The Indian civilization is one of the oldest and major civilizationof the world.
It has originated in stone age around the rivers of Indus and Saraswati, presently encompassing
regions of Gujrat, Sindh, Punjab and later spread to far flung lands of Afghanistan in West to Thailand in the East.
The journey of this civilization ( सभ्यता ) can be catogrized into following eras:-
| S/No. |
Name |
Period |
| 1 |
Early Harappan Period |
Before 2500 BC |
| 2 |
Indus Valley Civilization |
2500 BC to 1300 BC |
| 3 |
Vedic Period |
1500 BC to 400 BC |
| 4 |
Greek Invasion and The Mauryan Period |
300 BC to 00 AD |
| 5 |
Indo-Greeks, Kushans and the Gupta Empire. |
00 AD to 06 AD |
| 6 |
The Muslim advent, Rajput Kingdoms |
07 AD to 1700 AD |
| 7 |
The Maratha Empire, European Trading Companies. |
1674 AD to 1818 AD |
| 8 |
The East Indian Company and the British Raj |
1686 AD to 1857 AD | 1858 AD to 1947 AD |
| 9 |
Early Modern History |
1890 to the present. |
Early Harappan Period & the Indus Valley Civilization (5000 years ago, 3000 BC - 1300 BC )
One of the oldest known civiliation of the human race , the Indian Civilization. Started to exist some 5000 years ago on the river basins of Sindhu (Indus) river and
Saraswati River (presently extinct). The ancient city ruins of Mohan Jadaro and Harappa along smaller settlements of towns and villages are testimony to it. This civilization was bronze age civilization with some early neolithic stone age period overlapping inside it. It is further divided into phases as early Harappa , mature Harappa and later Harappa phase.
The archaelogical sites found during 1920'-40's during the British Raj tells us that the cities were very organized having perpendicular streets or avenues, sanitation and multistory appartments. Also, Citadel with elite housing was found on higher elevated grounds. Dead were buried, toys are also discovered on these sites along ornaments and written tablets of some pictographical language. Please refer to the map above.
Vedic Period (1500 BC to 400 BC )
Vedic Period was the Iron Age era of the Indian Civilization. In it the civilization was decentralized with several kingdoms known as Mahajanpads
which were than composed of several small tribes called 'Janpads.'
Mahabharata was the epic written on this period. In this period the society was divided into Varns or classes such as the Brahmins, Khastriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras. Hinduism started to emerge in this period and in the later stages Jainism and Budhism also came to existance. The geographical evidence as to be found in the hymns of Vedas thros some light on the course of Indo-Aryan migration and the origin of Hinduism. Whether the Indo-Aryans came from Central Asia or not depends largely on the interpretation of the geographical allusions in the Rig and Yajur Vedas.
the main focus of the Rig Vedic settlements was in the Punjab and the Delhi region. When the Rig-Vedic hymns were compiled the focus of Aryan settlement was the region between the Yamuna and the Sutlaj, south of modern Ambala and laong the upper course of river Saraswati. The most frequently mentioned rivers are the Sindhu (Indus), the Sarasvati (modern Sarsuti), the Drishadvati (modern Chitang), and the five streams of the Punjab. By 600 B.C. the Aryans spread from the Doab further east to Kosala in Eastern U.P. and Vedeha in north Bihar. The former town is associated with the story of Ramchandra, but it is not mentioned in Vedic literature.
Doab, UP is an important region will later play a big role in the history at the time of the Gupta Empire.
Alexander the great
World's undefeated conquerer from Macedon, Greece who needs no introduction till date, Alexander the Great. He came to India in May 326 BC from present day Afghanistan after capturing it along Transoxania region which lies in present
day Kyrgystan and Tajikistan. He faught a bloody war with equally brave and same in character King of Kingdom of Poru called Raja Porus in present day Punjab on the banks of Hydapses river also called Jhelum river at present near the town of Jalalpur, Punjab, Pakistan. Having won the war Alexander respected his opponent Porus and for it he appointed him as his Governer of the region called Satrap in those days.
