Names of India (officially the Republic of India):
India: the region beyond the Indus River. Bharat: Per Vishnu Purana (2.3.1) - “The country that lies north of the
ocean and south of the snowy mountains is called Bhāratam."
Hindustan: land of the Indus - Hindustan is derived from the Persian
word Hindu, which is itself is derived from Sindhu, Sanskrit for the Indus River.
India is also known as Āryāvarta because of its Aryan heritage
Historic Timeline: (Based on Archaeological Study)
3000 BCE: Beginning of the Indus Valley Civilization.
Some scholars hold that the Dravidian people were the originators of the Indus Valley Civilization.
Archaeological study indicates that these peoples in the Indus Valley Civilization had knowledge of…
Medicine and Dentistry. Decimal fractions and Negative numbers.
2500 BCE: Establishment of the cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro in the Indus Valley (Situated in Pakistan)
Mohenjo-Daro
One of the largest
city-settlements of
the Indus Valley
Civilization.
One of the early
urban settlements
in the world
o Advanced town planning and Architecture. o Sanitation System
1600 BCE: India is invaded by the Aryans from the west who drove away the Dravidians.
o Aryans got into India from the parts of modern Afghanistan
and Iran, where they had settled earlier.
600 BCE: The Upanishads "sitting at the feet of a teacher to receive the
teaching" are composed in Sanskrit.
Hindu scriptures that compose the core teachings of Vedanta.
Speak of a universal spirit (Brahma) and of an individual soul (Atman), and at times assert the identity of both.
There are about 350 Upanishads.
527 BCE: Prince Siddhartha Gautama attains enlightenment and becomes the Buddha.
Founder of Buddhism.
500 BCE: Prince Mahavira establishes Jainism in northern India.
Mahavira preached that from eternity, every living being (soul) is in bondage to karmic atoms accumulated by good or bad deeds. In a state of karmic delusion, the individual seeks temporary and illusory pleasure in material possessions, which are the root causes of self-centered violent thoughts and deeds as well as anger, hatred, greed, and other vices. These result in further accumulation of karma.
327 BCE: Alexander invades the Indus valley, fights the famous battle with Porus.
Alexander was an Ancient Greek king of Macedon who created
one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Porus was the King of Paurava, the region that falls between the Jhelum and the Chenab rivers in the Punjab.
304 BCE: Magadha king Chandragupta Maurya establishes the Maurya dynasty with Pataliputra as the capital.
Chandragupta succeeded in bringing together most of the Indian subcontinent. As a result, he is considered the first unifier of India and its first genuine emperor.
500BCE - 300 BCE: Ramayana, a famous epic is composed.
The Rāmāyaṇa, originally written by Valmiki, consists of 24,000 verses.
It depicts the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characters like the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife and the ideal king.
500BCE - 200 BCE: Mahabharata, another famous epic is
composed.
Veda Vyasa is traditionally known as author of this epic. But he also features as an important character in it.
The Bhagavad Gita is a part of the Mahabharata and it contains 700 verses.
200 CE: The Manu code (Laws of Manu) puts down the rules of
everyday life and divides Hindus into four major castes (Brahmins, warriors, farmers/traders, shudras/non-aryans).
450 CE: Kumaragupta builds the University of Nalanda.
Kumaragupta (Chandragupta’s son) was ruler of the Gupta Empire from 415-475 CE.
499 CE: Hindu mathematician Aryabhatta writes the "Aryabhattiyam",
the first book on Algebra.
The author of several treatises on mathematics and astronomy.
The mathematical part of the Aryabhattiyam covers… - arithmetic, algebra, plane trigonometry, and spherical
trigonometry. - It also contains continued fractions, quadratic equations,
sums-of-power series, and a table of sines. 800 CE: Many kingdoms are created in central India and in Rajastan
by Rajputs. 997 CE: Mahmud of Ghazni raids northern India
Mahmud was the ruler of Afghanistan.
1192 CE: Mohammad of Ghori defeats Prithvi Raj, captures Delhi and establishes a Muslim sultanate at Delhi.
Mohammad of Ghori was the governor of Ghaznā and the surrounding area (Afghanistan).
1490 CE: Guru Nanak Dev Ji establishes Sikhism and the city of Amritsar.
Guru Nanak put the greatest emphasis on the worship of the Word of God. One should follow the direction of awakened individuals (Gurmukh or God willed) rather than the mind (state of Manmukh- being led by Self will)- the latter being risky and leading only to frustration
1497 CE: Babur establishes the Mughal dynasty in India.
A Muslim conqueror from Central Asia (Uzbekistan).
1530 CE: Babur dies and his son Humayun succeeds as the next Mughal emperor.
1556 CE: Humayun dies and his son Akbar becomes one of the
greatest rulers of India. 1605 CE: Akbar dies and is succeeded by his son Jahangir. 1611 CE: East India Company is established in India by the British 1627 CE: Shivaji establishes the Maratha kingdom. 1631 CE: Jahangir's son Shah Jahan succeeds Jahangir and builds
the world famous Taj Mahal.
1658 CE: Shah Jahan's son Aurangzeb seizes power. 1707 CE: Aurangzeb dies, destabilizing the Mughal Empire. 1751 CE: Britain becomes the leading colonial power in India. 1799 CE: British defeat Tipu Sultan.
Ruler of the Islamic Kingdom of Mysore. 1853 CE: Railway, postal services & telegraph line introduced in
India.
1858 CE: British Crown officially takes over the Indian Government.
1919 CE: The cruel Jallianwalla Bagh massacre takes place due to protests against the Rowlatt Act.
on April 13, 1919, 90 British Indian Army soldiers under the command of Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer opened fire on an unarmed gathering of men, women and children.
The firing lasted for 10 to 15 minutes, until they ran out of ammunition.
1,526 killed.
1930 CE: Salt Satyagraha is launched.
The Salt Satyagraha was a campaign of nonviolent protest against the British salt tax in colonial India.
Mahatma Gandhi led the march from his Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, Gujarat to produce salt without paying the tax, with growing numbers of Indians joining him along the way.
15th August 1947 CE: Partition of India and Independence from the British rule.
On 3 June 1947, Viscount Louis Mountbatten, the last British Governor-General of India, announced the partitioning of the British Indian Empire into a secular India and a Muslim Pakistan.
On 14 August 1947, Pakistan was declared a separate nation from them.
At midnight, on 15 August 1947, India became an independent nation.