भारत का इतिहास

प्राचीन इतिहास

भारत का इतिहास और संस्‍कृति गतिशील है और यह मानव सभ्‍यता की शुरूआत तक जाती है। यह सिंधु घाटी की रहस्‍यमयी संस्‍कृति से शुरू होती है और भारत के दक्षिणी इलाकों में किसान समुदाय तक जाती है। भारत के इतिहास में भारत के आस पास स्थित अनेक संस्‍कृतियों से लोगों का निरंतर समेकन होता रहा है। उपलब्‍ध साक्ष्‍य सुझाते हैं कि लोहे, तांबे और अन्‍य धातुओं के उपयोग काफी शुरूआती समय में भी भारतीय उप महाद्वीप में प्रचलित थे, जो दुनिया के इस हिस्‍से द्वारा की गई प्रगति का संकेत है। चौंथी सहस्राब्दि बी. सी. के अंत तक भारत एक अत्‍यंत विकसित सभ्‍यता के क्षेत्र के रूप में उभर चुका था।

सिंधु घाटी की सभ्‍यता

भारत का इतिहास सिंधु घाटी की सभ्‍यता के जन्‍म के साथ आरंभ हुआ, और अधिक बारीकी से कहा जाए तो हड़प्‍पा सभ्‍यता के समय इसकी शुरूआत मानी जाती है। यह दक्षिण एशिया के पश्चिमी हिस्‍से में लगभग 2500 बीसी में फली फूली, जिसे आज पाकिस्‍तान और पश्चिमी भारत कहा जाता है। सिंधु घाटी मिश्र, मेसोपोटामिया, भारत और चीन की चार प्राचीन शहरी सबसे बड़ी सभ्‍यताओं का घर थी। इस सभ्‍यता के बारे में 1920 तक कुछ भी ज्ञात नहीं था, जब भारतीय पुरातात्विक विभाग ने सिंधु घाटी की खुदाई का कार्य आरंभ किया, जिसमें दो पुराने शहरों अर्थात मोहन जोदाड़ो और हड़प्‍पा के भग्‍नावशेष निकल कर आए। भवनों के टूटे हुए हिस्‍से और अन्‍य वस्‍तुएं जैसे कि घरेलू सामान, युद्ध के हथियार, सोने और चांदी के आभूषण, मुहर, खिलौने, बर्तन आदि दर्शाते हैं कि इस क्षेत्र में लगभग पांच हजार साल पहले एक अत्‍यंत उच्‍च विकसित सभ्‍यता फली फूली।

सिंधु घाटी की सभ्‍यता मूलत: एक शहरी सभ्‍यता थी और यहां रहने वाले लोग एक सुयोजनाबद्ध और सुनिर्मित कस्‍बों में रहा करते थे, जो व्‍यापार के केन्‍द्र भी थे। मोहन जोदाड़ो और हड़प्‍पा के भग्‍नाव‍शेष दर्शाते हैं कि ये भव्‍य व्‍यापारिक शहर वैज्ञानिक दृष्टि से बनाए गए थे और इनकी देखभाल अच्‍छी तरह की जाती थी। यहां चौड़ी सड़कें और एक सुविकसित निकास प्रणाली थी। घर पकाई गई ईंटों से बने होते थे और इनमें दो या दो से अधिक मंजिलें होती थी।

उच्‍च विकसित सभ्‍यता हड़प्‍पा में अनाज, गेहूं और जौ उगाने की कला ज्ञात थी, जिससे वे अपना मोटा भोजन तैयार करते थे। उन्‍होंने सब्जियों और फल तथा मांस, सुअर और अण्‍डे का सेवन भी किया। साक्ष्‍य सुझाव देते हैं कि ये ऊनी तथा सूती कपड़े पहनते थे। वर्ष 1500 से बी सी तक हड़प्‍पन सभ्‍यता का अंत हो गया। सिंधु घाटी की सभ्‍यता के नष्‍ट हो जाने के प्रति प्रचलित अनेक कारणों में शामिल है आर्यों द्वारा आक्रमण, लगातार बाढ़ और अन्‍य प्राकृतिक विपदाओं का आना जैसे कि भूकंप आदि।

Indian Freedom Struggle (1857-1947)

In ancient times, people from all over the world were keen to come to India. The Aryans came from Central Europe and settled down in India.The Persians followed by the Iranians and Parsis immigrated to India. Then came the Moghuls and they too settled down permanently in India. Chengis Khan, the Mongolian, invaded and looted India many times. Alexander the Great too, came to conquer India but went back after a battle with Porus. He-en Tsang from China came in pursuit of knowledge and to visit the ancient Indian universities of Nalanda and Takshila. Columbus wanted to come to India, but instead landed on the shores of America. Vasco da Gama from Portugal came to trade his country's goods in return for Indian spices. The French came and established their colonies in India.

Lastly, the Britishers came and ruled over India for nearly 200 years. After the battle of Plassey in 1757, the British achieved political power in India. And their paramountcy was established during the tenure of Lord Dalhousie, who became the Governor- General in 1848. He annexed Punjab, Peshawar and the Pathan tribes in the north-west of India. And by 1856, the British conquest and its authority were firmly established. And while the British power gained its heights during the middle of the 19^th century, the discontent of the local rulers, the peasantry, the intellectuals, common masses as also of the soldiers who became unemployed due to the disbanding of the armies of various states that were annexed by the British, became widespread. This soon broke out into a revolt which assumed the dimensions of the 1857 Mutiny.