Just two years after the early sudden death of Alexander in the yeard 321 BC, one of his senior commander Selucius Nikator founded the Selucid Empire in the North Wester India with influence spanning all over the Indian sub continent. To counter the rule of the Greek Invaders a humble sage takes to the task who whould be later regarded as master of politics, jain monk Rishi Chankaya also known as Indian Machiavelli. Chanakya was advisor of the great empror Chandragupta Maurya who was the founder of the Mauryan empire. By capturing territories of Both the Nanda Empire and the Greek Satraps (governers), Chandragupta Maurya laid the foundation of one of the greatest empires in the region, if not the world. He gained the upper hand and made a marriage alliance with Selucius with him marrying Selucis's daughter.
Ashoka the Great
Mauryan Empire gained growth and prominence and the throne kept passing from Chadnragupta to Bindusara to Ashoka in 304 BC. Ashoka was the grandson of the Chandragupta Maurya and the most known emperor of the empire.
He captured much of the present day Afghanistan in the West to Himalayas in the East. Kashmir in the North to Sri Lanka in the South. He was recognized by the world of that time and had adopted Buddhism as the state religion with other religions such as Hinduism, Jainism, Greek, Armaic being respected. He built Stupas all across India with the Sanchi Stupa near preset day city of Bhopal, India being most popularly known inside present day India.
Ashoka's policy of Dhamma or tolerance and learning of basics of all religions led to first plurasitic society with diffrent religions, ethnicites, cultures, classes living in harmony with each other.
Mauryan empire went declining with extreme policies of pacifism (non-violence) which lead to weakened military and morale and also with over centralized structure which made provinces go on for revolt. Finally in the year 184 BC with the assassination of of Ninth Mauryan Empror Brihadratha by Pushyamitra Shunga. Shunga dynasty took over the kingdom of Magadh.
India divided in two nations
In the year 150 BC, 35 years after the Sunga dynasty taking over the Magadh Kingdom. India was divided into two major parts one belonging to the purely natives of Shunga dynasty and other to the new nation which was from the mixture of Indian and Greek ancestory called the " Indo-Greeks". At the north in the transoxania region, Fergana Valley there were new settler tribes of Yuez-Hi who later became the Kushans, the emprors of India.
Indo Greeks were conquered over a period of time by another foreign invaders that were
Indo Scythians from north of Persia, Russian steppes and Central Asian steppes. These were also called Sakas and
their dominion was called sakastan or Sistan. Yuezhi tribes also started to gain military momentum
and soon they conquered all of the Sistan, Nothern Indian territories extending from Transoxania, Xing Xian of
present day China to Afghanistan, Pakistan, North India reaching Patna of today, founding the Kushan Empire. At its peak during the rule of its
Empror Kanishka, Kushan Empire had two capital cities one at Peshawar and another at Mathura.
वह्लीक or Βάχλο or Bactria or بلخ : Balkh (Balkh, modern day Afghanistan) was part of one of the Janapadas mentioned by Sanskrit tects in the Vedic period somewhere between 1500 BCE and 600 BCE. During this time they were called the Bahlikas, and were mentioned in the Atharvaveda, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas, Vartikka of Katyayana, and Brhatsamhita The city was the capital of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and was besieged for three years by the Seleucid Empire (208–206 BC). Later in the coming time, after the demise of the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, it was ruled by Indo-Scythians, Parthians, Indo-Parthians, Kushan Empire, Indo-Sassanids, Kidarites, Hephthalite Empire and Sassanid Persians before the arrival of the Arabs. In the post-arab era a large number of Sanskrit medical, pharmacological, and toxicological texts were translated into Arabic under the patronage of Khalid, the vizier of Al-Mansur. Khalid was the son of a chief priest of a Buddhist monastery. Some of the family were killed when the Arabs captured Balkh; others including Khalid survived by converting to Islam. They would later come to be known as the Barmakids of Baghdad. This family of Barmakids played a very crucial role in the Abbasic Caliphate, later on the suspection of Mutiny was entirely annihalated by the Harun Rashid, then Caliph of the Abbasids.
