Scientists consider the civilization of ancient India the third civilization of the Earth. According to the data of modern archeology, it appeared after Egypt and Mesopotamia. Like all great civilizations, it began its existence at the mouth of the Indus River. True, they say that there used to be four more rivers, but over time they disappeared. The area where it started ancient civilization of india been underwater for a long time. Archaeological studies have shown the existence of the remains of entire settlements under water. This area was called Punjab, which means five rivers. Further, the settlements were drawn to the territory of present-day Pakistan. Originally this area was called Sindhu, but Persian travelers pronounced it as "Hindu". And the Greeks shortened it to the Indus.
The first of the states in the history of India
Three millennia BC, the first state with a slave system and a special culture was created in the Indus Valley. The indigenous people of the country were dark-skinned, with short stature and black hair. Their descendants still live in the southern part of the country. They are called Dravidians. Inscriptions made in the Dravidian language have been found. They have not yet been deciphered. It was developed civilization of ancient india. They built entire cities with geometrically regular streets. Even two-story buildings with running water were erected. People were mainly engaged in agriculture and raising livestock. Artisans made jewelry and bones of elephants, stone, and metals. Trade with Indochina and Mesopotamia developed. There was a fortress on the central square of the city. In it they found shelter from enemies and floods.
But soon the tribes of the ancient Aryans invade India. These are wandering nomads - pastoralists, whose livestock is a great wealth, and the main food is milk. The tribes of the Aryans were headed by the Rajas. At the end of the millennium, the Aryans begin to clear and drain the Ganges valley, turning from nomads into farmers.
Creation of the state
As a result of maintaining a settled way of life, among the Aryans inhabiting the territory of India, inequality in prosperity appears. Wealth taken from wars ends up in the hands of a small number of leaders. Hired warriors strengthen their power, which is inherited. From the captives, an estate of slaves is created, and the rajas themselves become the heads of small powers. But in the course of the war, these small powers are impoverished into one big state with its own system and hierarchy of rulers. A special kind of inhabitants of the powers appears - priests. They are called brahmins and they maintain the existing system.
Caste formation
For a thousand years BC, the entire population was divided into four estates. They were called castes. The first caste, the highest, united the Brahmins who did not work, lived on money from sacrifices. The second caste is called the Kshatriyas. They were warriors, they ruled the state. The first two castes constantly competed with each other. The third caste - the Vaishevas - are farmers, people of trade and grazing cattle. And the fourth caste was formed from the conquered local population and was called the Shudras. They are servants doing simple and hard work. Slaves were not allowed in any of the castes. The formation of castes hindered the development of society. But castes also played a positive role. The former tribal relations disappeared. People of various tribes could unite in one state.
The first great state in history of ancient india was the Mauryan state. Artificial irrigation added a lot of fertile land. Trade deals flourish, castes grow richer and poorer. In order to retain power, as a result of the struggle between small states, King Chandragupta comes to power, who founded the Mauryan dynasty. The united kingdom reaches its peak in 200 BC by joining a number of neighboring regions.
In the first half of the fourth century, a new strong state Guptas centered on Magatha. The rulers of this kingdom conquered the Ganges Valley and Central India. Indians are exploring new lands, artisans have learned to make fine cotton and silk products. India is actively trading with other countries. Already in the fifth century, innovations in agriculture were introduced. Farmers are given for the time use of pieces of land for a certain share of the crop. At the same time, the class of slaves disappears. The final rejection of slavery occurred with the appearance in India of the tribes of the Huns, who founded their possessions there.
The penetration of Islam
AT history of ancient india Since the seventh century, Islam has appeared in the country. In the thirteenth century, the armies of Tamerlane appeared in India. They conquered almost the entire territory of the country and founded the "Empire of the Great Mongols", which lasted until the beginning of the nineteenth century. And in the middle of this century, Great Britain began to lead the country. India finally gained independence in 1947. But there was a division into two parts - India and Pakistan. In 1950, India became a democratic federal republic.
The origin of the philosophical trend in ancient India occurred two millennia BC. She studied the relationship between man and nature and the existence of the human body and soul.
The oldest philosophy in India is the Vedas. This is a collection of spells, rituals, prayers addressed to the higher forces of nature. Shows people's ideas about morality and morality. Divided into four parts: hymns, rituals, rules of life for people and secret knowledge. The Vedas are the basis of all schools of philosophy in the world. A characteristic feature of Vedic belief is polytheism. This is the worship of multiple gods. They had the properties of a man or half-man - half-beast. The main god was Indra - a warrior. They revered Agni - the god of fire, Surya - the god of the sun and others. According to belief, the world is divided into three spheres: heaven, earth and ether.
The ongoing changes in society, the division into castes led to the fact that only a small number of people began to understand the Vedas. Then in philosophical schools of ancient India Brahmins appeared who interpreted the Vedic texts. This gave rise to a period of current Brahmanism. Vedic philosophy accepted new knowledge and rituals, and they were supported by the Brahmins. The essence of Brahmanism: the main god Prajapati is the master of all living things and the Lord of rebirth. He requires sacrifice. Brahmins have become equal with God.
Brahmanism became the foundation of Hinduism and Buddhism. Hinduism is a continuation of Brahminism, but taking into account local religions. Hinduism speaks of a creator god, a hierarchy of gods. There were three main gods.
Buddhism, although it appeared much later than Vedism, but for several centuries has become the religion of many peoples of the world. Coming out of India, he gained a foothold in Asian countries. The founder of the religion is Buddha. The main idea of religion is the idea of nirvana, which preaches the salvation of man through liberation. On this path there are certain rules, which are called precepts. The Buddha explained what suffering is and how to get rid of it. Religion advocates the idea of equality of all people.
Man has always strived for knowledge and this is the engine of the development of society. At all times, philosophy has illuminated the path to this knowledge. Expressed in different currents religion, scientific research, it still helps to find answers to exciting questions about the meaning of life.
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INDIA. STORY
Civilization of the Indus Valley. The first of the highly developed cultures of India existed in the period 2500-1500 BC. Its material evidence was discovered in the 1920s in the Indus Valley, primarily during excavations at Mohenjodaro in Sindh and Harappa in the Punjab. Archaeological research has revealed remarkable brick buildings, statuettes made of stone and metal, jewelry, knives and various seals with pictographic characters that have not yet been deciphered. The metals used were gold, silver, copper, tin, and lead; iron remained unknown. Further excavations showed that people at that time were familiar with spinning and weaving, grew barley and wheat, and joined the urban lifestyle. The invasion at the beginning of the II millennium BC. people who spoke the Aryan language (Sanskrit), or, for short, the Aryans, marked a turning point in the history of India. The Aryans invaded the territory of the Indian subcontinent from the northwest in several waves, pushing the autochthonous population further east and south and settling the lands between the Indus and Jumna rivers. From there they moved east along the Indo-Gangetic plain, and their earlier expansion to the south stopped before the Vindhya mountains.
Vedic times. The Rig Veda, written ca. 1500 BC and containing many even earlier hymns, testifies to the fact that the Aryans in the Punjab were divided into tribes. At the head of the tribes were elected leaders who simultaneously performed several functions - rulers, clergy and military leaders. Aryan society retained traces of the past pastoral way of life; women held a high position in the family. The Aryans knew how to smelt many metals, lived in villages and cities, fortified everywhere, where it was necessary to resist the enemies. Initially, the Aryans moved from one river valley to another in large communities, protecting their tribal and family structure from contact with the pre-Aryans. With the strengthening of the Aryan influence and the assimilation of the local population, the formation of a single society and a common culture took place.
Late Vedic period. As the Aryans mixed with the pre-Aryan population, the foundations of the Indian, or Hindu, culture were laid. This process was reflected in the literature that emerged in the era after the Rigveda. Relatively large states replaced tribal formations, urban life became more complicated. The power of rulers increased, and the role of popular assemblies decreased accordingly. Self-organization has been preserved in the villages. Successfully developed Agriculture and crafts, iron and silver began to be widely used. There was a division of people into hereditary castes, which, however, did not yet break up into subgroups, which appeared in many in the following centuries. See also CASTES. In the religious sphere, religious ceremonies became more sophisticated and expensive, and Brahmin monks, who acted as guardians of sacred traditions, gained great weight in society. In the 6th c. BC. new religions are emerging - Buddhism and Jainism, whose homeland is Magadha (in the south of modern Bihar). Other shifts took place in the realm of popular belief, where some Vedic deities merged with those of the pre-Aryan population. On this basis, the cult of Shiva and Vishnu was formed, Brahma became the third god. Ideas about the triune deity, or Trimurti, have become widespread among the people, and many legends about the life and deeds of these gods, reflected in the epics and Puranas, largely date back to pre-Aryan religious beliefs. Religious buildings arose everywhere - pilgrimage to them and the renewal of the myths associated with them became a powerful factor in the unification of India. Temple rites and doctrines of karma and the transmigration of souls penetrated the blood and flesh of the population. Probably, the epic poem Ramayana, created by the poet Valmiki and telling about King Rama and his wife Sita, belongs to the historical period under consideration, the core of another great epic - the Mahabharata, which recreates pictures of the grandiose battle between the Kauravas and Pandavas, and most of the Puranas - the mythological texts of Hinduism.
POLITICAL CHANGES IN INDIA AFTER THE CAMPAIGN OF ALEXANDER THE MACEDONI
results of the Greek conquests. The Indus Valley became a province of the Persian kingdom around 578 BC, but regained its independence before Alexander the Great's invasion of India in 326 BC. In Buddhist books it is reported that in the territory between the Himalayas and the Vindhya mountains at that time there were 16 sovereign states. Among them at the turn of the 7th-6th centuries. BC. the monarchy of Kosala (now Oudh) stood out, and then the state of Magadha (Bihar) gradually came to the fore. Mahavira and Buddha, the founders of Jainism and Buddhism respectively, who belonged to the Kshatriya warrior caste, launched their activities at the time when King Bimbisara ruled in Magadha. Merchants from South India, who were from the 7th c. BC, and possibly even earlier, active trade at sea, established contacts with Babylon (possibly with Indonesia and the Philippines). The conquest of Northwest India by Alexander the Great was a short-lived episode in history. Alexander died suddenly shortly after returning to Babylon. After his death, Greek states were formed to the west of India, contacts between India and the West, which began under the Persian rulers from the Achaemenid dynasty, were strengthened.
