History Summarized: Ancient India
Ancient Indian history feels like the halfway point between a fairy tale and a
Lovecraft story.
Our earliest evidence of Indian civilization is a string of settlements along the
Indus River Valley in the two and three thousands B. C.
The Indus Valley had long since made great Public Works and figured out zoning
laws. And the craziest part is that we 've hardly found any weapons anywhere. As
far as we can tell , they were totally peaceful.
The Indus Valley civilization disappeared for reasons that we can really only guess
at. It seems that the people ventured further into the peninsula and eventually
settled in the far south.
The valley 's ruins lay hidden until British grave robbers rolled up in the 1800s and
used the stones as ballast for a railway project.
The Ramayana and the Mahabharata blend fact and myth in a way that is indicative
of the world as the ancients envisioned it. The Mahabhara is the story of a great
succession crisis and the subsequent war sometime around the 14th century BC.
The Bhagavad Gita narrows in on the struggle of the hero Arjuna to do his duty
even when it's difficult.
The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are clearly some of humanity 's most
influential literature. But the picture gets a lot clearer once we hit the 600 through
300 's BC , as we have archaeological and written evidence for a loose collection of
independent states and kingdoms across northeast India.
After Alexander the Far-from-Home failed to push past the Indus River and
decided to call it quits and go home. An exiled Kshatriya named Chandragupta too k
advantage of the kerfuffle and conquered across northern India to found the
Maurya Empire. He felt remorse and abandoned warfare entirely to become a
Buddhist.
He then worked to build trade relations and improve the lives of his people. His
grandson Ashoka was one of the coolest cats in history. The Bhagavad Gita is by far
Ancient Indian history feels like the halfway point between a fairy tale and a
Lovecraft story.
Our earliest evidence of Indian civilization is a string of settlements along the
Indus River Valley in the two and three thousands B. C.
The Indus Valley had long since made great Public Works and figured out zoning
laws. And the craziest part is that we 've hardly found any weapons anywhere. As
far as we can tell , they were totally peaceful.
The Indus Valley civilization disappeared for reasons that we can really only guess
at. It seems that the people ventured further into the peninsula and eventually
settled in the far south.
The valley 's ruins lay hidden until British grave robbers rolled up in the 1800s and
used the stones as ballast for a railway project.
The Ramayana and the Mahabharata blend fact and myth in a way that is indicative
of the world as the ancients envisioned it. The Mahabhara is the story of a great
succession crisis and the subsequent war sometime around the 14th century BC.
The Bhagavad Gita narrows in on the struggle of the hero Arjuna to do his duty
even when it's difficult.
The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are clearly some of humanity 's most
influential literature. But the picture gets a lot clearer once we hit the 600 through
300 's BC , as we have archaeological and written evidence for a loose collection of
independent states and kingdoms across northeast India.
After Alexander the Far-from-Home failed to push past the Indus River and
decided to call it quits and go home. An exiled Kshatriya named Chandragupta too k
advantage of the kerfuffle and conquered across northern India to found the
Maurya Empire. He felt remorse and abandoned warfare entirely to become a
Buddhist.
He then worked to build trade relations and improve the lives of his people. His
grandson Ashoka was one of the coolest cats in history. The Bhagavad Gita is by far
