Mahājanapada 600-400 BC

Punch-Marked Coin, Maghada Janapada, Silver Karshapana 

Author’s  Private Collection Collection

 Sixteen kingdoms or oligarchic republics existed in ancient India from the sixth century BC to the fourth century BC. These Pre-Buddhist states in the Mahabharata epic, include  Kosala, Kuru, Magadha, Malla, Machcha (Matsya), Panchala, Surasena, Vriji and Vatsa. Each of these Janapadas (Jana; people, pada; foot) reflected the culture of its own people of the region and unique. Janapadas are also mentioned in both Buddhist and Jain texts which confirm their historical reality and continuity.

599 BC Traditional birth year of Mahavira of Jainism,

A  19th Century Temple Token of Jainism

Author’s Collection

Mahavira, 24th Tirthankar is born (traditional date) into a royal family in the present Bihar region of India. At the age of thirty, he left home in pursuit of spiritual awakening and to spread his philosophy which is now followed by over four million people in India.

Persian King Cyrus I “The Great” Ca 559-530 BC

 Cyrus, Gold Coin ca 550 BC.

Cyrus, son of Cambyses I, founds the Persian Achaemenid Empire, and conquers the borderline North Western regions of the Indian subcontinent to establish one of the greatest empires of the ancient world.

Darius I, 522-486 BC

In 516 BC,  the Persian king Darius  of the Achaemenid tribe embarked on a campaign to Central Asia, Aria and Bactria by marching from Afghanistan to Taxila (present Pakistan) before capturing Gandhara and other regions surrounding the Indus River.

Birth of Buddha 463 BC, Reign of kings Bhattiya, Bimbisara  Ca 590-491 BC

First mortal image of Buddha, Gold coin of Kanishka 127 AD

Siddhārtha Gautama, the Buddha-to-be, born in Lumbini into a royal family in the republic of the Shakyas, which is now part of Nepal.

Darius III 450-330 BC

Gold coin of Darius III

Under the last Persian king Darius III the north western part of Indian Achaemenid Empire became fragmented and was ruled by many satraps. Alexander the Great defeated Darius and conquered the region

Alexander III of Macedon (356 BC – 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great

Posthumous Silver coin of Alexander III  (Author’s Private Collection)

Alexander defeated Darius III and invaded India in 326 BC, but was eventually forced to turn back at the demand of his troops facing the prospects continued war with King Porus who ruled parts of present Punjab.

Seleucus I Nicator c. 358 BC – 281 BC

Tetradrachm of Seleucus I, the horned horse

Following the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, his Greek general Seleucus I Nicator (c. 358 BC – 281 BC) carried an expedition to India, where, after two years of war (305-303 BC) with the Indian Emperor Chandragupta Maurya, made peace with him.

Nanda Dynasty 345-321 BC

Karshapana Mahapadma Nanda

Nanda dynasty originated in the region of Magadha and lasted during 345–321 BC. Their empire extended from Bengal in the east to Punjab region in the west, as far south as the Vindhya Range. Chandragupta Maurya conquered the Nanda Empire and founded the Maurya Empire.

Mayuran Empire 320-232 BC, Chandragupta I 340 – 297 BC

Silver Karshapana ca 320 BC

Mauryan Empire was founded in 320 BC by Chandragupta Maurya in Magadha after he defeated the Nanda dynasty and the Macedonian Seleucid Empire. Chandragupta unified the Indian subcontinent, fragmented into Mahajanapadas in the North West,  and the Nanda Empire in the Indo-Gangetic Plain

                                          Mauryan Empire

Samudragupta, (c. 335 – c. 380 CE)

 Samudragupta, Gold Coin, King and Garuda on a pillai

Samudragupta,  the son of Chandragupta I succeeded after his father’s death and conquered almost the whole of India except the south. His vast military campaign added the neighbouring kingdoms of Ahichchhatra (Rohilkhand) and Padmavati (in Central India), whole of present  Bengal, Afghanistan and Kashmir to his empire.

