They also continued with periods of great religious tolerance where people of different religions were able to work together.

Known for their cultural and architectural achievements such as the famous Taj Mahal!

DID YOU KNOW?

“Vida” means “knowledge” in Sanskrit

They also settled as farmers in the Indus Valley and the Ganges river

The Aryans, Warrior Clans: Things changed in the Indus Valley when a new group arrived, called the Aryans. The Aryans came from Central Asia (modern day Russia). They entered the Indus Valley through the fabled Khyber pass, bringing their horses with them. The Aryans were nomads. They raised livestock, rode chariots, and loved to gamble. They had no sophisticated government. They grouped in clans, and were ruled by warrior chiefs called rajas. Their history is one of constant war amongst themselves, between the various clans. We have little archaeological evidence, but have something else we can use to learn about them. The Aryans created marvelous stories, stories they told or sang for centuries. Besides Sanskrit, their language, they brought horses and Hinduism with them into India.

It consolidated Islam in South Asia, and spread Muslim arts and culture as well as the faith.

Akbar worked hard to win over the hearts and minds of the Hindu leaders. While this may well have been for political reasons - he married a Hindu princess (and is said to have married several thousand wives for political and diplomatic purposes) - it was also a part of his philosophy.

Akbar believed that all religions should be tolerated, and that a ruler's duty was to treat all believers equally, whatever their belief.

He established a form of delegated government in which the provincial governors were personally responsible to him for the quality of government in their territory.

Akbar's government machine included many Hindus in positions of responsibility - the governed were allowed to take a major part in the governing.

Akbar also ended a tax (jizya) that had been imposed on non-Muslims. This discriminatory tax had been much resented, and ending it was a popular

:)

The Guptas were a powerful dynasty that ruled a large part of the Indian subcontinent during the 4th to 6th centuries CE, considered a "Golden Age" in Indian history due to significant advancements in art, literature, science, and mathematics, with their reign marked by political unification and cultural flourishing across the region; their core territory primarily encompassed the fertile plains of North India, centered around present-day Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where they leveraged local iron ore reserves to build their empire. 

Today, Hinduism is a major world religion. It began in ancient India. Hinduism is different than other major religions because there is no single founder. Hinduism is based on the Vedas, the sacred texts and teachings of the Aryans, the ancient people who settled in India around 1500 BCE.

Hinduism is a religion of many gods. However, all Hindus worship one supreme being who created a bunch of gods to be his helpers. One of the unique beliefs in Hinduism is that God is not up in some remote, far away heaven, but is instead inside each and every soul, waiting to be discovered. Knowing God is always with them gives Hindus great hope and courage.

There are Hindu temples all over the world. Each temple has one or more priests. Most Hindu priests today still come from the top caste as they did in ancient times. This caste is called the Brahmin.

Some of the main concepts of Hinduism are called dharma, karma, and reincarnation.

• Dharma is a person's religious and moral duties

• Karma is the Hindu idea that sums up a person’s deeds during their lifetime. The phrase “what goes around comes around” comes from a belief in karma.

• Reincarnation is the belief that the individual soul of a person is reborn in a different form after death, based on their karma, or their deeds in their prior life or lives. A belief in reincarnation or rebirth is part of both Buddhism and Hinduism. This is something these two major religions have in common.

Dharma, karma, and reincarnation, which comes first? It's pretty simply. How well you perform your dharma (duty) determines your karma (fate). If you do a good job, you'll earn good karma, and have a good rebirth. If you do a bad job, you'll earn bad karma, and have a bad rebirth. This continues until you get it right. If you have trouble remembering the order, think CAR for karma - a car gets you where you are going next.

If you ever visit the Ganges River area of modern day India, you'll see a great many people bathing in the Ganges River. As in ancient times, many Hindus still believe the waters from the Ganges River will help purify their souls.

The Mughals brought many changes to India.They:

-Centralised government that brought together many smaller kingdoms

-Delegated government with respect for human rights

-Persian art and culture

-Persian language mixed with Arabic and Hindi to create Urdu

-Periods of great religious tolerance

-A style of architecture (e.g. the Taj Mahal)

-A system of education that took account of pupils' needs and culture

Aryan as a pseudoscientific racial concept

• The Aryan race is a pseudoscientific concept that emerged in the late 19th century. 

• It was used to describe people who descended from the Proto-Indo-Europeans. 

• The term was adopted by racist and antisemitic writers, including Arthur de Gobineau, Richard Wagner, and Houston Stewart Chamberlain. 

• The term was used by the Nazis to describe people of North Western European descent with "pure blood". 

• The term is now used by white supremacists as a general label for non-Jewish, white people. 

The name Arya

The name Arya is a name of Indo-Iranian origin that means "noble" or "honorable". 

