Brief
Timeline Of India |
All Dates Prescribed by the
West
(these dates are disputed) |
| Beginings |
| 500 - 200, 000 BC |
First settlement
of India. Paleolithic tools and cave paintings discovered. |
| 100,000 BC |
Rohri Quarries |
| 7000 - 5000 BC |
Permanent
settlement, beginning of Agriculture and villages. First cultivation of rice, cotton and
tea. |
| 3300 - 2800 BC |
Ravi Phase:
Beginning of civilization in North West India. First
use of ceramic vessels and steatite (soapstone). Use of terra-cotta necklaces, shell
ornaments and use of copper, bone and stone tools. Potter's wheel appears, which is still
used today around the world. |
| 2800 - 2600 BC |
Kot Dijian Phase.
Standardization and Industrialization. Bricks and weight standardized. Graffity emerges on
ceramics and other pottery, may be the origin of the symbols later used in their script. |
| 2600 - 2500 BC |
Sudden explosion
of city building, massive trade by land and sea, invention of script etc. Overnight a thousand cities and towns
come into existence. |
| 2500 - 1900/1800
BC |
Indus
Civilization. Largest of all
civilizations, extending as far as into Turkmenistan and the Iranian border. Not much
known of this Dravir (Dravidian) Civilization. |
| 1800 - 1500 |
Migration of
Aryans Into India (Indo-European speakers) End
of Urban Life, many Dravirs move East and Southwards. |
| Age of Empires |
| 1500 - 1000 BC |
Vedic Age/Kosala
Empire and emergence of Jains and Sanatana (Hindu).
The mixing of the Aryans and Dravirs. |
| 1000 BC |
Composition of
Epics Mahabharat and Ramayan |
| 800 BC |
Pythagoras'
Theorem in Sulbha Sutra 300 years before Pythagoras. |
| 700 BC |
Bengal main
centre of Cotton, Silk and other fabrics. Remarkable embroideries and dying on fabrics. |
| 600 - 400 BC |
Upanishads, Gautam
Buddha (I believe: 2773 BC), Mahavira (Jain) Bengali
prince Vijay Singh establishes kingdom in Sri Lanka (544 BC) and another Bengali Gadadhara
founds kingdom in Madras.
Bangla, Kalinga and a host of other North Eastern peoples
are Dravir. Bangla is a seafaring nation.
Kerala on the west coast, another Dravir land seems to be
another seafaring people. |
| 400 BC |
Kosala ends with
rise of Magadha. North Western India occupied by Persians who coin the term Hindu. |
| 326 BC |
Alexandre The
Great Invades India. Has great success in the beginning because Persians and Egyptians
were weary of war and the other Kingdoms and empires were weak and unprepared. Defeats
Purus (West India) with great strategy but daunted by the task of conquering the powerful
Eastern empires, like Magadha, Prasioi (Bengal) and Gangaridai (Bengal) and heads back. |
| 323 BC |
Mauryan Empire
emerges from Magadha and Magadhan culture spreads along with the empire. |
| 300 - 200 BC |
Mauryan empire
reaches her greatest height and stretches in the west till Tashkent (Uzbekistan) and
Eastern Iran and in the East Burma and in the south all but a couple of subordinate
states. South was in alliance and Gangaridai and Prasoi of Bengal retain independence.
