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History of India
India's first major civilisation flourished for a thousand years
from around 2500 BC along the Indus River valley. Its great cities
were Mohenjodaro and Harappa (now in Pakistan), ruled by priests
and bearing the rudiments of Hinduism. Aryan invaders swept south
from central Asia between 1500 and 200 BC and controlled northern
India, pushing the original Dravidian inhabitants south.
The Great Dynasties
By 6th century BC, the Magadh rulers dominated the Northern plains.
It was also the time when new thinking emerged in the form of Buddhism
and Jainism to challenge Hindu orthodoxy. The Magadh rule was followed
by the rule of Chandragupta Maurya (322-298 B.C.), one of India's
greatest emperors. The Mauryan reign peaked under the reign of Ashoka
the Great who extended his empire from the Kashmir and Peshawar
in the North to Mysore in the South and Orissa in the East. Not
only was Ashoka a great ruler, he was one of the most successful
propagators of Buddhism in the country. After Ashoka's death in
232 B.C. the empire began to disintegrate and the country was repeatedly
raided and plundered by foreign invaders, leaving India disunited
and weak for the next 400 years. Stability returned with the reign
of Chandra Gupta I (380-412 A.D.). His rule is considered the golden
period in Indian history when art and culture flourished and the
country prospered.
Unlike the North of India, foreign invasions had little impact
on life in South India, which also saw the rise and decline of many
empires. These included the Cholas whose rule extended to Sri Lanka
and South East Asia, the Pandyas, the Cheras, the Pallavas and the
Chalukyas. Under the various rulers, arts and craft in the South
also saw the emergence of various styles of architecture and some
of the grandest architectural accomplishments in the South - the
most famous being the exquisitely crafted Chola bronzes. These were
followed by the Hoysala and the Vijaynagar empires - among the greatest
Hindu empires.
The Muslim Invasions
The first Muslim invasions of the country started with the Mahmud
of Gazni, who plundered the sub-continent for its riches between
1001 and 1025. Later Mohamed Ghori defeated Prithviraj Chauhan,
the Tomar ruler of Delhi and left it in charge of his deputy, Qutub-ud-din,
the man who built the Qutub Minar in Delhi. His rule was followed
by that of the Khilji, Tughlaq, Sayyid and Lodi dynasties. Known
as the Sultanate of Delhi, it was during this period that the Muslim
rulers introduced Islamic concepts of society and governance to
most of the sub-continent, though the South remained largely untouched.
In 1525, Babur, a descendant of Timur, as well as Genghis Khan
invaded Punjab and eventually founded the Mughal empire in India.
His rule was followed by that of his son Humayun. Humayun was ousted
by Afghan chieftain Sher Shah but resumed power after Sher Shah's
death. Sher Shah is, however, remembered as the one to build the
Grand Trunk road spanning from Peshawar to Patna. Humayun's reign
was followed up by his son Akbar who actually consolidated power
and extended the empire across North India and parts of South India.
One of India's wisest rulers and most able administrators, Akbar's
reign is considered to be one of the best the country has known.
Akbar was succeeded by Jahangir, followed by his son Shah Jahan
- best known as the builder of the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort and the
Jama Masjid. Shah Jahan's reign was followed by Aurangzeb's. The
death of Aurangzeb saw the decline of the Mughal rule in India.
British Rule
Over the centuries India had always been attractive to traders,
and one of the first Europeans to come to India was the Portuguese
trader Vasco da Gama who landed at Calicut, sailing via the Cape
of Good Hope in 1498. The Portuguese established their colony in
Goa in the 16th Century but they did not expand it though their
rule continued till 1961. Vasco da Gama was followed by the French,
the Dutch and the English, all of whom were lured by the commercial
interests that India offered. By the last quarter of the 18th century
the English established themselves as the dominant power in India
and they set about making revolutionary changes in the social, political
and the economic life of the country.
Towards Independence
The disintegration of the Mughal empire, fighting among the Maratha
rulers and inability of the various rulers across the country to
unite against a common enemy saw the British consolidate their position
in the country. However, the 19th century saw a revival of national
pride and social reform and the Indians began to tire of the suppressive
British rule. Things reached a flash point in the second half of
the 19th century when the first war of independence in 1857 broke
out in Meerut. It was sparked off by the introduction of a new rifle
and cartridge by the British in the Army. The cartridges which soldiers
had to bite off, allegedly contained pork and beef tallow, which
offended the religious sentiments of both Hindus and Muslims. The
soldiers rebelled, reached Delhi and proclaimed Bahadurshah Zafar
the sovereign ruler of India. They were eventually overpowered by
the British.
But there was no looking back for the Indians who wanted social
reform and freedom. The Indian National Congress was set up and
educated Indians started formulating strategies to assert their
birthright to independence. The anti-British sentiment became a
mass movement with the arrival of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who
devised a unique strategy for India's freedom struggle based on
non-violence and civil disobedience. He conceived and led the non-cooperation
movement in 1922, the Salt Satyagraha in 1930 and the Quit India
Movement in 1942. All of which pushed the British into agreeing
to transfer power on August 15, 1947, the day that is now celebrated
as India's Independence Day. Today, India is the world's largest
democracy with a federal form of government.
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