The Indian Mutiny of 1857

The conquest of India, which could be said to have begun with the Battle of Plassey (1757), was practically completed by the end of Dalhousie's tenure in 1856. It had been by no means a smooth affair as the simmering discontent of the people manifested itself in many localized revolt during this period. However, the Mutiny of 1857, which began with a revolt of the military soldiers at Meerut, soon became widespread and posed a grave challenge to the British rule. Even though the British succeeded in crushing it within a year, it was certainly a popular revolt in which the Indian rulers, the masses and the militia participated so enthusiastically that it came to be regarded as the First War of Indian Independence.

Introduction of zamindari system by the British, where the peasants were ruined through exorbitant charges made from them by the new class of landlords. The craftsmen were destroyed by the influx of the British manufactured goods. The religion and the caste system which formed the firm foundation of the traditional Indian society was endangered by the British administration. The Indian soldiers as well as people in administration could not rise in hierarchy as the senior jobs were reserved for the Europeans. Thus, there was all-round discontent and disgust against the British rule, which burst out in a revolt by the 'sepoys' at Meerut whose religious sentiments were offended when they were given new cartridges greased with cow and pig fat, whose covering had to be stripped out by biting with the mouth before using them in rifles. The Hindu as well as the Muslim soldiers, who refused to use such cartridges, were arrested which resulted in a revolt by their fellow soldiers on May 9, 1857.

The rebel forces soon captured Delhi and the revolt spread to a wider area and there was uprising in almost all parts of the country. The most ferocious battles were fought in Delhi, Awadh, Rohilkhand, Bundelkhand, Allahabad, Agra, Meerut and western Bihar. The rebellious forces under the commands of Kanwar Singh in Bihar and Bakht Khan in Delhi gave a stunning blow to the British. In Kanpur, Nana Sahib was proclaimed as the Peshwa and the brave leader Tantya Tope led his troops. Rani Lakshmibai was proclaimed the ruler of Jhansi who led her troops in the heroic battles with the British. The Hindus, the Muslims, the Sikhs and all the other brave sons of India fought shoulder to shoulder to throw out the British. The revolt was controlled by the British within one year, it began from Meerut on 10 May 1857 and ended in Gwalior on 20 June 1858.

 

The Buddhist Era

During the life time of Lord Gautam Buddha, sixteen great powers (Mahajanpadas) existed in the 7^th and early 6^th centuries BC. Among the more important republics were the Sakyas of Kapilavastu and the Licchavis of Vaishali. Besides the republics, there were monarchical states, among which the important ones were Kaushambi (Vatsa), Magadha, Kosala and Avanti. These states were ruled by vigorous personalities who had embarked upon the policies of aggrandisement and absorption of neighbouring states. However, there were distinct signs of the republican states while those under the monarchs were expanding.

Buddha was born in BC 560 and died at the age of eighty in BC 480. The place of his birth was a grove known as Lumbini, near the city of Kapilavastu, at the foot of Mount Palpa in the Himalayan ranges within Nepal. Buddha, whose original name was Siddhartha Gautama, was the founder of Buddhism, the religion and the philosophical system that evolved into a great culture throughout much of southern and eastern Asia.

 

Vedic civilization

Vedic civilization

The Vedic civilization is the earliest civilization in the history of ancient India associated with the coming of Aryans. It is named after the Vedas, the early literature of the Hindu people. The Vedic Civilization flourished along the river Saraswati, in a region that now consists of the modern Indian states of Haryana and Punjab. Vedic is synonymous with Aryans and Hinduism, which is another name for religious and spiritual thought that has evolved from the Vedas. The largely accepted view is that a section of Aryans reached the frontiers of the Indian subcontinent around 2000 BC and first settled in Punjab and it is here, in this land, where the hymns of Rigveda were composed.

The Aryans lived in tribes and spoke Sanskrit, which belonged to the Indo-European group of languages. Gradually, the Aryans intermingled with the local people and a historic synthesis was worked out between the Aryan tribes and the original inhabitants. This synthesis broadly came to be known as Hinduism. The Ramayana and Mahabharata were the two great epics of this period.

Ancient History of india

Ancient History

India's history and culture is dynamic, spanning back to the beginning of human civilization. It begins with a mysterious culture along the Indus River and in farming communities in the southern lands of India. The history of India is punctuated by constant integration of migrating people with the diverse cultures that surround India. Available evidence suggests that the use of iron, copper and other metals was widely prevalent in the Indian sub-continent at a fairly early period, which is indicative of the progress that this part of the world had made. By the end of the fourth millennium BC, India had emerged as a region of highly developed civilization.

The Indus Valley Civilization

The History of India begins with the birth of the Indus Valley Civilization, more precisely known as Harappan Civilization. It flourished around 2,500 BC, in the western part of South Asia, what today is Pakistan and Western India. The Indus Valley was home to the largest of the four ancient urban civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and China. Nothing was known about this civilization till 1920s when the Archaeological Department of India carried out excavations in the Indus valley wherein the ruins of the two old cities, viz. Mohenjodaro and Harappa were unearthed. The ruins of buildings and other things like household articles, weapons of war, gold and silver ornaments, seals, toys, pottery wares, etc., show that some four to five thousand years ago a highly developed Civilization flourished in this region.

The Indus valley civilization was basically an urban civilization and the people lived in well-planned and well-built towns, which were also the centers for trade. The ruins of Mohenjodaro and Harappa show that these were magnificent merchant cities-well planned, scientifically laid, and well looked after. They had wide roads and a well-developed drainage system. The houses were made of baked bricks and had two or more storeys.

The highly civilized Harappans knew the art of growing cereals, and wheat and barley constituted their staple food. They consumed vegetables and fruits and ate mutton, pork and eggs as well. Evidences also show that they wore cotton as well as woollen garments. By 1500 BC, the Harappan culture came to an end. Among various causes ascribed to the decay of Indus Valley Civilization are the invasion by the Aryans, the recurrent floods and other natural causes like earthquake, etc.