India Before the Mughals

A very long chronology

Any history that begins with the Mughals begins too late. Urban societies of the Indus or Harappan civilization flourished more than four thousand years ago. During the first millennium BCE, new states, cities, trade networks and philosophical traditions developed across the subcontinent.

Religion and intellectual life

Vedic traditions contributed to the long development of what later came to be grouped under Hinduism. Buddhism and Jainism emerged in the first millennium BCE and developed institutions, texts, art and pilgrimage networks across South Asia and far beyond it. These traditions remain central to understanding places in the archive, including Varanasi, Sarnath and many later pilgrimage centres.

Empires and regional kingdoms

The Mauryan Empire in the third century BCE extended over much of the subcontinent, and the reign of Ashoka became especially important to Buddhist history. Later centuries included Gupta power in the north and many regional dynasties. In the south, Chola, Pallava and other kingdoms shaped architecture, temple culture, trade and language. Political fragmentation did not mean cultural isolation; trade and religious networks linked regions continuously.

Sultanates and new political formations

From the early second millennium CE, Islamic dynasties established states in parts of northern and central India. The Delhi Sultanate became a major power from the thirteenth century, while the Deccan and south contained their own sultanates and kingdoms. Persianate court culture, older regional traditions and new forms of architecture and artistic exchange developed together long before the Mughal Empire reached its height.