Vedic Period
Vedic Sanskrit The Vedic form of Sanskrit is an early descendant of Proto-Indo-Iranian, the oldest attested language of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family 2000 BC
The Rigveda The most archaic of the Vedic texts preserved, Indo-Iranian elements 1500 BC
Mantra Language Iron Age in Northwest India, kingdom of Kurus; of the Atharvaveda, Rigveda Khilani, the Samaveda Samhita, and the mantras of the Yajurveda. 1200 BC
Samhita prose Collection and codification of a Vedic canon 1100 B.C. to 800 BC
Avestan (Iranian) Eastern Old Iranian language that was used to compose the hymns of the Zoroastrian holy book, the Avesta. 800 BC
Brahmana prose The Brahmanas proper of the four Vedas, the oldest of the Upanishads 900 B.C. to 600 BC
Old Persian While the letters may look like Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform, only one, L, derives from that script.
Sutra language. The last stratum of vedic Sanskrit; the Shrauta and Grhya Sutras, and Upanishads 500 BC

A second period of urbanization, known as the Ganges civilization, began about 1500 BC. Towards the end of the Ganges civilization period the clans had settled permanently and staked out their territies. Clan identification was replaced by identification with a territory, and the major clans developed into kingdoms. Historical records set in only after the end of the Vedic period, and remain scarce throughout the Indian Middle Ages. The end of Vedic India is marked by linguistic, cultural and political changes. The grammar of Panini marks a final apex in the codification of sacred texts, and at the same time the beginning of Classical Sanskrit. The most important historical source of the geography of post-Vedic India is the 2nd century Greek historian Arrian.

Maritime relations across the Indian ocean started in the 3rd century BCE, and further developed during the time of the Indo-Greeks together with their territorial expansion along the western coast of India. The first contacts started when the Ptolemies constructed the Red Sea ports of Myos Hormos and Berenike, with destination the Indus delta and the Kathiawar peninsula. Around 130 BCE, Eudoxus of Cyzicus is reported (Strabo, Geog. II.3.4)

The invasion of Darius I of the Indus valley in the late 6th century B.C. marks the beginning of outside influence, continued in the kingdoms of the Indo Greeks, new waves of immigration from 150 BCE (Abhira, Shaka), and ultimately the medieval Islamic Sultans. By the fifth century B.C. there were Scythian and Slav-Scythian settled agricultural communities in the Ukrainian steppe, especially in the middle Dnepr basin and the Kiyev and Poltava districts. The Scythians originated in central Asia, but evidence of their nomadic lifestyle reaches into India, and shows a westward path into Armenia, Ukraine, Hungary and even eastern Germany.

Sanskrit syntax and vocabulary has many similarities with Greek and Latin and is believed to belong to the Indo-European languages. There is no doubt that unlike the people of the Indus civilization, the Aryans were not descendants of local people. Around 200 CE, the Manu Smriti describes the downfall of the Yavanas, as well as many others: the Paundrakas, the Chodas, the Dravidas, the Kambojas, the Yavanas, the Shakas, the Paradas, the Pahlavas, the Chinas, the Kiratas, the Daradas and the Khashas." (Manusmritti, X.43-44) For several hundred years after the decline of the Indus civilization life in Indian was structured around small villages.

Indus- Ganges

The Indo-Greek Kingdom (Greco-Indian Kingdom) covered various parts of northwest and northern India from 180 BCE to around 10 CE, and was ruled by a succession of more than thirty Greek kings, often in conflict with each other. The kingdom was founded when the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius invaded India in 180 BCE, ultimately creating an entity which seceded from the powerful Greco-Bactrian Kingdom centered in Bactria (Afghanistan.) During the two centuries of their rule, the Indo-Greek kings combined the Greek and Indian languages and symbols and blended Ancient Greek, Hindu and Buddhist religious practices. The Indo-Greeks ultimately disappeared as a political entity around 10 CE following the invasions of the Indo-Scythian, Indo-Parthian and Kushans, although pockets of Greek populations probably remained for several centuries longer.

