India is a distinct geographical entity with Kashmir in north and Kanyakumari in South, surrounded by mountains on one side and ocean on other. But that hasn't stopped the interaction of indians with the outside world.

The Harappan Civilisation.
India has been one of the earliest centers of civilisation. Harappa was the first early civilization to emerge in India. This was the most advanced and biggest civilisation of its time. It stretched from Baluchistan, Sindh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajsthan, west UP, and Gujrat. It had trade and diplomatic relations with other civilisations too. It was quite advanced and several features of modern cities like godowns, sewer systems, planned cities, pools. several artistic objects of that have also been found. After the decline of the Harappan civilisation, till about 1000 years had elapsed, no other civilisation arose. The effects of harappan civilisation, however, were felt in the next main era of the ancient Indian civilisations.

The Vedic Civilisation
The next main era in the history of India was the Vedic era. There is a slight disagreement amongst the historians as to whether Aryans were native to this country or arrived from outside. The latter view was propounded by British historians, who were reluctant to concede that a civilisation which they had vanquished had in the past achieved something which had surpassed their achievements. The evidence however, supports the former view.

Initially, the ascent of aryans led to a decline in the civilization. In some parts, cities were destroyed and a economy mainly based on domestication of cattle was established. But they also ushered in the Iron age. This led to spread of farming and this in turn led to genesis of civilisation in the whole of India. It is interesting to note that some facets of this civilisation are still visible in Indian villages of today.

In 322 BC, Alexander Invaded India, and defeated a few border kingdoms. His army however caught fever or was too intimidated by the tales of Magadh's ( The Prominent Kingdom of that time) might, and refused to go further. Thus the dreams of first great warrior king were turned to dust even before a real contest. That contest was to come a few years later. The effect of Alexander's attack on India was profound. It led to dethroning of Ghan Nanda ( the king of Magadh) by Chanakya and Chandrgupt. Together they founded a new empire - The Maurya Empire. In 326 BC, they tangled with Selucus ( Chief General of Alexander) and summarily defeated him.

During the period of 600 BC to 200 BC there were numerous changes in every aspects of the country's life. The rise and decline of the very first empire (The Mauryan Empire) came in this period. World's first universities TakshaShila and Nalanda were established in this period and became very famous. The most influent religion of the 600 BC were Baudh and Jain these caused changes in every day life as well on the civilization itself. These religions also had an effect on what we call Hinduism. The spreading of Baudh religion ( Embraced by Ashoka The Great also), Hindusim, and Jainism were the major cultural events of this age. The cast system of Vedic origins was established firmly and Hinduism spewed several Karmakands (religious ceremonies) which were absent in the Vedic society.

200 BC to 300 AD
The next major era of ancient indian history is from 200 B.C. to 300 AD. This age saw major cultural, economic and political changes. In this age, trade via land and sea route began to take place and led to prosperity and progress. There was progress in all spheres of life. Indian mathematicians made rapid advances and the first manual for surgery (By Charak) was written in this period. Quite a big region of India's landscape was now ruled by non-Indian dynasties. These were Indo-Roman, Shaka,and Kushan. These 'Outsiders' however, were so influenced by Indian culture that they embraced one or other of the Indian religions and were totally Indianised. In south, the strong Satvahan empire was founded.

The Gupta Era.
The next major phase in indian history is from 300 AD to 700 AD. This era saw the rise of the Gupt empire, which was quite a strong empire for about a century. In some ways this was the beginning of the decline, as evidenced by slow and steady declination of cities and trade, and rise of aristocracy was first seen in this period. But still however, there was tremendous progress in Architecture, arts, science, technology, mathematics and literature. Because of this, this age is called the Golden age in Indian history.

This age saw the decline of Buddhism and ascendency of Hinduism, increase in idol worship and building a lots of temples in South and North India. Sanskrit was the still the main language, but a lots of other dialects begun to emerge. Most of the ancient Indian texts on Astronomy, Mathematics and Aurveda ( Clarification: Not the Book, but the science of healing) were written in this period.

