India has been most often overlooked or even dismissed as unimportant in the worlds history books while some have taken steps to malign such a glorious past. Yet new evidence is revealing her not only vital to evolving world history, but the mother of modern civilisation.
Here on this page that will be periodically updated, history is being corrected from earth science, emerging discoveries in archaeology, ancient texts, linguistics and genetics.
Like many people seeking to know the truth of our existence, I have questioned the historic narrative handed down to us through various governmental agencies to find it has been heavily tainted by political expediency, personal bias and belief systems.
In our current age, a Western materialist point of view in the guise of patriarchal capitalism dominates the world in pursuit of individual pleasure. History instead of being an important within Jnana yoga – of our search for truth and a tool to enable our evolution is being used to obfuscate important truths, justify bad behaviour, draw national borders and facilitate the exercise of authority.
Under the Western flexible morality, people say nice things and rule but do dastardly deeds for power and profits. Corporatism flourishes and people are denied access to untainted spiritual knowledge which confines them to being slaves to immoral and corrupt political and economic systems.
Conversely in the East, Dharma was established to guide the people into eternity as co-creators. Ones reason for being was truth and enlightenment, to live an inclusive spiritual life of celebration without need of borders. That life of Dharma was tainted by those who chose materialism over spirituality, a sense of spirituality who’s last bastion became modern India.
After the occupation of India some 1400 years ago, Dharma declined rapidly to be almost wiped out by the European plunderers yet here Westerners seeking betterment discovered their own spiritual longing. The religions which had forced on them were found to be corrupt and hearts turned to India for guidance.
Yet as a new wave of genuine spirituality emerges around the globe, as people seek freedom and rights for all life, India remains mired in the mess inherited from the Muslims and British. By believing in a false narrative as many Hindus do today, they are dis-empowered and sucked into the Western, patriarchal capitalist system where they turn aside from Dharma and the celebration of life to conspire in not only the dismantling of India, but increasing suffering and destabilizing the planet.
For some time now I have seen that civilisation emerged from the general region of India where perhaps 30,000 years ago people were coming together, understanding that being happy was more important than power and possessions. They questioned their place in the cosmos and learned things that today’s most technologically equipped scientists are only just learning, confirming or yet to comprehend.
In analysis, the ‘out of Africa theory’ for humanities existence has fallen over and it seems that ‘modern humans’ perhaps evolved from the mixing between various ‘pre modern humans’ meaning that the continental features we see on people’s faces in our modern world may well be indigenous to their regions.
Would you rather live in ignorance
and believe in untruth?
Please note that all references to “Hindu” relate to the geographic region of greater India, not any belief system as essentially Hindus are non believers and the testimony of Vedanta represents the original science within Sanatana Dharma that the world has misconstrued. Many links are to Wikipedia, not because it presents accurate information, but because the platform is more stable. Please cross reference from as many sources as you can and You are welcome to contribute/contact via my facebook page,
Are you content to believe without proof?
India may have had a biological head start on other continents as back some 3.2 billion years ago when Earth was a water world, “the Singhbhum region of modern day India represents the earliest continental land exposed to the air.” Priyadarshi Chowdhury, a geologist at Australia’s Monash University.
Geographically, about 90 million years ago India rifted away from Madagascar and began its relatively (in tectonic plate speeds) rapid movement northward, ultimately closing the Tethys Sea, colliding with Asia between 55 and 50 million years ago to commence creation of the Himalayas. The Deccan Traps began forming 66.25 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous period. The bulk of the volcanic eruption occurred along the Western Ghats and this series of eruptions which may have lasted about 30,000 years likely contributed a global mass extinction event.
2,000,000 BC
While there is a record of great apes dating back to 12 million years, tools crafted by proto-humans dated over two million years have been discovered in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. The earliest archaeological site in the subcontinent is the palaeolithic hominid site in the Soan River valley. Soanian sites are found in the Sivalik region across what are now India, Pakistan, and Nepal – is this a precursor to the IVC?
Note that stone with good fracture qualities such as flint, jasper, and chert was not always as readily available in Asia as it was elsewhere in the world. Asian populations, therefore, depended on coarse-grained quartz, volcanic tuff, and petrified wood, none of which lends itself to fine tool fabrication. Madrasian Culture sites have been found in Attirampakkam located near Chennai (formerly known as Madras), Tamil Nadu. Tools related to this culture have been found at various other locations in this region. Bifacial handaxes and cleavers are typical assemblages recovered of this culture. Flake tools, microliths and other chopping tools have also been found. Most of these tools were composed of the metamorphic rock quartzite. The stone tool artefacts in this assemblage have been identified as a part of the second inter-pluvial period in India.
Evidence for presence of Hominins with Acheulean technology in Tamil Nadu. (Acheulean artifacts from Africa have been dated to 1.6 million years ago. The oldest Acheulean sites in India are only slightly younger than those in Africa..)
700,000 – 125,000BC
Bhimbetka and Daraki-Chattan Capules which constitute the oldest prehistoric art ever discovered dated to around 700,000 BC
A skull fragment, “the only human fossil skull in Asia” was found in Hathnora in the Narmada Valley in central India indicating that this part of Indian subcontinent might have been inhabited around 300,000 years ago. Anek R. Sankhyan describes it as “debated and conveniently interpreted as “evolved” Homo erectus or “archaic human”.
