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==History== ==History==
=== Proto-Indo-Iranians === === Indo-Iranians ===
{{main|Indo-Iranians|Proto-Indo-Europeans|Aryan|Indo-European migrations|Indo-Aryan migrations}} {{main|Indo-Iranians|Proto-Indo-Europeans|Aryan|Indo-European migrations|Indo-Aryan migrations}}
{{Further|Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia|Peopling of India}} {{Further|Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia|Peopling of India}}


⚫ The introduction of the ] in the Indian subcontinent was the result of a ] from Central Asia into the northern ] (modern-day ], ], ], ], ], and ]). These migrations started approximately 1,800 BCE, after the invention of the war chariot, and also brought Indo-Aryan languages into the ] and possibly ].{{sfn|Anthony|2009|p=49}} Another group of the Indo-Aryans migrated further westward and founded the ] kingdom in northern Syria;{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=454}} (c. 1500–1300 BC) the other group were the Vedic people.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=33 note 20}} ] suggests that the ], an ] ] people of ] in ], were also of Indo-Aryan origin.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=376-7}}

==== Sintashta–Petrovka culture ====
{{Main|Sintashta culture}}
]

The Sintashta culture, also known as the Sintashta–Petrovka culture<ref name="Koryakova 1998b">{{Harvnb|Koryakova|1998b}}.</ref> or Sintashta–Arkaim culture,<ref name="Koryakova 1998a">{{Harvnb|Koryakova|1998a}}.</ref> is a ] ] of the northern ] on the borders of ] and ], dated to the period 2100–1800 ].<ref name="Anthony 2009">{{Harvnb|Anthony|2009}}.</ref> It is probably the archaeological manifestation of the Indo-Iranian language group.{{sfn|Anthony|2009|p=390 (fig. 15.9), 405–411}}

The Sintashta culture emerged from the interaction of two antecedent cultures. Its immediate predecessor in the Ural-Tobol steppe was the ], an offshoot of the cattle-herding ] that moved east into the region between 2800 and 2600 BC. Sintashta ] also shows the influence of the late ], a collection of ] settlements in the ] zone north of the Sintashta region that were also predominantly ].{{sfn|Anthony|2007|pp=385–388}}

==== Andronovo culture ====
{{Main|Andronovo culture}}
]-wheeled ] finds (purple), and the adjacent and overlapping ], ], and ] cultures (green).]]

⚫ The Andronovo culture is a collection of similar local ] ] cultures that flourished c. 1800–900 BC in western ] and the west ].{{sfn|Mallory|1997|pp=20–21}} It is probably better termed an archaeological complex or ]. The ], from which the Indo-Aryans developed, are identified with the ] (2100–1800 BCE),{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=390 (fig. 15.9), 405–411}}{{sfn|Kuz'mina|2007|p=222}} and the ],{{sfn|Anthony|2009|p=49}} which flourished ca. 1800–1400 BCE in the steppes around the ], present-day Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The Proto-Indo-Aryan split off around 1800–1600 BCE from the Iranians,{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=408}} moved south through the ], south of the Andronovo culture, borrowing some of their distinctive religious beliefs and practices from the BMAC, and then migrated further south into the ] and north-western India.<ref>George Erdosy (1995). "The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity", p. 279</ref>{{sfn|Anthony|2007}} The migration of the Indo-Aryans was part of the larger diffusion of ] from the ] at the ] which started in the 4th millennia BCE.{{sfn|Anthony|2007}}<ref>Johannes Krause mit Thomas Trappe: ''Die Reise unserer Gene. Eine Geschichte über uns und unsere Vorfahren.'' Propyläen Verlag, Berlin 2019, p. 148 ff.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/all-indoeuropean-languages-may-have-originated-from-this-one-place/|title=All Indo-European Languages May Have Originated From This One Place|website=IFLScience|language=en|access-date=26 December 2019}}</ref>

====Bactria-Margiana culture====
{{Main|Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex}}
]).]]

