The Indian culture is an ancient one. Early in its history, India attracted settlers who came to farm and raise their livestock. Many invasions by outsiders followed, each of which contributed to the Indian language and culture we know today. Early Indian literature was comparable in some ways to the later epics of Greece and Rome. The religion of India was Hinduism, which is still practiced and is highly influential on Indian life today.
Geography
India is often called a subcontinent. Its land area is vast. To the northwest are two ranges of mountains along the Indus River: the Kithar Range and the Sulaiman Range. Northeast of India's neighbor Nepal, are the Himalayan mountains. Throughout history these mountains have served as a wall to isolate the subcontinent from its neighbors in Euro-Asia. To the west of India is the Arabian Sea, to the east is the Bay of Bengal, and to the south is the Indian Ocean. Also on the east, India borders Burma.
India is a land of many rivers, the greatest of which is the Ganges. The Ganges is one of the largest waterways in the world. This river is sacred to the Hindus of India, thousands of whom travel long distances to bathe in its water to cleanse and purify themselves.
Ancient India was divided into several parts; Tamil Land south of the Krishna River; Deccan between the Krishna and the Narbada rivers; Bengal, including the Ganges delta; Baluchistan northwest of the mountains in what is now Iran; and Punjab, Sind, and Hindustan to the east. The area of greatest importance is Hindustan, in the Indus River valley.
History
Some historians date India's earliest civilization at about 2500 B.C., but most now consider the Indus civilization to have lasted from 2200 to 1300 B.C. At one time the Indus civilization extended from the coast up the Indus River 950 miles to the Himalayan foothills. The chief cities were Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, some 350 miles apart. The Indus river was used for transportation.
Communication existed between Sumer and the Indus valley. Erech and its sister cities conducted trade with the cities of this civilization beyond the mountains. Coming not long after the Flood and the Tower of Babel, such contact is no surprise. The Indus people had all the trappings of civilization, including a written script, manufacturing, standard weights, metallurgy, and agriculture.
From about 1500 to 900 B.C., India was invaded by Aryan people from the Caucasus area near the Black and Caspian seas. These people conquered the Indus valley and began to settle the Ganges area. They were cattlemen who lived in tribes headed by a rajah. The Aryans subjugated some of the native population and drove others south. Their conquerors called them Dasyu, and they may have been the same as the people of southern India who are today known as Dravidians. The combination of Indus and Aryan cultures resulted in the Sanskrit language, which is considered foundational to the Indo-European language group.
From 900 to 500 B.C., the center of Indian civilization shifted eastward to the Ganges valley. There Indo-Aryan city-states were developed. As in the villages of the Indus valley, each city-state was led by a rajah.
The Indo-Aryans developed the caste system, one of the three "pillars" of Indian Society (the other two were the autonomous village and the joint-family). They developed this system to preserve their racial purity. The four main castes were (1) the Brahmans, who were the priests; (2) the Kshatriyas, who were the warriors; (3) the Vaisyas, who were the artisans, merchants, and bankers; and (4) the Sudras, who were the peasants. Those outside the caste system were called the untouchables. To an astonishing degree, the caste system has maintained unchanged to the present day.
Alexander the Great crossed into India in 326 B.C., but he did not stay long because of the distance from his Greek homeland. In 321 B.C., Chandragupta Maurya took control of all of northern India. The Mauryan dynasty lasted until about 185 B.C. That dynasty maintained contact with the Seleucid empire of Greece.
The Mauryan empire was greatly expanded by the highly religious Buddhist leader, Asoka (273-232 B.C.). He is very important in the history of Buddhism, for he united all of India under his leadership. In addition, Asoka spread Buddhism across all of India and helped to raise it to a major world religion.
After the death of Asoka, the Mauryan empire quickly declined. In 185 B.C. much of the old Mauryan empire was conquered by Demetrius, a Bactrian Greek. He was followed by his general, Menander. Demetrius and the Bactrians ruled in the Punjab and northwestern India as well as in the Ganges region. The Bactrians lost power when nomadic tribes began to invade India from central Asia at the close of the second century B.C.