Further conjecture: “The paleontology division of Geological Survey of India says a fossilized human skull was found embedded in a conglomerate bed in Narmada valley. The bed occurs at a basal part of a formation sandwiched between two formation of 0.73 Ma and 74000 yrs before present (BP). The conglomerate bed has also preserved fossils of Hippopotamus namadicus, Equus namadicus, Stegodon namadicus, Sus namadicus, etc. having Middle Pleistocene affinity. All these stratigraphic and palaeontological evidences point to a Middle Pleistocene age (~12.5 lakhs year ago [1.200,000]) of the Narmada Homo erectus skull.” ~ MIMG
100,000 BC
Bhimbetka shelters in the foothills of the Vindhyan Mountains on the southern edge of the central Indian plateau were inhabited by Homo erectus with rock art adding to the Daraki-Chattan Capules.
74,000 BCE
Technology similar to contemporary artefacts found used by Homo sapiens in Africa found in Jwalapuram is an archaeological site in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, southern India, which shows hominid habitation before and after the Toba eruption event (dates for this event vary between 75000 and 73000 BC) There are various claims that the fallout from the Toba Volcano covered much of India to a depth of about 5 cm yet it would be unreasonable to assume that this amount of volcanic ash was spread uniformly. There is evidence of human habitation before and after in the same locales, so it would be a mistake to assume that life had been snuffed out and the area only repopulated many years later.
It is also reasonable to presume that the inhabitants of the period may have suffered terribly yet they endured. Daily Mail
“The Jwalapuram Locality 22 preserves more than 1600 stone artefacts, many agricultural assigned to the Indian Middle Palaeolithic identifying the behavioural and environmental adaptations of the hominin group(s) that occupied India when Toba erupted.” ~ archaeologist Michael Haslam, MyIndiaMyGlory.
50,000 BC
Narmada Valley harboured pre-historic human settlements, possibly pre-Harappan ‘civilisation’ including the only pre-modern human fossil known in Asia. Excavations carried out by the Shridhar Vakankar Archaeological Research Institute in the Narmada valley (Khargone district) discovered some 350 archaeological items.
40,000 BC
The house mouse dependent on agricultural activity begins to migrate out of India. This is indictive of human travel, trade and possibly primitive agriculture? It’s also important to consider how Neanderthal DNA happened to enter into East Asia and they were almost extinct by this time?
Narasimha idol found in Germany carbon dated to 35000 BC.
The Hindu sense of cosmology claims that our entire universe is alive, it is born and dies over and over. They knew about the ~26,000 year Yuga cycle (as described by swami Yukteswar Giri) or axial precession implying a continuous knowledge over as many years. Although it is possible it was later calculated, 30k BC is a likely date that what we call ‘Hindu civilisation’ was evolving.
“Trade between India, Tibet and Persia 35K BC” ~ David Adams
Possible first gold crafted as Kalpa Vigraha, a Vishnu Idol circa 26000 BC. It seems at this time that there were likely pockets of civilisation across the region of greater India with travel and communication. People were likely wondering what the purpose of life was and observed the emotive states (happiness, joy, sadness et cetera) and sought some way of control so that they could be always happy. They had probably been thinking on this for some time and observing the phenomenon of life taking steps to ensure a full belly and protection from the extremes of nature and of course dangerous animals.
At some time in this period or perhaps earlier, the first yogi appeared and the people came to understand that there are only two directions of life, inwards and outwards but the two affected each other.
17000+ Years Unbroken Indian Civilization with Nilesh Oak
Spending time looking inwards and in a sense being there (meditation) gave rise to a deep sense of joy and happiness and this became part of the enculturation process. Those equipped with self-knowledge looked at the material world and over the millennia helped to improve life for people and ways of living. Sanatana Dharma was being born and the accumulating knowledge was being passed on through schools employing rote learning.
Paleolithic industries in South India Tamil Nadu.
First confirmed semi permanent settlements in the Bhimbetka rock shelters in modern Madhya Pradesh.
Some of the Stone Age rock paintings found among the Bhimbetka rock shelters are thought to be approximately 30,000 years old.
The ancient history of the region includes some of South Asia’s oldest settlements and some of its major civilisations.
A plant similar to rice has been dated to India at this time.
26,492 BC.
End of previous Kali Yuga – start of ascending Dwapara Yuga and the demise of the Neanderthals who’s dna remains in Hindu and East Asian populations of today. Since this is clear evidence they travelled so extensively, it would be foolish to believe Hindu explorers were less adventurous.
23,720 years BCE
The Rig Veda composed ?
18,000 BCE
Peak of last ice age or global maximum of ice coverage
15,000 BCE
Birth of Shiva the first yogi and commencement of the Vedic era
“The world of form and the formless Void: Neither of these exists independently. In the One, there is neither separation nor union; Truly, there is nothing but Shiva alone”
14776 BC.
Peak of last Satya Yuga
14,500 BCE
The composition of the astronomical text Surya Siddhanta. Nilish Oak again explains how the age of this ancient texts has been calculated and the discrepancies in some of the earlier historical reckoning.