The Indo-Scythians are a branch of the Indo-European Sakas, who migrated from southern Siberia into Bactria, Sogdiana, Kashmir and finally into Arachosia and then India from the middle of the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century BCE to Sakastan. The ancestors of the Indo-Scythians are thought to be Sakas (Scythian) tribes, originally settled in southern Siberia, in the Ili river area in Kazakhstan, northwestern China. Local turmoil preceded the invasion of northern India undertaken by Demetrius, son of the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus, circa 180 BCE. Around 175 BCE, the Yuezhi tribes (probable related to the Tocharians) who lived in modern day Gansu, were defeated by the Xiongnu (Huns) tribes, and had to migrate towards the West into the Ili river area. The first Huns were a confederation of Eurasian tribes, were recorded on Mongolian land by establishing Hunnu Empire in 209 B.C. by Modun Shanyu who eventually conquered vast land in Asia and Europe.

The Sunga empire (or Shunga empire) controlled the eastern part of India from around 185 to 73 BCE. It was established after the fall of the Indian Mauryan empire. The capital of the Sungas was at Pataliputra. The Sunga dynasty was established in 185 BCE, about 50 years after Ashoka's death, when the king Brhadrata, the last of the Mauryan rulers, was assassinated by the then commander-in-chief of the Mauryan armed forces, Pusyamitra Sunga, while he was taking the Guard of Honour of his forces. During the historical Sunga period, Buddhist activity also managed to survive somewhat in central India (Madhya Pradesh) as suggested by some architectural expansions that were done at the stupas of Sanchi and Barhut, originally started under King Ashoka. The script used by the Sunga was a variant of Brahmi, and was used to write the Sanskrit language. The Edicts of Ashoka, inscribed during the reign of the Indian emperor Ashoka (273-232 BCE), claim that the Greek populations of the northwestern Indian subcontinent in today's Afghanistan and ancient Gandhara had already welcomed Buddhism by around 250 BCE. The last of the Sunga kings was Devabhuti of the once Mauryan empire. Pusyamitra Sunga was a Hindu monarch, deeply established in the tradition of orthodox Brahminism. The new Sunga ruler was attacked around 180 BCE by the Greek rulers of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and they conquered the Punjab and ruled Mathura for a time, and may have campaigned as far as Pataliputra. The Sungas were succeeded by the Kanva dynasty around 73 BCE. Following the Mauryans, the first Brahmin king was Pusyamitra Sunga, who is frequently linked in tradition with the persecution of Buddhists and a resurgence of Hinduism that forced Buddhism outwards to Kashmir, Gandhara and Bactria.

The Sunga empire (or Shunga empire) controlled the eastern part of India from around 185 to 73 BCE. It was established after the fall of the Indian Mauryan empire. The capital of the Sungas was at Pataliputra. The Sunga dynasty was established in 185 BCE, about 50 years after Ashoka's death, when the king Brhadrata, the last of the Mauryan rulers, was assassinated by the then commander-in-chief of the Mauryan armed forces, Pusyamitra Sunga, while he was taking the Guard of Honour of his forces. The last of the Sunga kings was Devabhuti of the once Mauryan empire. Pusyamitra Sunga was a Hindu monarch, deeply established in the tradition of orthodox Brahminism. The new Sunga ruler was attacked around 180 BCE by the Greek rulers of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and they conquered the Punjab and ruled Mathura for a time, and may have campaigned as far as Pataliputra.

From around 180 BCE the Greco-Bactrian ruler Demetrius, conquered the Kabul Valley and perhaps parts of the Punjab. Demetrius established an Indo-Greek kingdom in the northwestern part of India, which was to last until the end of the 1st century BCE. Strabo, affirms that the Bactrian Greeks, led by Demetrius I and Menander who is said to come from Alexandria of the Caucasus, conquered India and occupied a larger territory than the Macedonians under Alexander the Great, going beyond the Hypanis towards the Himalayas. From Alasanda the city of the Yonas came the thera (elder) Yona Mahadhammarakkhita with thirty thousand bhikkhus. The Indo-Greeks and the Sungas seem to have reconciled and exchanged diplomatic missions around 110 BCE.

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