Bindusara 320–273 BC

 Silver punch marked coin 320-270 BC (Author’s Private Collection)

Bindusara, the son of Chandragupta inherited the vast regions of northern, central and eastern parts of India along with parts of present Afghanistan and Balochistan at the age of 22 years. Greeks knew him as Amitrochates, the destroyer of foes). Bindusara later conquered almost all the Indian peninsula, except the Dravidian South.

Asoka 268-232 BC

Punch marked coin of Asoka

Asoka, son of Bindusara 268- 232 BC reigned over the entire Indian subcontinent except  the present-day Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The misery following his war against the Kalinga state led him to embrace Buddhism. After his death, the Mauryan dynasty lasted just fifty more years.

The Shunga Empire (187 BC – 78 BC)

Shunga Copper Elephant and Swastik Coin

The Shunga Empire,  an ancient Indian dynasty from Magadha that controlled vast areas of the Indian subcontinent was established by Pushyamitra Shunga following the fall of the Maurya Empire.

Indo-Greek Kingdom ca 180 BC –  100 AD

Silver Coin of Demetrius the Invincible ca 200 BC

The Indo-Greek kingdom was founded by Demetrius I who invaded the Indian subcontinent in the 2nd century BC.  The kingdom had more than 30 Indo-Greek kings. Of them the most famous was Menander (Milinda) who ruled from his capital at Sakala in the Punjab (present-day Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan). The Indo-Greeks ultimately disappeared as a political entity around 100 AD following the invasions of the Indo-Scythians.

  Indo-Scythian 100 BC – 395 CE

 Indo-Scythian silver coin, Azilises (c.60-45/35 BC)

Scythians (Sakas),  a large group of Iranian Eurasian nomads migrated to central and northern South Asia including Gandhara, Sindh, Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in 100BC. The first Saka king in south Asia was Maues established Saka power in Gandhara (modern day Pakistan and Afghanistan region) extended supremacy over north-western India.

Mayuran Empire 380-415 CE, Chandragupta II  (Vikramaditya)

 Silver coin Rudrasimha III 380-387 CE

Gold Coin of Chandragupta II, 380-415 CE

 Indo-Scythian rule in North Western India ended following the defeat of the last Saka Satrap Rudrasimha III  by Chandragupta II, the son of  Samudragupta, in 395 CE.  During the latter’s rule the Gupta Empire reached its peak in art, architecture, and sculpture and came to be known as the “Golden Age” of India.

From the years 388 to 409 CE Chandragupta subjugated Gujarat, the region north of present Mumbai, Saurashtra, in western India, and Malwa, with its capital at Ujjain. Chandragupta was succeeded by his second son Kumaragupta I

Kumaragupta  (415 – 455CE)

Gold Coin of Kumaragupta

Kumaragupta I succeeded Chandragupta II as emperor and kept the empire intact by defeating the invaders Pushyamitras from the banks of Naramada River and the White Huns, a Nomadic tribe from Central Asia. Kumaragupta was succeeded by his son Skandagupta after whom seven Gupta emperors ruled until the middle of 6^th century when the greatest empire of ancient India disintegrated into petty chiefdoms.

 The Indo-Parthian Kingdom (30-10 BC)

 Coin of Gondophares I

Ancient Indo-Parthian Kingdom that occupied the present regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan was founded by Gondophares I or Phraotes of Central Asian Iranian Tribe in ca 30 BC . The city of Taxila is thought to have been the capital of the Indo-Parthians as per excavations by Sir John Marshall in 1913.