गुप्त साम्राज्यम् The Gupta Hindu Empire. (400 - 600) AD
After the decline of the Kushans in 375 AD, a kingdom which was already into existance in the
Ganga Doab region of present day Uttar Pradesh, India. The Guptas took the chances and started military campaigns to unite all of the Indian sub continent. This was the Hindu Gupta Empire which came to its peak in 420 AD. Chadnragupta and Samudragupta were two great emperors of this dynasty.
During this period under Gupta rule, classical Sanskrit language which was restricted to the elite and noble class earlier, now started to normalize in the masses replacing earlier Prakrit language of the Mauryans. Hindusim got organised and canonization of Mahabharata, kalidas's Ramyana, Puranas and other text were done. Varna system of the society where society was divided into castes, also was imphasized during the rule. Satraps or governers were selected from military service and not royalty during the rule and were granted rights over lands, mines, salt and taxes by the Empror. This led to a weakened centralized authority and rise of nation states and further lead to feudal lords came into existance. Lesser Guptas were reduced to present day Gangatic plains of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. This time around 6-7th cenrtury AD the country was divided into nation states made up of smaller kingdoms and since no central power existed whereas new powers started to emerge on the screen like:-
In the year 711 AD Arab General of Umayyad Caliphate named Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the Sindh from Raja Dahir of Chacha Empire also known as Brahmin dynasty of Sindh. On the other hand, Nagabhata I in the year 736 AD took over a newly formed Rajput kingdom of the Gurjar Pratihara dynasty. With the Arab conquest of Sind, a new religion has came to Indian region which will play a very important role from then onwards that is the religion of Islam.
Sindhis and especially the Sindhi Jat community started to embrace Islam and from Sindh, Punjab to present day Afghanistan Islam was becoming a major religion by 8-10th century AD.
This also led to continous fighting between the Hindu kingdoms of Rajputs on the western side of India with Muslim invaders. Also, continous attacks of Turkic forces from the north west weakened the Pratiharas. These forces comprised of regular armies, mercenaries and irregular volunteers. One of them, from Ghazni was Sultan Mahmud who initiated the first of numerous invasions believed to be total of 17 attacks on North India. Finally, he won on 28 November 1001, his army fought and defeated the army of Raja Jayapala of the Kabul Shahis at the Battle of Peshawar. By now the entire North Western side was Islamized and being ruled by the Muslims. Turks, Arabs and local Indians together form the Muslim group. Rajputs also were bravely defending their lands, notable kings like Nagabhata, Bappa Rawal defeated the Muslim invaders.
سلطنت دهلی The Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) AD
When Ghori defeated Prithvi Raj Chauhan in the epic battle of Train in 1192 AD he took Chauhan as prisoner with him to be later executed in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Ghori left one his slave who was an able military leader named Qutub uddin Aibak as in-charge of Delhi. Aibak claimed the title of Sultan thereby becoming the first Sultan of India and founding the Delhi Sultanate in 1206. Delhi Sultanate continued under various unrelated dynasties :-
- The Mamluk dynasty (1206–1290)
- The Khalji dynasty (1290–1320)
- The Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414)
- The Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451)
- The Lodi dynasty (1451–1526)
expanding to the South and East, building monuments and forts, one Qutub Minar being the outstanding memorial of them all, till date. For three hundred years Delhi Sultanate occupied the central stage in India and thus was the most longest and influential Muslim dominion of India which was also the only dominion in India, let alone Muslim. Persian came to prominence as it was the court language of the Sultanate. A new language came into existance from the fusion of Islamic and Hindu cultures that was Urdu language. Islamic law became implemented across the India and Islamic schools of law, theology, language and religion started to be formed.
