Last reviewed 22 Sept 2026 · 5 min read
Sources
- Archaeological: excavated sites, coins (numismatics), inscriptions (epigraphy), monuments and sculpture.
- Literary: the Vedas, epics, Puranas, Buddhist and Jain texts, and secular works such as Kautilya's Arthashastra and Kalidasa's plays.
- Foreign accounts: Megasthenes (Indica), Fa-Hien, Hiuen Tsang and Al-Biruni.
The Ashokan edicts were deciphered by James Prinsep in 1837, which opened up the whole Mauryan period.
Indus Valley (Harappan) civilisation
Roughly 2500–1750 BCE (mature phase), a Bronze Age urban civilisation of the north-west.
| Site | River | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| Harappa | Ravi | granaries, cemetery R-37 |
| Mohenjodaro | Indus | Great Bath, Great Granary |
| Lothal | Bhogavo (Gujarat) | dockyard |
| Kalibangan | Ghaggar (Rajasthan) | ploughed field, fire altars |
| Dholavira | Rann of Kutch | water reservoirs, signboard |
| Rakhigarhi | Ghaggar (Haryana) | largest Indian site |
Features: grid town planning, burnt-brick houses, covered drains, the citadel-and-lower-town layout, standardised weights, seals with an undeciphered script, and no temples. Decline is attributed to a combination of climatic change, river shifts and flooding — not to a single invasion.
Vedic age
- Early Vedic (Rig Vedic), c. 1500–1000 BCE: pastoral society in the Sapta-Sindhu region; the Rig Veda is the oldest text, arranged in ten mandalas.
- Later Vedic, c. 1000–600 BCE: eastward movement to the Ganga plain, iron in use, agriculture and the varna order hardening.
The four Vedas are Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharva; each has Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads attached. Satyameva Jayate comes from the Mundaka Upanishad.
Jainism and Buddhism
| Jainism | Buddhism | |
|---|---|---|
| Founder in this era | Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara | Gautama Buddha |
| Born / died | 540–468 BCE (traditional) | 563–483 BCE (traditional) |
| Birthplace | Kundagrama, near Vaishali | Lumbini |
| Key ideas | Triratna: right faith, knowledge, conduct; extreme non-violence | Four Noble Truths; Eightfold Path; the middle way |
| Councils | Pataliputra, then Valabhi | Rajgriha, Vaishali, Pataliputra, Kashmir |
| Sects | Digambara, Svetambara | Hinayana, Mahayana, Vajrayana |
Buddha attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon at Sarnath and died at Kushinagar.