Outline of ancient India

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to ancient India:

Ancient India is the Indian Subcontinent from prehistoric times to the start of Medieval India, which is typically dated (when the term is still used) to the end of the Gupta Empire.[1] Ancient India was composed of modern-day India, Pakistan, Afghanistan (some portions), Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and even Burma.

General history of ancient India

Periodisation of Indian history

An elaborate periodisation may be as follows:[2]

  • Indian pre-history including Indus Valley Civilisation (until c. 1750 BCE);
  • Iron Age including Vedic period (c. 1750-600 BCE);
  • "Second Urbanisation" (c. 600-200 BCE);
  • Classical period (c. 200 BCE-1200 CE);[note 1] Jainism and Buddhism. For Smart, the "classical period" lasts from 100 to 1000 CE, and coincides with the flowering of "classical Hinduism" and the flowering and deterioration of Mahayana-buddhism in India.[3]
  • For Michaels, the period between 500 BCE and 200 BCE is a time of "Ascetic reformism",[4] whereas the period between 200 BCE and 1100 CE is the time of "classical Hinduism", since there is "a turning point between the Vedic religion and Hindu religions".[5]
  • Muesse discerns a longer period of change, namely between 800 BCE and 200 BCE, which he calls the "Classical Period". According to Muesse, some of the fundamental concepts of Hinduism, namely karma, reincarnation and "personal enlightenment and transformation", which did not exist in the Vedic religion, developed in this time.[6]</ref>
  • Pre-Classical period (c. 200 BCE-320 CE);
  • "Golden Age" (Gupta Empire) (c. 320-650 CE);
  • Late-Classical period (c. 650-1200 CE);
  • Medieval period (c. 1200-1500 CE);
  • Early Modern (c. 1500-1850);
  • Modern period (British Raj and independence) (from c. 1850).

Indian pre-history

Iron Age (c. 1200 – 272 BCE)

Second Urbanisation

Classical Age

Middle Ages (c. 500 – 1500)

Culture in ancient India

Art in ancient India

Language in ancient India

Religion in ancient India

Science and technology in ancient India

Organizations concerned with ancient India

Museums with ancient Indian exhibits

See also

Notes

  1. Different periods are designated as "classical Hinduism":
    • Smart calls the period between 1000 BCE and 100 CE "pre-classical". It is the formative period for the Upanishads and Brahmanism[subnote 1]

Subnotes

  1. Smart distinguishes "Brahmanism" from the Vedic religion, connecting "Brahmanism" with the Upanishads.<ref name='FOOTNOTESmart200352, 83-86'>Smart 2003, p. 52, 83-86.

References

Sources

  • Flood, Gavin D. (1996), An Introduction to Hinduism, Cambridge University Press
  • Khanna, Meenakshi (2007), Cultural History Of Medieval India, Berghahn Books
  • Kulke, Hermann; Rothermund, Dietmar (2004), A History of India, Routledge
  • Michaels, Axel (2004), Hinduism. Past and present, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press
  • Misra, Amalendu (2004), Identity and Religion: Foundations of Anti-Islamism in India, SAGE
  • Muesse, Mark William (2003), Great World Religions: Hinduism
  • Muesse, Mark W. (2011), The Hindu Traditions: A Concise Introduction, Fortress Press
  • Smart, Ninian (2003), Godsdiensten van de wereld (The World's religions), Kampen: Uitgeverij Kok
  • Stein, Burton (2010), A History of India, John Wiley & Sons
  • Thapar, Romila (1978), Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations (PDF), Orient Blackswan
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