Delhi became the seat of Islam in the region, from here a soft humanist trend called the Sufi movement also started with sufi saints like Chishti of Ajmer, Nizamuddin of Delhi, Farid of Punjab, Shahbaz of Sindh. With joint teachings of Islam and Hindu traditions a new religion slowly started gaining recognition in the region of Punjab. Guru Nanak Ji, founder of Sikhism and its first Guru was disciple of Baba Farid. Finally this Turkish Sultanate ended in 1526 at the hands of Timurid Babur in the first battle of the Panipat. Ibrahim Lodi of the Lodi dynasty, a Pathan lost to a Timurid Babur who was from the Timur dynasty ruling Fergana valley in present day Kyrgyztan.
During Khilji dynasty's rule of the Delhi Sultanate there was a very strong and able ruler called as Alauddin Khilji who except Orissa and small pockets in the South, managed to unite the country under his Rule. Extending from Kabul in North-West to Rameshwaram in South. Punjab in West to the corner of Bengal reaching the hills of Meghalaya. He also defended successfully against the Mongol invasions many times. He introduced many reforms in military, administration, and diplomacy. Padmavat was a fictous story that has no reality at all.
بِلادِ هِندوستان The Mughals. (1526-40)AD
Mughal is a corrupted name used by the Arabs for Mongols as they were descendants of Timurid dynasty from paternal side and Genghis Khan from maternal side. Zahir uddin Babur was the founder of the Mughal rule in the Indian region, upon the victory at Painpat against Sultan Ibrahim Lodi in the year 1526 AD. Babur had difficult childhood and had been struggling with his clan because of Shebani Khan who was enemy of him. Babur learned about the science of gunpowder either from Ottomans or Chinese and invented a cannon to make use of it as a weapon.
He married woman of Yusufzai tribe in the present day Afghanistan named Bibi Mubarika. She was the daughter of Malik Shah Mansur, the chief of the Yusufzai tribe of Pashtuns. She was the granddaughter of Malik Sulaiman Shah, and the niece of Taus Khan. Before invading India in 1526, upon invitation of Sangram Singh, popularly known as Rana Sanga, was the ruler of Mewar. He aspired to capture the throne of Delhi and Agra. He is said to have invited Babur to invade India. He was perhaps under the delusion that Babur like his ancestor Timur would invade, loot and go back to Kabul. Babur has gathered a force which comprised of Mughals, Pathans and others numbering upto 40,000 men along its trump card weapon of cannons. However, upon the victory of Babur, The Mewar kingdom, under the able rule of Rana Sanga, had turned into one of the strongest powers of northern India. Sanga unified several Rajput clans for the first time after Prithviraj Chauhan and advanced on Babur with a grand coalition of 100,000 Rajputs. However, Sanga suffered a major defeat in the Battle of Khanwa due to Babur's skillful positioning of troops and modern tactics and firepower. The Battle of Khanua was one of the most decisive battles in Indian history, more so than the First Battle of Panipat, as the defeat of Rana Sanga was a watershed event in the Mughal conquest of northern India. Upon the victories of the Painpat and Khanwa, Babur decided to settle here in India and laid the foundation of the greatest empire of not just India but the entire world known as Mughal Empire.
After 4 years, Babur died on the 26 December 1530, succeded by his son Mirza Nasiruddin to be later called 'Humayun' as the Mughal Empror. Humayin at first was not an able leader and quickly he lost to a Pathan military leader called Sher Shah Suri from Bihar.
Humayun had to flee to Persia to save his and his family's life and the new trumpant Sher Shah Suri formed the Suri Dynasty.
امپراطوری سور The Suri Empire (1540-1557)AD
Sher Shah Suri , original name Fareed Khan, born 1486 AD, Sasaram, India. Died May 22, 1545, Kalinjar, India. Was emperor of north India (1540–45) in the Islamic Sur Pathan dynasty of 1540–57 who organized a long-lived bureaucracy responsible to the ruler and created a carefully calculated revenue system. For the first time during the Islamic conquest the relationship between the people and the ruler was systematized, with little oppression or corruption.