Given that this is not an introduction to astronomy but an advanced text indicates that the level of knowledge is indicative of a settled civilisation with a strong multigenerational heritage?
13,000 BCE
It is said that the suptarishies went to all corners of the earth and if they are direct students of Shiva as the first yogi who according to legend lived around 15,000 BC, one of them went to the Americas where we find many cultural similarities as in ancient India. The Tamils of course have a reputation as being great seafarers. See the book ‘Hindu America’ by Chaman Lal.
As far as known, Hindu culture was matriarchal – communal and the culture of creating deities or gods was prevalent.
Matriarchal cultures are about coexistence with nature and creating conditions for future generations to flourish.
“As no clear record remains from before 9500 BC, perhaps we can imagine a collection of villages and towns covering the region of north-east Bharatha interconnected by foot paths and waterways.
The people would have been farming, collecting wild food and hunting. They would be experimenting with different lifestyles and under the influence of the wandering yogis, becoming more accepting of the unpredictability of life.
Origins of Bharata: The Rig Veda tells us how the Bharata tribe built India’s first known empire and created a model of assimilation rather than imposition. Thus, they came to lend their name to a whole civilisation, a short read by Sanjeev Sanyal
Beginnings of agriculture: “Evidence of rice ostensibly being used as food on the banks of Lahuradewa lake in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The area, located in the Sant Kabir Nagar District, has been in the limelight for over two decades now thanks to the discovery of rice cultivation from the mid-7th millennium (i.e., 6000s) BCE, carbonised rice grains dating as far back as ~11,000 BCE, and micro-charcoal particles and Cerealia pollen, providing evidence of human activity and some form of slash-and-burn agriculture in the region from at least 13,000 BCE”. ~ India Facts
12,900 BCE
The Younger Dryas which is also called Younger Dryas stadial was probably caused by the impact of fragments from a passing comet. This initially halted the post ice age global warming but it extinguished the remains of past human civilisations and caused the global extinction of the remaining megafauna.
“We understand why the Comet Skanda did not affect the wife of Vasistha, but all the other wives of the Rishi on his way. We show their position 10,800 b. C. with Vega still as Pole Star.” ~ Hiranyakesi Grhasutra. A discussion of the younger Dryas in the Vedas.
The Younger Dryas was characterized by cooler average temperatures that returned parts of Europe and North America to ice age conditions. The onset of the Younger Dryas took less than 100 years, and the period lasted for roughly 1,300 years. The date for Shiva given above should perhaps be later as in the Zoroastrian scriptures known as the Zend Avesta, certain verses the verses speak of a primordial father figure called Yima (who maybe Shiva), the first evolved man and the founder of civilization. This is referenced in the opening section of the Zend Avesta, known as the Vendidad.
Other evidence of the comet is found in the Megalithic Temples of Malta and the serpent mound in Ohio. How India fared during the disasterous period is not clear but as sea levels rose, populations were forced to move which likely created social friction and likely began mass migrations. It’s thought the Sumerians migrated from the continental shelf near to Mumbai or perhaps nearer to the present remains of the undersea city of Dwarka.
12,000 BCE
India did not exist in isolation, there had been a trade in goods and ideas over thousands of years before this time. Hindlogists see related motifs in the artwork at Gobekli Tepe which also ‘reflects evidence of the The Younger Dryas and a warning to humanity’ ~ Graham Hancock.
We should remember that the entire region from India to the Mediterranean was much wetter and even the Sinai was a mixture of forests and grasslands as North Africa was a mix of savanna, with African animals, forests and great Lakes.
The Origin of Sanatana Dharma
We don’t know when but there must have been a shift in consciousness from which Sanatana Dharma and perhaps a modern sense of democracy were born. It seems likely that following the revelations of Shiva the first Yogi said to have lived in the 12-15,000 year BC period, he unveiled the technology of being human including the concept of Ardhanareeshvara that symbolizes male and female principles are bound and cannot be separated. It conveys the unity of opposites in the universe. The male half stands for Purusha and the female half being Prakriti, and they cannot exist separate from each other.
From those first teachings of the first yogi that were spread wide by the Saptarishis, Sanatana Dharma evolved to give everyone the opportunity to touch the absolute, to live equitably and eternally as co-creators.
It’s thought that societies were matriarchal, the economy reflected communal living and satisfying both the needs of survival and individual mental development.
It is said that the suptarishies, the direct students of Shiva (as the first yogi) went to all corners of the earth and one of them went to the Americas where we find many cultural similarities as in ancient India. The Tamils of course have a reputation as being great seafarers and the point made by Vedveer Arya: “According to KD Abhyankar, the star Agastya (Canopus) was known to Indians since the Rig Vedic period. The star Agastya became visible for the first time in India at KanyAkumari around 10,000 BCE, at Chennai around 8500 BCE, at Hyderabad 7200 BCE, in the Vindhya region around 5200 BCE and at Delhi around 3100 BCE.
