The Library. Indian history, era by era.
37 sourced stories, Indus Valley to the Republic, each with a quiz. Pick an era, search, or start at the beginning.
Eras are editorial groupings. Their dates overlap, and some stories begin before or run beyond them.
Ancient India
c. 2600 BCE to c. 1200 CE · 11 articles
c. 2600 to 1900 BCE
The Indus Script Debate
Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, or not a language at all: a century of attempts to read the Indus seals, and why every one is still contested.c. 2600 BCEThe Indus Valley Civilization
A script that has never been deciphered, and cities planned around drainage.c. 1500 to 600 BCEThe Vedic Age
From oral hymns on the Saraswati to the philosophical Upanishads.c. 600 to 321 BCEThe Mahajanapadas
Sixteen states, coins and new cities, the age of the Buddha, and how Magadha came out on top.c. 322 to 185 BCEThe Mauryan Empire
Chandragupta, Chanakya, and the subcontinent's first vast unified empire.3rd c. BCE to 3rd c. CEThe Sangam Age
Early Tamil poetry of love and war, and brisk trade with the Roman world.c. 261 BCEAshoka's Edicts and the Spread of Buddhism
What does Ashoka's Rock Edict 13 (XIII) actually say? A rare royal confession after the Kalinga War, plus the civic code and missionaries that followed.c. 2nd century BCE to 10th century CEAjanta and Ellora: Masterpieces in Basalt
How Buddhist monks, Vakataka ministers and Rashtrakuta kings turned two Deccan cliffs into India's largest rock-cut monuments.c. 30 BCE to 3rd c. CEPepper for Gold: India's Trade with Rome by Land and Sea
Monsoon ships, Kushan caravans, a 25 percent customs tax, and the Roman coins still turning up in Tamil Nadu fields.c. 320 CEThe Gupta Empire
The Iron Pillar of Delhi has barely rusted in 1,600 years. What else did the Gupta age leave behind?5th c. to c. 1200 CENalanda, Ancient India's Great University
Founded under Kumaragupta I in the 5th century, Nalanda drew scholars for seven centuries. It was ruined around 1200 CE; exactly how is still debated.Medieval India
c. 1200 to the 1750s · 8 articles
c. 800 to 1700 CE
The Bhakti and Sufi Movements
Two devotional traditions, Bhakti and Sufism, reshaped medieval Indian religious life. Historians still debate how much one influenced the other.9th to 13th c.The Chola Dynasty
Uttaramerur's inscriptions describe a strikingly early form of village self-government, from a Tamil dynasty that built South India's most powerful medieval state and finest bronze art.1206 to 1526The Delhi Sultanate
Was temple destruction under the Delhi Sultanate religious or political? Five dynasties, three centuries of sultans who reshaped North Indian politics and architecture.1336 to 1646The Vijayanagara Empire
A Deccan capital of stone temples, gold bazaars, and Krishna Deva Raya.1526 to 1857The Mughal Empire
From Babur's artillery at Panipat to Akbar's Din-i Ilahi and the Taj Mahal.1526, 1556 and 1761The Three Battles of Panipat
One plain, three battles: how Panipat decided who would rule Delhi in 1526, 1556 and 1761.1674 to 1818The Maratha Empire
Shivaji built a Deccan kingdom on forts and guerrilla tactics. How did it grow into an empire?1767 to 1799Tipu Sultan and the Four Anglo-Mysore Wars
Four wars in 32 years: how Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan fought the East India Company, and why Mysore fell in 1799.Colonial & Freedom Movement
1757 to 1947 · 13 articles
From 1757
The Arrival of the East India Company
A London trading company ended up ruling a subcontinent. Historians trace the shift to a rigged battle in Bengal, and the famine that followed.1757 and 1764Plassey and Buxar: The Two Battles That Gave the Company Bengal
Side by side: how Plassey (1757) and Buxar (1764) differed in who fought, what decided them and what the Company won, and why historians call the second the real conquest.1857 to 1858The Revolt of 1857
The sepoys rise from Meerut to Delhi, ending the East India Company's rule.From 1885The Rise of the Indian National Congress
Seventy-two delegates meet in Bombay, beginning modern Indian politics.1940sNetaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the INA
How did Subhas Chandra Bose really die? By the best-supported account, a 1945 plane crash at Taihoku, though the question is still debated.13 April 1919The Jallianwala Bagh Massacre
Ten minutes of rifle fire in a walled Amritsar garden, and the end of Indian faith in British justice.1919 to 1924The Khilafat Movement
How a movement over the Ottoman caliphate became part of India's freedom struggle.1920 to 1922Mahatma Gandhi and the Non-Cooperation Movement
Gandhi's first nationwide campaign, joined to the Khilafat movement for Hindu-Muslim unity, turned nationalism into a mass movement, until one incident ended it.1920–1934Non-Cooperation vs Civil Disobedience: How Gandhi's Two Campaigns Differed
Side by side: how the 1920–22 and 1930–34 campaigns differed in goal, method, participants and ending, and how much they overlapped.1927 to 1930The Simon Commission and Its Boycott
Seven British parliamentarians came to decide how India should be governed. India met them with black flags, a hartal and a constitution of its own.1930–1934The Civil Disobedience Movement
The four-year campaign that began at Dandi and became the largest challenge to British authority since 1857.1930The Salt March (Dandi)
A 240-mile walk to Dandi that challenged British tax on a grain of salt.1942The Quit India Movement
Gandhi's call to 'Do or Die' during the height of the Second World War.Modern India
1947 to today · 5 articles
1946 to 1950