Bhagalpur

By the end of the third century BC, most of North India was knit together in the first great Indian empire by Chandragupta Maurya. His son Bindusara extended the Mauryan Empire over virtually the entire subcontinent, giving rise to an imperial vision that was to dominate successive centuries of political aspirations. The greatest Mauryan emperor was Ashoka the Great (286-231 BC) whose successful campaigns culminated in the annexation of Kalinga (modern Orissa). Overcome by the horrors of war, he was probably the first victorious ruler to renounce war on the battlefield. Ashoka converted to Buddhism, but did not impose his faith on his subjects. Instead, he tried to convert them through edicts inscribed on rock in the local dialects, using the earliest known post-Harappan script known as Brahmi. The Mauryan economy was essentially agrarian. The State owned huge farms and these were cultivated by slaves and farm laborers. Taxes collected on land, trade and manufacture of handicra…

Buddhism and Jainism The sixth century BC was a time of social and intellectual ferment in India. It was then that Mahavira founded the Jain religion, and Gautam Buddha attained enlightenment. The two great religions, Jainism and Buddhism, preached non-violence to all living creatures, tolerance and self-discipline, values that have become the cornerstones of the Indian ethos. The teachings of these faiths won immediate popular acceptance owing to their simplicity and practicality; the sermons of both were preached in commonly spoken languages. Later, Buddhist monks were to spread their religion south to Sri Lanka and north-east to China, Japan, Korea and the whole of South-east Asia, where it is practiced till today. Rise of the State With land becoming property and the society being divided on the basis of occupations and castes, conflicts and disorders were bound to arise. Organized power to resolve these issues therefore emerged, gradually leading to formation of full-fl…

Mahājanapada (Sanskrit: महाजनपद, Mahājanapada, literally "great realm" from maha, "great", and janapada "foothold of a tribe", "country") refers to one of the sixteen kingdoms and oligarchic republics that existed in ancient India from the sixth to fourth centuries BCE. Ancient Buddhist texts like Anguttara Nikaya make frequent reference to sixteen great kingdoms and republics which had evolved and flourished in a belt stretching from Gandhara in the northwest to Anga in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent and included parts of the trans-Vindhyan region, prior to the rise of Buddhism in India. The sixth century BC is often regarded as a major turning point in early Indian history. Archaeologically, this period corresponds in part to the Northern Black Polished Ware culture. Overview The political structure of the ancient Indians appears to have started with semi-nomadic tribal units called Jana (meaning "people" or by extension "ethnic group" or "tribe"). Early Vedic t…

The Aryans are said to have entered India through the fabled Khyber pass, around 1500 BC. They intermingled with the local populace, and assimilated themselves into the social framework. They adopted the settled agricultural lifestyle of their predecessors, and established small agrarian communities across the state of Punjab. The Aryans are believed to have brought with them the horse, developed the Sanskrit language and made significant inroads in to the religion of the times. All three factors were to play a fundamental role in the shaping of Indian culture. Cavalry warfare facilitated the rapid spread of Aryan culture across North India, and allowed the emergence of large empires. Sanskrit is the basis and the unifying factor of the vast majority of Indian languages. The religion, that took root during the Vedic era, with its rich pantheon of Gods and Goddesses, and its storehouse of myths and legends, became the foundation of the Hindu religion, arguably the single most …

Settlements From the beginning of the 4th millennium BC, the individuality of the early village cultures began to be replaced by a more homogeneous style of existence. By the middle of the 3rd millennium, a uniform culture had developed at settlements spread across nearly 500,000 square miles, including parts of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Baluchistan, Sind and the Makran coast. This earliest known civilization in India, the starting point in its history, dates back to about 3000 BC. Discovered in the 1920s, it was thought to have been confined to the valley of the river Indus, hence the name given to it was Indus Valley civilisation. This civilization was a highly developed urban one and two of its towns, Mohenjodaro and Harappa, represent the high watermark of the settlements. Subsequent archaeological excavations established that the contours of this civilization were not restricted to the Indus valley but spread to a wide area in northwestern and western India. Thus t…

Ancient India was divided into 16 large kingdoms. Each of such kingdom was known as Mahajanpad. Ang was one of them. Aangi, which is now known as Angika, was the language of Ang. The existence of Ang is found since Vedic period or before.Since 500B.C.-400B.C. People from Ang used to visit South East Asian countries like Combodia, Vietnam, Malayasia, Pahoang, Kantoli etc in connection with trades.During this course of visits they had established there colonial kingdoms and ruled over these Kingdoms for nearly 1000 years. People from Ang had constructed magnificent temples like Angkor wat , which is still considered as one of the wonders made by Human beings .They also had written numbers of books and Shilalekhs in Sanskrit and Angika Language.