Maurya Empire. As a young man, Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the first Indian empire, met with Alexander the Great, who invaded the Punjab. While on the throne in about 322-298 BC, Chandragupta owed much to his chief minister, the Brahmin Kautilya, who is credited with the authorship of a treatise on the principles of Indian politics - Arthashastra. Chandragupta, known to the Greeks as Sandrakot, conquered the Punjab shortly after the death of Alexander the Great. In 321 BC he overthrew and killed his blood relative, who ruled the state of Magadha. Taking his place, he established dominion over the whole of northern India. Chandragupta then inflicted a crushing defeat on the ruler of Western Asia, Seleucus I, one of Alexander's successors. For approx. For 100 years, starting from 325 BC, the Maurya dynasty retained control over almost all of India, except for its extreme south. Ashoka, grandson of Chandragupta, reigned from 273 to 232 BC. After a successful war of conquest directed against the state of Kalinga, shocked by its horrors, Ashoka adopted Buddhism and vigorously propagated its principles. He considered it the duty of the authorities to carry out conquests only through the peaceful spread of Buddhism (this policy was called dharmavijaya). In an effort to preserve the purity of Buddhism and authoritatively interpret its canons, Ashoka organized a monastic cathedral in the capital Pataliputra (Patna). He emphasized the ethical standards of behavior and especially insisted on the need for tolerance towards other beliefs. During the reign of Ashoka, great progress was made in art and architecture.
subsequent invasions. After the death of Ashoka, the empire collapsed. The tranquility of small states that arose on the ruins of the former empire was often disturbed by the invasions of the Greeks, Saks, Parthians and, finally, the Kushans. Ruler of the Punjab in the 2nd c. BC. Menander, who had Greek roots, is identified with the ruler Malinda in the Buddhist work Malinda Questions. Relief images of Hindu gods were carved on Kushan coins, and some foreign leaders received Indian names, such as Vasudeva. The greatest of the Kushan emperors Kanishka, who reigned at the turn of the 2nd and 1st centuries. BC, convened the last Buddhist council and patronized the famous Buddhist poet Ashvaghosha, as well as the author of the authoritative guide to Hindu medicine Charaka. During this period, under the influence of Greco-Roman traditions, Buddhist sculpture developed, as evidenced by the achievements of the Gandharian school. visual arts.
South Indian states. On the Deccan plateau in South India, soon after the death of Ashoka, a powerful independent state was formed, headed by the Satavahana, or Andhra dynasty (c. 230 BC - 230 AD). These rulers sent their troops north and captured Ujjain, eventually sharing the Malwa plateau with the rulers of the Sunga line, the successors of the Maurya empire. Later, the Satavahans waged wars with varying success against the Saka satraps in Gujarat and Malwa. The legends about the famous Vikramadityasakari, the undaunted enemy of the Sakas, seem to date from the early stage of these armed clashes. Undoubtedly, the Vikram era, which began in 57 BC, and the Saka era, which began in 78 BC, were also associated with this struggle. The rulers of the Andhra country followed the practice of Vedic sacrifice and encouraged the development of literature and art. Under them, Buddhism flourished, large architectural monuments - stupas, temples and monasteries - were carved in the Western Ghats and erected from brick and stone in the delta areas of Godavari and Krishna. The Satavahanas called themselves "rulers of the three oceans"; they possessed a navy, and their subjects not only traded with distant overseas countries, but also founded settlements there, especially in southeast Asia. In the extreme south of India, there were three states - Chera, Chola and Pandya. Excellent textiles and South Indian black pepper and East Indian spices have been exported in exchange for wines, gold and silver since the dawn of the Roman Empire. This trade continued until the influx of luxury goods and the outflow of precious metals caused major concern in the west. Tamil literature, which originated at the beginning of the new era, if not earlier, reflected the heterogeneous character of this part of India: its cities, villages and seaports; its rulers, nobles and common people; its crafts and trade.
"GOLDEN AGE" OF INDIA
North Indian Gupta Empire. This state in the 4th and 5th centuries. AD included almost the entire territory of North India and opened a new bright page in the history of the region. Samudragupta (c. 330 - c. 375) was a famous conqueror, poet and musician; Chandragupta II, chosen by him as heir, continued the work of his father and took the title of Vikramaditya. These two emperors ruled for almost a century: from 330 to 415. The Chinese pilgrim Fa Xian, who traveled extensively in their domain, reported on the material prosperity of the inhabitants and the skillful government of the country under the Guptas. Vasubandhu, the famous Buddhist thinker and grammarian, and Kalidasa, the greatest Indian poet, lived and worked precisely in that era when the main Puranas were given more modern form. Scholars such as Aryabhata and Varahamihiri made outstanding contributions to mathematics and astronomy. Nalanda, in Bihar, became a major center of education throughout Asia. The seated stone Buddha at Sarnath, the iron pillar at Delhi, the copper Buddha from Sultanganj, the magnificently minted gold coins (one of which was found far away in Java) and the Ajanta wall paintings are examples of the cultural achievements of that era. The influence of Gupta art can be traced in Indo-China and Indonesia, confirming the intensity of past contacts.
Hun invasion. Under the fifth ruler of the Skandagupta dynasty (455-480), the empire first began to experience the pressure of the "White Huns", or Hephthalites, penetrating from the northwest. These tribes conquered the Punjab at the end of the 5th century; their raids reduced the territory of the Gupta state to the size of a minor principality. The power of the Huns was undermined shortly before the middle of the 6th century. by the joint efforts of Yashodharman of Malwa and Narasimhagupta Baladitya, scion of the imperial dynasty.
State of Harsha in Northern India. At the end of the 6th - beginning of the 7th centuries. three powers dominated northern India: the late Guptas in the east, the Maukharis in the center, and the Vardhans in the west. All of them continued to fight with the remnants of the Hunnic associations. Harshavardhanu (c. 590-647) managed to unite the possessions of his predecessors from the Harsha clan and the lands of the Maukhari state. This monarch turned out to be a talented military leader, administrator and writer, patronized the famous prose writer Ban, who wrote in Sanskrit, and was a friend and admirer of the talents of Xuan Zang, an experienced Chinese lawyer who visited India and left detailed description of your journey. By 612, Harsha achieved complete power over Northern India and retained it until his death in 647. His attempts to extend his influence to the Deccan were repelled by the powerful ruler of the Chalukya dynasty, Pulakeshin II.
Political events in South India. Meanwhile, on the Deccan, after the Satavahans, several dynasties were replaced. The most famous of these were the Vakatakas in the north, the Kadambas in the southwest, and the successive Ikshvakus, Salaikains and Vishnukundins in the east of the Deccan, and the Pallavas south and west of them. Buddhism entered under Ikshvaku in the 3rd century. AD during its heyday, and at this time, contacts with Ceylon, as well as with Indian colonists in the countries of the Asian East, are intensifying. Jainism expanded its area of influence in the western Deccan and Tamil Nadu, culminating in the 6th century. The Chalukyas of Badami, the Pallavas of Kanchipuram, and the Pandyas of Madurai were the leading power in southern India in the 6th century. Chalukya succeeded in subjugating the entire Deccan. Pulakeshin II (608-642), an outstanding military leader of that time, exchanged embassies with the Persian king Khosrow II. The border between the Pallava and Pandya states ran along the Kaveri River, and this situation remained until the middle of the 9th century. Only the Chalukya governors in Gujarat (Lata province) and the eastern Deccan (Vengi province) managed to form independent states ruled by side branches of the dynasty. She herself was overthrown in Badami in the middle of the 8th century. Dantidurg, the founder of the Rashtrakuta empire, who occupied the throne of their predecessors for about two centuries. The Rashtrakutas were known to merchants from Arabia as the Balhara dynasty (which is considered an Arabic corruption of the Sanskrit term Vallabharaja, meaning "master raja"). These merchants settled in the ports and cities of the empire and further south on the Malabar coast, where they became the ancestors of the modern Muslim Mopples of Kerala. During this period, trade, literature and art flourished on the Deccan. Sanskrit was respected everywhere, contributing to the enrichment and development of the languages of the local population. King Durwinita of the Mysore vassal Ganga dynasty wrote in both Sanskrit and Kannada; Mahendravarman I Pallava was equally gifted as a writer, architect, musician and artist. Temples carved into the rocks or erected from stone and brick, as well as sculptures of that time, are distinguished by high artistic merit. Badami, Pattadakal, Ellora and Ajanta, Mamallapuram ("Seven Pagodas") and Kanchipuram were the most important centers for the development of art. In the country of the Tamils, a strong protest against Jainism and Buddhism resulted in a broad popular movement - bhakti. It was led by Hindu saints - Nayanars and Alvars, as those who believed in Shiva and Vishnu, respectively, were called. The expressive songs of the members of the bhakti movement have entered the treasury of Tamil literature. During this period, the largest Indian philosophers Kumarila and Shankara worked. This type of political structure and culture developed successfully in southern India from the 9th to the 13th centuries; only the ruling dynasties changed. The Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta (Malkhed, west of Hyderabad) ceded the throne to the Chalukyas, who regained their positions in 973 after more than 200 years of excommunication and moved the capital to Kalyan, located 80 km north of Manyakheta. Vikramaditya VI (1075-1125) was one of the prominent personalities of the dynasty. Such prominent figures worked at his court as the jurist Vijnaneshvara, the author of the Hindu code of laws Mitakshara, and the poet Bilhana, who composed lengthy poems in Sanskrit about the life of the sovereign. In the lands of the Tamils, the Cholas from Thanjavur came to power in the middle of the 9th century, having built their empire on the ruins of the Pallava and Pandya powers. They asserted their dominion over the entire territory south of the Tungabhadra river, including the Maldives and Ceylon; From about 1000, the region of Venga in the east of the Deccan, which was under the control of the eastern branch of the Chalukya, also became their protectorate. Rajaraja I (985-1014) and his son Rajendra I (1014-1035) were the most prominent members of the Chola dynasty. They managed for the first time in history to politically unite all of South India and successfully fought against the Chalukyas of Kalyani, whose possessions were on the other side of the Tungabhadra valley. The Chola Empire built up a strong navy and controlled the routes across the Indian Ocean, effectively intervening in the affairs of the Srivijayan state in Sumatra. The emperor-father erected the Great Temple at Thanjavur, an excellent example of South Indian architecture, and his son responded by building the city of Gangaikondacholapuram in the wilderness of Tiruchirappalli to mark the anniversary of the march to the banks of the Ganges. The Cholas founded hospitals and educational institutions and made a significant contribution to irrigation construction and the organization of public works. The main works of Tamil literature, as well as the most ancient commentaries on the Vedas that have survived to this day, were created under Rajaraja I and Rajendra I.