The Bactria-Margiana Culture, also called "Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex", was a non-Indo-European culture which influenced the Indo-Iranians.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=32}} It was centered in what is nowadays northwestern Afghanistan and southern Turkmenistan.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=32}} Proto-Indo-Iranian arose due to this influence.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=32}}

According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the contact zone between the ] (present-day Uzbekistan) and (present-day) Iran.{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=462}} It was "a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements",{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=462}} which borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices"{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=32}} from the ].{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=32}} At least 383 non-Indo-European words were borrowed from this culture, including the god ] and the ritual drink ].{{sfn|Anthony|2007|pp=454–455}}

The characteristically ] (southern ]/northern ]) artifacts found at burials in ] and ] are explained by a movement of peoples from Central Asia to the south.<ref>{{Harvcolnb|Allchin|1995|pp=47–48}}<br />Hiebert & Lamberg-Karlovsky (1992), Kohl (1984), and Parpola (1994), as cited in {{Harvcoltxt|Bryant|2001|p=215}}</ref> The Indo-Aryan tribes may have been present in the area of the BMAC from 1700 BCE at the latest (incidentally corresponding with the decline of that culture). From the BMAC, the Indo-Aryans moved into the ].

====Vedic culture====
{{Main|Vedic period }}
] (after ]). The ], ] and ]s have often been associated with Indo-Iranian migrations. The ], ], ], ], and ] cultures are candidates for cultures associated with ]s.]] ] (after ]). The ], ] and ]s have often been associated with Indo-Iranian migrations. The ], ], ], ], and ] cultures are candidates for cultures associated with ]s.]]


Starting ca. 1900 BCE, ] moved into the ] from ] in several ].<ref>{{cite book|last=Stein|first=Burton|author-link=Burton Stein|editor-last=Arnold|editor-first=David|year=2010|title=A History of India|edition=2nd|publisher=]|place=Oxford|isbn=978-1-4051-9509-6|page=47|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QY4zdTDwMAQC}}</ref>{{sfn|Kulke|Rothermund|2004|p=31}} The ] is the period when the Vedas were composed, the liturgical hymns from the ] people. The Vedic culture was located in part of north-west India, while other parts of India had a distinct cultural identity during this period. Many regions of the Indian subcontinent transitioned from the ] to the ] in this period.{{sfn|Upinder Singh|2008|p=255}}
⚫ The introduction of the ] in the Indian subcontinent was the result of a ] from Central Asia into the northern ] (modern-day ], ], ], ], ], and ]). These migrations started approximately 1,800 BCE, after the invention of the war chariot, and also brought Indo-Aryan languages into the ] and possibly ].{{CN|date=August 2023}} Another group of Indo-Aryans migrated further westward and founded the ] kingdom in northern Syria;{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=454}} (c. 1500–1300 BC) the other group was the Vedic people.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=33 note 20}} ] suggests that the ], an ] ] people of ] in ], were also of Indo-Aryan origin.{{sfn|Beckwith|2009|p=376-7}}


Around {{circa|1200}}–1000 BCE the ''Aryan'' culture spread eastward to the fertile western ] Plain. ] were adopted, which allowed for the clearing of forests and the adoption of a more settled, agricultural way of life. The second half of the Vedic period was characterised by the emergence of towns, ], and a complex social differentiation distinctive to India,{{sfn|Stein|2010|p=50}} and the ]'s codification of ].{{sfn|Witzel|1995|p=3-5}}{{sfn|Samuel|2010|p=49-52}} During this time, the central Ganges Plain was dominated by a related but non-Vedic Indo-Aryan culture, of ]. The end of the Vedic period witnessed the rise of true cities and large states (called ]s) as well as ] movements (including ] and ]) which challenged the Vedic orthodoxy.{{sfn|Flood|1996|p=82}}
⚫ The ], from which the Indo-Aryans developed, are identified with the ] (2100–1800 BCE),{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=390 (fig. 15.9), 405–411}}{{sfn|Kuz'mina|2007|p=222}} and the ],{{CN|date=August 2023}} which flourished ca. 1800–1400 BCE in the steppes around the ], present-day Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The Proto-Indo-Aryan split off around 1800–1600 BCE from the Iranians,{{sfn|Anthony|2007|p=408}} moved south through the ], south of the Andronovo culture, borrowing some of their distinctive religious beliefs and practices from the BMAC, and then migrated further south into the ] and north-western India.<ref>George Erdosy (1995). "The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia: Language, Material Culture and Ethnicity", p. 279</ref>{{sfn|Anthony|2007}} The migration of the Indo-Aryans was part of the larger diffusion of ] from the ] at the ] which started in the 4th millennium BCE.{{sfn|Anthony|2007}}<ref>Johannes Krause mit Thomas Trappe: ''Die Reise unserer Gene. Eine Geschichte über uns und unsere Vorfahren.'' Propyläen Verlag, Berlin 2019, p. 148 ff.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/all-indoeuropean-languages-may-have-originated-from-this-one-place/|title=All Indo-European Languages May Have Originated From This One Place|website=IFLScience|date=24 May 2018 |language=en|access-date=26 December 2019}}</ref> The ], ], ], ], and ] cultures are candidates for cultures associated with Indo-Aryans.