One of eight sons of Ḥasan Khan, a horse breeder, Farīd rebelled against his father and left home to enlist as a soldier in the service of Jamāl Khan, the governor of Jaunpur. He later worked for the Mughal king of Bihar, who rewarded him for bravery with the title of Shēr Khan. After he defeated a Bengal army, he took over the rule of Bihar. In early 1539 he conquered Bengal and, through clever deception, the Rohtas stronghold southwest of Bengal. He is often assoicated with Bihar as people of Rohtas where he was buried and entire Bihar see him as one of their own. "Bihar ke Lala" as he was fluent in Bhojpuri and talked with men in their native language instead Farsi. He killed a tiger with a sword earning the title of Sher Khan and upon becoming the empror he replaced Khan by Shah.
The Battle of Chausa on June 26, 1539, he defeated the Mughal emperor Humāyūn and assumed the royal title of Farīd al-Dīn Shēr Shah. In May 1540 at Kannauj he again defeated Humāyūn; he had driven his foes from Bengal, Bihar, Hindustan, and the Punjab and also suppressed the Baluch chiefs on the northwestern frontier. Intent on expanding the sultanate of Delhi, he captured Gwalior and Malwa. He successfully defeated Rajput kings of Raisen, Rajputana - Ranthambore and was only ruler to have centralised hold on the country without any delegated authority to vassals. His military genius was second to none,he often attacked at night which was very difficult to conduct since in those days there were no flash lights available. He was killed during the siege of Kalinjar.
With tenure of just 5 years he gained the name that noone could match upto it. One of the great rulers of India, Shēr Shah rose from the rank of private to become emperor, efficiently administered the army and tax collections, and built roads, rest houses, and wells for his people. He left a legacy which stands unparralled still today. PVC Captain Vikram Batra, hero of Kargil War also had radio-code name "sher shah", on that a bollywood movie is also made.
Part of this is taken from Maren Goldberg's article.
Source URL
Return of the Mughals (1556-1707)AD & shadow period of (1707-1857)AD
In 1556, Humayun defeated Sikandar Lodhi and reclaimed the throne of Hindustan aka India.
He did not ruled much, as got killed in an accident. His son Named Jalaluddin Mohammad who later went on to be called "Akbar the great", faught a bloody war in Panipat against Raja Hemu and his regent and General Behram Khan defeated the Hemu. Upon the victory, Akbar secured his father's throne. Akbar expanded his kingdom into all directions from Kabul to Bihar, Rajputana lands were given some autonomy and were made vassal client states under a larger central Mughal rule.
Akbar's greates policy was of tolerance with other religions, castes, languages etc. He made a cabinet of ministers numbering 9, called the Nav Ratans or nine gems. His General was Raja Man Singh, a Rajput. His advisor was Raja Birbal or Mahendradas , a Brahmin. Raja Todarmal was his finance minister. Akbar's forces soon started capturing vast swaths of land because of the advance gunpowder technology, large number of troops and immense wealth in hand.
Akbar built the famous Fatahpur Sikri city near Agra.
Akbar's Rajput wife Jodha gave birth to Salim who inherited the throne.
Nuruddin Mohammad Salim, known for his romantic lifestyle was depicted by famous actor Dilip Kumar in the movie Mughal E Azam. Salim had a different approach, he did not prefferred military conquest rather he was a diplomat and with shrewed diplomacy and wealth he expanded the territories from Kashmir in the North to Deccan in the South, Kabul in the West to Bengal in the East. His love affair with a courtesian girl named "anarkali " became the romantic afsana of the India. She was later found to have died in Lahore. Although the autobiography of Salim Tuzuk e Jehnagiri does not mentions Anarkarli but that may be on purpose as other accounts of historians agree on the character of Anarkali. Director K Asif made the movie which turned out to be the biggest blockbuster ever in the Hindi Cinema titled "Mughal E Azam" starring Dilip Kumar as Salim, Prithvi Raj Kapoor as Akbar and Madhubala as Anarkali. Salim also builted famous Mughal gardens in Sri nagar, Kashmir. His love for art, romance, music and wine is well known.