Northern India after the collapse of Harsha's empire. The death of Harsha in 647 led to an aggravation of the political situation in northern India, and Tibet occasionally intervened in the life of its northeastern regions. This opened the way for the spread of Buddhism in Tibet. Kashmir joined the affairs of Central Asia, having strengthened at the beginning of the 8th century. contacts with China, at the same time his political ambitions extended to India. It seemed that the age of Kanishka had returned, with the difference that the Kashmiri rulers received formal sanction to power from the Chinese emperors. However, this situation did not last long, and Kashmir again took its usual niche as the frontier region of India. Sindh and some adjacent territories in the Punjab were conquered by the Arabs in 712 and received the status of a province of the Baghdad Caliphate. Soon they turned into two essentially independent principalities, only nominally subordinate to the caliph. As a result, the Arab invasion remained a short-lived episode with no significant political or cultural consequences, and the Arab attempt to move even further south was successfully repelled by the Gujarati Chalukyas. The rest of the time, Northern India remained divided between a number of Rajput states, often in conflict with each other. The Gurjar dynasty, which dominated Kannauj (now Farrukhabad), managed to create a strong state in 820-1020, and the next most powerful dynasty was the Paramaras, who ruled in Malwa. The Rashtrakutas and the dean Chalukyas occasionally made campaigns to the north and intervened in the affairs of the powers located there. The Chandellas of Bundelkhand, the Gahadwals of Kannauj, where they succeeded the Gurjars, and the Chauhans of Sambhar and Ajmer in Rajputana later became powerful rulers as well. The burden of futile resistance to the final subjugation of Hindustan to the Muslim conquerors at the end of the 12th century fell on them. The simultaneous coexistence in India of many states and the existence of contradictions between them were by no means a serious obstacle to the mutual enrichment of cultures. The Martand temple in Kashmir and the temple complex at Khajuraho in Central India are clear evidence of the architectural achievements of that time. Nepal, another important state on the border of the Indian world, has become of paramount importance as a hub for the transmission of the achievements of Hindu culture to other areas of Asia. Bengal and Bihar were a fairly separate world at the time of the rise of the Pala dynasty in the 8th century. The Palas were associated with Tantric Buddhism, which was then on the rise, and maintained close contacts with the famous monastery at Nalanda. Their overseas contacts with regions of Indonesia are documented.
INDIA UNDER THE RULE OF TURKS AND MUGULAS
Delhi Sultanate. A serious threat to Hindu society was created by the invasion of the Turks in the 11th century. These battle-hardened warriors, having converted to Islam, considered it their duty to fight against the Gentiles. Strict adherence to Muslim canons meant that the vanquished were given a choice between conversion to Islam, death, or slavery. Soon the attitude towards the "infidels" softened, and the emphasis was shifted to imposing a special poll tax on them - jiziya. The first mosque in Delhi was built in 1198 on the site of a Hindu temple, and Arabic inscriptions on its walls indicate that materials from 27 "pagan" cult objects were used for its construction. After the Muslims plundered Nalanda, not a single monk remained alive there, who could acquaint the invaders with the riches of the monastery library. The Ghaznavid Empire, which grew out of a small principality that arose in 962, managed to gain a foothold in India under its third Turkic ruler, Mahmud Ghazni, who took the title of Sultan. Mahmud made several aggressive campaigns to the south beyond the Indus and managed to annex Punjab before his death in 1030. After 150 years, the empire collapsed, and its leading regions, including Ghazna and Punjab, became part of the Ghurid state, founded by the Tajik dynasty. Mohammed Guri actively set about conquering India. Despite the defeat in 1191, he managed to win two years later on the same battlefield and conquer all the north Indian regions up to Bengal. He moved the capital of the state to Delhi. After the death of Muhammad Guri in 1206, his power continued to dominate the north of the subcontinent throughout the 13th century, and in the 14th century. also included a large part of South India. During this period, three dynasties changed in Delhi: court slaves (Turkic-Afghan), Khilji and Tughlaks. Only a few of the 26 rulers left behind a memory. The first of the sultans of the slave dynasty, Qutb ud-din Aibek (c. 1206-1210), achieved success as a military leader and administrator. The 73-meter Qutb Minar tower he erected still rises among the ruins of old Delhi. Ala ud-din Khilji (1295-1315) fought against the Rajputs and sent his beloved eunuch Malik Kafur on a long-range predatory campaign to the extreme south of the Hindustan peninsula. The eccentric rule of Muhammad Tughlaq (1325-1351) caused revolts in various parts of his vast empire, and independent Muslim states arose in Bengal (1336) and the Deccan (1347). The devastating invasion of Tamerlane in 1398 completed the collapse of the Delhi Sultanate, and civil strife in the 15th century. the Afghan Lodi dynasty emerged temporarily victorious.
Consequences of Muslim domination. India was not completely conquered, and pockets of resistance remained in Rajputana and some other areas. After the first violent clashes, the norms of relations between the conquerors and the conquered population were developed. Mixed marriages contributed to smoothing out ethnic differences, and only the religious barrier remained. Local spoken languages fell under the influence of Farsi, which led to the formation of a new language - Urdu; many Persian words and phrases entered into Hindi. Islam in India recognized the caste system. Contacts have led to the mutual enrichment of music and dance art of both major denominations. New directions have developed in architecture.
Muslim resistance in the south. In the 13th century instead of the Chola and Chalukya empires, four smaller states appeared in South India: the Yadav dynasties in the west (with the capital in the city of Devagiri), the Kakati in the east of the Deccan (the capital is Warangal), the Hoysals (the capital is Dvarasamudra in Mysore) and the Pandyas further south ( capital is Madurai). These powers could not seriously resist the onslaught of Islam from the north in the 14th century. Their territories went to the more powerful Hindu state of Vijayanagar, founded in 1336 on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, and to its northern neighbor, the Bahmanid Sultanate, with which Vijayanagar immediately entered into an armed conflict. The most prominent of the rulers of Vijayanagara was Krishnadeva Raya (1509-1529) - a soldier, statesman and poet.
Mughals. In 1525 Babur, a direct descendant of Tamerlane, invaded India, and in 1526 he defeated the Sultan of Delhi. Before his death in 1530, Babur managed to subjugate most of northern India. However, the Afghans, under the leadership of Sher Shah, were able to restore their former position under Hamayun, the son of Babur, and the mission to found the Mughal Empire fell to the lot of the latter's grandson, Akbar (1542-1605). Having become a monarch at the age of 14, Akbar already at an early age demonstrated the exceptional abilities of a warrior, administrator and statesman. He conquered all of North India in less than 20 years, and as he continued to expand his dominions, he established an efficient system of government through the skillful selection of assistant ministers. In order to win the support of the Hindus, Akbar sought to encourage contacts between the winners and the vanquished. The emperor even went too far when he tried to found a new religion as a tool for transforming the existing world order. A significant part of the work had to be taken over by his son Jahangir, but his policy was to a certain extent rejected already during the reign of Shah Jahan, the grandson of Akbar. The next emperor Aurangzeb (1658-1707) departed from it even further.
Akbar reorganized the system of public finances. In architecture, the buildings built under Akbar, especially in Fatihpur Sikri, near Agra, are characterized by an interweaving of Hindu and Muslim motifs. His course in relations with the Rajputs was based on their conviction of the usefulness of friendship with the authorities of Delhi and the expediency of giving their daughters in marriage to the family of the Great Mughals. Treasury minister Todar Mal, musician Tan Sen, and poet Tulsi Das, author of the now popular version of the Ramayana, all reflect different aspects of the great syncretism that Akbar's court witnessed. Although Akbar managed to expand southern limits the empires, the Rajputs he had driven back, the Marathas led by their national leader Shivaji (died 1680), the Sikhs and many others responded with revolts. This weakened the power of Delhi, but the liberation movement did not have sufficient strength to restore the independence of the conquered peoples of the empire. The death of Akbar marked the beginning of the collapse of a huge power. Bengal and Hyderabad fell away in 1720 and 1724, respectively, and the invasion of Nadir Shah's troops from Persia finally undermined the position of the Delhi rulers. A series of puppet emperors continued to inherit the throne of the Great Moghuls, until the last of them (Bahadur Shah) was exiled to Burma after the uprising of the sepoys in 1857. Remarkable architectural monuments remained from the powerful empire - mosques, mausoleums and palace fortresses, as well as beautiful park ensembles. The Taj Mahal in Agra has become the most famous symbol of the cultural achievements of the Mughals. The masterpieces of painting of that era, which manifested themselves with special brilliance in miniature, also serve as convincing evidence of the past splendor of the empire. At the same time, the Great Pillar Road, which crossed the territory of North India, and its branches south of Agra to Surat and Golconda, underwent a radical reconstruction.
Internecine wars in the south. In southern India, the states of the Bahmanids and Vijayanagara continued to fight among themselves, although in the first of them at the beginning of the 16th century. Five dynasties succeeded successively. The Muslim states united for decisive action and crushed Vijayanagar, having won the battle of Talikot in 1565. Having lost its former power, the state continued to exist for another hundred years, and its capital was transferred to Penukonda, and then to Vellore. As a result of intrigues and wars between Muslim states, Bijapur and Golconda came to the fore. They remained independent until 1686-1687, when Aurangzeb annexed them to his possessions.
Maratha Confederation. The vacuum that arose with the collapse of the Mughal Empire provided an opportunity for Shivaji's successors to form the Maratha confederation of vassal states under the leadership of the Peshwa (the chief minister, who had the actual rights of the ruler, without only having the corresponding princely title). In the 18th century The Marathas managed to become the dominant force in almost the entire territory of India, but in 1761 they were utterly defeated by Ahmad Shah Durrani, the founder of the modern Afghan state. The power of the Marathas, for all its organizational looseness, nevertheless survived and later became the main obstacle to the establishment of British dominance in the Indian subcontinent.
THE STRUGGLE OF THE EUROPEAN POWERS FOR INDIA
The arrival of the Portuguese. Of the Europeans, the Portuguese were the first to reach India. After a long voyage from Lisbon, Vasco de Gama anchored in Calicut (Kozhikode) in May 1498. sea waters. They maintained close ties with Vijayanagara, the weakening of which had a negative impact on their positions. The last Portuguese possessions on the subcontinent (Goa, Daman and Diu and two enclaves - Dadra and Nagarhaveli) existed until 1961, when Indian troops were introduced there.
rivalry between European powers. At the beginning of the 17th century. In India, the Dutch, French and British appeared. The Dutch succeeded in driving out the Portuguese, settling in the Moluccas and frustrated the attempts of the British to establish their settlements there. However, the French were the most serious opponents of the British, although initially the British East India Company had to overcome Portuguese opposition in order to establish a trading post in Surat in 1612. 1690, after a four-year war with the governor of the Moghuls in Bengal - these are the main milestones at the initial stage of the conquest of India by the British. From India to Europe, mainly cotton fabrics (including the finest muslins), indigo, saltpeter, sugar and silk were exported. In exchange, luxury items were imported that were in demand at the courts of the rajas: mirrors, chandeliers, carriages, thoroughbred dogs and silver.
