November 2022

Sultan MahmudSultan Mahmud, who carried to fruition the policy of his father, Sabuktgin, was undoubtedly one of the greatest military leaders the world has ever seen. Great as a warrior, the Sultan was no less eminent as a patron of arts and letters.Muhammad GhoriThe empire of Ghazni began to fall to pieces under the later […]

In the western part of Asia lies a vast country called Arabia. From the beginning the Arabs had their eyes on the rich ports of Western India and the outlying parts of the north-west borderland. About the middle of the seventh century, Zaranj in Southern Afghanistan fell into the hands of the Arabs. The turn

The HunsIn spite of the heroic efforts of Skanda Gupta, the Gupta empire in its entirety did not long survive the shock it received from the uprising of the Pushyamitras and the incursions of the Huns. So far as our present knowledge goes Budha Gupta was the last emperor of the main line of the

Chandra Gupta IThe first Chandra Gupta of the new line, though the third member of his dynasty to be mentioned in inscriptions. Like the great Bimbisara he strengthened his position by a matrimonial alliance with the powerful family of Lichchhavis then controlling portions of Bihar and perhaps even Nepal. The Lichchhavi princess Kumaradevi must have

In Magadha and the neighbouring provinces the immediate successors of the Mauryas were the Sungas. The founder was Pushyamitra. He was the general of the last of the Imperial Mauryas.The dominions of the new king at first extended as far south as the Narmada. The north-western boundary seems to have been ill-defined, but tradition credits

Chandragupta MauryaIn 326 B.C. India was faced with a crisis. The imperial crown of Magadha and the neighbouring provinces was worn by a king who was “detested and help cheap” by his own people.The new Indian leader was a young man who bore the name of Chandragupta. The family to which the young leader belonged

The great janapadasIn an early Buddhist text we have a list of sixteen great nations that occupied the territory from the Kabul valley to the banks of the Godavari shortly before the rise of Buddhism. The names of these states are—Anga (East Bihar), Magadha (South Bihar), Kasi (Benares), Kosala (Oudh), Vriji (North Bihar), Malla (Gorakhpur

Aryan expansionIn the Rig-Vedic period the Aryan tribes had spread over the whole country from the Kabul to the upper Ganges, and had built up small kingdoms. Stately cities made their appearances for the first time in the later Vedic period.Before the close of the later Vedic period, the Aryans had thoroughly subdued the fertile

Another civilisation had its principal home higher up the Indus valley. The people who evolved this culture called themselves Aryans. Unfortunately, the early literature of the Aryas—called the Veda—cannot be dated even approximately, and it is impossible to say with absolute precision in what chronological relation the civilisation portrayed in the Veda stood to the

The earliest settlers in India have been divided into two classes, viz., Palaeolithic and Neolithic.Palaeolithic menThis name is applied to the earliest people, as the only evidence of their existence is furnished by a number of rude stone implements. These are small pieces of rough undressed stones, chipped into various forms, which were originally fitted