Ashoka's Edicts and the Spread of Buddhism
What does Rock Edict XIII actually say? A rare royal confession after the Kalinga War, plus the civic code and missionaries that followed.
Indian history, told by what survived.
- Four eras, from 2600 BCE to today
- 31 articles, each built on three to five sources
- A short quiz at the end of every one
Itihasa is Sanskrit for history: iti ha āsa, “so it was”. Each article is readable in the time of a coffee, for its own sake, not for an exam.
Tap a note to find it in the drawing.
Four eras, one reading list.
Every era has its own hub, which tells its story in order and links each article with its quiz. These are good places to go next.
Ancient
c. 2600 BCE to c. 1200 CE
Medieval
c. 1200 to the 1750s
Colonial & Freedom
1757 to 1947
Modern
1947 to today
Every article ends with a quiz of eight to fifteen questions.
New here? Start with these six.
Tap a note to find it in the drawing.
The Indus Valley Civilization
A script that has never been deciphered.
The Chola Dynasty
Early village self-government, and South India's finest bronze art.
Mahatma Gandhi and the Non-Cooperation Movement
A mass movement that ended with a single incident.
Partition and Independence (1947)
The death toll is still disputed, from 200,000 to nearly three million.
The Green Revolution
It ended food dependency, at a real ecological price.
How every article is built
We write for people who are curious about Indian history, not for people revising for an exam. No syllabus decides what goes in.
Every claim is checked against three to five sources: textbooks, encyclopedias and academic work. They are listed at the end of each article, so you can check them too.
Each article ends with a short quiz, so you can see what stayed with you. You can send it to a friend as a challenge, and no account is needed.
We drew the pictures on this page ourselves, from the objects: a lion capital, a minaret, a spinning wheel, a book of laws. The articles carry photographs, each one credited.
Itihasa Editorial
Spotted a mistake? contact@theitihasa.com