Ancient
c. 2600 BCE to c. 1200 CE
From Indus drainage systems to Ashoka's confession, Gupta astronomy and the scholars of Nalanda.
History isn't behind us. It's a journey through time.
Well-sourced articles on the people, places, ideas and turning points that shaped India. Each one comes with a short quiz. Read for its own sake.
- Ancient, c. 2600 BCE to c. 1200 CE
- Medieval, c. 1200 to 1750s
- Colonial & Freedom, 1757 to 1947
- Modern, 1947 to today
Choose an era to enter.
Four stretches of Indian history, each with its own articles and quizzes.
Medieval
c. 1200 to the 1750s
Sultans, Chola village assemblies, devotional movements, and a Deccan kingdom built on forts.
Colonial & Freedom
1757 to 1947
A trading company becomes a ruler, and a mass movement answers it.
Modern
1947 to today
Partition, a written constitution, the first vote, and the fields of Punjab.
Twelve stops, back through time.
Start in the present and read downward to the first cities. Dates are approximate where marked "c."
The Green Revolution
High-yielding wheat ends India's food dependency, at an ecological price still being weighed.
Read the articleFirst general election
Roughly 173 million Indians vote, using a symbol system built for the occasion.
Read the articlePartition and Independence
Independence arrives with a death toll that historians still dispute.
Read the articleNon-Cooperation
Gandhi's first nationwide campaign turns nationalism into a mass movement.
Read the articleThe East India Company
A rigged battle in Bengal marks the shift from trader to ruler.
Read the articleThe Maratha state
Shivaji builds a Deccan kingdom through forts and guerrilla tactics.
Read the articleThe first cities
Drainage, standardized weights, and a script that has never been deciphered.
Read the article
Objects that remember.
Six things that survived, and what each one tells us. Open one to read more.
Indus standard weightc. 2600 to 1900 BCE
- Region
- Indus Valley, now Pakistan and northwest India
- Why it matters
- Matching weights found across Indus cities point to shared standards in trade and administration.
Rock Edict XIIIMauryan period, 3rd century BCE
- Region
- Carved at sites across the subcontinent
- Why it matters
- Ashoka expresses remorse over the Kalinga War, a rare royal confession in the written record.
Iron Pillar of DelhiGupta era, c. 4th to 5th century CE
- Region
- Delhi, now at Mehrauli
- Why it matters
- It has resisted rust for well over a thousand years, which makes it a showpiece of early Indian metalworking.
Uttaramerur inscriptionChola period, 10th century CE
- Region
- Tamil Nadu
- Why it matters
- The inscriptions describe how a village assembly was run, a strikingly early form of local self-government.
Charkha, the spinning wheel1920s onward
- Region
- Across India
- Why it matters
- Hand spinning became one of the most visible everyday ways to take part in the Non-Cooperation movement.
Ballot box, 1951–52First general election
- Region
- India-wide
- Why it matters
- Roughly 173 million people were eligible, most unable to read, so symbols stood in for names.
Stories worth remembering.
Six places to begin, each about as long as a coffee.
Ancient, 6 min read
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.
Ancient, 6 min readThe Indus Valley Civilization
A script that has never been deciphered.
Medieval, 5 min readThe Chola Dynasty
Early village self-government, and South India's finest bronze art.
Colonial & Freedom, 5 min readGandhi and the Non-Cooperation Movement
A mass movement that ended with a single incident.
Modern, 4 min readPartition and Independence (1947)
The death toll is still disputed, from 200,000 to nearly three million.
Modern, 4 min readThe Green Revolution
It ended food dependency, at a real ecological price.