English victory over France. The real struggle for India between England and France began in the 18th century, when the rivals became involved in the internecine feuds of the Indian rulers and the hostilities that had previously been fought in Europe also crossed into the territory of India. Baron Robert Clive, who made a great contribution to the creation of British India, distinguished himself in the defense of Arcot in the Carnatic (Tamil Nadu) in 1751 and in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, when he was helped by treason in the camp of the Muslim ruler of Bengal. Occupying the post of the English governor of this area from 1764 to 1767, Clive put it under the control of the East India Company and tried to reform the administration system. Warren Hastings, who was governor of Bengal from 1772-1773 and its first governor-general from 1773 to 1785, had an even greater impact. their pernicious policy towards the Marathas and the Mysore ruler Hyder Ali. However, the frame of the new political structure in India was erected only in 1799-1819. The death of Tipu Sultan, Hyder Ali's son, in the war of 1799 and the elimination of the power of the Peshwas in 1819, which turned the Maratha confederation into a conglomerate of weak principalities, deprived the French of the opportunity to interfere in Indian affairs. Thus, Great Britain managed to win the battle for a huge territory, which was controlled by London both directly and through vassal princes.
Consolidation of British rule in India. The process of English territorial conquests ended in the first half of the 19th century. Burma was conquered by the British as a result of three wars in 1824, 1852 and 1885, Punjab - after two wars with the Sikhs in 1845 and 1849, and Sindh was annexed in 1843. The Russian threat served as a pretext for two armed clashes with Afghanistan - in 1839 and 1878, which gave Britain few benefits and drained Indian finances. Lord Dalhousie managed to extend direct English rule to Nagpur, Oudh and several small principalities, using the doctrine of "escheat possessions" (due to the absence of a male heir in the dynasty). In the 1850s, the instability caused by the rapid territorial expansion of foreigners, the introduction of foreign systems of administration and education, plus the advent of the steam engine and the telegraph, caused great unrest among the Indian soldiers serving in the Bengal units. The specific reason for the rebellion, called the "rebellion of the sepoys" (1857-1859), was the rumors about the use of fat of cows, considered sacred animals by the Hindus, and pigs, considered unclean animals by the Muslims, for lubricating cartridges. This rebellion eventually led to the liquidation of the power of the British East India Company, and the government of India passed directly to the English monarch. The Secretary of State for Indian Affairs, under which an advisory council functioned, began to supervise the state of affairs in the colony from London. The annexation of the principalities led to the cessation of military skirmishes, which now occurred only on the borders, and a period of consolidation of the country began. Steps were taken that contributed to the economic, cultural and political development of the country. Among these measures was judicial reform. In the sphere of executive power, the ministerial system of governing the colony was approved, and elected legislative councils began to form. The progress of rail transport, the postal service and the telegraph contributed to the formation of the domestic market, and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 provided a connection with the rest of the world. Private periodicals began to be produced, which, soon after a short period of control from above, were freed from censorship. Count Ripon initiated the creation of a system of local self-government, which led to the organization of municipal and rural elective institutions. Universities were founded, Indians now occupied high positions in the state apparatus.
MODERN INDIA
Awakening political consciousness. Mid 19th century became a turning point in the history of India. Already 5-6 years after the uprising of the sepoys in Calcutta and Bombay, organizations arose that raised important questions for the British administration in the internal life of the country and, first of all, demanded that the Indians be given important posts in the state apparatus. In 1861 Indians were included in the Legislative Council under the Governor-General of India and similar provincial councils. At the initial stage, relations between the winners and the conquered population developed in the traditional way: mixed marriages helped to achieve agreement, and social differences were perceived not from an ethnic, but from a class point of view. Many English people adopted Warren Hastings' keen interest in Indian culture. These include, for example, the linguist and orientalist Sir William Jones, the artist V.Principe, the military doctor and amateur orientalist H.H. Wilson. However, a little later, under the influence of the ideas of the historian T.B. Macaulay, the need for the English educational system and the dissemination of new knowledge and scientific achievements gave rise to a disdainful attitude towards the realities of Indian life in British society. The barrier between the two sides became especially difficult to overcome after the brutal suppression of the sepoy uprising. Very often even the best of the English were guilty of such a situation. The more the district commander became aware of the significance of his cultural mission, the more he believed in what he himself could appreciate, which would be good for the Indians. Meanwhile, national self-consciousness was rapidly growing everywhere. In England, where a civil society was being formed, the inadmissibility of racial discrimination became obvious. The consequence was the adoption of the Courtney - Ilbert Act, according to which the cases of Europeans could be considered in Indian magistrate courts. Economic changes had a significant impact on the political thinking of the educated class of Indians and revived their national aspirations. In the 1870s, an attempt was made to satisfy hopes by setting up local committees of Indians, so that these bodies were responsible for the state of affairs in health, education and transportation. Somewhat later, the liberal-minded Lord Ripon, Governor-General of India in 1880-1884, formed, mainly on the English model, local self-government institutions at the level of districts, municipalities, etc. He understood that in this case the activity of administrative institutions could deteriorate, and frankly stated that the purpose of the event “is not, first of all, to improve management. .. but the spread of political and general literacy." Allan Octavian Hume, a retired civil servant of India, a man of broad outlook, decided to build bridges between the British and Indians through the creation of the Indian National Congress. Hume's initiative received the support of the liberal Viceroy Lord Dufferin, who insisted that the Congress should not confine its activities to social subjects, but should also deal with political problems and, if necessary, criticize the government.The first session of the Congress was held in Bombay in 1885 and was attended by 72 delegates, mainly lawyers, teachers and newspaper editors. in 1892, the Indian Councils Act increased their importance at the central and provincial levels and gave them the character of representative bodies.Where previously unofficial members of the councils were appointed exclusively by order of the Governor-General, the new law provided for the entry into the councils of representatives from the republic. zlichnyh trading, educational and municipal organizations. The final composition of the councils was approved by the governor-general. Thus, the electoral principle won out, despite Lord Salisbury's fears that "not healthy, organic and efficient forces of Indian society, but unviable and weak ones, whom we ourselves will bring to the leadership" may come to power.
Hindu-Muslim controversy. Political development could not cover equally all the communities of the country. For the Indians, the arrival of the British meant mainly a change of "master". Previously, they were subject to the Mughal emperors, now they were able to adapt to the new power. During this process, the principles of the English system of education and the very Western way of thinking were perceived. On the contrary, Muslims met the changes with hostility. Islam opposed innovations in the education system, did not seek to master English language and master modern scientific knowledge. The leader of the Islamic community, Sayyid Ahmad Khan, said that if the representative principle in the government of the colony prevails, then the Muslims will be at a disadvantage in relation to the Hindus. This statement became more and more relevant as the 19th century tensions between faiths escalated. Ahmad Khan advised fellow believers to stay away from the Indian National Congress, but join the English education system. Hindu nationalism quickly gained momentum. At the end of the 19th century British authorities proposed to pass a law banning marriage before the bride reaches 12 years of age. Bal Gangathar Tilak, who expressed the views of the orthodox Hindus of Western India, launched an active campaign against this, in his opinion, serious invasion of folk customs . Gymnastic societies began to be founded, where young Hindus received physical training in order to resist the enemies of the faith. In 1905, Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India from 1899-1905, wishing to increase the efficiency of government, decided to divide Bengal. Its western part was inhabited mainly by Hindus, and the eastern part by Muslims. The latter took this division positively, for they believed that the provincial authorities had never paid due attention to East Bengal. On the contrary, another interested party perceived Lord Curzon's decision as a cunning and painful blow aimed at weakening the position of the Bengali Hindus, who were at the head of the national liberation movement in India. The hot temperament of the Bengalis contributed to the tension of the situation, and in Bengal the movement of extremists, led by Bal Gandahar Tilaki, intensified. A boycott of British goods began, and one of the moderate Bengali leaders wrote that "there was a clear danger for a schoolboy or college student to appear in a classroom or in a student audience in clothes of foreign fabric. Students could not prepare for exams from books printed on paper, manufactured abroad. A few years later, the decision to divide Bengal was canceled, but it had already given impetus to the development of Hindu extremism and increased tension in interfaith relations. Muslims felt the need to create their own political organization, and on December 30, 1906, the Muslim League was founded, primarily to protect the rights of the Islamic community. The difficulties that arose did not stop the British government, which continued its course of transformation, known as the Morley-Minto reforms. Approved in 1909, they provided for significant constitutional amendments. There has been a significant increase in the number of independent, non-official Indians among the members of the Legislative Council under the Governor-General of India, and especially in the provincial councils. The former practice of approving candidates by the governor-general was replaced by elections by municipal and district systems, chambers of commerce, curiae of landowners, and other groups of the population with their own interests. Perhaps the most important element of the reforms was the adoption of the principle of separate elections for members of the two major faiths. Moderate circles were pleased with the reforms, and Gopal Krishna Gokhale, one of the prominent figures in Congress, welcomed the British reforms and declared that in the long term there was no alternative to British rule in India. Terrorist actions still occurred in Bengal, but in general, until the First World War, a calm situation remained in the colony.
Improving the administrative system. In the second half of the 19th century, after the uprising of the sepoys and before the First World War, significant changes took place not only in political life India, but also in the areas of management, economics and education. After the sepoy uprising in India, the need for organizing effective government was especially acute. The Indian Civil Service was already beginning to gain a good reputation, but its specialized units needed to be strengthened. The law of 1861 laid the foundations for the formation of a professional police, but for a long time Europeans who lived in the colony occupied high positions in it. Few Indians could qualify for a promotion in the police force. In 1905, the Provincial Police Service was formed, staffed by Indians (although in rank it was lower than the Indian Police Service, the backbone of which was made up of Europeans). The Indian Medical Service was founded in the 18th century. to serve the army. However, in peacetime, many military doctors switched to treating the civilian population. In the half century leading up to the First World War, this practice became regular, and members of the Indian Medical Service assumed responsibility for the general state of health in the country. They began an active campaign to eradicate malaria, cholera and smallpox, and also led the fight against child mortality, which had been kept at a very high level for centuries. In the middle of the 19th century roads in the country were in very poor condition, and in many areas simply did not exist. In 1837, an official from one of the administrative districts near Calcutta reported in his report that "there is not a single road in the district along which a European carriage could pass," and such a picture was observed in many parts of India. To correct the situation, a staff of well-trained specialists was required. The Office of Public Works was staffed by the Royal Engineers until 1871, when Cooper's Hill College was founded. He trained civil engineers of a profile that the Office needed. However, it soon became clear that highly qualified specialists were used to perform fairly routine work. Therefore, an independent engineering service was organized, where people who graduated from local colleges were recruited. This helped to give the necessary scale to the construction of roads and bridges. The construction of irrigation canals and dams has become even more widespread. Before the outbreak of the First World War, India was ahead of all other countries in terms of irrigated land, although it still had an extensive fund of virgin lands. In education, progress has been quantitative rather than qualitative. The number of universities and colleges increased manifold, but the level of teaching in higher education was lower than in Europe. One way or another, the British authorities failed to make the European system of education an integral part of the life of the average Indian. Primary School was not properly funded, and mass illiteracy was interpreted by many Englishmen as a failure of colonial policy. To some extent, this was a consequence of the natural desire of the metropolis to keep tax collections at the same modest level.