The epoch of the Puranic story about Agastya who crossed the Vindhya Mountain cannot be later than 5000 BCE. Thus, the history of the 197 Pandyan kings of the Sangam period ought to have begun around 5000 BCE and the first Pandyan king may have belonged to the era of the Ramayana i.e. 5100 – 5000 BCE” ~ The Chronology of Ancient India by Subhash Kak.
10,000 BCE
Mr. Arcio Nuns, a Brazilian nuclear scientist claims the Dravidians of Asia entered the Americas. This is supported by the find of petroglyphs at Ratnagiri on the Konkan coast of Maharashtra.
Dated to around 10,000 BCE by the Maharashtra State Archaeology Department. Some of these 12,000-year-old petroglyphs depict astrological symbols used for the Aquarius and Pisces constellations, others depict sacred symbols like the Winged Scarab and others used by many ancient cultures as well as images resembling hippos and kangaroos indicating oceanic contacts with Africa and Australia. Article
“The apple is a metaphor – a group of people turned away from Dharma to embrace materialism creating disharmony – consequently they were expelled from paradise only to thrive in exile and through trade, Hindu Sanatana Dharma became infected.”
This is also when sea levels began to rise as global ice retreated.
It is also interesting to note that Gobekle Tepe in southern Turkey in which the art work is very similar to that found on Easter Island, the Snake Mound in North America and other monumental structures around the world are being constructed. In relation to this, it is worth viewing the documentary ‘Ancient Apocalypse’ on Netflix in which Graham Hancock expands on the human response to the Younger Dryas.
9000 BCE
The Sarasvati Civilization (Indus Valley Civilization) begins as we are discovering though it’s likely the roots stretch back many thousands of years. The civilization used an early form of the Indus signs, the so-called Indus script.
During the course of their history, inhabitants of the Civilization developed new techniques in handicraft (carnelian products, seal carving) and metallurgy (copper, bronze, lead, tin which was a scarce resource in the subcontinent and iron) had elaborate urban planning, baked brick houses, efficient drainage systems, water supply systems, and clusters of large non-residential buildings.
The civilization depended significantly on local and international trade, and is thought to be the first civilization to use wheeled transport in form of bullock carts*, and they also used boats. (* It appears wheeled carts were used in the Mediterranean before meltwater pulse 1B.)
Q. If horses were from other countries then where is the Marwari or Kathiyawadi horse elsewhere in the world? Discussion
The cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro become large metropolises and the civilization expands to over 2,500 cities and settlements across the whole of what is now Pakistan, northern India, and large parts of Afghanistan, covering a region of around one million square miles, which was larger than the land area of its contemporaries Egypt and Mesopotamia combined, and also had superior urban planning and sewage systems.
Archaeologists discovered a Devi Temple with Yantra at Sidhi in MP.
“Johnathan Kenoyer of the Harappa Archaeological Research Project dated the shrine to 9000 BC proving a remarkable continuity of spiritual understanding in India.”
The commencement of natural desertification hastened by agriculture and the use of wood for brickmaking and metal smelting – copper.
The city of Mehrgarh existed – with a large city of about 30,000 persons – showing evidence ofthe world’s first dental drilling of tooth decay (approximately 7,000 to 9,000 years ago) has been found in Merhgarh, as well as the first use of cotton fibre (6th millennium BC).
The city of Bhirrana exists: said to be a pre-Indus Valley Civilisation – wiki
The Bhirrana site is stated to be the oldest Saraswathi-Indus Valley Civilization site, dating back to 7570-6200 BCE. The antiquities found from this site include pottery, fabrics, copper chisels, arrow heads, spear heads; beads of steatite, faience, terracotta and shell, bangles of copper and terracotta; semi-precious stones and beads etc. Charred grains of wheat and barley were also recovered from the deposits. The most interesting find from this site is a female dancing girl (with replica of her engraved on a potsherd as graffiti. Terracotta wheels with painted spokes are also important findings from this site. Multi-roomed houses were found at this town, which were made of mud bricks (sun-baked bricks), and wide straight roads were found separating the houses. A circular structure of baked earth (like a tandoor) was found, still commonly used in community kitchens across rural India.
In the words of L.S. Rao who had led the excavations at the Bhirrana site: “the importance of the excavation at Bhirrana lies in the fact that we have strong evidence for the first time of an unbroken cultural sequence, starting from the village culture represented by Hakra ware and its evolution gradually into semi-urban and urban cultures till the site was finally abandoned.” FE
Possibly the end of the Rig Veda era and the emergence of the first patriarchal societies?
“Avesta was the beginning of a great split in the ancient Vedic thought that arose on the banks of the river Saraswati. This split was recorded in the ancient Puranic literature of India, as the conflict between the Devas and the Asuras. It was an ideological fault-line, that divided the same tribe of people into two – a group of people who believed in the immortality of Atman (the soul, which is not body) and the others who believed in the mortality of the body and its need for the final resurrection and revival to become immortal. The first group identified themselves with the immortal Atman and cared nothing about the perishable body. The second group identified themselves with the mortal body and were constantly engaged in its prolonged preservation and its final resurrection.” ~ https://takshasila.wikidot.com/
In other words, Avesta represented materialism while Vedanta represented spirituality and the creation of heaven on earth. Avesta represented the biblical fall from grace and expulsion from the Garden of Eden giving rise to patriarchal capitalism – a drive seeking pleasure and avoidance of fear, antagonistic to the welfare of life and those seeking liberation.