After Salim's death, his son Khurram or Shah Jahan came to the power. Shah Jahan was an artist and builder as he built many monuments which stand tall even today like the Red Fort in Delhi,
Taj Mahal in Agra, Jama Masjid in Delhi too and many more. Taj Mahal being the outstanding one which is also the great wonder of the contemporay world. Taj Mahal was built in the memory of Mumtaz Mahal the wife of Shah Jahan who died while giving birth. Taj Mahal was built in 16 years with large number of labourers, architects from Persia, engineers and white marble from Rajasthan. Its built on the banks of Yamuna river surrounded by gardens.
Tragic era of Mughal dynasty beginned with the civil war between three sons of Shah Jahan namely Darah Shikoh (crown prince) against Muhiuddin (Aurangzeb) and Shah Shujah. Shah Jahan was with his crown prince Darah Shikoh who was a liberal and tolerant prince unlike Aurangzeb went on to became the destoryer of this dynasty. In the civil war, Pashtun tribes of Yusufzai, Khatack, Afridis and others sided with Darah Shikoh because of his legitamacy and Pashtun lands separated from Mughal Empire later on to become a nation state of Afghanistan by the Ahmad Shah Durrani in coming years. Aurangzeb enslaved his own father Shah Jahan and killed all of his brothers to secure throne only for him. Aurangzeb was low IQ person and religious fanatic who deployed harsh policies against majority Hindus and even Muslims were not happy under his rule. This led to multiple revolts, one by one from Pashtun revolt to Sikh, Jat to Bengal, Assam and the greatest of them all from the Marathas by their leader Chatrapati Shivaji, Shivaji's swaraj campaign got him entitled as Empror in 1687 of newly founded Maratha Empire. In coming decaded, Marathas captured most of the India directly and levied taxes on others who submitted to their Suzerinity. Aurangzeb died in 1707 AD leaving behind a bankrupt treasury, disloyal officers, incompetent successors and a emerging power of Marathas conquering rapidly the regions of India from South to North. Mughals were reduced to a city state of Delhi and that too on the condition of being a client state of Marathas. In 1756, Afghan King Ahmad Shah Abdali faught the Marathas at Panipat, defeating them and containing the Maratha power from expanding further. Finally, the Mughal rule ended in 1858 with their last emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar II being arrested by the British East India Company and imprisoned in Rangoon, Burma till he died. Thus, Mughal Empire came to and end with him. Mughals left a legacy of splendor, wealth, extragavent lifestyle, cruelty, betrayel, tolerance, fanactism, romance, cuisines, monuments, literature and culture. Mughal cuisine is very famous around the globe and in Delhi restaraunts like Karim beside Jama Masjid and food street in Lahore, are world famous.
Recipes of the Mughal and other dishes at this
link
मराठा साम्राज्य Maratha Empire (1674-1819)AD
An Ethopian slave Malik Ambar who became the general of Ahmadnagar Sultanate went on to inspire Shivaji Raje to become the Sovereign King rather working under Mughal empire or Bijapur or Golcunda states. Sometime before in the battle of Bhatwadi around October 1624. After crossing the Bhima, Malik Ambar took position and confronted the combined assault of the Mughals and the Bijapur army. In the ensuing rout of the alliance, Malik Ambar, aided by his Maratha light cavalry, established his clear supremacy. This battle saw an unprecedented scale of Maratha participation leading to a collaboration that blurred all religious lines. And Malik Ambar’s trusted right hand man was Maloji, Shivaji’s grandfather. Shivaji was a military genius who used gorilla warfare and formed the navy fighting Mughals, Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and even European trade companies. In 1674, he was formally crowned the Chhatrapati of his realm at Raigad Fort.