Industry growth. Modern English economists consider the development of a market economy to be the work of private entrepreneurs, and not of the state. British business circles were willing to take risks, because the low tax rates in India made it possible to count on good profits. Tea plantations were laid at such a rapid pace that by the end of the 19th century. 0.5 million people were employed in tea growing; Similarly, British entrepreneurs actively developed the production of jute in Bengal. The growth of domestic demand for fuel predetermined the expansion of coal production. The greatest impression is made by the creation of an entire industry - iron and steel industry by an outstanding Indian breeder Jamsheji Tata. Even earlier, the Indians began to finance the cotton factory that originated in the country, but Tata was a pioneer by nature, and it was he who set India on the path of genuine industrial development. This course was facilitated by the top-approved system of managing agencies, which consisted in the fact that British firms invested in a new enterprise and then sold part of the shareholding, retaining technical control and administrative leadership. The funds received from the sale were invested in the next objects. This self-perpetuating process, which at an early stage was almost entirely patronized by solid British management agencies, markedly stimulated the growth of industry.
World War I. At the very beginning of the war, the President of the Indian National Congress declared that the British and Indians would join the fight for honor, liberty and justice, and all classes of society showed loyalty to the authorities. Mohandas K. Gandhi, who became a prominent figure in the independence movement, called for vigorous work for the sake of victory. The sincerity of feelings was soon confirmed by the solid contribution that India made to the military operations of the Entente. Nevertheless, in the colony, as elsewhere, the war changed the usual system of spiritual values. The experience gained by Indian soldiers abroad has helped them and their families to rethink their place in the world. In November 1916, a pact was concluded in Lucknow, according to which both communities agreed to jointly insist on the speedy implementation of the principle of self-government; at the same time, the Congress did not object to the formation of an independent Muslim curia in legislative elections. The British government reacted to the situation, and in August 1917 Secretary of State E. S. Montagu announced that the policy of the mother country was to gradually strengthen the network of institutions necessary for self-government in order to eventually create a representative government in India as an integral part of the British Empire. Secretary of State Montagu and Viceroy of India Lord Chelmsford prepared a report on the subject, pointing out specific policy directions, but before practical measures could be taken, the situation deteriorated sharply. Even at the beginning of the war, the secret revolutionary activities of extremists began to pose a serious danger to society. The committee, headed by Sidney Rowlett, studied in detail the materials on the activities of terrorist organizations and recommended that the government take urgent measures. At this stage, Gandhi acted along with the extremists, and when in March 1919 the law on policing proposed by Rowlett was adopted, he called for a hartal in India, i.e. termination of economic activity. Soon unrest began in the country, prompting Gandhi to cancel the hartal. But by that time the situation in the Punjab had escalated. On April 13, when the situation became especially tense and a huge protesting crowd gathered in Amritsar, troops under the command of Brigadier General Reginald Dyer opened fire and dispersed the demonstration. Nearly 400 people were killed and many wounded. The spirit of cooperation and mutual loyalty that reigned in 1914 was completely dispelled; there was a threat of new conflicts.
Diarchy. The British government adhered to the line outlined in the Montagu-Chelmsford report. The Government of India Act, passed in 1919, granted additional rights to the Indians. In the provinces, part of the tasks solved by the administration were transferred to the Indian ministers. Such a system of government, called "diarchy", was often criticized for the reason that the main issues - finance, legal proceedings and maintaining public order - remained in the exclusive domain of the British authorities. The reforms satisfied the moderate strata for some time, but after the khartal agitation began in support of the Caliphate. It was a form of protest against the division of the Ottoman Empire after the end of the First World War. Most Muslims shared the belief that the Turkish sultan was the caliph, or father of the faithful, and as such should have the appropriate territory and resources at his disposal. Gandhi, with great political tact, managed to combine agitation in favor of the caliphate with the struggle of the Congress against the Rowlett law and the non-cooperation movement with the authorities (i.e., the civil disobedience movement). Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, whom the world knows as Mahatma Gandhi, or "man of great soul", had a strong influence on the Hindus and in their eyes was a symbol of the desire for freedom.
see also GANDI Mohandas Karamchand. Meanwhile, the diarchy functioned successfully. It was possible to reach an agreement under which the Governor General of India was released from the control of London in financial matters, if they were jointly decided by him and the legislature in Delhi. An even more important development was the recognition of India's right to speak at international conferences independently of Britain. On the whole, however, this period did not bring agreement. The Indian intelligentsia doubted the good intentions of the British authorities. Mutual alienation of Hindus and Muslims increased. As a result, in 1929-1930, intercommunal clashes took place in a number of areas.
Simon Commission and Round Table Conferences. In 1927, a commission of members of the English Parliament, led by John Simon, arrived in Delhi to consider the prospects for further constitutional reforms. In 1929, Viceroy Lord Irwin announced that the goal of the reforms was to obtain dominion status for the country. The Working Committee of the Congress at the same time spoke in favor of a complete withdrawal from the British Commonwealth, since "there can be no real freedom until the connection with Great Britain is terminated." The metropolitan authorities tried to overcome the difficulties that had arisen. In 1930, 1931 and 1932 three Round Table conferences were held between representatives from the Indian side and from the government and the three leading political parties in the UK Parliament. Congress, which continued to pursue a course of civil disobedience, boycotted the first conference. Shortly after the end of the first conference of the Round Table, the famous Irwin-Gandhi pact was concluded, according to which the Congress interrupted the action of disobedience, and the government released political prisoners from prisons. Gandhi took part in the work of the second conference of the Round Table, who considered himself entitled to express the interests of India as a whole and rejected the demands of Muslims and other minorities for the creation of religious-communal electoral curia. After the end of the conference, the Congress again resorted to the tactics of nonviolent resistance. Riots broke out and Gandhi was again arrested by the government. Since the Indian leaders failed to overcome intercommunal strife, the British government in August 1932 was forced to make a compromise proposal, according to which the scheduled castes, known in history as untouchables, and Muslims were given the right to vote in elections on their own lists. Gandhi, then imprisoned in Pune, threatened to "starve to death" in protest against the plan. Ultimately, the scheduled castes relented, and the Pune agreement included compromise language. Nevertheless, the campaign of civil disobedience and the terrorist acts did not stop. The third conference of the Round Table only led to the recognition of the usefulness of further study of the problem by a committee appointed jointly by both houses of parliament. In 1935, London passed the Government of India Act. provincial autonomy. The Government of India Act contained two fundamentally important provisions. Certain areas of lawmaking and the right to establish and levy certain types of taxes were completely transferred to the jurisdiction of the provincial authorities. In addition, the Act, or rather the regulations that supplemented it, provided that the governor of a province should appoint ministers after consultation with a political leader who enjoyed strong majority support in the provincial legislature. The governors who acted as representatives of the metropolis should have been guided in their activities by the recommendations of the ministers, while retaining a number of power functions. Among them - the prevention of any serious threat to order and tranquility in the jurisdiction, ensuring the safety of minorities and protecting the business interests of the UK. The 1935 law also provided for the adoption of measures to create a representative central government. The Congress Party rejected the right of the authorities to carry out forceful actions, which was enshrined in those sections of the Act that concerned provincial governments, and refused to take ministerial posts after the entry into force of this law in 1937. The congressists demanded guarantees that governors in practice would never resort to forceful actions. measures. The last years preceding the outbreak of World War II were relatively calm, but the course towards provincial autonomy aroused natural concern among national minorities. Muslim leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah demanded the formation of a royal commission to look into complaints that, in his opinion, testified to the oppression of members of the Islamic denomination in Hindu-majority areas.
The Second World War. According to the Constitution, India automatically became a belligerent after the viceroy addressed the population with a statement that "war has begun between His Majesty and Germany." The sympathies of all sectors of Indian society turned to the allies, but this state of affairs lasted for a long time. Soon the leaders of the Congress expressed obvious dissatisfaction with the fact that the procedure for deciding on the question of war and peace did not provide for the participation of Indians in it. The British government was required to report on its intentions towards India after the end of the war. The Congress refused to support the war effort of the British administration, withdrawing its ministers from the provincial governments. The situation changed on January 10, 1940, when the Viceroy announced that the British authorities planned to grant India dominion status after the war. In March 1940, the Muslim League formulated proposals for the division of the country in a rigid manner. In August 1940 the government put forward a new proposal. All parties were invited to take part in the work of the expanded Council under the Governor-General and the Advisory Military Council. Neither the Congress nor the Muslim League responded to this proposal, and in October 1940 the Congress launched a campaign of civil disobedience.
Cripps mission. The next attempt to overcome the impasse in the negotiation process was made in March 1942 by Stafford Cripps, who arrived in India. The British government proposed to draw up a constitution for the country with the help of a special elected body formed in India immediately after the end of the war; gave consent to India's withdrawal from the Commonwealth, if she so desired; gave the provinces the right to refuse to join the new Indian Union. Readiness was expressed to hand over to Indian political circles the levers of governing the country in all spheres except defense. The proposals were rejected. Unrest began, which was soon suppressed. Gandhi and other leading figures in the Congress were arrested and imprisoned.
post-war developments. Viceroy Lord Wavell held a meeting with representatives of all parties in June 1945 in Shimla, but could not reach an agreement with the Congress and the Muslim League. Soon the general elections were held, and it became quite clear that the overwhelming majority of Muslims were pushing for the partition of India. The mission of the British government, sent in March 1946, failed on the main issue, but contributed to the adoption of two important decisions: on the election of a constituent assembly, which was entrusted with drafting the constitution of India, and on negotiations on the formation in August 1946 of a provisional government with the participation of members of Congress and the Muslim leagues. This government was supposed to transfer power to Indian hands, without waiting for the completion of the measures connected with the adoption of the constitution. Jawaharlal Nehru became prime minister, and Liaquat Ali Khan, second only to Jinnah in the Muslim League, took over as finance minister. The well-thought-out plan of action did not fully work, however, as inter-communal disputes went too far. A bloody massacre took place in Calcutta immediately before the establishment of the provisional government, and a few months later similar tragic events also occurred in the Punjab. On February 20, 1947, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee announced that power in India would be transferred to a representative government in June 1948. At the same time, Great Britain reserved the right to decide who exactly would receive power. Attlee's remarks electrified the situation: the Hindus realized that the dismemberment of India was possible, and the Muslims realized that it was possible for them to live under a majority government in a new state. For the first time, both major political forces in the colony were in the mood for constructive negotiations, and the public was prepared for the arrival in March 1947 of the new Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, to carry out the decisions made.
