12th March, 2020: Vedant Sharma
In this lecture, we continued our discussion based on what contributed to Ancient India. A descriptive timeline based on the same topic, helped us in understanding the placement of different events in the past and how they came into existence.
Mehrgarh was the earliest city in India which existed during the Pre- Harappan age, during 7500 BC. Later came the Indus valley civilization which took place during the Harappan age from 7500 BC to 1500BC.
From 1500 BC to 1300 BC, the late Bronze Age collapse took place. This was when the Vedic Kingdoms started to establish. Kuru Kingdom was established during this time, Kuru being one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas. Apart from this, Magadha, Kashi, Gandhara, Avanti, Anga and Kosala were among the other few Mahajanapadas.
The Nanda empire was taken down by Chandragupta Maurya and Kautilya. Kautilya wrote Arthashastra which is based on the ‘science of time’.
Dhamma, also known as Dharma, was a concept of Buddhism, which meant ‘ Doing a good Deed’ and this was followed by Ashoka.
The Satavahana Empire was based on the Mauryan Tributaries which rose to prominence after the Mauryan Empire declined. Gautamiputra Satakarni was the king of the Satavahana Empire.
The Gupta Empire was established after the Vedic Period. This was the first time that the Hindu Kings rose to power after about a thousand years. Ashvameda Yagna was considered to be the biggest sacrifice during this period. This period also holds the first written record or Mahabharata and Ramayana.
All these aspects contributed to the formation of Ancient India. A discussion about this, helped us in understanding the history of India in a much better way and at the same time helped us to place and connect different parts of the events together. It also gave a better insight into the various kingdoms which existed at that time and the different cultures which each of them followed.
The Idealist 