Patriarchal capitalism is suited to acquiring pleasure, antagonistic to the welfare of life and especially to those seeking liberation. It created the belief systems we are familiar with today featuring transient civilisations and perpetual conflict, India however would remain matriarchal and the worlds longest continuous civilisation although it has been corrupted by efforts to destroy it.
This is also when it’s thought that tribes from India migrated west to Europe (the Roma, Phoenicians, Hittites & others) and the beginning of the Indo-European languages along with spread of patriarchal capitalism that suited those having difficulty conceiving the eternal.
“Researchers believe that the Indus Valley Civilisation spread over a vast expanse of India — stretching to the banks of the now “lost” Saraswati river or the Ghaggar-Hakra river – but this has not been studied enough because what we know so far is based on British excavations. “At the excavation sites, we saw preservation of all cultural levels right from the pre-Indus Valley Civilisation phase (9000-8000 BC) through what we have categorised as Early Harappan (8000-7000BC) to the Mature Harappan times.” ~ https://yourstory.com/2016/05/indus-valley-civilization.
6000 BC
The submersion of Dwarka as sea levels rose covering the continental shelf (Great flood stories) though this may have occurred a few thousand years earlier? The area between South India and Sri Lanka was submerged. The Persian Gulf which was a river valley flooded and it’s possible migrants from coastal areas of India migrated this way to become the Sumerians.
There is evidence of Indian rice and buffalos moving into this region (Tigris/Euphrates delta) during the period.
India produces native wild silks – tasar, muga and eri which are not always uniform in colour. It’s not clear whether silkworms of the Bombyx mori moth that feed on mulberry were endemic to India.
Was this the time of the Kurukshetra War?
Perhaps is was 5561BC as described in the book (When Did the Mahabharata War Happen by Nilesh Nilkanth Oak) but there is some conjecture as the oldest chariot in the archaeological record is dated to 2000 bc. Elephants were being tamed and copper was coming into use.. The flooding of the continental shelves had forced populations together generating friction while patriarchal capitalism was emerging.
P. V. Vartak calculates a date of 16 October 5561 BCE using planetary positions.
P. V. Holey states a date of 13 November 3143 BCE using planetary positions and calendar systems.
Aihole inscriptions give the date of Kurukshetra war around 3102 BCE.
K. Sadananda, based on translation work, states that the Kurukshetra War started on 22 November 3067 BCE.
B. N. Achar used planetarium software to argue that the Mahabharata War took place in 3067 BCE.
S. Balakrishna concluded a date of 2559 BCE using consecutive lunar eclipses.
R. N. Iyengar concluded a date of 1478 BCE using double eclipses and Saturn+Jupiter conjunctions.
P. R. Sarkar estimates a date of 1298 BCE for the war of Kurukshetra.
V. S. Dubey claims that the war happened near 950 BCE ~ wiki
Migrations from India to the Mediterranean and beyond.
Perhaps the arrival of capitalism combined with a patriarchal mentality returning to India with traders undermined Sanatana Dharma and actually caused the Kurukshetra War at a later date?
The first domestication of elephants.
The Prachi Valley civilization (Odisha, East India) exists ref.
We don’t know when Manu created his laws but he talks about possessions, human rights and of course money which as far as we know began to emerge at this time. This idicates that India was strongly influenced by patriarchal capitalism.
The Life of Lord Rama 5114 BC (vifindia.org). Is it that there was also a clan perhaps named after Lord Rama who over time became the Rajput’s, coined the name Rajasthan and a Rama man became the Egyptian Ramses?
According to scholars and the evidences across Iraq and Iran, the Rama clan ruled extensively and were influential in the development of Egyptian culture (Ramses). This image is one of many similar found across the region of greater Persia said to symbolise Lord Rama. Creation of The Laws of Manu History and Influence of Law Code of Manu.
5694 BC
End of descending Treta Yuga and commencement of the descending Dwarpara Yuga
5000 BC
By one theory, this is the beginning of the Kali Yuga? with a duration of 432,000 years, leaving us with 427,000 years until the end of the present age. This theory is less widely accepted.
Seaward travel east from India and either seafarers stranded in Australia or migrants settled and mixed with the local inhabitants as per modern genetic evidence.
The Saraswati river begins to diminish causing westward migrations and Hindu influence in Egypt – probably two way trade in ideas and technology.
Tamil DNA appears in Australian Aboriginals indicating Tamil travel and trade.
The original Sun Temple at Multan is said to have been built by Samba, son of Krishna.
Mundigak was a large prehistoric town complete with what’s been defined as a palace (image), an important cultural phenomenon from the 5th-2nd millennia BC. What’s significant here is that unlike the Indus region, administrative power was perhaps more centralised.
Cotton growing becomes widespread in South America – indicating trade across the Pacific as India was home to cotton.
