History of India Quiz

• India is located in South Asia and shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north, and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east.

• India is home to a large and diverse population of people, with over 1.2 billion people living in the country as of 2011.

• The history of India is filled with a variety of cultures and religions. Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism are some of the major religions in India.

• India has a parliamentary system of government and is a federal republic. The country is home to a variety of languages and cultures.

• The name "India" is derived from the Classical Latin India, which referred to South Asia and an uncertain region to its east.

• The name Bharat was introduced during the Mughal Empire and has been used widely since.

• The Indus Valley Civilisation was a major civilisation in South Asia and flourished during 2500-1900 BCE.

• The Vedas, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism, were composed during this period.

• The Iron Age in South Asia was marked by the rise of various Iron Age cultures.

• The transition from the Chalcolithic to the Iron Age was a gradual process.

• The early medieval period in India is marked by regional kingdoms and cultural diversity.

• Harsha of Kannauj, who ruled much of the Indo-Gangetic Plain from 606 to 647 CE, attempted to expand southwards but was defeated by the Chalukya ruler of the Deccan.

• When his successor attempted to expand eastwards, he was defeated by the Pala king of Bengal.

• When the Chalukyas attempted to expand southwards, they were defeated by the Pallavas from farther south. No ruler of this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands much beyond their core region.

• During this time, pastoral peoples, whose land had been cleared to make way for agriculture, began to assert themselves.

• The caste system developed in India to accommodate the growing agricultural economy and new non-traditional ruling classes.

• The caste system showed regional differences.

• In the 6th and 7th centuries, the first devotional hymns were created in the Tamil language.

• Indian royalty, big and small, and the temples they patronised drew citizens in great numbers to the capital cities, which became economic hubs.

• Temple towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another urbanization.

• By the 8th and 9th centuries, the effects were felt in South-East Asia, as South Indian culture and political systems were exported to lands that became part of modern-day Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

• Indian merchants, scholars, and sometimes armies were involved in this transmission; South-East Asians took the initiative as well, with many sojourning in Indian seminaries and translating Buddhist and Hindu texts into their languages.

• After the 10th century, Muslim Central Asian nomadic clans, using swift-horse cavalry and raising vast armies united by ethnicity and religion, repeatedly overran South Asia's north-western plains, leading eventually to the establishment of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate in 1206.

• The sultanate was to control much of North India and to make many forays into South India.

• Although at first disruptive for the Indian elites, the sultanate largely left its vast non-Muslim subject population to its own laws and customs.

• By repeatedly repulsing Mongol raiders in the 13th century, the sultanate saved India from the devastation visited on West and Central Asia, setting the scene for centuries of migration of fleeing soldiers, learned men, mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from that region into the subcontinent, thereby creating a syncretic Indo-Islamic culture in the north.

• The sultanate's raiding and weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India paved the way for the indigenous Vijayanagara Empire.

• Embracing a strong Shaivite tradition and building upon the military technology of the sultanate, the empire came to control much of peninsular India, and was to influence South Indian society for long afterwards.

• In the early 16th century, northern India, then under mainly Muslim rulers, fell again to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors.

• The resulting Mughal Empire did not stamp out the local societies it came to rule. Instead, it balanced and pacified them through new administrative practices and diverse and inclusive ruling elites, leading to more systematic, centralised, and uniform rule.

• Eschewing tribal bonds and Islamic identity, especially under Akbar, the Mughals united their far-flung realms through

Test your knowledge of India's rich and diverse history, including the Indus Valley Civilization, the Iron Age, medieval kingdoms, the Mughal Empire, and cultural influences in South-East Asia. Explore topics such as religion, politics, and societal developments in ancient and medieval India.