The Vedas are the Sanskrit writings that are the earliest sacred texts of Hinduism. The Vedas suggest the caste system in India. There were four social classes in the ancient Aryan society. These were the Brahmins (priests & scholars); warriors & nobles; artisans & merchants; and on the lowest level, farm workers, laborers, servants

Once the Aryans settled down and began to grow their food instead of being just herdsmen, they started developing a caste system. The caste system started with just four castes. In order of importance and power these castes were priests, warriors, traders and farmers, and finally paid workers. The caste system grew progressively more strict until finally you were born into your caste and could not move or marry out of your caste.

The Vedas are the Sanskrit writings that are the earliest sacred texts of Hinduism. The Vedas suggest the caste system in India. There were four social classes in the ancient Aryan society. These were the Brahmins (priests & scholars); warriors & nobles; artisans & merchants; and on the lowest level, farm workers, laborers, servants

Once the Aryans settled down and began to grow their food instead of being just herdsmen, they started developing a caste system. The caste system started with just four castes. In order of importance and power these castes were priests, warriors, traders and farmers, and finally paid workers. The caste system grew progressively more strict until finally you were born into your caste and could not move or marry out of your caste.

The caste system really wasn't part of Hinduism, at first. The caste system began at about the same time as Hinduism. The caste system remained in place in India for thousands of years, long after Aryan rule was replaced by other leaders. But over the years, the caste system became intertwined with Hindu India. When Buddhism began in India, Buddhists did not recognize castes. That made Buddhism very attractive to the lower ranks in India's society. But in spite of the introduction of Buddhism and other religions, most ancient India people remained Hindus, and thus the caste system continued.

Top Caste: The Brahims: The top caste was made up of scholars, priests, teachers, judges, and landowners. They were know as the Brahmin caste or Brahmins. Many Brahmins lived in temples, removed from society. Others spent a great deal of time in contemplation and meditation. Some were quite social.

The Kshatriya: Kshatriyas were the warriors. Rulers of towns and cities mostly came from the Kshatriya caste. Any decision they made, however, could be overruled by a member of the Brahmin, the caste above them. 

The Vaishyas: Vaishyas were skilled farmers, merchants, and craftsmen. Vaishyas could hold office in village government. They might live in very nice houses. Even though they were three down on the social scale, they still had good clothes and ample food. They might not be the top leaders, but they were certainly a respected part of society.

Bottom Caste: The Sudras: The Sudras were the unskilled workers. They might find a job on a farm or a non-skilled job in a home or business like cleaning. They were the bottom caste.

The people without a caste, the Untouchables: There was one other social rank in ancient India. People who were born into this social rank were called Untouchables. These were the people who were considered the lowest in society in Hindu India, so low that they were not part of the caste system. They had no rights. If they had a job at all, other than begging, it was a degrading job that no one else wanted to do. If your parent was an Untouchable, so were you. Untouchables could not move up or marry out of their social rank.

Top Caste: The Brahims: The top caste was made up of scholars, priests, teachers, judges, and landowners. They were know as the Brahmin caste or Brahmins. Many Brahmins lived in temples, removed from society. Others spent a great deal of time in contemplation and meditation. Some were quite social.

In 261 BCE, Asoka conquered Kalinga (present day Odisha), in an act of terrible violence. In an inscription known as the 13th Major Rock Edict (see full translation), Asoka had carved:

Babur

Jewelled archway in Humayun's tumb in Delhi ©

Babur the first Mughal Emperor, was a descendent of Genghis Khan and Tamerlaine.

Babur succeeded his father as ruler of the state of Farghana in Turkestan when he was only 12, although he was swiftly deposed by older relatives.

Babur moved into Afghanistan in 1504, and then moved on to India, apparently at the invitation of some Indian princes who wanted to dispose of their ruler. Babur disposed of the ruler, and decided to take over himself.

He captured the Turkic Ghur'iat Sultanate of Delhi in 1526, imposing his rule on most of Northern India.

The Empire he founded was a sophisticated civilisation based on religious toleration. It was a mixture of Persian, Mongol and Indian culture.

Under Babur Hinduism was tolerated and new Hindu temples were built with his permission.

Trade with the rest of the Islamic world, especially Persia and through Persia to Europe, was encouraged.

The importance of slavery in the Empire diminished and peace was made with the Hindu kingdoms of Southern India.

Babur brought a broad-minded, confident Islam from central Asia. His first act after conquering Delhi was to forbid the killing of cows because that was offensive to Hindus.

Babur may have been descended from brutal conquerors, but he was not a barbarian bent on loot and plunder. Instead he had great ideas about civilisation, architecture and administration.

He even wrote an autobiography, The Babur - Namah. The autobiography is candid, honest and at times even poetic.