The Middle Age
The special thing about the political scene in India from 8th to 12th Century BC was the existence of many small states. The Bigger of these tried to extend their rule to other parts of India. Pal, Pratihar, and Rashtrakut were the main players in these attempts. The main kingdom in the South was of the Chol's. They managed to get a lot of part of India under their aegis but overall, the scene was of political disunity, especially in North India.

The cast system got harder than before as they were the main features of this period, then there was the development of temples which now define excellence in both art and size these were developed in various styles attributed to the various religions. The Chol's helped to develop art forms such as architecture, literature and development of cultural and trade bondings with south-eastern Asia. This was also the time when Indians first came in contact with Islam through Arab traders in 7th the Century. In the end of 10th century and the beginning of the 11th, Turks attacked India and established their rule on Punjab. These attacks once again resumed in the end of 12th century and the beginning of the 13th and led to the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate. With this a new political age in the Indian history begun. A few big states managed to assimilate other states in the next century.

However, with the decline of the Delhi Sultanate in the 14th Century, many small states arose in the various parts of the country. Few of these were very powerful, such as Bahmani and Vijaynagar. Iranians, mongols, and Afghans also made India their home. There were important economic changes also. Artisanship was encouraged and several cities rose into prominence which were the centre of artisans. Indian architecture imbibed the new elements and literature was given a new direction. Most of the languages found in India were formed during this period(?). In literature, Bhakti margi Sants(sages) also enriched these languages. In most places Farsi became the language of courts, displacing Sanskrit. For the first time history of kings were written. Bhakti Andolan (Devotees of the Inner god, these discarded Idol worship and religious ceremonies) now spread in most part of India. Prominent Bhakti Margi's were Kabir and Guru Nanak. Another such movement(! this is a literal translation of the Hindi word,Aandolan.) was of Sufis. These were muslim mystisicts , and they gave the message of love and peace. Guru Nanak's teachings led to the birth of Sikh religion.

16th and 17th century was the age of the Mughal empire. This was the time when the process of assimilation of new influences and cultures into a combined Indian social and cultural fabric was at its maximum. The mughals created a huge empire and managed to unite a large part of India. Akbar was the greatest of the Mughal emperors. He adopted a policy of peace with everybody. He opined that all of the religions were God's grant and so each had equal claims to god's love. Indian architecture reached new heights in this period. A new form of art - painting was also developed under Iranian influence. Urdu also developed as new language in this period. The decline of the Mughal empire started with Auranzeb who although was a able administrator, was a muslim fundamentalist. He discontinued Akbar's polices and levied a tax(Jajia) on all non-muslims. Shivaji was a Maratha king in the same period who gallantly challenged Aurangjeb's might and set up his own kingdom. shivaji's tales are today a part of folklore.

The Modern age
The modern age of the Indian history begins with the decline of Mughal empire. A succession of weak rulers saw the power slip from the emperor to theNawabs. These Nawabs owed a nominal allegiance to the emperors. The mughal empire declined in the beginning of the 18th century. At this time there were three Prominent powers in India: Mysore, Hyderabad, and The Marathas. During a campaign, Marathas suffered a setback by the hands of Ahmad Shah Abdali in the battle of panipat. This shook their self-confidence, and they split into four fief doms. During the Mid 18th century, the English took advantage of this political disunity and began the slow process of enslaving India. they played off rajah against the other and progressively won more and more territory. A big change in their fortune occurred when they defeated the then Nawab of Bengal, Siraj udd dowlah. Bengal was the richest state of India at that time. The riches they looted from bengal enabled the british to fund the Industrial revolution in their country and enslave more states in India. The defeat of Tipu Sultan of mysore was decisive. The only power capable of defeating the English at that time were the Marathas, but they were more interested in waiting and fighting amongst themselves. When finally they did combine their forces, British were too strong for them( having already defeated each of the maratha Shatraps individually).

By Mid 19th Century Whole of the India was the slave to the British either directly, or indirectly. This time the foreigners who had come to India did not want to stay and mix, they only wanted to loot and exploit. Within 100 yrs Bengal had now become the poorest state in India. There was an attempt by the erstwhile Indian aristocracy to overthrow the British rule in 1857, but it failed mainly due to lack of support from the general public and the superior resources of the British. However within half a century The Indian National Congress was formed a party which led indians to freedom.