Despite being far from the sea, Mohenjodaro was or became an Integral trading port within the Dwarka Port System Youtube
4000 BC
Bampor, capital of Bampur County, Sistan and Baluchestan Province of what is now Iran. jatland.com)
3300 BC
Commencement of Copper – Bronze age in India although this may have been earlier (Hindustan Times)
According to a Puran, Egypt is known as Misr-Sthan. In Hindi today it is Misr. In Hebrew, it is known as Al-Misr.
3140 BC
End of descending Dwarpara Yuga and commencement of the descending Kali Yuga.
The most accepted theory matching axial precession and our movement through the constellations, the Kali Yuga began: “in 3140 BCE, the Kurukshetra War ended, and in 3102 BCE, Krishna left his body. Three to four months after the war, the Kali Yuga began.As of 2012 AD, Krishna’s era ended 5,114 years ago. If you subtract 2592, which is the cumulative number of years of the two Kali Yugas that are at the bottom of the ellipse which describes the axial precession, you arrive at 2522 years. That means we have already completed 2522 years of Dwapara Yuga, and since its total duration is 2592 years, we still have 62 years until its completion.
In the year 2082, we will complete Dwapara Yuga and move on to Treta Yuga.” ~ Sadhguru.
Hindu settlement exists at Shortugai (near Bactria or Bactra as is sometimes spelt) on the Oxus River (Amu Darya) on trade route between China and all points west with the Oxus river navigable to the Mediterranean (and Aral, Caspian and Black Sea ports). Perhaps for lapis lazuli, wool, gold, silver, copper, bronze, tin, lead, herbs and spices on this ‘silk route’? A summary of the spice trade.
Extensive land and maritime trade network operating between the Harappan and Mesopotamian civilizations.
The mummified bodies of Egyptian nobles are wrapped in linen from India.
Global warming intensifies with the drying up of the Saraswati River and mass westward migrations of people from North West India.
“A team of archaeologists discovered several iron artefacts, including small knives, in Telangana in 2015, dating back to 1,800 BCE to 2,400 BCE. These iron artefacts were tested at the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI).” Wiki, TOI
A coiled copper-alloy wire necklace (H2000/2242-01) dated to the Harappa period 3B (circa 2450-2200 BC) is purported to contain the earliest evidence for silk in South Asia. Studies indicate that the fibres are from the wildsilk moth, Antheraea mylitta, commonly called “Tussar” – Silk today (Irene Good, J. M. Kenoyerand R. H. Meadow 2008). However silk is first mentioned from about 5000 BC. (In the Mahabharatha, there is vivid description about silk and silk garments. Lord Krishna is described as being clad in Kashi Pitambara (silk of Banaras, West Bengal).
2200 BC – Iron Age India:
Sanauli chariot
Officially, the beginnings of the Iron Age around the world dates to 1200 BC, however, the Iron Age in India clearly goes back to 2200 BC. Archaeologists have found artefacts including knives and blades dated to this time. These findings clearly attest to India’s ancient achievements in the field of metallurgy and push back the Iron Age in India. C14 carbon studies performed by the metallurgists have shown that there were many other ancient mines from which silver, copper, tin, zinc and lead were produced.
Gene D. Matlock, Chaman Lal and others write about the Hindu connection with the Americas from this or perhaps an earlier time indicating deep cultural and trade links.
Glass made at lothal and Baluchpura. From these representations it looks that glass was ‘cast’ rather than blown and may have been from an earlier time.
2000 BC
The population of the Indian subcontinent is estimated at 6,000,000 but could be many times greater. The development of swords (Academia) based on the supposition that the Rigveda and Atharvaveda are later works where as swords in other regions have been found dating to 1400 years earlier?
Possible date for the Horsemen of the Pir Panjal – some say they seem to be more Bactrian inspired than Indic Chariots and weaponry in burial chambers at Sinauli, about 70 kilometres north of New Delhi.
“The excavation at Sinauli unearthed a 4000-year old chariot, copper weapons and warrior burials. The chariot is encased in copper and is believed to be the oldest surviving physical evidence of the chariot ever to be discovered in the world. Alongside, there are also shields, bows and arrows, spears, swords, helmets, axes and other copper weaponry that have been unearthed from the burial sites.” ~ India today.
Lapis from Afghanistan appears in Egypt proving trade and modern day Karalla thought to be the fabled ‘Land of Punt’ from where Egypt acquired spices.
From the beginning of the second millennium BC during what was the middle to late Bronze Ag, there was extending across Eurasia from India (as per the Sanauli chariot) to Anatolia and further west into Europe, evidence of an emergence of what is referred to as a warrior aristocracy. The chariot was the indispensable symbol of this newly emergent socio-political phenomenon. Brown Pundits
1900 BC
The Sarasvati River ceases to flow as a result of tectonic upheavals marking the end of the Harappan/Indus Valley Civilisation.
Mass migrations from North West India, The formative Jews?
1806 BC, lowest ebb of the Kali Yuga
1800 BC
Adichanallur urn-burial site in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu. Hindu culture (Sanatana Dharma) is strong across Southeast Asia and perhaps here we have the beginnings of Mahendraparvata and Angkor Wat in today’s Cambodia?
