Ancient India
The History of India begins with the Indus Valley Civilization and
the coming of the Aryans. The Aryans had some light in the Indian
Culture but finally dulled out or faded out from this time in our
history. In the fifth century, large parts of India were united under
Ashoka.
The 6th Century B.C. was a period of great tumult in India. This
was the time when Buddhism and Hinduism emerged as popular
protestant movements to pose a serious challenge to Brahmanic
teachings.
His vigorous support of Buddhism during his reign (c. 265–238
BCE; also given as c. 273–232 BCE) furthered the expansion of that
religion throughout India. Following his successful but bloody
conquest of the Kalinga country on the east coast, Ashoka renounced
armed conquest and adopted a policy that he called “conquest by
dharma” (i.e., by principles of right life).- but his fame rests not so
much on military conquests as on his celebrated renunciation of war.
For the next four hundred years (after the great Mauryan), India
remained politically disunited and weak. It was repeatedly raided and
plundered by foreigners. Stability was restored by the Guptas. The
Gupta age was the period of peace and prosperity and witnessed an
unknown flowering of art, literature and the sciences. This period also
saw the beginning of Hindu temple architecture.
Each era is unique in its distinctive culture. In the same way
Indian art forms have continuously evolved over thousands of years. In
ancient India, various art forms like paintings, architecture and
sculpture evolved. The history of art in ancient India begins with
prehistoric rock paintings.
India and its surrounding countries are so similar in culture and
climatic conditions that the region is sometimes called the Indian
subcontinent. In ancient times the geography of India was a little
different than what it...