Babur was followed by his son Humayun who was a bad emperor, a better poet, and a drug addict. He rapidly lost the empire. He did eventually recover the throne but died soon afterwards after breaking his neck falling downstairs.

While Humayan was certainly disastrous as a ruler, his love of poetry and culture heavily influenced his son Akbar, and helped to make the Mughal Empire an artistic power as well as a military

Babur the first Mughal Emperor, was a descendent of Genghis Khan and Tamerlaine.

Babur succeeded his father as ruler of the state of Farghana in Turkestan when he was only 12, although he was swiftly deposed by older relatives.

Babur moved into Afghanistan in 1504, and then moved on to India, apparently at the invitation of some Indian princes who wanted to dispose of their ruler. Babur disposed of the ruler, and decided to take over himself.

He captured the Turkic Ghur'iat Sultanate of Delhi in 1526, imposing his rule on most of Northern India.

The Empire he founded was a sophisticated civilisation based on religious toleration. It was a mixture of Persian, Mongol and Indian culture.

Under Babur Hinduism was tolerated and new Hindu temples were built with his permission.

Trade with the rest of the Islamic world, especially Persia and through Persia to Europe, was encouraged.

Described in some texts as a model of efficient economic management, Maurya's wealth was established in land and sea trade with China and Sumatra to the east, Ceylon to the south, and Persia and the Mediterranean to the west. International trade networks in goods such as silks, textiles, brocades, rugs, perfumes, precious stones, ivory, and gold were exchanged within India on roads tied into the Silk Road, and also through a thriving merchant navy.

King List/Chronology

There are several sources of information about the Mauryan dynasty, both in India and in the Greek and Roman records of their Mediterranean trading partners. These records agree on the names and reigns of five leaders between 324 and 185 BCE.

• Chandragupta Maurya 324–300 BCE

• Bindusara 300–272 BCE

• Asoka 272–233 BCE

• Dasaratha 232–224

• Brihadratha (assassinated in 185 BCE)

The Vaishyas: Vaishyas were skilled farmers, merchants, and craftsmen. Vaishyas could hold office in village government. They might live in very nice houses. Even though they were three down on the social scale, they still had good clothes and ample food. They might not be the top leaders, but they were certainly a respected part of society

Akbar's son, Emperor Jahangir, readopted Islam as the state religion and continued the policy of religious toleration. His court included large numbers of Indian Hindus, Persian Shi'a and Sufis and members of local heterodox Islamic sects.

Jahangir also began building the magnificent monuments and gardens by which the Mughals are chiefly remembered today, importing hundreds of Persian architects to build palaces and create magnificent gardens.

Jahangir's approach was typified by the development of Urdu as the official language of Empire. Urdu uses an Arabic script, but Persian vocabulary and Hindi grammatical structure.

Jahan

The architectural achievements of the Mughals peaked between 1592 and 1666, during the reign of Jahangir's successor Jahan.

Corner of the Taj Mahal palace in golden sunlight The Taj Mahal, commissioned by Emperor Jahan, marks the apex of the Mughal Empire ©

Jahan commissioned the Taj Mahal. The Taj Mahal marks the apex of the Mughal Empire; it symbolises stability, power and confidence.

The building is a mausoleum built by Jahan for his wife Mumtaz and it has come to symbolise the love between two people.

Jahan's selection of white marble and the overall concept and design of the mausoleum give the building great power and majesty.

Jahan brought together fresh ideas in the creation of the Taj. Many of the skilled craftsmen involved in the construction were drawn from the empire. Many also came from other parts of the Islamic world - calligraphers from Shiraz, finial makers from Samrkand, and stone and flower cutters from Bukhara.

By Jahan's period the capital had moved to the Red Fort in Delhi, putting the Fort at the heart of Mughal power. As if to confirm it, Jahan had these lines inscribed there: "If there is Paradise on earth, it is here, it is here."

Paradise it may have been, but it was a pricey paradise. The money Jahan spent on buildings and on various military projects emptied his treasury and he was forced to raise taxes, which aggravated the people of the empire.

There had been Muslims in India long before the Mughals. The first Muslims arrived in the 8th century.

In the first half of the 10th century a Muslim ruler of Afghanistan invaded the Punjab 11 times, without much political success, but taking away a great deal of loot.

A more successful invasion came at the end of the 12th century. This eventually led to the formation of the Delhi Sultanate.

A later Muslim invasion in 1398 devastated the city of Delhi.

The Mughal Empire grew out of descendants of the Mongol Empire who were living in Turkestan in the 15th century. They had become Muslims and assimilated the culture of the Middle East, while keeping elements of their Far Eastern roots.

They also retained the great military skill and cunning of their Mongol ancestors, and were among the first Western military leaders of use guns.