The Vedic period saw the emergence of a hierarchy of ] that would remain influential. Vedic religion developed into Brahmanical orthodoxy, and around the beginning of the Common Era, the ] formed one of the main constituents of "]".{{sfn|Hiltebeitel|2002|p={{page needed|date=January 2021}}}}

Archaeological cultures identified with phases of Indo-Aryan ] include the ], the ], the ] and the ].{{sfn|Witzel|1989}}


The Indo-Aryans were united by shared cultural norms and language, referred to as ''aryā'' 'noble'. Over the last four millennia, the Indo-Aryan culture has evolved particularly inside India itself, but its origins are in the conflation of values and heritage of the Indo-Aryan and indigenous people groups of India.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Avari |first=Burjor |url= |title=India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Sub-Continent from c. 7000 BC to AD 1200 |date=2007-06-11 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-25161-2 |pages=xvii |language=en}}</ref> Diffusion of this culture and language took place by patron-client systems, which allowed for the absorption and acculturation of other groups into this culture, and explains the strong influence on other cultures with which it interacted. The Indo-Aryans were united by shared cultural norms and language, referred to as ''aryā'' 'noble'. Over the last four millennia, the Indo-Aryan culture has evolved particularly inside India itself, but its origins are in the conflation of values and heritage of the Indo-Aryan and indigenous people groups of India.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Avari |first=Burjor |url= |title=India: The Ancient Past: A History of the Indian Sub-Continent from c. 7000 BC to AD 1200 |date=2007-06-11 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-25161-2 |pages=xvii |language=en}}</ref> Diffusion of this culture and language took place by patron-client systems, which allowed for the absorption and acculturation of other groups into this culture, and explains the strong influence on other cultures with which it interacted.
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] propagates the idea that the Indo-Aryans were indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, and that the Indo-European languages spread from there to central Asia and Europe. Contemporary support for this idea is ideologically driven, and has no basis in objective data and mainstream scholarship.{{sfn|Witzel|2001|p=95}}{{sfn|Jamison|2006}}{{sfn|Guha|2007|p=341}}{{sfn|Fosse|2005|p=438}}{{snf|Olson|2016|p=136}} ] propagates the idea that the Indo-Aryans were indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, and that the Indo-European languages spread from there to central Asia and Europe. Contemporary support for this idea is ideologically driven, and has no basis in objective data and mainstream scholarship.{{sfn|Witzel|2001|p=95}}{{sfn|Jamison|2006}}{{sfn|Guha|2007|p=341}}{{sfn|Fosse|2005|p=438}}{{snf|Olson|2016|p=136}}

===Mahajanapadas===
{{main|Mahajanapadas}}
]]]
In the late vedic period, sixteen great Indo-Aryan ] or ] ]s known as ] appeared, between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE during the ] period.<ref>Vikas Nain, "Second Urbanization in the Chronology of Indian History", ''International Journal of Academic Research and Development'' '''3''' (2) (March 2018), pp. 538–542 esp. 539.</ref>

The 6th–5th centuries BCE is often regarded as a major turning point in early Indian history; during this period India's first large cities arose after the demise of the ]. It was also the time of the rise of ] movements (including ] and ]), which challenged the religious orthodoxy of the ].

Two of the Mahājanapadas were most probably ]s (oligarchic republics) and others had forms of monarchy. Ancient ] like the '']''<ref>Anguttara Nikaya I. p 213; IV. pp 252, 256, 261.</ref> make frequent reference to sixteen great kingdoms and republics which had developed and flourished in a belt stretching from ] in the northwest to ] in the eastern part of the ].