In coming thirty years until the start of 1700s Mughal treasury got empty and their officals collabrates silently with the Marathas thus weakening and then ending the Mughal rule in the South India. After Shivaji, Peshwa Bajirao who was a gifted military commander expert in the cavalry charge attacked and conquered territories north in Gujrat, Malwa, plains of Ganga and Yamuna. Marathas soon extended their rule upto Attock in the North and Bengal was paying them taxes in the East. All the small states submitted to them as their vassals paying 25% tax called Chauth. This heavy taxation lead to revolt by the Rajputs of Amer and Jaudhpur. Battle of Panipat against Ahmad Shah Abdali in 1761, ended the central Maratha authority and gave rise to regional kings like Scindia Maharaja of Gwalior, Howalkar State of Indore, Dewas Darbar, Nawab Banda etc.
The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an invasion of Maratha territory by British East India Company troops and although the British were outnumbered, the Maratha army was decimated. The troops were led by Governor General Hastings, supported by a force under General Thomas Hislop. Operations began against the Pindaris, a band of Muslim mercenaries and Marathas from central India. Shinde, Holkar and Bhonsale subjected to British suzerainty. Formal rule of Marathas ended. British East India Company gained rule of all the Maratha territories. Regional powerful Governers of Maratha empire such as Howlkars of Indore and Scindias of Gwalior and Gaekwads of Baroda became loyal to the East India Company and retianed their kingdom in someway though now being vassal states of the Britishers. Legacy of Chatrpati Shivaji Raje is still at very large and is regarded as hero
in not just Marathas but entire India for his courage and leadership. Popular movies like Tanhaji, political party like Shiv Sena carries his legacy.
The East India Company (1757-1857)AD
Europe had a great transfromation period of Renaissance which later led to the emergence of great thinkers, philosphers, rationalists,
mathematicians, scientists and other intellectuals like Kepler, Leonardo Da Vinci, Galileo Issac Newton, Hamilton, Boyle etc.
The scientific revolution of Europe in the 16th century, followed by the formation of the Royal Society under King Charles II in England,
paved the way for scientific and technical advancements in all sectors including maritime affairs. This gave England the ability to travel safely and surely across the globe with larger ships and also in less time. Upon this, England now had the best navy in the world along merchant companies which now dominated the global trade and having established the flow of wealth and raw material to and from the harbours of the England. Commodities including cotton, silk, indigo dye, sugar, salt, spices, saltpetre, tea, slave trade and opium were traded by a company formed in 1600 called England East India Company which later was renamed as Britain East India Company or EIC which was a joint stock company.
EIC arrived in the Indian region during the tenure of Empror Jahangeer (Salim) and have got permission to settle and conduct trade in India. Within a period of time, from the port of Calcutta, Madras, Bombay they ran their trading operations and slowly started to erect private armies. On 23 June 1757, under the leadership of Robert Clive East India Company (EIC) won the decisive battle against the Nawab of Bengal Siraj ud Dullah establising the Bengal Presidency. EIC entered in shrewd diplomacy with smaller states by the subsidary alliance treaty in which smaller state would pay taxes to them and men for wars, in return the EIC will protect the smaller states and would let them continue their local rule. EIC faught against major rivals like Marathas and defeated them in 1818 while against Sikhs also they won in 1845. By 1850's they conquered the entire Indian region from Afghan-Pak borderlands to Burma in the East. In this period lot of smaller princely states some like nation states while most like city states came to the scene. Big five states of 21 gun salute rank were Baroda, Gwalior, Jammu and Kashmir, Hyderabad, Mysore. Bhopal, Indore, Udaipur, Kolhapur, Travancore, and Kalat received 19-gun salutes. Bhopal, Indore and Udaipur were entitled to a local 21 gun salute. ( To know more about Bhopal state, click the link . )
In 1857, armed mutiny of its sepoys happened followed by city-state of Delhi under Mughal Empror Bahadur Shah Zafar II joining the rebellion along Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi, Tatya Tope, Syed Ahmad of Rohillkhand but this rebellion never stood a chance against the mighty EIC and soon EIC quelled the rebellion very brutually. Upon this incident, the British Crown or the monarch took over the charge from EIC of India and appointed Vice-Roys as the Chief executive head of the region.