Declaration of Independence. In June 1947, a final agreement was reached, allowing the British Parliament to pass the Indian Independence Act, which came into force on August 15, 1947. This document set out the principles of partition, according to which a number of areas were given the opportunity to decide whether to join India or Pakistan, and declared the right of each of the two new dominions to self-government with the right to secede from the Commonwealth. The suzerainty of the English monarchy over the Indian principalities, as well as the validity of the treaties concluded with them, also ceased. There was a division of two provinces - Bengal and Punjab. The people of East Bengal and West Punjab opted for Pakistan, while the people of West Bengal and East Punjab voted for joining India.
HISTORY OF INDEPENDENT INDIA
Partition consequences. Immediately after independence, India experienced unprecedented clashes between Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. In the coming months, approx. 12 million people fled their homes, and in less than a year, about 0.5 million people died. To the intercommunal hostility and clashes, the economic and political difficulties caused by the partition were also added. Railways, roads and irrigation canal systems were cut off by state borders, industrial enterprises were cut off from sources of raw materials, civil services, the police and the army, which were so necessary to ensure the normal administration of the country and the security of citizens, were divided. On January 30, 1948, when the disorderly conduct began to subside, Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic. The threat to the young state was not only intercommunal strife. The rulers of over 500 principalities had to decide whether to join India or Pakistan. The peaceful integration of the vast majority of small principalities did not cause complications. But the Muslim Nizam, who was at the head of the richest and most populous principality of Hyderabad, where the Hindus predominated numerically, declared his desire to rule an independent sovereign country. In September 1948, Indian troops entered Hyderabad.
A serious situation arose in the north, where the ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, a territory with a predominantly Muslim population, was a Hindu Maharaja. Pakistan put economic pressure on the principality to join and blocked its railway connection with India, interrupting the supply of essential goods. In October 1947 ca. 5,000 armed Muslims entered Kashmir. Their co-religionists, who served in the Kashmiri army, joined the ranks of the invading militias. The Maharaja, who was in dire need of help, signed a document on the inclusion of the principality in India. Indian military units were delivered to Kashmir by plane, and additional formations arrived from Pakistan. India accused the Pakistani side of aggression and referred the issue of Kashmir to the UN Security Council for discussion. The UN decided to recognize as a demarcation line the actual ceasefire line as of January 1, 1949. As a result, approx. 1/3 of the territory of the principality fell under the control of the administration of Azad Kashmir ("Free Kashmir"), openly supported by Pakistan, and the remaining 2/3 of the territory, including the legendary Kashmir Valley, officially became part of India (1956). However, Pakistan continues to insist that the future status of Jammu and Kashmir should be determined after a plebiscite, on the terms of which the two states, however, could not agree. Relations with Pakistan have become a major issue in Indian foreign policy. The protracted dispute over Kashmir prevented India from playing a leading role in the non-aligned movement. When Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru refused to cooperate with the United States in the fight against Soviet expansion, they entered into a military alliance with Pakistan (1954). This forced the Indian leadership to expand contacts with both socialist neighbors. In 1954, Nehru signed an agreement with the PRC under which India recognized Chinese sovereignty over Tibet; five principles of peaceful coexistence were laid in the basis of relations between the two countries. Indo-Soviet ties were noticeably strengthened after the conclusion of a major trade agreement in 1953 and the exchange of visits by the leaders of the two states in 1955. The USSR welcomed the Indian policy of non-alignment, which coincided with its strategic line of limiting US influence in the African-Asian region. India has significantly strengthened its prestige in the international arena by leading the non-aligned movement and actively participating in UN mediation and peacekeeping efforts.
Development and reforms. In domestic affairs, the Indian government emphasized economic development and related transformations. At the same time, it was necessary to avoid a simultaneous frontal attack on linguistic, religious and caste traditions. Nehru described his approach as a "third way" in which the best of the capitalist and socialist systems is borrowed. Attempts to find a balance between conservative forces and radical elements determined the process that Nehru called the gradual revolution. The Indian Constitution of 1950 reflected the cautious position of the country's leadership. The relatively simple procedure for amending the constitution, based on the decisions of the emerging majority in parliament, expanded the scope for further reforms. Under Nehru, who was also head of the Planning Commission, three five-year plans were implemented (from 1951 to 1966). The Decree of April 30, 1956, on industrial policy focused on the creation of a mixed economy and opened up prospects for cooperation with private capital, although only state ownership was allowed in the 17 leading sectors (including defense). This rule affected, for example, military enterprises, ferrous metallurgy, heavy engineering and mining.
The official strategy to stimulate the development of industry was combined with a policy of cautious reforms in the agrarian sector. The Planning Commission urged the states to legislate to protect the rights of land users, such as limiting rents, setting a "ceiling" for individual land holdings, and reorganizing the marketing system on a cooperative basis, and in the more distant future, perhaps, agricultural production. Since 1953, the implementation of a community development program began, which set, in particular, the task of organizing a network of institutions for disseminating advanced agricultural experience in the countryside, as well as creating cooperative associations and panchayats in the countryside.
Moderate course borders. Until the early 1960s, an independent India clearly felt the benefits of a state-led flexible policy. The economy could increasingly rely on meeting the needs of its leading industries for technological equipment at the expense of the products of its own industry. The country has taken the tenth place in the world in terms of industrial production and the third in terms of the number of scientific and technical personnel (after the USA and the USSR). Parliamentary democracy developed in public life. The Indian National Congress won elections to the country's parliament and state legislatures in 1952, 1957 and 1962, having managed to come to an agreement with influential local forces. Having formed a broad coalition of political forces, the Congress formed an effective government. By 1964, nationalist tendencies revived in the country. The government delayed reaching a compromise on the reorganization of the territorial-administrative division on a linguistic basis, and when in 1956 14 states were formed on the basis of dominant languages, dissatisfaction appeared among other ethnic communities. In 1960, serious unrest in the state of Bombay forced the central authorities to meet demands for its division into two new states - Gujarat and Maharashtra. The Sikhs succeeded when in 1965 the Punjab was divided into the state of Punjab, in which the Sikhs were the majority, and the state of Haryana, with a predominantly Hindu population. The ethnic problem arose even more sharply in the northeastern border zone, where some local tribes demanded independence and raised armed uprisings for this purpose, and army units had to be sent to suppress them. The creation of the independent states of Nagaland (1963) and Meghalaya (1967) did not end the struggle for secession. In 1966, the Mizos settled in Assam launched a bloody guerrilla war, probably with the support of China and Pakistan. Mizoram was granted statehood in 1986. Compromise with the leading agricultural castes seriously limited the government's ability to carry out social transformations in the countryside. The agrarian reform laws that were approved in the states contained significant gaps that made it possible, on the one hand, to drive tenants off the land, and on the other hand, to bypass the provision on the upper limit of land holdings. Cooperatives were allowed to follow the outdated banking practice of issuing secured loans, which effectively deprived the poorest peasantry of the opportunity to participate in the activities of these organizations. The leaders of the main castes, controlling the cooperatives, in fact directed the elections to the new panchayats, manipulating the fragmented peasant masses through their kinship, caste and group ties. The slow roll-out of institutional change has led to chronic agricultural shortages, higher food prices, and cuts in government subsidies. In the early 1960s, the financial crisis deepened. Economic stagnation, in turn, limited the room for maneuver for Congress. The fierce struggle within the party created the prerequisites for corruption at all levels. This corroded the party and had a negative impact on the activities public services. Corruption has involved police officers and state and local tax officials, as well as employees of departments responsible for economic development. The inability of the Congress to keep promises of social reforms and accelerated economic growth of the country was used by the opposition parties to attack "Indian socialism". Even more importantly, Nehru's personal prestige was significantly undermined in October 1962 after the invasion of Chinese troops into the territory of the North-Eastern Border Agency (later - the state of Arunachal Pradesh) and into the Kashmiri district of Ladakh. In an effort to secure links between the Xinjiang Uyghur and Tibet Autonomous Regions, China tried to force India to relinquish rights to the strategically important Aksai Chin Plain in eastern Ladakh in Kashmir. The armed forces of the People's Republic of China inflicted several heavy blows on the Indian army and occupied an area of 37.5 thousand square meters. km. Nehru's policy of peaceful coexistence and non-alignment collapsed almost overnight. By the time China announced the withdrawal of troops from all occupied areas except Aksai Chin, Nehru was forced to turn to the United States for military assistance.
Nehru's successors. Nehru's successor as prime minister, Lal Bahadur Shastri, was nominated to the post by a group of party leaders known as the "syndicate"; it was supported by large landowners and entrepreneurs. Shastri gradually abandoned the policy of central planning. In 1965, experts from the World Bank determined the provision of financial assistance to the implementation of a set of economic reforms. During the year and a half of his tenure as prime minister, Shastri made decisions to reorient the main stream of state investment from heavy industry to agriculture; change of milestones in the agricultural sector with an emphasis on intensive farming and land reclamation; incentives through the price system and the allocation of subsidies to village farms that are able to modernize production; increasing the role of private and foreign investment in industry. The economy became especially dependent on financial inflows from abroad when an additional burden of spending fell on the country during the second war with Pakistan in 1965. The trend towards a stagnation of the economy and an increase in wealth inequality in society was combined in India with an intensification of internal political struggle. The losses suffered by the Congress in the elections in 1967 did not deprive him of a narrow victory at the national level, but led to defeat in 8 states. In the states of Kerala and West Bengal, the Congress was ousted from power by a coalition led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), a breakaway radical faction of the Communist Party of India (CPI). In both states, far-left governments have curtailed police activity to allow the tenant and agricultural proletariat to move against the landlords, and the factory workers against the management of the factories. Revolutionary-minded communists supported armed peasant riots in several states where the CPI(m) operated. In the late 1960s, they organized riots among the small peoples of Andhra Pradesh and members of the scheduled tribes and castes (landless Harijans) in the Naksalbari tahsil in West Bengal. These unrest had to be suppressed by military units, but, despite serious losses, the Naxalites led in 1969 the process of creating a new Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist).