Gangaridai has more war elephants than the Mauryan Empire. Mauryan Empire becomes centre
of learning and religion. Buddhism spreads all over Eastern Asia. Buddhist missionaries go
as far as Greece and Egypt in the west. |
| First Millennium Age Of
Empires |
| 100 BC - 320 AD |
Mauryan Empire
disintegrates. Declines back to Magadha. Small Kingdoms rise and fall. Indian Kingdom in
central Thailand (Syamdesh) by the Mons established (200-300 AD) called Dvaravati. The
Mons are ruled by people of Bengal and Kalinga. (This is before the arrival of the
Tibeto-Chinese people.) Indo-Greek Kings
rule North West India. Chola's rise in the south near Tanjore. |
| 132 AD |
First record of
Indian Kingdom in Indonesia (Java) from the Chinese. Apparently the kingdom was much
older. This was probably created by Bengals as they were the seafarers on the East and the
Javanese script shows affinity to Proto-Bengali and was probably also founded by Sri Vijay
or his descendants since the empire that buds there is called Sri Vijay(a). (NOTE:
Java, Sumatra are Indian names and Bali still retains Indian culture. Interestingly,
King Bali's son Prince Vanga is supposed to be the first
colonizer of Bengal according to legend.) |
| 320 AD |
Gupta Empire
emerges from Magadha and again all of India and Afghanistan belongs to her. (Two Varman Kings, possibly of Gangaridai (from
Rarh region), are defeated by the Guptas in Bengal. This is the first reference of the Varmans whose name will echo through
history.) Part of South India becomes vassal states. Guptas defeats the Huns who go on to
destroy the Roman Empire. Pallavas in the
South (lasts until 888 AD). After the 6th century the Pallavas are ruled by Varmans, and may be much earlier too.
Gupta and Pallava (or rather
Varman) influence on Dvaravati Kingdom in Thailand. The Thai
kings retain the title Rama and their old capital was called Ayuthia (Ayoddha). Ayoddha
was an ancient capital of the Kosala empire of North India.
(D. P. Sinhal, pg. 146) |
| 5th Century |
Java is an Indian
stronghold (Fa-Hsien's record) First
record of use of Zero in India. Aryavatta, famous mathematician.
Bodhi Dharma transmits Kalaripayat to Shaolin in China,
which later became Kung-fu.
Bengal Aryanized which means the Aryan Brahmins in full
force and caste system is imposed. |
| 500 AD |
Kaundriya
conquered and married the queen of Kampuchea (Cambodia) to establish the first Indian
kingdom there. It was called Funan by the Chinese. Lasts for 600 years until taken over by
another Indian kingdom. Another Indian
kingdom of Champa formed in the East of Cambodia. Champa was founded by people from
Champa, the old capital of Gaur (Bengal).
Gupta Empire, weakened up by more Hun invasions, starts
to disintegrate. |
| 595 AD |
Indian
Mathematicians invent the decimal system. |
| 7th Century |
Sri Vijaya
(earliest Eastern Indian Empire) reaches zenith while Shailendra's rule in Java where the Borobodur (Big
Buddha) Stupa and many other famous Buddhist and Hindu temples still exists. From here
Indian influence and culture spread to Borneo, Philippines and even Taiwan. (D. P. Singhal, A History Of The Indian People, pg. 147, 1983,
Mithuen London Ltd., London, Great Britain) |
| 647 AD |
Gupta Empire ends Harsha's Empire begins. After the death of Harsha India breaks up
into small kingdoms waging constant war with each other. |
| 7th Century |
Shasanka becomes
ruler of Independent Bangla |
| 8th Century |
Yasho Varman
Rules Northern India from Kanauj. Very powerful king who even invaded Tibet and ruled
until Bengal on the East. He brings relative stability back to Northern India. (The Varmans echo through Indian history)
Kashmir rises and breaks Kanauj's rule. This is the
Golden Age of Kashmir. Yashovarman rules in present day Uttar Pradesh in Central North
India until the end of the century. Defeated by Rastrakutas from western India. It is not
known if the Rastrakutas were Kshaitryas or of Dravir descent. Establishes a large empire
stretching from Gujarat (west coast) to Tanjore in South India.
Pratiharas also rise in Gujarat and stop the progress of
Muslims who already, taking advantage of the internal turmoil, established a foothold in
Sindh.
