope(Maharashtra) and Veer Kunwar Singh (Bihar). But despite the bravery of these leaders, the revolt failed again owing to the lack of proper coordination among the revolutionaries. However, the rule of east India company ended and the power went into the hands of British monarchy.

The British in India, though carried many reforms in India like set up modern educational institutions, established a vast network of rail-roads and telegraph lines, introduced a new administrative system, but at the same time followed the policy of 'divide and rule' with anaim to part the Indians so that they would not create a problem for the British empire in India. But some of the Indians like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Dadabhai Naoroji and several others understood this and started awakening the sense of patriotism among the Indians.

The India's struggle for independence entered a new phase with the arrival of Mohandas Karamchanda Gandhi, better known as the Mahtma Gandhi from south Africa in the first decade of the 20th century. A firmbeliever in non-violence, the Gandhi had a strange way of keeping the points - through Satya graha, the request for truth. Under the leadership of the revolutionaries like Chandra Shekhar Azad and Bhagat Singh, Indian National Congress and is leaders such as Jawahar Lal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sardar Ballav Bhai Patel and the Gandhi's guidance, the freedom struggle got a new shape as the entire India stoodup together to drive out the Britishers from India through several movements such as Non-Cooperation Movement(1920-22), Civil Disobedience movement(1930) and finally the Quit India movement(1942). Ultimately, after a long and arduous round of constitutional negotiations and in the face of the determined struggle of the Indian people, the British agreed to transfer power to the Indians on 15th August, 1947, but before departing, they succeeded in dividing the Indian territory in two parts- India and Pakistan.

India since Independence:
India, which was declared free from the British regime on 15th August,1947, was left as a poor or rather an under developed region by the British, and it was a huge task left before the Indian leaders to bring back the glorious days of the land. A new constitution was drafted and India was declared a republic on 26th January, 1950. The five years plan were introduced in 1951 to improve the economic and social condition of India. But the task was tough to improve a backward nation to adeveloped one, and it took the nation almost half a century to find its feet. A peace loving nation, India today is recognised throughout the world as one of the leading nations in the fields of economy, science and technology, education and health. India's policy of self-reliance has been an inspiration for many, and in the age of globalisation today, India and its people are leaving their mark everywhere, all around the world.