Indira Gandhi. The third prime minister, Indira Gandhi, could no longer rely on the old party leaders and teamed up with a small youth group of socialists and former communists. The prime minister's decisive action to nationalize 14 major commercial banks tied her name to a new policy focused on helping the poor. The New Congress, led by Gandhi, easily triumphed over the congressional opposition led by the syndicate, winning elections in 1971 and 1972 at the all-India level and in the states. The popularity of the prime minister reached its peak in 1971 as a result of victory in the third Indo-Pakistani war. With the emergence of Bangladesh, India found itself in a dominant position in the South Asian region. Moreover, in May 1974, she conducted nuclear tests that demonstrated the increased military power of India. Not having the opportunity to carry out land reform and other measures that would allow combining economic development with improving the social security of the population, Gandhi tried to maneuver and solve these problems separately. On the one hand, a growth strategy based on encouraging private investment further deepened the differentiation of society. On the other hand, from the standpoint of social justice, it was necessary to prefer measures that would bring the benefits of the development of the country first of all to the disadvantaged segments of the population. To this end, government agencies provided preferential loans to peasants and organized public works to support the poor. However, since the country did not have sufficient financial resources, even modest expenditures for this purpose resulted in the dispersion of already meager investment funds. During the period of the Fourth Five-Year Plan (1969-1974), government spending went up sharply due to inflation, and the balance of payments deteriorated due to record high food purchases abroad. The Government of India resorted to unprecedented deficit financing, which led to price increases of nearly 30% over 1973-1974.
political crisis. The political consensus that served as the basis for Gandhi's political and economic reforms was rapidly eroding. Gandhi did not have party organizations to implement social reforms in the states, but was able to rely on the majority in the Indian Parliament, where the Congress was the decisive force, having 2/3 of the deputy mandates. In 1971, the government restored the right of Parliament to amend the Constitution, which had been canceled in 1967 by a Supreme Court ruling. The adopted 26th Amendment stated that any law must comply with the fundamental articles of the Constitution, based on the principles of social and economic justice. When the amendment was rejected by the Supreme Court in April 1973, the government removed the three oldest judges who had voted against it and appointed one of its members as chairman of the court, who spoke in favor of the amendment. The leaders of all opposition forces, except for the CPI, saw this act as a threat to the establishment of an authoritarian regime. A unifying figure was found as a leader - Jayaprakash Narayana, the oldest follower of Mahatma Gandhi. Narayan launched an agitation campaign in Gujarat, which led in January 1974 to the resignation of Congressist ministers and the dissolution of the state legislature. He led an equally energetic company in Bihar. On June 2, 1975, the accusation of "corrupt practice" against Indira Gandhi gave her opponents the opportunity to organize a movement to remove the prime minister. In response, Gandhi imposed a state of emergency in India, resulting in mass arrests of political opponents and widespread censorship. In the March 1977 elections, the new Janata Party, which was a bloc of opposition groups, won a landslide victory over Gandhi and repealed the emergency law. However, the Janata government soon became the victim of internal intrigues. Its head, Morarji Desai, resigned in June 1979, and Gandhi came to power again in the January 1980 elections. India entered the 1980s burdened with serious political and economic problems. Low rates of production growth (about 3.6% per year during the period 1950-1976) left 306 million people, or 43% of the total population, below the poverty line. The rate of growth of unemployment has increased. The participation of the electorate in the 1980 elections was reduced to about 55% with an increase in the number of conflicts during the election campaign. In West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, the CPI(m) won. The central government faced a resurgence of separatist movements in the northeast, anti-migrant protests in Assam, and a series of sectarian unrest in Uttar Pradesh. In all cases, to restore order, he had to resort to military force. In June 1984, after the outbreak of Sikh terrorism in the Punjab, the army stormed the Sikh shrine - the Golden Temple in Amritsar, which led to the death of the Sikh leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and hundreds of his followers who had taken refuge in the temple. Gandhi's decisive action was greeted with approval in other parts of India, but turned the moderate Sikhs against it. On October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh bodyguards. She was replaced as head of government and as leader of the Congress by Rajiv Gandhi, who called parliamentary elections for the end of 1984 and won them in a landslide. In the 1989 elections, the anti-Congress parties rallied around former Treasury Secretary V.P. Singh, who then led a minority government. It was backed by the Janata Dal party and supported by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and two communist parties. The coalition collapsed in November 1990, when the BJP left it. Chandra Sekar's next government resigned four months later when Congress failed to approve the draft state budget. Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a bomb thrown by a Sri Lankan Tamil terrorist in May 1991. It was an act of revenge for the introduction of Indian troops into the north of Sri Lanka in 1987 to counter the Tamil separatists. The new Prime Minister Narasimha Rao carried out in 1992 decisive economic reforms designed to modernize the country's industrial and scientific and technical base. Less successful was the activity of the Rao government to prevent intercommunal clashes that arose after the destruction of a mosque in Uttar Pradesh by orthodox Hindus in December 1992. Elections in April and May 1996 led to the division of seats in parliament between the three main factions: the Congress (136 deputy mandates), the BJP (160) and a left-wing coalition called the United Front (111 mandates). After the BJP refused to enter the majority government, the new prime minister, H.D. Deve Govda managed to attract the Congress to participate in it. The basis of the government was made up of representatives from regional and leftist parties. The structure of the United Front determined the growing influence of state leaders, who basically supported Deve Govda. The program of the Front had to include points in favor of "genuine" federalism. However, the financial difficulties experienced by the country hinder the implementation of the decision to redistribute taxes in favor of the states. Inder Kumar Gujral continued his predecessor's course of economic liberalization and economic growth, but abandoned further cuts in social spending. The fight against corruption continued. India's foreign policy dialogue with Pakistan and China has intensified. The resignation of the Gujral government, provoked by the INC, led to early parliamentary elections in March 1998. The main task of the new Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was to maintain a coalition government led by the BJP, and for several months he avoided making his program public. The result of inaction was an increase in inflation and a slowdown in economic development. India's nuclear tests have complicated India's relations with most of the world's states. In today's unstable environment, a factor of stability remains the figure of the president, who in 1997 for the first time in the history of the country elected a representative of the former "untouchables" K.P. Narayanan (from the state of Kerala), who served as vice president under Sh. caste of brahmins.
Collier Encyclopedia. - Open Society. 2000 .
India is a country in South Asia that has always been known for its high culture and untold wealth, as many trade routes passed through it. The history of India is interesting and fascinating, because it is a very ancient state, the traditions of which have not changed much over the centuries.
Antiquity
Bronze Age
Approximately in the III millennium BC, the first Indian civilization appeared, which was called the Indus (or Harappan).
Initially, metallurgy, construction, and small sculpture were developed among the crafts. But monumental sculpture, unlike Mesopotamia or Egypt, has not been developed. Foreign trade was actively conducted, for example, with Mesopotamia, Sumer or Arabia.
Buddhist period
Approximately from the middle of the 1st millennium BC, disagreements begin between representatives of the Vedic religion, which at that time was already significantly outdated, and between the kshatriyas - the estates of rulers and warriors. As a result, many new trends appeared, the most popular of which was Buddhism. The history of India says that its founder was Shakyamuni Buddha.
In this period, the religious, economic and community-caste systems were finally formed. This era is characterized by numerous invasions from the northwestern states and tribes, for example, the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, nomads.
The history of ancient India ends with the Gupta dynasty, during whose reign the "golden age" of Indian civilization began. But this period did not last long. In the fourth century, the Iranian-speaking nomads of the Hephthalites created their own state, which included India.
History of India in the Middle Ages
From the tenth to the twelfth century, there was an Islamic invasion from Central Asia, as a result of which the Delhi Sultanate gained control of Northern India. After some time, most of the country became part of the Empire. Nevertheless, in the south of the peninsula, there were several native kingdoms that were beyond the reach of the invaders.
European colonies in India
Since the sixteenth century, the history of India tells about the struggle of influential European countries, including the Netherlands, Portugal, Great Britain and France, for the formation of colonies on the territory of the state, since they were all interested in trade with India. Most of the country was under the control of England, or rather, the East India Company. Ultimately, this company was liquidated, and India came under the control of the British Crown as a colony.
National Liberation War
In 1857, an uprising against the East India Company began, which was called the First Liberation War. However, it was suppressed, and established direct administrative control over almost the entire territory of the colony.
In the first half of the 20th century, a national liberation movement began in India, led by Mahatma Gandhi. From this moment begins the history of India as an independent state. However, it was still part of the British Commonwealth of Nations.
Modern history
In 1950 India became a republic.
In 1974, she tested nuclear weapons.
In 1988, five new explosions were carried out.
In 3 thousand BC, the so-called Harappan civilization was formed in the Indus Valley - named after the modern name of the settlement on the left bank of the river. Dig in the Punjab, where one of the largest cities of this civilization was once located.
The second known large city of this civilization - Mahenjo-Daro - is located on the right bank of the Indus, about 400 km. from its mouth. In Kalibangan, near the border of India with Pakistan, at the mouth of the ancient Saraswati (now almost dry), another city was found belonging to this civilization. A large number of smaller towns and settlements are also known. In general, the Harappan civilization occupied a vast territory even by modern standards - about 1,500 km long from north to south.
Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa arose presumably in the middle of 3 thousand BC. and existed at least in the 2nd millennium BC. Obviously, even then these cities maintained contact with the civilizations of Mesopotamia. The Harappan civilization was most likely theocratic, i.e. ruled by priests.
Both cities were built according to a similar plan - a citadel with battlements and public buildings inside, around which the city was located, covering an area of more than a square kilometer. Completely straight streets divided the city into quarters. The construction material for buildings was usually fired brick of extremely high quality.
Houses with a height of 2 floors were also built according to the same plan - around a rectangular courtyard, a suite of rooms. The entrance to the house was usually not from the street, but from the alley; all windows overlooked the courtyard.
The houses had rooms for ablutions - a kind of "bath" with a system of drainpipes leading into the city sewer. City sewer pipes ran under the streets and were covered with special brick slabs.
In Mohenjo-Daro, one of the oldest swimming pools in the world, about 11 X 7 m in size, was opened.
In Harappa, north of the citadel, a large granary measuring 45 X 60 m was found. Studies show that the main grain crops of the Harappan civilization were wheat and barley. Buffaloes, goats, sheep, pigs, donkeys, and various domestic animals have already been tamed.
To the surprise of archaeologists, none of the structures in Mahenjo-Daro and Harappi could be identified as.
There was already a written language, most likely of a pictographic nature, with about 270 characters. Many of these signs are displayed on seals found during excavations. Unfortunately, despite all attempts, the writing of the Harappan civilization has not yet been deciphered.
Around 1500 BC, a powerful earthquake occurs that destroys many cities of the Harappan civilization, and all after that invaders from the west invade the Indus Valley, who finally destroyed this culture. There is still no established opinion whether these were already Aryan, or earlier conquerors.