Panchayat or self-governing village bodies called ‘sabhas’ existed as the first known democracy. This system may have existed long before but the Village Panchayat or elected council had large powers, both executive and judicial. Land was distributed by this panchayat which also collected taxes out of the produce and paid the government’s share on behalf of the village. Above a number of these village councils there was a larger panchayat or council to supervise and interfere if necessary.
The panchayat was deliberately destroyed by the East India Company when it was granted the office of Diwan in 1765.
1500 BC
Emergence of the Gandhāra kingdom which is the present day north-west Pakistan, is the old name for the valley and district of Peshawar. Wiki
1300 BC
Cemetery H culture comes to an end.
Late date for the Rigveda ?
A widely accepted birth/death dates for Shakyamuni Buddha 1029 BCE to 949 BCE
Historian Vedveer Arya sees Gautama Buddha as a Nepali and dates his death to 1864 BC.
Late Vedic period (to 500 BCE)
The growth in education and the rise of universities – any Greek scholar worth his salt must travel and spend time studying in India.
Increased desertification hastened by agriculture and the use of wood for funerals, brickmaking and metal smelting – the Saraswati dries up and IVC ends.
Kashi (Varanasi), the spiritual and cultural capital of ancient India existed in this period. It’s undisputed as the oldest inhabited city of the world and thought to have existed since long before.
Dharmic (Hindu) civilization evolved beyond the subcontinent shaping the social construct and statehood of Southeast Asia.
Through trade and education, small indigenous states were transformed into major kingdoms and empires led by a Maharajah with statecraft concept akin to those in India. It gave birth to the former Champa civilisation in southern parts of Central Vietnam, Funan in Cambodia, the Khmer Empire in Indochina, Langkasuka Kingdom and Old Kedah in the Malay Peninsula, the Sriwijayan kingdom on Sumatra, the Medang Kingdom, Singhasari and the Majapahit Empire based in Java, Bali and parts of the Philippine archipelago.
The civilisation of India influenced the languages, scripts, written tradition, literature’s, calendars, scientific knowledge and artistic aspects of these peoples and nations.
Age of the Panchala Kingdom roughly located over modern Budaun, Farrukhabad and the adjoining districts of Uttar Pradesh. – wiki
Legend says that Buddha Shakyamuni was born as a royal prince in 624 BC in a place called Lumbini, in what is now Nepal contrary to earlier opinion. ~ Kadampa
Carbon dating proves Adichanallar relics found in Tamilnadu date from 905 to 696 BC.
600 BC
Sixteen Maha Janapadas (“Great Realms” or “Great Kingdoms“) emerge. Vedic period ends? The capital of the Early Pandyan Kingdom was initially Korkai, all around 600 BCE, and was later moved to Koodal (now Madurai) during the reign of Nedunjeliyan I.
Takshashila University was the most famous and the world’s first university. Also known as Taxila or Takshila, it existed from about 600 BC to 500 AD. Taxila was in the kingdom of Gandhar, in Ancient India.
Pānini the renowned Sanskrit scholar and considered the father of linguistics lived in this period.
According to some, Gautama Buddha was born c. 563/480 BCE as per evidence at Lumbini but seems a less likely date.
Commencement of the Sangam period of Tamil Nadu and Kerala spanning from c. 5th century BCE to 3rd century CE. Sangam literature based in Madurai has literary evidences of urban civilisation in Tamil Nadu.
Reign of Cyrus the Great and founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire 530 BC. His army reached into northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent, today’s Afghanistan, which later proved to be his nemesis and caused his death. He chose the site of Percepolis under which lay a gold plate on which were written the tenants of democracy and the Cyrus Cylinder, the oldest known declaration of human rights likely learned/taken from India.
550 BC
Rein of Perisan King Darius the Great (550-486 BC) who led the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley. Dara is an Indian name and his great grandfather was called Ariaramnes.
543 BC
The Vanga-based Prince Vijaya (c. 543 BCE) married a daughter of the Pandyan king of Madurai, to whom he was sending rich presents every year. Sinhalese chronicle Mahawamsa mentions this event.
End of the Kali Yuga and commencement of the current ascending Dwapara Yuga.
The ideals of democracy (from India) are enshrined in the foundations of Persepolis.
500 BC
The followers of Buddha are institutionalising Buddhism.
Extensive trade with Rome.
Indian elephants used in construction at Baalbek (and like places), and later to the Roman theater.
Envoys to and from China with special interest in Buddhism. An early Greek coin discovered from Gandhara region, dated 500-400 BCE. This is one of the earliest evidence for Hindu contacts with Greece, dating to pre-Alexandrian era.
Kālidāsa, a Classical Sanskrit writer lives about this time.
The Barabar Caves are constructed about this time – they are carved entirely out of granite, with a highly polished internal surface and an amazing echo effect. These reflect great technological genuis.
483 BC
Another proposed date for the Mahaparinirvana of Gautama Buddha at Kushinagar.
Persian rule in the northwest ends after Darius 3 is defeated by Alexander, who establishes the Macedonian Empire after taking over the Persian Achaemenid Empire and migration of Greeks into the region. It’s thought Alexander sent his plunder home by way of the Oxus, Aral, Caspian, Black Sea to Mediterranean sea route and used that route to bring in Greek migrants who over the next 200 years had some influence over North West India.
