Downloaded From: http://www.upscportal.com Specially designed for UPSCPORTAL.COM Members. Special Civil Services Main Examina8on 2010 SPECIAL STUDY PACKAGE Alexander crossed the Indus and Indian History Aryan and Greek Invasions defeated an Indian king, he turned back without extending India is home to one of the rich- The country was influenced by his power into India. est and the most ancient civiliza- many invasions, the Arya or 8ons in the world, which existed Aryans (1500BC) as they are over 5,000 years ago. This civiliza- known today, are the first in- Maurya and Gupta Periods 8on originated in the Indus River vaders. Aryans were a group of Valley, hence the name given to it nomadic tribes who had origi- The receding 8de of Greek power was Indus Valley civiliza8on. It nally inhabited the steppes of led to a period of confusion and was the origin of many of the Central Asia, in par8cular the re- uncertainty in northern India as ideas, philosophies and move- gion between the Caspian Sea various rulers tried to make capi- ments which have shaped the and the Black Sea. Tall, fair tal of the vacuum that Alexander des8ny of mankind. Its people haired, with clear cut features, had le( behind. These circum- are thought to be Dravidians, they spoke a group of languages stances saw the rise of Mauryas, whose descendants s8ll inhabit which have become known as India's first imperial dynasty, the far south of India. Indo-European. They se9led in founded by Chandragupta Mau- the region to the north west of rya. Maurya dynasty reached its India, known as the Punjab. They peak around 260 BC under the History of India brought with them new ideas, Emperor Ashoka, the most fa- new technology and new gods, mous figures in Indian History. He India is home to one of the rich- this is one of the most important le( a series of inscrip8ons on pil- est and the most ancient civiliza- epochs in Indian history. With lars and rocks across the sub-con- 8ons in the world, which existed 8me, the Aryans were engaged in 8nent. But a(er his death, the over 5,000 years ago. This civiliza- struggle with the dark skinned Mauryan empire gradually fell 8on originated in the Indus River people or Dasyus. The Dasyus apart because his descendants Valley, hence the name given to it were the Dravidians. The superi- were not as strong rulers as he was Indus Valley civiliza8on. It is ority of the Aryans resulted in the was. the origin of many of the ideas, Dravidian submission. At the beginning of the philosophies and movements The second great invasion fourth century AD, India was frag- which have shaped the des8ny of into India occurred around 500 mented into a lot of small king- mankind. The civiliza8on with its BC, when the Persian kings Cyrus doms. They were o(en invaded main ci8es Mohenjadaro and and Darius, pushing their empire by stronger neighbors like Harappa flourished for over eight eastward, conquered the prized Greeks. They conquered Indus centuries. Its people thought to Indus Valley. A(er centuries of Valley again but they didn't stay be Dravidians, whose descen- obscurity, doubt and conjecture, for long. Out of this seeming dants s8ll inhabit the far south of India came into the full light of Chaos, King Chandragupta II India. recorded history with the inva- united all of northern India into a sion of Alexander the Great of great empire again. Macedonia in 327 BC. Although The Gupta period has been 66 WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM Vol. - 18 ORDER Free HARD COPY of This Magazine. ORDER LINK: http://upscportal.com/store/magazine/vol18-hard-copy Downloaded From: http://www.upscportal.com Specially designed for UPSCPORTAL.COM Members. Special described as the golden age of In- Persian and Central Asian influ- of the three successive Carna8c dian history and under their rule ences manifested in an impres- wars between them, from 1746- of northern India, arts, including sive legacy of magnificent 48, 1748-54 and 1758-63 more- poetry and literature, flourished. palaces, forts, tombs and land- over sealed the fate of the French The exquisite Ajanta and Ellora scaped gardens-including India's possessions in India caves were excavated in this pe- magnificent edifice, the Taj In 1757, at the Ba9le of riod. Gupta period extended from Mahal. The golden era of the Plassey, Robert Clive, an em- 320AD to 480AD. But in 455 AD Mughal period was under the ployee of the Bri8sh East India the Huns invaded India from the rule of Akbar the great. Company, defeated the Nawab of north and destroyed the Guptan Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daulah and es- Empire. Again India was split into tablished their poli8cal sover- small kingdoms un8l the Muslim European Invasions eignty in India. It was an invasions around 1000 AD. important step towards the even- In South India, great empires The country’s riches in different