Outline of ancient India

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to ancient India:

Ancient India is the Indian subcontinent from prehistoric times to the start of Medieval India, which is typically dated (when the term is still used) to the end of the Gupta Empire around 500 CE.

An elaborate periodisation may be as follows:

• Indian Pre-history Age (–3300 BCE)
• Bhirrana culture (7570–6200 BCE)
• Mehrgarh culture ()

[[File:World in 2000 BC.svg|thumb|270px|Map of the world in 2000 BCE showing the Indus Valley Civilisation]]

• Indus Valley Civilisation (), including the "first urbanisation"
• Ahar–Banas culture ()
• Ochre Coloured Pottery culture (–1200 BCE)^[1]
• Cemetery H culture (–1300 BCE)^[2]

[[File:East-Hem 1300bc.jpg|thumb|270px|The Indo-Aryan Vedic civilization and main polities in Eurasia around 1300 BCE]]

• Iron Age India ()
  • Vedic civilisation ()
    • Black and red ware culture (–700 BCE) in Western Ganges plain^[3]
    • Northern Black Polished Ware (–500 BCE)^[4]
    • Painted Grey Ware culture ( or 700–300 BCE)^[5]
  • Brihadratha dynasty ()
  • Gandhara Kingdom ()
  • Kuru Kingdom ()
  • Indian Iron Age kingdoms ()^[6]
  • Pandyan Kingdom ()^[7]

[[File:East-Hem 200bc.jpg|thumb|270px|The Maurya Empire and main polities in Eurasia around 200 BCE]] [[File:Asia 100bc.jpg|thumb|270px|Map of the world in 100 BCE showing the Indo-Greek Kingdoms]]

• Pradyota dynasty (–408 BCE)
• Haryanka dynasty (–413 BCE)
• Shaishunaga dynasty (–345 BCE)
• Nanda Empire ()
• Maurya Empire (–185 BCE)
• Sangam period ()
  • Pandyan Kingdom (–1650 CE)
  • Chera Kingdom (–1102 CE)
  • Chola Kingdom (–1279 CE)
• Kalinga Empire (until 261 BCE)
• Mahameghavahana Empire (–300 CE)
• Satavahana Empire (230 BCE–220 CE)
• Kuninda kingdom (–350 CE)
• Shunga Empire (–73 BCE)
• Kanva dynasty (–26 BCE)
• Indo-Greek Kingdom (180 BCE–10 CE)
• Kushan Empire (30–375 CE)
• Indo-Scythian Kingdom ( –395 CE)

[[File:East-Hem 500ad.jpg|thumb|270px|The Gupta Empire and main polities in Eurasia around 500 CE]] There are varying definitions of this period.

• Gupta Empire (–579 CE)
• Later Gupta dynasty ()
• Vakataka Empire ()
• Pallava Empire (–901 CE)
• Kadamba dynasty (–1347 CE)
• Western Ganga dynasty (–1024 CE)
• Vishnukundina dynasty (–624 CE)
• Maitraka dynasty ()
• Rai dynasty (–632 CE)

• Music in ancient India
  • Carnatic music
  • Hindustani music

• Vedic Sanskrit
• Old Tamil
• Ancient scripts of the Indian subcontinent
  • Brahmi
  • Tamil-Brahmi
  • Pallava script
  • Gupta script
  • Kadamba script

• History of Jainism
• History of Hinduism
  • Historical Vedic religion
    • Vedas
    • Vedic mythology
    • Vedic priesthood
• History of Buddhism

• Science and technology in ancient India
  • Indian mathematics
  • Indian astronomy
  • List of Indian inventions and discoveries
• Indian martial arts
  • Malla-yuddha
  • Kalaripayattu
• Indian medicine
  • Siddha medicine
  • Ayurveda
• Architecture
  • Dravidian architecture

• India (clockwise)
  • National Museum, New Delhi
  • Patna Museum
  • Indian Museum, Kolkata
  • Government Museum, Bangalore
  • Goa State Museum
  • Kutch Museum, Bhuj, Gujarat
• United Kingdom
  • British Museum, London

Subnotes

1. ^ Civilsdaily, (August 15, 2017). "Case study | Pottery – Evolution and significance".
2. ^ M Rafiq Mughal Lahore Museum Bulletin, off Print, vol.III, No.2, Jul-Dec. 1990 [1]
3. ^ Franklin Southworth, Linguistic Archaeology of South Asia (Routledge, 2005), p. 177
4. ^ Strickland, K. M., R. A. E. Coningham, et al., (2016). "Ancient Lumminigame: A Preliminary Report on Recent Archaeological Investigations at Lumbini's Village Mound" , in Ancient Nepal, Number 190, April 2016, p. 10.
5. ^ Neogi, Sayantani, Charles A. I. French, Julie A. Durcan, Rabindra N. Singh, and Cameron A. Petrie, (2019). "Geoarchaeological insights into the location of Indus settlements on the plains of northwest India", in Quaternary Research, Volume 94, March 2020, p. 140.
6. ^
7. ^

• Ancient India - The British Museum
• Ancient India - World History Encyclopedia
• TimeMaps Civilization: Ancient India