Introduction To Indian History
Anyone who has read romantic books written by British authors about India will be aware of the awe that they held India in. It was almost as if they were scared to step on the very road lest the stones turn out to be something Buddha sat on in the year dot.

Well, there's no anti-climax here – India is indeed very old. What is also remarkable is how well aware the common man on the street is about the history of India. The autowallah, of the rickety autorickshaw you take from Connaught Place to Vasant Vihar in Delhi, might turn out to be a surprising mine of information on the story of his country. He might have his dynasties a little haphazard and his dates slightly askew, because for majority of Indians history started with the Ramayana (see Ancient Scriptures and Folklore), but he will have his facts.

The reason behind this is perhaps as old as the country itself. The country has a tradition of verbal history; our ancients never did bother about putting things down on paper, having never had the privilege to be initiated to that fine old American business tradition. What's more, there's a logic for that too. Back then people believed in the power of the spoken word. They thought that words or syllables when pronounced just-so created magic. Remember that say-'be'-and-it-will-be thing? Well, that pretty much explains the awe that ancient Indians held the Word in.

Indian History As A Romantic School of Thaught
The West discovered India through two distinct schools of thought. One was the romantic school which held everything Indian as mystical, wise, and very much a product of this land; F. Max Muller the German scholar was prominent among these. He conducted remarkably ingenious research into India, its antiquity, literature and languages. Through his work he made Indology almost as fashionable in the Western world as Egyptology had been.

Indian History As A School of Classical Education
The other school of thought was of a more cautious, scholarly and literal bend of mind. These were European historians who had been brought up on classical education and had this unshakable belief in the civilization of the ancient Greeks. The idea that anything could possibly surpass or be anywhere near to that greatest of human achievements that was le miracle Grec was sacrilege to them.

So every newly discovered civilization, including Indian and Egyptian, was measured by the Greek yardstick and of course failed to come anywhere near. and everything remarkable or unique about the civilization was obviously inspired from the Greek example, as far as they were concerned.

Somewhere between these two was that body of diligent hardworking men comprising of British administrators in India who took up the task of discovering more about the country they spent most of their lives in. To these administrator-historians, including such men as J. Prince and Sir John Marshall (see Ancient Indian History), do we owe the actual finds that proved beyond a doubt India's claim to be up there with Egypt, Sumer, China and Mesopotamia as one of the most ancient civilizations that the world has produced.

Today Indian History
Today Indian History, like the history of every ancient culture in the world, is broadly divided into four periods:

Pre-history
From the big bang, the primeval swamp to the Indus Valley Civilization (see Ancient Indian History). There is a tendency to sometimes include the Indus Valley Civilization in prehistory, since technically prehistory includes everything that happened before the Word happened. However, technically again the Indus Valley Civilization did have a script, although it has not been decoded yet. So, it's generally included in Ancient History nowadays.

Ancient History
For India, it begins from the Indus Valley Civilization (for which the date is a matter of hot debate, but historians have agreed to disagree on 3000BC) to just after the king Harsha Vardhana (see Ancient Indian History), which is around 700-800BC.

Medieval History
Starting from 800BC to mid-18th century AD, that is, till the coming of the British. There is a slight hitch in this as the British were pretty much already there by this time, but again this is the accepted time when they suddenly woke up and said, "Hey we've got a kingdom going."

Modern History
From mid-18th century to the independence of India, which is on August 15, 1947. Then the deluge. It is fashionable among historians to deplore the lack of historical sense among historical Indians, which has made their work very difficult.

What is heartening is that Indians still lack a sense of history and not much is being done to record contemporary history of India. So much so that a series on the Indian Independence movement was commissioned by the Indian government years ago to counter a British series on the subject. The series is still to come out, and don't hold your breath for it either.

Indian History might seem like a labyrinth, or one of those confusing Tower of Babel paintings. This is primarily because each region in India was pretty much doing its own thing and creating a history of its own. For the sake of everyone's sanity, we have tried in our sections of history of India to give you a brief background of what was happening in that period with special reference to the major dynasties of the era. of course, having known that much you’ll be hungry for more, for which keep watching this space as the saga unfolds!

Ancient Scriptures and Folklores of India
The search for Self and the Ultimate Truth has been the Holy Grail that man has sought after ceaselessly down the ages. Why? What? Whence? Whither? The answers to these questions have persistently eluded man, and perhaps that is how things were meant to be.

Upanishad
The term Upanishad ('upa' near; 'ni' down; 'shad' to sit) means sitting down near; this implies the students sitting down near their Guru to learn the big secret.

In the splendid isolation of their forest abodes, the philosophers who composed the Upanishads contemplated upon the various mysteries – whether common, or metaphysical. There is no exact date for the composition of the 18 principal Upanishads. They continued to be composed over a long period, the core being over 7th -5th centuries BC. The Upanishads were originally called Vedanta, which literally means the conclusion to the Vedas.

Mahabharata
The Mahabharata originally called Jaya (victory), with perhaps some justification, is said to be the longest poem in the world. 100,000 stanzas strong, the epic has a story which is as relevant to the world today as it was then.

The Mahabharata is an amazing tale full of drama, scheming, jealousy, human foibles and failings. The legendary author of the epic is called Vyasa, which means the compiler so we don’t really know the real name of the writer; although it has been suggested that a whole team of Brahmins composed it under the alias of Vyasa.

Bhagwad Gita - Holy Book of Hindus
The Bhagwad Gita (the blessed Lord's song) is a 700-verse section of the Mahabharata and occurs just before the great battle between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. It is written as a conversation between Arjuna, the third of the Pandava brothers, after Yudhishtra and Bhima, and Lord Krishna, the statesman-god. The path, as laid down by the Bhagwad Gita, is still considered ideal way of life by Indians.

Ramayana
The Ramayana is about Utopian ideals and lofty principles which creates the perfect: the virtuous elder brother, the obedient, ever-devoted younger brothers and the self-sacrificing, ever-loving wife. All those who appear to be flawed in some way – like Dhashratha, the father of lord Rama, Keikeyi, the step-mother, and above all Ravana the villain – seem to have been put in the story only as examples of how-not-to-be and to enhance the goodness of the principle characters.

The Guru Granth Sahib
Also known as the Adi Granth is truely unique among the world's great scriptures. It is considered the Supreme Spiritual Authority and Head of the Sikh religion, rather than any living person. It is also the only scripture of it's kind which not only contains the works of it's own religious founders but also writings of people from other faiths. The living Guru of the Sikhs, the book is held in great reverence by Sikhs and treated with the utmost respect. Sikhism rejects idol worship, so the Guru Granth Sahib is not worshipped as an idol, but rather emphasis is placed on respect of the book for the writings which appear within. Guru Granth Sahib is a collection of devotional hymns and poetry which proclaims God, lays stress on meditation on the True Guru (God), and lays down moral and ethical rules for development of the soul, spiritual salvation and unity with God.

Jatakas
The Jatakas are Buddhist parables and tales – loose parallels of the Panchtantra actually. They tell the tales of Buddha in his previous lives (when he was called Bodhisattva or Buddha-to-be), which included incarnations in the form of a snake and an elephant. These stories reflect the travails and experiences that the he had to go through to attain the wisdom of the Buddha