These were some of the Rajput Kingdoms constantly
fighting. |
| 750 AD |
Gopal creates
the Pal Empire of Bangla. Bangla becomes centre of learning and Buddhism. For a short
period Pal Kings expanded overlordship all over northern India by conquering Bhoja,
Matsya, Madra, Kuru, Yadu, Yavana, Avanti, Gandhara (Afganistan) and Kira. Later they even
defeated Kanauj to extend their rule futher. Nepal was also conquered probably at that
period. The name Nepal probably comes from the name Pal. From there they fought against
Tibet. For a while they were defeated and were under the Rastrakuta King Govinda but again
defeated , Utkalam Pragijyotissa, Dravid (Which was the Rastrakutas) and Gujara. Towards
the end they ruled only the East, mainly Bengal and Bihar and adjoining areas. The Huns are defeated by the Pal emperor as well.
Bangla spreads Buddhism to Tibet, and South East Asia and
influences the art and architecture of Nepal, Myanmar, Indonesia, and Tsang Art of China.
Kamrupa (Varmans) rules in Asam. This period is dominated by Bengal and Asam.
First Indian Kingdom in Cambodia (Kampuchea) ends after
600 years of rule. During the 6 centuries this Kingdom became an empire by reducing the
neighbouring kingdoms of Indo-China and South Thailand into its vassal states. The new
Indian Kingdom of Khmers is established (by King Jaya Varman of the Khmers. Varman kings spread India in South East Asia) and evolve into a more
powerful empire, establishing the Kambuj (Cambodian) kingdom. The Kambuj lasted until the
14th century until Siam conquered her. Her capital was Angkor Thom, (Note: Angkor is the
derivative of Nagar or city in Indian) This was one of the greatest Indian cities and
houses Angkor Wat
the most beautiful temple in the world built in the 12th century. Khmer was one of the
greatest of Indian empires.
(D. P. Sinhal, pg. 147)
Champa is also increases in power and becomes main rival
of the Khmers. |
| 985 A.D. |
Chola's conquer
Kerala to rule all south India. |
| 10th Century |
Kamboja kings
rule Bengal in the North East. Are they the same as the Kambuj of Cambodia? Tanmoy
Bhattacharya |
| 1001 |
Chola's conquers
Sri Lanka Becomes master of South India |
| Second Millennium The Dark
Age: Advent Of Muslims |
| 10th century |
Muslims invade
in the West and reaches East by the 13th century and destroys much of India's learning,
architecture and science. Nalanda the centre of world learning is burnt with its vast
collection of texts. Later however, some Muslims preserved some of the science, Math and
philosophy of India and propagated it to Europe. |
| 11th Century |
Pal Empire in
flux. At times Bengal is divided with the rise of new kings in the North East of unknown
origin and location and in the south. But MahiPal finally retake most of empire in Bengal.
He maintained the powerhouse of the East but did not join the fight against the first
Muslim invaders. In hindsight it was probably one of the greatest mistakes of history. |
| 10th to 13th
Century |
A period of chaos
and genocide in India. Muslim Turks rape India. Arabs and other Muslims follow. Sati
Daha (widow self immolation) picks up and Jauhor emerges, which was the mass
self immolation by wives together to save themselves from becoming sex slaves to the
murderers of their Hindu husbands by the marauding Turks and Moghuls. |
| 1044 AD |
Anawrata forms
powerful empire in Burma. Anwaratta has relations through matrimony with Bengal kings. |
| 1100s |
Towards the
middle of the century, the Pals lose East Bengals to the Varmans (the name that stretched through South India to all South East Asia) The Varmans came to Bengal from Simhapur of
Kalinga that stretched all across the Eastern coast of India till Orissa. (Or they could
have been Kamboja kings.) Officially Pal empire ends in 1146 AD but the last Pal king
Govind Pal ruled a tiny land centred at Gaya until 1174. Hindu Sens take over most of
Bangla from 1162. |
| 1113 AD |
SurjyaVarman starts building Angkor Wat in
Cambodia. |
| 1180 |
Chola kingdom in
decline |
| 1206 AD |
North West India
under Muslims. Sultanate formed by former Turkish slave Aibak. Destruction of
Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms in Afghanistan and Ujbekistan. Massacres take place. Hindu Kush
literally means Hindu slaughter. |
| 1321 AD |
Tughluq (Muslim)
dynasty formed in Delhi |
| 1336 AD |
Sri Vijaynagar
Empire formed (by Harihara I) in South India to ressist Muslim invasions of the Hoysala
territory by Mallik Kafur's destructive campaign. In 50 years it becomes another great
empire reigning over the Southern Indian Peninsula. It lasted until 1556 AD eventually
conquered and destroyed by 4 Muslim kingdoms in alliance. This empire was the last great
Indian Empire. Its ruins exist as nostalgic reminders of India's greatness. |
| 1350 |
The last Indian
kingdom of Java of Majapahit spreads in South East Asia. |
| 1398 - 1402 |
Mongol conqueror
Tamerlane sacks Delhi and defeats the Ottomans in Ankrya, Turkey. |
| 1400s |
Bahmani Sultans
of Gulbarga and Bidar consider it meritorious to kill a hundred thousand Hindu men, women
and children every year. |
| 1500s The Dark Age: Mongol
Dominance |
| 1526 AD - |
Babur descendant
of Mongol conquerors Chenghis (Gengis) Khan and Tamerlane becomes first Moghul (Mongol)
emperor in India. The Moghuls overrun
India and destroys much of Indian architecture and converts much of India to Islam by
force. |
| 1628 AD |
Burma
disintegrates. |
| 1632 AD |
Emperor Shah
Jahan starts building the Taj Mahal according to the British but is not supported by
historical documents. Documents suggest the Taj Mahal was an older Shiva Temple. Decide
for your self. (The Usual Story) |
| 1664 AD |
Dutch wield power
over the Thai King. |
| 1690 AD |
Calcutta founded
by English man Job Charnock on the swamps by Hoogly River. |
| 1707 AD |
Moghul Empire
starts to break up. |
| 1739 AD |
Nadir Shah or
Persia sacks Delhi and carries off the Peacock throne of the Moghuls and vast amounts of
treasure. |
| 1740 AD |
Hindu Marathas
rise in Central India and expands northwards. |
| 1755 AD |
Delhi plundered
again. This time by Afgan Ahmed Shah Durrani. |
| The Dark Age The British:
Last Foreigners |
| 1757 AD |
The Europeans
arrive. The British defeat Nawab of Bengal with the help of dissidents and take over India
piece by piece over the next century and enslave India. Other Indian empires and kingdoms
of East Asia are overrun by other Europeans. France takes Indochina and the Dutch takes
South East Asia. The Indian economy is
ruined to finance Industrialization in Britain. Vast amounts of treasures are shipped to
Great Britain, including the Kohinoor (the world's largest diamond) which was broken to
form the crown jewels. Famine is the trade mark of the British Period. The Kohinoor is yet
to be returned. |
| 1817 AD |
Marathas lose to
the British after being weakened by Ahmed Shah Durrani of Afghanistan. British rule all
India except Sindh, Kashmir and Punjab. |
| 1830s |
First Revolution
against British in Bengal by Titumir and his son. They setup a bamboo fort but are
defeated and both are martyred. |
| 1845 AD |
Sikhs of Punjab
and the British go to war. Sikhs defeated. Britain annexes Punjab. |
| 1857 |
Sepoy Biplob, a
rebellion of of the Indian members of the British army and joined other princes throughout
North India, Punjab and Bengal. The rebellion is violently crushed and thousands are
massacred by the British. First revolution against the British. Mainly in Punjab, North
India and Bengal. |
| 1885 AD |
Burma annexed by
British. Indian National Congress created
by British with no intention of nationalism or pro-independence tendencies. Pro-British
dominate Congress. |
| 1900 Age Of Revolutions |
| Early 1900s |
Nationalist
movement takes real start with Aurobindo from Bengal. He takes the sporadic revolution in
Bengal to national level. Underground movement intensifies. Congress changes stance to
pro-independence with the influence of B. G. Tilak another great nationalist. Bengal main
revolutionary area. 40, 000 Bengalis start militant activities. Many are killed or jailed. Bengal divided in 1905 as a means of controlling the Bengali
movement. Reversed in 1911 under popular pressure.