===Magadha empires===
{{main|Magadha period}}
] at its greatest extent (c.250 BCE)]]
Magadha was originally one of the sixteen Indo-Aryan ]. The core of the kingdom was the area of ] south of the ]; its first capital was ] (modern Rajgir) then ] (modern ]). Early sources mention Magadha being ruled by the ] and ] (c. 544–413 BCE) for some 200 years. They were succeeded by the ] (c. 345–322 BCE), which at its greatest extent, extended from Bengal in the east, to the ] in the west and as far south as the ].{{sfn|Mookerji|1988|pp=28–33}} However, it was the Maurya Empire (322–185&nbsp;BCE) which unified most of the Indian subcontinent into one state, and was the largest empire ever to exist on the Indian subcontinent.<ref name="Peter_2006">{{cite journal |last1=Turchin|first1=Peter|last2=Adams|first2=Jonathan M.|last3=Hall|first3=Thomas D. | title = East–West Orientation of Historical Empires | journal = Journal of World-Systems Research|date=December 2006 |volume=12|issue=2 |page=223 |url =http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jwsr/article/view/369/381|access-date=12 September 2016 |issn= 1076-156X}}</ref> At its greatest extent, the ] stretched to the north up to the natural boundaries of the ] and to the east into what is now ]. To the west, it reached beyond modern Pakistan, to the ] mountains in what is now Afghanistan. The empire was established by ] assisted by Chanakya (]) in ] (in modern ]) when he overthrew the ].<ref>{{cite book | title=A History of India: Volume 1 | author=Romila Thapar | page=70}}</ref>

===Later developments===
After the fall of Mauryan Empire in 180 BCE, ] in Magadha and ] in Deccan plateau appeared. This era is called ], during which hundreds of different kingdoms emerged in the subcontinent. However, between 3rd and 6th centuries AD most of Indo-Aryan heartland was unified by the ], which marked the beginning of ]. Fall of Guptas after the ] again gave rise to many different dynasties. Emperor ] of ] consolidated control of northern India in the 7th century. His death marked the beginning of ] between the ], the ] and the ] for the control of imperial city of ].<ref name=Sen>Sen, S.N., 2013, A Textbook of Medieval Indian History, Delhi: Primus Books, {{ISBN|9789380607344}}</ref>{{rp|20}} Afterwards, Indo-Aryan kingdoms were ruled by the ] till the turn of the second millennium, when ] started into Indian subcontinent. They gave rise to the ] and the ]. ] was the last major Indo-Aryan power in India. Its conquest by the EIC marked the beginning of the ].


== List of historical Indo-Aryan peoples == == List of historical Indo-Aryan peoples ==

Revision as of 07:27, 4 December 2023

Indo-European ethnolinguistic groups primarily concentrated in South Asia

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Indo-Aryan peoples
1978 map showing geographical distribution of the major Indo-Aryan languages. (Urdu is included under Hindi. Romani, Domari, and Lomavren are outside the scope of the map.) Dotted/striped areas indicate where multilingualism is common.   Central   Dardic   Eastern   Northern   Northwestern   Western   Southern
Total population
~1.5 billion
Regions with significant populations
 Indiaover 911 million
 Pakistanover 233 million
 Bangladeshover 160 million
   Nepalover 26 million
 Sri Lankaover 14 million
 Myanmarover 1 million
 Mauritiusover 725,400
 Maldivesover 300,000
 Bhutanover 240,000
Languages
Indo-Aryan languages
Religion
Indian religions (Mostly Hindu; with Buddhist, Sikh and Jain minorities) and Islam, Christians and some non-religious atheist/agnostic

Indo-Aryan peoples are a diverse collection of Indo-European peoples speaking Indo-Aryan languages in the Indian subcontinent. Historically, Aryans were the Indo-Iranian speaking pastoralists who migrated from Central Asia into South Asia and introduced the Proto-Indo-Aryan language. Today, the Indo-Aryan language speakers are found across the modern-day regions of Bangladesh, Nepal, eastern-Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and northern-India.

History

Indo-Iranians

Main articles: Indo-Iranians, Proto-Indo-Europeans, Aryan, Indo-European migrations, and Indo-Aryan migrations Further information: Genetics and archaeogenetics of South Asia and Peopling of India

The introduction of the Indo-Aryan languages in the Indian subcontinent was the result of a migration of Indo-Aryan people from Central Asia into the northern Indian subcontinent (modern-day Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka). These migrations started approximately 1,800 BCE, after the invention of the war chariot, and also brought Indo-Aryan languages into the Levant and possibly Inner Asia. Another group of the Indo-Aryans migrated further westward and founded the Mitanni kingdom in northern Syria; (c. 1500–1300 BC) the other group were the Vedic people. Christopher I. Beckwith suggests that the Wusun, an Indo-European Caucasian people of Inner Asia in antiquity, were also of Indo-Aryan origin.

Sintashta–Petrovka culture

Main article: Sintashta culture
According to Allentoft (2015), the Sintashta culture probably derived from the Corded Ware culture.