“The last Indo-Greek kingdoms of northwestern India were conquered by the Sakas under the overlordship of Azes and eliminated by 58 BC” ASI
326 BC
Ambhi king of Takshila, a university city surrenders to Alexander.
Seleucus gives up his territories in the subcontinent (Afghanistan/Baluchistan) to Chandragupta in exchange for 500 elephants. Seleucus offers his daughter in marriage to Chandragupta to seal their friendship.
300 BC
Beginning of the Satavahana kingdom covering present-day Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Possible composition of the Arthashastra credited to Kautilya, also identified as Vishnugupta and Chanakya
273 BCE
Ashoka the Great regarded as the greatest ancient Indian emperor, grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, ascends as emperor of the Mauryan Empire.
Kalinga War takes place between Ashoka and the kingdom of Kalinga. After conquering Kalinga, Ashoka reportedly regrets what he had done, leading him to adopt Buddhism, which then became the quasi-official state religion of the Mauryan Empire.
260 BCE
Ashoka begins displaying religious tolerance, grants animal rights, builds hospitals for people and animals, treats his subjects as equals regardless of caste or creed, and promotes non-violence and republicanism.
Ashoka inscribes the Edicts of Ashoka, written down using Brahmi script.
Patanjali. the eminent composer of the Yoga Sutras dated to mid 2nd century BCE by both Western and Indian scholars.
200 BCE
Kuninda Kingdom is established. Tholkappiyam describes the grammar and morphology of Tamil; it is the oldest existing Tamil grammar (dates vary between 200 BCE and 100 CE). (to 100 BC)
Buddhism expands north westward.
Kalaripayattu – written evidence of martial arts in Southern India described in the Sangam literature of this period
Puspagiri University – Buddhist University is established (Lalitgiri). Today, its ruins lie atop the Langudi hills about 90 km from the Mahanadi delta, in the districts of Jajpur and Cuttack, Orissa.
Scenes of the civilization, culture & life of ancient Bengal from the various antiquities of Chandraketugarh in the district of North 24 Parganas. ~2nd century B.C.E.-1st century. Gangarashtra period. sylph-ocular.com/ck. Also don’t forget to watch this magnificent & much needed lecture on Chandraketugarh (In Bengali) by Shri Goutam Dey: https://www.facebook.com/goutam.deganga/videos/2068748243268473
184 BCE
The Mauryan Empire, which shrank considerably, collapses after its emperor Brihadrata is assassinated by his general Pushyamitra Shunga. Pushyamitra Shunga then establishes the Shunga dynasty.
Sugar was first produced from sugarcane in northern India sometime about the first century.
Huge exports of spices and silks to Rome to the extent Rome was running out of cash reserves.
The Pandyan king sends ambassadors to the Greek and Roman lands.
58 BC
Beginning of Vikram Era – The Vikram Samvat calendar starts half a century before the Gregorian calendar and works on an Indian calendar cycle. Note the time meridian or time reference point for the world was in Ujjain, not Greenwich. Youtube.
A discussion on the paleolithic finds in
India and South East Asia
published Oct/22.
Western Satraps 35-405 CE (Kshatrapa the longest reigning Indo-Scythian group in India) formed. Increased desertification hastened by agriculture and the use of wood for funerals, brickmaking and metal smelting.
Year 0
Buddhism expands into South East Asia and begins to replace the existing Hindu culture. “In the high plateau of eastern Iran, in the oases of Serindia, in the arid wastes of Tibet, Mongolia, and Manchuria, in the ancient civilized lands of China and Japan, in the lands of the primitive Mons and Khmers and other tribes of Indo-China, in the countries of the Malaya-Polynesians, in Indonesia and Malay, India left the indelible impress of her high culture, not only upon religion, but also upon art, and literature, in a word, all the higher things of spirit.” Rene Grousset (1885-1952) French art historian. Author of several books including Civilization of India and The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia.
Kenneth Oakley (30 April 2007). “Paleolithic Cultures in Asia”. Frameworks for Dating Fossil Man. Transaction Publishers. pp. 229. ISBN 978-0-202-30960-6.
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Evidence for presence of Hominins with Acheulean technology in Tamil Nadu. (Acheulean artifacts from Africa have been dated to 1.6 million years ago. The oldest Acheulean sites in India are only slightly younger than those in Africa..)
The submersion of Dwarka as sea levels rose covering the continental shelf (Great flood stories) though this may have occurred a few thousand years earlier? The area between South India and Sri Lanka was submerged. The Persian Gulf which was a river valley flooded and it’s possible migrants from coastal areas of India migrated this way to become the Sumerians.
Mundigak was a large prehistoric town complete with what’s been defined as a palace (image), an important cultural phenomenon from the 5th-2nd millennia BC. What’s significant here is that unlike the Indus region, administrative power was perhaps more centralised.
Glass made at lothal and Baluchpura. From these representations it looks that glass was ‘cast’ rather than blown and may have been from an earlier time.
An early Greek coin discovered from Gandhara region, dated 500-400 BCE. This is one of the earliest evidence for Hindu contacts with Greece, dating to pre-Alexandrian era.