Muslim League is formed by a group of Muslim land lords
in Dhaka (present capital of Bangladesh) led by Aga Khan in 1906. They are concerned over
the Independence activities which might threaten their luxurious feudal lordships. They
support the British. |
| 1913 AD |
Rabindronath
Thakur, known in the west by mispronunciation as Tagore, wins the Nobel Prize for
litterature. His literature along with Bankim Chandra's inspire revolutionaries and
nationalists in Bengal. Kazi Nazrul Islam of Bengal will become the greatest of the
revolutionary poets soon. |
| 1919 |
Underground
activities spread. Bihar becomes another centre of revolution. Punjab becomes more active
for independence. Muslim League change
strategy as they find little support from Muslims. They now call for independence but also
cry murder against the inclusive independence movement of Gandhi. They create the myth of
Hindu conspiracy and finally win Muslim support dividing the Indians, just as the British
wanted.
But great Muslim leader Maulana A. K. Azad against Muslim
League and is diehard supporter of united India.
300-400 massacred in Amritsar by the British.
Rabindronath Thakur (Tagore) renounces knighthood received from England. |
| 1920 AD |
Moderates take
over Indian Independence movement led by Gandhi. |
| Independence Regained |
| 1943 AD |
Subhas Bose, a
leader of the Congress called the "patriot of patriots" by Gandhi creates a
revolutionary army of 30, 000 but fails to achieve goal. |
| 1947 |
Due to economic
and political reasons the British decide to give up India. They chose Gandhi and other
moderate Congress leaders to bargain with, leaving the real hardcore independence leaders
like Subhas Chandra Bose out. The British use the Muslim League as leverage against
Gandhi. Finally due to Muslim League
instigation Hindu-Muslim violence erupts and Great Britain uses this as an excuse to
divide India into two. Of course, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Maldives were outside the
scheme.
Gandhi gives in to threat from Jinnah the leader of
Muslim League. Jinnah declared that he would either be first Prime Minister of India or he
would want separate Pakistan. And if he gets neither he would incite more riots. India
regains independence but divided into India and Pakistan. (Pakistan is formed with
Pakistan and Bangladesh. Bangla was redivided to form East and West Bangla. East Bangla
will become Bangladesh later.)
India reduced to a stump of what was. |
| Post 1947 |
Indian politics
is marred with corruption. It is a moderate socialist nation with the Congress in power
and the leftists in the opposition. At the very onset of independence Mahatma Gandhi is
slain by nationalists. Pakistan is marred
by military takeovers and brutal suppressions. Military leaders gain nicknames as Butcher
of Sindh or Butcher of Bengal. Allied to the USA, who for some reason supports a lot of
brutal governments and their harsh crackdowns on civilians in Asia, as in Indonesia.
Pakistan becomes more and more Islamic extremist. Soon it
will become home to Islamic terrorism. This was developed as part of covert CIA operation
to counter socialism. |
| Age Of Revolutions: Bangladesh |
| 1971 |
After 23 years
of colonial exploitation, the destruction of Bengal economy by the Pakistanis climaxes
into a genocidal madness. The Pakistanis using racists notions start a campaign of the
most systematic and centrally planned genocide killing at least 3 million in 9 months. The
Pakistani operation is a chilling reminder of the holocaust in Germany. It was the second
worst holocaust in history and the most concentrated killing spree ever. Bangladesh fights
a guerilla war, trained by India, for independence and survival, initially led by students
and teachers and later taken over by the rebel army and the petty burgoise leadership of
Awami League. Pakistan is armed by their
ally, the US despite their knowledge of the genocide. Desperate guerillas, fighting to
save their loved ones, defeat Pakistanis and take over vast areas of Bangladesh in some of
the most courageous battles. Eventually the Indians move in after Pakistan attack Indian
airfields. Pakistanis start a desperate attempt to kill all the educated men in Bangladesh
and almost succeeds in killing all the nation's finest.
The Pakistanis await US 7th naval fleet to help defeat
the Indians and crush the guerillas. However, the naval fleet has to turn back without
fighting and within a couple of weeks the combined army of India and the guerillas
overwhelm the Pakistanis.