tual Bri8sh dominance of the rose, en8rely independently from cultures, wealth in spices and country. The First War of Inde- those of the north. These in- minerals - made it a target for in- pendence (Sepoy Mu8ny) or the cluded the Kalachuris, Chalukyas, vasion and colonisa8on by Euro- first major Indian rebellion Rashtrakutas, Yadhavas, pean powers from the fi(eenth against the Bri8sh a(er the ba9le Hoysalas, Pallavas, Cholas, century onwards. of Plassey took place in 1857. Al- Pandyas, Cheras and the Vi- The Portuguese were the first though the rebels succeeded in jayanagar kingdom. Europeans to se9le in India, in capturing territories in the Goa, in the fi(eenth century Gange8c plain, it was recaptured (1498). The Europeans arrived by the Bri8sh and the rebellion Muslim Invasions even before the Mughals. The was completely crushed by mid Dutch East India company was 1858. The Bri8sh government The Medieval Period in Indian his- chartered in 1602 and they estab- took over control of India from tory began with the Muslim Inva- lished spice trade and factories in the East India Company. Britain sions. While the Hindu kingdoms Cochin, Nagapa8nam and Agra. then ruled India with local rulers ruled in the south and Buddhism They did not have any military for over three hundred years. was fading in the north, Muslim ambi8ons for India. In 1613, the invasions from the Middle East Bri8sh East India Company, a Indian Independence began, towards the end of the trading company, started its first 12th century. The Muslim period trading post in Gujarat. Later in Eventually demand grew for In- in India began with the Turkish the century, the East India Com- dian independence. The socio- conquests under Mahmud of pany opened permanent trading religious movements brought Ghazni and Muhammad Ghori. sta8ons at Madras, Bombay, and forth by various social reformers Many famous dynas8es such as Calcu9a, each under the protec- all over the country inspired na- the the Slave Dynasty, Khilji Dy- 8on of na8ve rulers. 8onal consciousness to improve nasty, Tughlaq Dynasty, Saiyyid Meanwhile around 1644, the their social condi8on and invoked and Lodhi, Bahmani Dynasty, and French established trade with the spirit of patrio8sm among the Others followed. In the16th cen- India. Pondicherry was the hub of Indian masses. A na8onal move- tury, Babur from Fergana (Uzbek- French se9lements. Other French ment for independence was cre- istan), a descendant of Genghis factories and se9lements were at ated. Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Khan swept across the Khyber Surat, their first trading post in Subhash Chandra Bosh, Bhagat Pass, defeated Ibrahim Lodi the 1666, then Masulipatanam, Singh, Rajguru, Mahamana, Sar- last ruler of the Delhi Sultanate at Karikal, Chandernagore in Bengal dar Ballabh Bhai Patel, Sarojini the ba9le of Panipat and estab- and Mahe at the Malabar coast. Naidu, Chander Shekhar Azad lished the Great Mughal Dynasty The struggle for establishing su- were the notable people of the which lasted for 200 years. premacy in trade resulted in wars movement. But the most rele- The Mughal (Mogul) period between the English and the vantverent leader of the move- saw a remarkable blend of Indian, French in the Deccan. The la9er ment was Mohandas Vol. - 18 WWW.UPSCPORTAL.COM 67 ORDER Free HARD COPY of This Magazine. ORDER LINK: http://upscportal.com/store/magazine/vol18-hard-copy Downloaded From: http://www.upscportal.com Specially designed for UPSCPORTAL.COM Members. Special Karamchand Gandhi, a lawyer ins8tu8ons of jus8ce, media and about the boundaries of king- who believed in non violent bureaucracy. doms and empire. protest (civil disobedience). Gandhi worked with Jawaharlal 2. Numisma%cs Nehru, the secretary of the Indian Sources of Indian History Numisma8cs is the study of coins. Na8onal Congress and trans- Coins yield informa8on on the formed the Indian Na8onal Con- The sources of Indian history can condi8on of country. The coins gress poli8cal party into a mass be classified under the following made of gold, silver and copper movement to campaign against heads: speak of the economic situa8on the Bri8sh colonial rule. A(er 1. Inscrip8ons of that place in the period. Coins several years of struggle, Britain 2. Numisma8cs gives us chronological informa- decided to quit India. 3. Archaeology 8on. It also gives us knowledge But a major problem had 4. Literature about the extent of influence of arisen. A large Muslim minority 5. Foreign Sources that a par8cular ruler or kingdom doubted that an independent 6. Tradi8ons and its rela8on with the distant India would also mean a Hindu- areas. Roman coins discovered in dominated India. The Muslim 1. Inscrip%ons India gives us an idea about the League, led by Muhammad Ali Epigraphy is the study of in- existence of contacts with the Jinnah began to call for an inde- scrip8ons.