ARIA
There are numerous theories about the origin of the Aryans. Trying to summarize the most reasonable of them, we can say that around 2000 BC, somewhere on the territory of modern Ukraine, barbarian tribes lived: rather tall, fair-skinned people. They were perhaps the first in the world to tame horses and harness them to light, high-speed wagons with spokes. These tribes were mainly engaged in cattle breeding and some agriculture.
At the beginning of the 2000 BC, due to some reason (overpopulation? ?), these tribes set in motion and subsequently settled vast territories from Ireland in the west to India in the east. They conquered local peoples and mixed with them, forming the ruling elite.
The penetration of the Aryans was not a one-time action, but a process that stretched over hundreds of years. This period in the history of India is called Aryan or Vedic. It was during this era that the greatest monuments of Indian and world culture were created - the poetic epics "" and "Ramayana". (However, there are opinions that these ancient epics were created much earlier - about 6000 thousand years BC, that is, when the Aryans still lived in their ancestral home).
The Aryans did not create an urban civilization, the economic basis of their existence was pastoralism and agriculture, and cattle occupied a very important place in the economy. also had exceptionally great importance in the life of the Aryans, but was used mainly for military purposes.
It is in the Vedic era that the main estates () are formed. , which was the basic unit of Aryan society - strictly patriarchal - monogamous and indissoluble. Numerous finds during the excavation of dice testified to the passion of the Aryans for gambling. They also loved intoxicating drinks (soma and sura).
The material culture of the Aryans reached a high development. They mastered the art of working bronze, made weapons and tools from it (it should be noted that ancient copper mines were found in the alleged ancestral home of the Aryans).
LATE VEDIC PERIOD
Between the invasion of the Aryans in the Indus Valley and the Age of Buddha, about 5 centuries passed. During this time, the Aryans moved further east down the Ganges, their culture adapted and changed to local conditions. It is in the east that new kingdoms arise, which later played a significant role in Indian history. Many researchers believe that the "Mahabharata" and "Ramayana" reflect the events that took place during this period. However, there are still too many mysteries here - and it is still impossible to finally confirm or date anything.
THE AGE OF BUDDHA. MAGADHO-MAURIAN STATE.
In the era which later came to be called the era of the Buddha, the center of Indian civilization is moving eastward. Here four kingdoms arise and flourish: Koshala, Magadha, Vatsa and Avanti, eclipsing the ancient country of Kuru in Punjab both economically and politically. In the middle of the 1st millennium BC, one of them - Magadha - managed to create, in fact, the first Indian empire, the possessions of which included the entire basin and almost all of Northern India, with the exception of Rajasthan, Sindh and Punjab.
Around 326, Alexander the Great, after conquering the Persian empire of the Achaemenids and marching into Bactria, overcomes the Hindu Kush and invades India. Alexander's troops cross the Indus and enter the Punjab. Alexander defeats the troops of the Punjab king Por and begins an offensive inland, but under the threat of a rebellion in his troops, he is forced to turn back.
After the death of Alexander to one of Alexander's commanders, Seleucus Nicator again invades India in 305 BC, however, apparently, he is defeated by the emperor of the Magadho-Maurian state of Chandraguta.
Around 269 BC. Ashoka becomes the emperor - later, one of the greatest rulers of India. According to Buddhist sources, Ashoka illegally seized the throne, killed all possible rivals and began to rule as a tyrant, but eight years after ascending the throne, the king morally and spiritually became a completely different person and began to pursue a new policy. He abandoned the usual territorial expansion, the internal expansion was significantly softened. He forbade animal sacrifice, even replaced the traditional pastimes of Indian kings - hunting - with pilgrimages to Buddhist shrines.
According to the son (brother?) of Ashoka - Mahendra (Mahinda), Sri Lanka was converted to.
Emperor Ashoka died about 232 BC, apparently having already lost power by this time. Ashoka's heirs ruled India for about 50 years.
THE AGE OF INVASIONS
In 183 BC. Pushyamitra Shunga, one of the commanders of the last Mauryan king Brihadrahti, seized power as a result of a palace coup. The new king returns to the old Hindu. There is a gradual "erosion" of the Mauryan kingdom - many principalities are moving away from it and becoming independent.
At this time, on the northwestern borders of India, as a result of the collapse of the Seleucid empire, independent Hellenistic states of Bactria and Parthia were formed. The Bactrian Greeks begin their expansion into northwestern India. They take over most of the Indus and Punjab valleys and raid far into the Ganges valley. Subsequently, this Greek state in northwestern India breaks up into tiny Greco-Bactrian kingdoms.
In the 2nd c. BC hordes of nomads from Central Asia (known from Chinese sources under the name of the Yuezhi) moved west, crowding the Scythians. The Scythians, under pressure from the north, attacked Bactria and captured it, and subsequently, pressed by the same nomads, defeated Parthia and the Greek kingdoms of northwestern India. The power of the Scythians (Saks, Shaks) spread to Mathura itself. The earliest known to us the king of the Scythians, who ruled in India, is Maues (80 BC?).
In the 1st century AD Kunjuly Kadziva from the Yuezhi Kushan tribe concentrated power over Bactria in his hands, and then he would be able to capture northwestern India as well. One of his followers, Kanishka, manages to concentrate in his hands power over a significant part of Central Asia and northwestern India (up to). Under Kanishka, Buddhism began to penetrate Central Asia and the Far East.
Kanishka's successors ruled northwestern India until the middle of the 3rd century, when King Vasudeva was defeated by Shapur I, a representative of the new Iranian Sassanid dynasty. The North falls under Iranian influence.
In the 1st century BC - 4th c. AD, on the Deccan Peninsula, several new kingdoms (, the kingdom of the Satavahans) appeared, which existed for several hundred years.
In the south of India in Tamil Nadu during this period there are several Tamil states. Good navigators, Tamils invade about. Lanka and for some time capture its northern part. The Tamils had close trade relations with Egypt and the Roman Empire.
THE AGE OF THE GUPTAS
In 320 AD in the history of India appears Chandra Gupta, whose descendants largely restored the power of the Mauryan Empire.
Under his successor, Samudragupta (c. 335-376), a great empire is again established in India, stretching from Assam to the borders of the Punjab. The Shaks (descendants of the Scythians) who ruled northwestern India manage to shake the Gup empire, but in 338 Chandra Gupta II finally defeats the Shaks.
At the end of the reign of Kumaragupta I (415-454), northwestern India was again invaded by northern nomads, known from Byzantine sources under the name of the Huns.
His son Scanlagupta (circa 455-467) succeeded in restoring the empire.
At the end of the 5th c. the Huns again moved to India and, starting from 500, Western India was in the hands of the Hunnic kings. In 530, Narasinkhgupta drove out the Huns, but by 550, the Gupta empire ceased to exist.
As a result of Harsha (606-647) from the lateral branch of the Gupta dynasty, he regains control over a large part of the empire from Gujarat to Bengal.
After the death of Harsha, a great turmoil begins. - the incessant alternation of strife between local dynasties. In 812, the Arabs captured Sindh.
In 986, the emir from the city of Hansa in Afghanistan, Sabuktigin, launched the first raid on northwestern India. From 997, his son Mahmud began to make systematic campaigns against the rich Indian kingdoms.
The alliance of Indian kings, organized to repulse Mahmud, was defeated in 1001 near Peshawar. By 1027, Mahmud annexed to his state all the northwestern regions and the Punjab, along with the Arab state of Sindh.
THE ERA OF THE MUGHOLS
The dynasty of Mahmud in Afghanistan was supplanted by a new dynasty, one of its representatives, known as Muhammad Ghuri, continued the conquest of the Hindu states. His commander Qutb ud-din Aibak occupied Delhi, another commander Muhammad ibn-Bakhtiyar moved down the Ganges and devastated, then, almost without resistance, occupied Bengal. Starting from the beginning of the 13th century. and up to the 18th century. Muslim conquerors dominated northern India. In 1206, Muhammad ibn-Bakhtiyar was killed and the first Sultan of Delhi was his commander Qutb-ud-Din, a freedman slave. It was Qutb-un-Din that laid the foundation for the Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526). During the existence of the Delhi Sultanate, several dynasties have changed: Gulams (1206-1290), Khilji (1290-1320), Tughlaka (1320-1413), Sayyids (1414-1451), Lodi (1451-1526). During the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq, almost all of India was conquered, with the exception of the South and Kashmir.
In 1398, the Delhi Sultanate was attacked by the invasion of Timur, the ruler of Samarkand. The Sultanate began to disintegrate into separate parts, by the end of the 16th century. it included only Delhi with its immediate environs.
In the 15-16 centuries. in South India there was a Hindu Vijayanagara empire and a Muslim empire of the Bahmanids.
In 1498, the Portuguese first appeared off the coast of India and began to gain a foothold on its western coast.
At the beginning of the 16th century on the ruins of the Delhi Sultanate, a new powerful empire begins to take shape, the founder of which was Babur, a native of Central Asia. In 1526 he invaded India. In the battle of Panipat, he divided the troops of Ibrahim Lodi and took the throne of Delhi. Thus was founded the state of the Great Moguls.
Initially, the Mughal empire was limited to the interfluve of the Ganges and Jamna, but already under Babur's grandson Akbar (1556-1505), all of Northern and Afghanistan was conquered.
During the reign of Akbar's son Jahangir (1605-1627), the first English ambassador arrived in India.
Akbar's grandson Shahjahan (reigned 1628-1658) moved the capital from Delhi to Agra.
The last of the great Moghuls, the son of Shahjakhan Aurangzeb (1658-1707) ascended the throne, imprisoning his father in the Red Fort of the city. After the death of Aurangzeb, the Mughal empire collapsed.
COMING OF EUROPEANS
Vasco da Gama, the first European Muscovite to reach India by way, landed in the area of the modern city in 1498.
In 1600, the English East India Company was founded. Her first ship arrived in India in 1608.
In 1613, the company, by decree of Emperor Jahangir, received the right to trade.
In 1640, on the East coast of India, in the area of the modern city of Madras, the Fort of St. George was founded by the Company.
In 1668, on the West Coast of India for 10 pounds, the Company purchased the island and revised its policy towards India. In 1858, the East India Company was liquidated, and India became a possession (colony) of the British Empire.
British colonial domination continued until 1947. Resistance to British dominance has always existed, and since the 1920s it has gained real scope. In 1947, Britain was forced to make a decision to grant independence to India. According to this law, two dominions are created in place of British India - India and Pakistan. Pakistan included the predominantly Muslim western and eastern regions of India. Later (in 1971), the eastern regions separated from Pakistan and a state was proclaimed here.
