India has proven to be "a series of paradoxes linked by strong threads, however invisible," as Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru put it, "through invasions and empires, the creation of faiths and the destruction of civilizations, huge leaps forward and endless cataclysms." Its history is that of a slew of communities and cultures that have discovered that they are stronger together than apart after centuries of strife. The resultant country is a cultural mosaic made up of the concepts and habits of Asia's greatest civilizations.
The Civilization of the Indus Valley
This valley, which straddles the India-Pakistan border, is the cradle of the subcontinent's civilization. Nomadic tribes developed the soil and raised domestic animals as the area's earliest residents. An urban society developed over millennia, notably about 3500 BC. Large towns had already been established by 2500 BC, the nucleus of which became known as Harappan civilization, which flourished for over a thousand years.
In modern-day Pakistan, the main towns of the late Harappan era were Moenjodaro and Harappa, but Lothal, near Ahmedabad, may still be seen; its plant's magnificent and meticulous design provides a sense of this 4500-year-old civilization's sophistication. Despite their dispersion, the Harappan towns were astonishingly homogeneous. Even the brickworks and roadways were constructed and set out in an identical style. They had their acropolis, implying a religious purpose and extensive pools, maybe for ceremonial ablutions. The major cities were particularly notable for their size; Moenjodaro was reported to have 50,000 residents at their height.
In the third millennium BC, the Indus Valley's culture was perhaps on par with other great civilizations. The Harappa created a system of weights and measures and traded with Mesopotamia. Recovered artefacts like bullock cart models and jewels are the earliest indication of an independent Indian civilization. In reality, Hinduism subsequently adopted many aspects of Harappan society.
Excavations have revealed that a Mother goddess (later personified as Kali) and a three-faced male god in the yogi stance (probably the real Shiva) were worshipped, with four animals serving them. Animal sculptures (including a stooping bull, subsequently Shiva's steed, Nandi) and black stone columns (connected with Shiva's phallic worship) have also been uncovered. The "dancer," a figurine of a young lady with a carefree glance that has lasted more than 4500 years at the National Museum of Delhi, suggests a highly developed culture, both through unique sculpture and by revealing the possibilities of hobbies.
Invasion and religions in the beginning
At the start of the second millennium BC, Harappan civilization began to deteriorate. Floods and droughts, which undermined the Empire's agricultural basis, are blamed by some historians for the Empire's demise. Despite the lack of archaeological evidence and documented allusions in ancient Indian writings, the most commonly accepted view, though not without debate, connects the end of the Harappa to an Aryan invasion. An opposing idea claims that the Aryans ("noble" in Sanskrit) were India's first occupants. There is no proof that the Aryans arrived from anywhere else, and it's even debatable whether they were a separate race. Thus the 'invasion' might relate to the introduction of new ideas from adjacent cultures.
Defenders of the invasion idea say that diverse Aryan tribes from Afghanistan and Central Asia began arriving in northwestern India around 1500 BC. Despite their overwhelming military might, their march was slow, with succeeding tribes vying for land and newcomers migrating east across the Ganges plain. These tribes eventually ruled northern India, extending as far as the Vindhya Hills. The Dravidians, the indigenous inhabitants of north India, were moved south, according to this belief.
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What is known is that the Aryans were responsible for the development of Sanskrit's renowned literary legacy. The Vedas, the holy Hindu scriptures, were written during this transitional era (1500-1200 BC) and e codified the caste system. These works are essential to understanding India's spirituality and history.
At the end of the s. vii BC, when Aryan civilization swept throughout the Ganges plain, its members were consolidated into 16 primary kingdoms, which merged into four large nations. The Nanda dynasty, which rose to prominence in 364 BC and governed vast swathes of northern India, descended from them. During this time, the country's centre narrowly survived two western invasions that may have drastically altered its history if they had succeeded. The first was supported by Darius, the Persian king who captured Punjab and Sindh in 521-486 BC (on both sides of the current Indo-Pakistani border). Alexander the Great pushed from Macedonia to India in 326 BC, a remarkable achievement in and of itself, but he turned around at Punjab and did not continue into the subcontinent.
The development of two of the essential faiths, Buddhism and Jainism, on the northern plains around 500 BC (approx.) is also notable at this time. Both Buddha and Mahavira (the founder of Jainism) questioned the Vedas and criticized the caste system, drawing people from the lower classes.
The Mauryan dynasty and its consequences
If Harappan civilization was the foundation of Indian civilization, Chandragupta Maurya established the first major Indian Empire, which stretched from Bengal to Afghanistan and Gujarat. After deposing the Nanda from the throne in 321 BC, he quickly expanded his Empire by absorbing the Indus Valley, which had already been captured by Alexander the Great.
The Mauryan dynasty ruled practically all of northern India and expanded into present-day Karnataka from its capital at Pataliputra (present-day Patna), which had a hypostyle palace. In addition to the exceedingly thorough representation of Indian statecraft in the ancient Arthasastra literature, there is significant evidence on this time in current Jain and Buddhist scriptures. Emperor Asoka, who converted to Buddhism and disseminated the faith over the subcontinent, brought the kingdom to its pinnacle; such was his skill to command and unify that when he died in 232 BC, no one was found to hold the Mauryan empire together. It soon dissolved, finally collapsing around 184 BC.