These early inhabitants, who left no written record, are commonly referred to as the
Indus River Valley Civilization because they lived along the Indus River in what is
now Pakistan. Although the exact cause of its demise remains unclear, the civilization
appears to have succumbed to a cataclysmic natural disaster and subsequent climate
change.^92
The next immigration wave into the subcontinent came from the west as
nomadic Aryans arrived with cattle and horses. These pastoral tribes conquered
and settled northern India, establishing various warring principalities. When
Alexander the Great crossed into India in 327 BCE, he found a politically and
territorially divided land, highly vulnerable to conquest. Following Alexander’s
departure, most of the subcontinent was consolidated into the Maurya Empire
(321–185 BCE), India’s first unified state. The decline of Mauryan culture left
the land politically fragmented until the second unification of northern India,
the Gupta Dynasty (320–550 BCE). During these two eras, Buddhism and Hindu-
ism took root and flourished in India.
The various rulers practiced religious
tolerance, which became one of India’s
principal values. However, it was Hindu-
ism that“provided a unifying framework
through which diverse merchant, noble,
and artisan groups were integrated into
large-scale polities.”^93
Arab Muslim traders carried Islam to the southern part of present-day Pakistan as
early as 711 CE, but its influence was initially contained within that region. In the
eleventh century Muslim invaders arriving from the west established an enduring
presence on the subcontinent. These early Muslim raiders set about conquering the
Hindus and destroying their temples, thus planting the seeds of“communal hatred
in the hearts and minds of India’s populace,”^94 a historical legacy that continues to
divide Muslim and Hindu. The presence and influence of Muslims grew to such pro-
portions that the Delhi Sultanate, established in north-central India in the early thir-
teenth century, lasted for over three hundred years. Concurrently, the south remained
an agrarian Hindu state.^95
The Delhi Sultanate was deposed in 1526 by a new wave of Muslim invaders.
Mongols from Central Asia established the Mughal Empire, which eventually ruledTABLE 5.5 Country Statistics: Republic of India^91
LOCATION SOUTH ASIA
Size 3 ; 287 ;263 km^2 ; seventh-largest country
Population 1.23 billion (July 2014 est.); second-largest population
Ethnic groups Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid and other 3% (2000)
Government Federal republic
Language Hindi 41%, Bengali 8.1%, Telugu 7.2%, Marathi 7%, Tamil 5.9%,
Urdu 5%, Gujarati 4.5%, Kannada 3.7%, Malayalam 3.2%,
Oriya 3.2%, Punjabi 2.8%, Assamese 1.3%, Maithili 1.2%,
other 5.9% (English as lingua franca)
Religions Hindu 80.5%, Muslim 13.4%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%,
other 1.8%, unspecified 0.1% (2001 census)REMEMBER THIS
Perhaps the most striking characteristic of India is its diversity of
geography, peoples, cultures, languages, and history.182 CHAPTER 5•Cultural History: Precursor to the Present and Future
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