British Raj was the name, now of the government of India.
Soon Indians started developing a sense of nationalism, inspired by the French revolution and American war of independence. Indians who belong to the nobility and sent their children to study in Britain, those children after completion of their education started the narrative of rights, liberties and equality. Many of them lawyers or barristers as known that time were active in this movement. Indian National Congress formed in 1885 was a party to fight for the rights of the Indians living under British Raj. Its main leaders were Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan. Later on, Gandhi went on to become the father of the nation of modern day India as it was under his leadership that congress party took independence from the Britishers in the year 1947.
But amidst that a lot of other things also happened like Hindu Muslim civil war which led to the creation of a Muslim nation state called Pakistan being partitioned from India. Muslim League formed in 1906, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah was credited with the creation of the Pakistan.
The Republic of India (1947-present)
India got independence from British on 15th August 1947 however it also got partitioned into
two parts viz Secular India and Muslim Pakistan. Pakistan getting Western Punjab, NWFP, Sindh, Baluchistan and East Bengal in the East while India retaining the remainder. India adopted a secular, parliamentry democratic constitution whereas Pakistan adopted so called Islamic constiution. Both the countries share the common British law which they both inherited. India's constitution was developed by Dr. B.R Ambedkar who was social activist fighting for the rights of weaker sections of the society especially the sheduled caste and untouchables. Sardar Patel was known as Iron Man of India because of his role in uniting more than 500 princely states into the Union of India by perusasion, lure or cohersion.
India's father of nation and great leader was Mahatma Gandhi whereas Muhammad Ali Jinnah became the father of nation of Pakistan. Soon these countries got independence they got into war with each other over the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir which stayed Independent upon 1947. On 22 October 1947 Pakistan invaded the Jammu Kashmir State resulting in India coming to the rescue of Jammu and Kashmir. India and Pakistan faught a bitter war after it Pakistan retreated back and the Forward Edge of Battlefield Area became the line of control or the de-facto border between the two countries. On 5 January 1949, UN mediated ceasefire stopped the war with 2/3rd land going to India while 1/3rd to Pakistan. China also invaded India in 1962 capturing the areas of Aksai Chin in Laddakh region and some areas of Arunachal Pradesh in the East. Subsequently, Pakistan again tried to capture the Kashmir area resulting in 1965 war which ended in stalemate. On the fronts, India continued to grow, develop and enjoy a friendly reputation with other countries of the World. It became the member of non-aligned group called Pansheel. Education, agriculture, dairy, irrigation facilities, heavy industries were the focus of India's efforts in its early stages under the leadership of Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru.
As internal revolt happened in East Pakistan, millions of refugees start coming into the India and refugee crises was too much to get handled resulting in India Pakistan 1971 war. Decisive Victory of India on 16th December 1971 and 93000 Pakistani prisoner captives.
Pakistan was cut into two halves, and a new country was born called Bangladesh. It happened with the courage and strong resolution of the Indian Prime Minister Indra Gandhi, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, Lt. Gen Jagjit Singh Arora, Lt. Gen JFR Jacob, officers and men of the Indian Armed Forces, support from USSR.
India became Nuclear Armed nation by the efforts of Homi Jahangir Bhabha, lead scientist and director of the Atomic Affairs. In the coming years, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam gave India her delivery system of advance ballistic missiles like Agni, Prithvi and Brahmos.
By the 1990's India has built a solid foundation upon which a rapid growth in economy can happen and it started in the way too with PM Rajiv Gandhi, PM Narsimha Rao, PM AB Vajyapaye
and PM Manmohan Singh. In 2014, PM Narenda Modi came to power with overwhelming majority in the Lok Sabha. He is known to be decission maker, strong guy and master of diplomacy in international arena. In 2023, India became the world's most populated country surpassing China and also became the fifth largest economy of the world. Currently India is G-20 host.