The Sintashta culture, also known as the Sintashta–Petrovka culture or Sintashta–Arkaim culture, is a Bronze Age archaeological culture of the northern Eurasian steppe on the borders of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, dated to the period 2100–1800 BC. It is probably the archaeological manifestation of the Indo-Iranian language group.

The Sintashta culture emerged from the interaction of two antecedent cultures. Its immediate predecessor in the Ural-Tobol steppe was the Poltavka culture, an offshoot of the cattle-herding Yamnaya horizon that moved east into the region between 2800 and 2600 BC. Sintashta material culture also shows the influence of the late Abashevo culture, a collection of Corded Ware settlements in the forest steppe zone north of the Sintashta region that were also predominantly pastoralist.

Andronovo culture

Main article: Andronovo culture
The Andronovo culture's approximate maximal extent, with the formative Sintashta-Petrovka culture (red), the location of the earliest spoke-wheeled chariot finds (purple), and the adjacent and overlapping Afanasevo, Srubna, and BMAC cultures (green).

The Andronovo culture is a collection of similar local Bronze Age Indo-Iranian cultures that flourished c. 1800–900 BC in western Siberia and the west Asiatic steppe. It is probably better termed an archaeological complex or archaeological horizon. The Proto-Indo-Iranians, from which the Indo-Aryans developed, are identified with the Sintashta culture (2100–1800 BCE), and the Andronovo culture, which flourished ca. 1800–1400 BCE in the steppes around the Aral Sea, present-day Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The Proto-Indo-Aryan split off around 1800–1600 BCE from the Iranians, moved south through the Bactria-Margiana Culture, south of the Andronovo culture, borrowing some of their distinctive religious beliefs and practices from the BMAC, and then migrated further south into the Levant and north-western India. The migration of the Indo-Aryans was part of the larger diffusion of Indo-European languages from the Proto-Indo-European homeland at the Pontic–Caspian steppe which started in the 4th millennia BCE.

Bactria-Margiana culture

Main article: Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex
The extent of the Bactria-Margiana Culture (after EIEC).

The Bactria-Margiana Culture, also called "Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex", was a non-Indo-European culture which influenced the Indo-Iranians. It was centered in what is nowadays northwestern Afghanistan and southern Turkmenistan. Proto-Indo-Iranian arose due to this influence.

According to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the contact zone between the Zeravshan River (present-day Uzbekistan) and (present-day) Iran. It was "a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements", which borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices" from the Bactria–Margiana culture. At least 383 non-Indo-European words were borrowed from this culture, including the god Indra and the ritual drink Soma.

The characteristically Bactria-Margiana (southern Turkmenistan/northern Afghanistan) artifacts found at burials in Mehrgarh and Balochistan are explained by a movement of peoples from Central Asia to the south. The Indo-Aryan tribes may have been present in the area of the BMAC from 1700 BCE at the latest (incidentally corresponding with the decline of that culture). From the BMAC, the Indo-Aryans moved into the Indian subcontinent.

Vedic culture

Main article: Vedic period
Archaeological cultures associated with Indo-Iranian migrations (after EIEC). The Andronovo, BMAC and Yaz cultures have often been associated with Indo-Iranian migrations. The GGC, Cemetery H, Copper Hoard, OCP, and PGW cultures are candidates for cultures associated with Indo-Aryan migrations.

Starting ca. 1900 BCE, Indo-Aryan tribes moved into the Punjab from Central Asia in several waves of migration. The Vedic period is the period when the Vedas were composed, the liturgical hymns from the Indo-Aryan people. The Vedic culture was located in part of north-west India, while other parts of India had a distinct cultural identity during this period. Many regions of the Indian subcontinent transitioned from the Chalcolithic to the Iron Age in this period.

Around c. 1200–1000 BCE the Aryan culture spread eastward to the fertile western Ganges Plain. Iron tools were adopted, which allowed for the clearing of forests and the adoption of a more settled, agricultural way of life. The second half of the Vedic period was characterised by the emergence of towns, kingdoms, and a complex social differentiation distinctive to India, and the Kuru Kingdom's codification of orthodox sacrificial ritual. During this time, the central Ganges Plain was dominated by a related but non-Vedic Indo-Aryan culture, of Greater Magadha. The end of the Vedic period witnessed the rise of true cities and large states (called mahajanapadas) as well as śramaṇa movements (including Jainism and Buddhism) which challenged the Vedic orthodoxy.

The Vedic period saw the emergence of a hierarchy of social classes that would remain influential. Vedic religion developed into Brahmanical orthodoxy, and around the beginning of the Common Era, the Vedic tradition formed one of the main constituents of "Hindu synthesis".