Bangladesh becomes independent on 16th December 1971.
Bangla revolutionaries not happy by the fact that there was no revolutionaries present
during the signing of surrender. This also allows the world assume the Indian army did all
the work. Other revolutionaries consider revolution incomplete as petty burgoise take over
after revolution. |
| Post 1971 |
Bangladesh is
ruled by inefficient dictatorship of Sheikh Mujib, who is murdered by junior officers of
the army along with most of his family in 1975. Military
coup by Mosharof follows to restore order but a counter coup is carried out by Zia, one
time freedom fighter but always keen to gain power (even from before independence). Zia
kills off potential opponents or sends them abroad and establishes himself as ruler. He
forms pseudo-democratic government which is still a military dictatorship. He brings
war criminals from 1971 back to power. He is a brutal man who sends thousands of freedom
fighters to hang in secret.
He is killed in 1981 and after a brief pseudo democracy,
a repatriated military man Ershad takes over. He forms another pseudo civilian government
until 1990 when a student and opposition lead movement ousts him. He is thrown in jail and
after an election, Khaleda Zia, widow of Zia, assumes power.
In 1996 she is defeated by opposition leader Sheikh
Hasina, daughter of Sheikh Mujib. Bangladesh is a most corrupt nation today with
overpopulation.
Pakistan again lapses in and out of military
dictatorship.
India carries, with brief interruptions, the rule of
Congress. Congress is without backbone or a character. It is still a compromising force.
Organized crime is connected well with national politics.
Powerful bosses are either political leaders or controls political leaders across India,
Pakistan and Bangladesh
Nepal is fighting a Maoist revolution which some believe
is led by people who might change Nepal for the better.
Bhutan is still a kingdom.
Burma was socialist for a period and now is a military
controlled nation.
Sri Lanka was a moderately socialist nation with some
violent attempts in the past to make it more socialist. It is now leaning towards
capitalism and is fighting a Tamil rebellion in the north. |
| 1990 - 2000 |
India and
Pakistan enter the Nuclear Powers' club and in 1999 they fight their 4th war. Prospect of
a full blown war looms. USA apparently
switches ally. Condemns long time ally Pakistan and becomes friendly towards India.
On the political front Pakistan is ruled by the military
government who took over from Extremist Islamics. Its economy is in ruins and depends on
handouts from other nations.
India is ruled by Hindu nationalists who even though
might be giving India a backbone might also destabilize the region. India gradually
becoming economically powerful.
Bangladesh has little to look forward to in the future
with a corrupt beaurocracy and terrorist politicians and severe overpopulation. Islamic
extremism, against which the '71 revolution was fought against, is again rising in
Bangladesh. War criminals not tried and live like kings in Bangladesh. |
| Future |
Will India rise to
be like Ashoka's Empire, a pacifist yet powerful nation, leader in every field of life?
The prospect looks bleak. There seems to be too much hate running around. Will the new
millennium bring forth a uniting revolution crushing corruption and religious extremism? |
| Scripts from the Brahmi
Script of India |
The idea of race has been abused too much and makes the study of race
sensitive. This classification is purely academic with no inclination to show one race
better than another since the differences are in essensce only skin deep. Moreover, maybe
the different races do not merit to be called races since the differences are far smaller
than races of other mammals. Finally let me make it clear that this study is based on what
I understood from some scientific
research and what I have learned from history books. It is not to be taken as absolute
since the classification might be wrong. AND I do not believe in separation but a
multicultural society. I actually dream of a world without borders.
There are basically four racial substrata in India.
They are:
Neolithic migrations from western Iran, probably
proto-Dravidian.
The aryan expansion from north of Caspian sea via
Turkmenia and Northern Iran.
A migration from the east of Austrasiatic and
sino-tibetan language speaking groups.
I have here a very rough flow charts showing the Aryan and the Dravir classification. |
 Indus Valley Civilization
(From harappa.com)
Present day India from mapquest.com |
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