Kushan (Guishuang ) Empire (30-240 CE)

Bronze Coin of Kujula Kadphise

Gold Coin of  Kanishka I

Gold Coin of Vasudeva I

The Kushan Empire  was founded in the early 1st century by Kujula Kadphises (ca 30 – 80 CE) of a Yuezhi  Chinese Tribe in the Bactrian region, encompassing  much of present  Afghanistan, and the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent  as far as Sarnath near Varanasi

Vima Kadphises  (c. 95 – c. 127) the grandson of  Kadphises  was Kushan emperor from ca  90–100 CE and his successor and son Kanishka I (c. 127 – c. 140) the Great ruled virtually all of northern India from his two capitals Purushapura (Peshawar) and Mathura.

Vasudeva I (c. 190 – c. 230) was Kushan emperor from about 20 years after the death of Kanishka. He was the last of the “Great Kushans whose rule coincided with the invasion of the Sasanians  in the present Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India from around 240 AD.

The Satavahanas  (273 BC-220 CE)

Copper Coin of Satakarni 100 BC

Coin of Gautamiputra  Satakarni  2nd century CE 

At the decay of the Mayuran Empire a new power arose from the Deccan region which dominated from 1st century BC to 3rd century CE. This new  Satavahana kingdom comprised of the present-day Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra and led by the early kings like Satakarni and reaching its zenith under the rule of Gautamiputra Satakarni and his successor Vasisthiputra Pulamavi. The kingdom fragmented into smaller states in the early 3rd century CE

South India, Chera. Chola Pandyas 300 BC – 900 AD

Pandya Sangam Period Coin 300-100 BC

While the North of India was subjected to almost continuous invasions and political upheaval  the Dravidian peninsular in the south remained unscathed protected  by the Vindhya mountain range in the north and the sea. on its either side. Never the less the Chera, Chola and Pandiya Kingdoms were known to King Asoka. The Tamil language and culture flourished  through the support of the kings for the Tamil Sangam

The Hephthalites or White Huns ca 450-600 CE

        Hephthalite Empire

Hephthalite coin of King Khingila, 5th century CE

The Hephthalites or White Huns, were a confederation of nomadic and settled people from Central Asia who expanded their domain westward in the 5th century. They invaded North-West India  in ca 450 CE, posing a threat to late Gupta Empire. Although they were repelled, they served to destabilise the Guptas. At the height of its power in the first half of the 6th century, the Hephthalite Empire controlled territory in present-day Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, present Pakistan and other regions of north-west India.

 Empire of Harsha 590-647 CE

Silver Coin of Harshavardhana 

Prabhakarvardhana the 4^th emperor of Vardhana dynasty defeats the Huna invaders, and his son and successor Harsha (c. 590–647), also known as Harshavardhana rules North India from 606 to 647 from his capital Kanauj.  The Empire of Harsha at the height of his power spanned the Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bengal, Odisha and the entire Indo-Gangetic plain north of the Narmada River. Harsha was defeated by the south Indian Emperor Pulakeshin II of the Chalukya dynasty when he invaded the southern peninsula of India.

First Islamic Expansion into India 695-715 CE

 Umayyad dynasty. al-Walid I, 705-715, Silver dirham,

‘Imād ad-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Qāsim ath-Thaqafī  ( 695 – 715 CE) was an Umayyad general who conquered the Sindh and Multan regions along the Indus River (now a part of Pakistan) for the Umayyad Caliphate. He was born and raised in the city of Taif (in the present Saudi Arabia). Qasim’s conquest of Sindh and southern-most parts of Multan enabled Islamic expansion into India.

Gold Coin, Dharmapala, Pala Dynasty

Gold Fanam of Chalukyas 

Rashtrakuta (753-982 CE) was a royal dynasty ruling large parts of the Indian Subcontinent between the sixth and 10th centuries. Having defeated King Kirtivarman of Chalukiya Dynasty (543-753) they rose to power with Karnataka as their power base in South India ca 753. Their contemporary rulers were the Pala dynasty of Bengal (ca 800-1200) and the Prathihara dynasty of Malwa  (700 – 1036) in eastern and north-western India respectively.