Ironically, the advanced which the British introduced finally proved to be their undoing. The education system Lord Mcaulay introduced was intended to produce men 'Black in skin but English in Thought'. However, those young men trained in the British system of education finally did raise the cry for equality which eventually took the shape of a demand for free India. Gopal Krishna gokhale, and Notably Bal Gangadhar tilak were the prime movers for this demand. However, the real battle did not begin until the arrival of Mahatma Gandhi on the scene. This one man single handedly turned Congress a party of aristocrats into a party of people. And with that, the power of congress increased manifold. He had able colleagues like Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel and Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru in this movement. And together the Indians fought until they forced the British to leave.

But the victory was not without its pains. The Hindu-Muslim riots at the time claimed the lives of claimed the lives of millions. And we have the Muslim League and Mr Jinnah to thank for it.

Independent India

The period after independence saw the assimilation of several Rajwade into India due to the diplomacy of Sardar Patel. India also went to war in what was to be recurring theme over Kashmir the first time. After Indian forces had gained an upper hand in the battle, Pt. Nehru appealed to the UN with the result that Pakistan still holds a part of Kashmir today. This was a characteristic failure of the great man. Foreign policy has never been a strong point of Indians, and this was more so in Pandit Nehru's case. This was again the case in 1962's war with China when India suffered a humiliating defeat. The lesson's learnt in that battle were not lost, however, and when Pakistan tried the same in 1965, under Lal Bahadur Shastri's leadership Indian forces inflicted heavy losses on Pakistanis. This was the second time India had been to war with neighbors and both times India hadn't started the war.

This was also the time when work started on what would be later known as the green revolution. There had been a great famine in India and USA offered assistance in form of substandard grains which was refused. In early 1970's the Congress party split and Indira Gandhi became the PM. she was a strong willed woman and showed that in 1971, when India succeeded in liberating Bangladesh in alliance with guerrillas of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman. General Manekshaw was the hero of that battle. However, in 1977, her strong will became a threat to the Democracy after she declared the state of emergency. It was left to Jai prakash Narayan to form a movement against her which saw the return to normalcy after the Supreme court quashed the emergency order. The next gov. to come in power was the janata party, which broke up in two years due to internecine feuds and Indira Gandhi again returned as the PM of India.

She was assinated in 1985 by khalisatni terrorists after she had ordered government forces in side the Golden temple. This also signalled a change in Pakistani policy to harass India, now they were sending terrorists inside instead of fighting hand to hand. In the sympathy wave that followed, the inexperienced Rajiv Gandhi was swept to power. He attempted to push India into ' The 21st Century'. But he had bad advisors and his biggest mistake was to send Indian Forces to Sri Lanka on a peace keeping(!) mission against the LTTE. This turned out to be a thankless job and this action endeared him to no one. He was swept out of power by Mr. V.P. singh, (who now a days is a self-styled artist!) who promptly carried out what he called 'social justice'(?).

The result of which was mandalisation of the politics, form now on all votes would be cast on the basis of caste. The religionisation of politics was done by the BJP, which withdrew support from the JD when the latter did not allow kar sevaks to build the Ram Temple at ayodhya and the police greeted them with bullets Instead. The JD govt fell, and Congress again managed to gain power after some horse trading. After the passage of 5 years, however, the populace returned a hung verdict in the elections. This led to a 13 day BJP government, which fell after it could not muster any support in the parliament. This led to the formation once again of the Govt of the 'Left front', a motley group of politicians.

Their government fell when Congress withdrew support on some flimsy reason, and the coming elections saw the re-installation of the BJP govt and this time they lasted for 13 months. By this time the Bjp had removed their communalistic character, and they became more of a centrist party. In 1999 Pakistan surreptitiously occupied the heights of kargil. A humiliating defeat followed both on diplomatic and war fronts. Just a few months before, Indians had tested 5 nuclear bombs, an assertion of our independence and might. Scarcely a few months later in the next general elections, the BJP again returned to power.