Archaeological cultures identified with phases of Indo-Aryan material culture include the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture, the Gandhara grave culture, the black and red ware culture and the Painted Grey Ware culture.

The Indo-Aryans were united by shared cultural norms and language, referred to as aryā 'noble'. Over the last four millennia, the Indo-Aryan culture has evolved particularly inside India itself, but its origins are in the conflation of values and heritage of the Indo-Aryan and indigenous people groups of India. Diffusion of this culture and language took place by patron-client systems, which allowed for the absorption and acculturation of other groups into this culture, and explains the strong influence on other cultures with which it interacted.

While the Indo-Aryan linguistic group occupies mainly northern parts of India, genetically, all South Asians across the Indian subcontinent are descendants of a mix of South Asian hunter-gatherers, Iranian hunter-gatherers, and Central Asian steppe pastoralists in varying proportion. Additionally, Austroasiatic and Tibeto-Burmese speaking people contributed to the genetic make-up of South Asia.

Indigenous Aryanism propagates the idea that the Indo-Aryans were indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, and that the Indo-European languages spread from there to central Asia and Europe. Contemporary support for this idea is ideologically driven, and has no basis in objective data and mainstream scholarship.

Mahajanapadas

Main article: Mahajanapadas
The 16 Mahajanapada kingdoms

In the late vedic period, sixteen great Indo-Aryan kingdoms or oligarchic republics known as Mahajanapadas appeared, between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE during the second urbanisation period.

The 6th–5th centuries BCE is often regarded as a major turning point in early Indian history; during this period India's first large cities arose after the demise of the Indus Valley civilization. It was also the time of the rise of sramana movements (including Buddhism and Jainism), which challenged the religious orthodoxy of the Vedic period.

Two of the Mahājanapadas were most probably gaṇasaṅghas (oligarchic republics) and others had forms of monarchy. Ancient Buddhist texts like the Anguttara Nikaya make frequent reference to sixteen great kingdoms and republics which had developed and flourished in a belt stretching from Gandhara in the northwest to Anga in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent.

Magadha empires

Main article: Magadha period
Maurya empire at its greatest extent (c.250 BCE)

Magadha was originally one of the sixteen Indo-Aryan Mahajanapadas. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganges; its first capital was Rajagriha (modern Rajgir) then Pataliputra (modern Patna). Early sources mention Magadha being ruled by the Pradyota dynasty and Haryanka dynasty (c. 544–413 BCE) for some 200 years. They were succeeded by the Nanda Empire (c. 345–322 BCE), which at its greatest extent, extended from Bengal in the east, to the Punjab region in the west and as far south as the Vindhya Range. However, it was the Maurya Empire (322–185 BCE) which unified most of the Indian subcontinent into one state, and was the largest empire ever to exist on the Indian subcontinent. At its greatest extent, the Mauryan Empire stretched to the north up to the natural boundaries of the Himalayas and to the east into what is now Assam. To the west, it reached beyond modern Pakistan, to the Hindu Kush mountains in what is now Afghanistan. The empire was established by Chandragupta Maurya assisted by Chanakya (Kautilya) in Magadha (in modern Bihar) when he overthrew the Nanda Empire.

Later developments

After the fall of Mauryan Empire in 180 BCE, Shunga Empire in Magadha and Satavahana Empire in Deccan plateau appeared. This era is called Classical period of India, during which hundreds of different kingdoms emerged in the subcontinent. However, between 3rd and 6th centuries AD most of Indo-Aryan heartland was unified by the Gupta empire, which marked the beginning of Golden age of India. Fall of Guptas after the Hunnic invasions again gave rise to many different dynasties. Emperor Harsha of Pushyabhuti dynasty consolidated control of northern India in the 7th century. His death marked the beginning of Tripartite struggle between the Gurjara-Pratihara Empire, the Pala Empire and the Rashtrakuta Empire for the control of imperial city of Kannauj. Afterwards, Indo-Aryan kingdoms were ruled by the Rajput kings till the turn of the second millennium, when Turkic migrations started into Indian subcontinent. They gave rise to the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire. Maratha Empire was the last major Indo-Aryan power in India. Its conquest by the EIC marked the beginning of the Colonial period in India.

List of historical Indo-Aryan peoples

See also: List of ancient Indo-Aryan peoples and tribes

Contemporary Indo-Aryan people

See also

References

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Sources

External links

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