Ancient India timeline

This chart puts 16 cultures and kingdoms of ancient India on one timeline in order, from Mehrgarh and Baluchistan farmers (before 3200 to 2600 BCE) to Gupta Empire (c. 320 to 550 CE).

See it on the interactive chart

Indo-Aryan
Greek
Iranian
People or culture without a state

Runs to the end of the Gupta Empire and shows the best known kingdoms. The Indian history timeline continues the story. Every bar links to a page listing the sources its dates were checked against.

In order

Mehrgarh and Baluchistan farmers

before 3200 to 2600 BCE. more than 600 years. Afghanistan and the northwest, South Asia.

Farming villages on the Kachi plain of Baluchistan, among the earliest in South Asia, with wheat, barley, cattle and mudbrick houses, first settled around 7000 BCE (5250 BCE on newer dates). Between 2600 and 2000 BCE the site was largely abandoned for nearby Nausharo.

Early Harappan phase

before 3200 to 2600 BCE. more than 600 years. Indus, Punjab and Kashmir, South Asia.

Farming communities of the Ravi, Kot Diji and Amri phases on the Indus plain. Late in the period they built large walled settlements, widened their trade and came to share pottery styles and stamp seals with Indus script.

Indus Valley Civilization (Mature Harappan)

c. 2600 to 1900 BCE. about 700 years. capital Mohenjo-daro, Harappa (largest cities). Indus, Punjab and Kashmir, South Asia.

Spread over an area larger than ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia combined, with planned grid cities, covered drains, uniform weights and an undeciphered script. Its language is unknown. Sumerian texts name a trading partner, Meluhha, that most scholars identify with it.

Late Harappan phase

c. 1900 to 1300 BCE. about 600 years. Indus, Punjab and Kashmir, South Asia.

From about 1900 BCE the Indus cities declined, and by 1700 BCE most were abandoned, with river shifts and drought among the suggested causes. Regional cultures such as Cemetery H in Punjab and Jhukar in Sindh carried on in smaller rural settlements.

Rigvedic tribes

c. 1500 to 1100 BCE. about 400 years. Indus, Punjab and Kashmir, South Asia.

Pastoral Indo-Aryan tribes of the Punjab, organized as tribes rather than kingdoms, whose priests composed the Rigveda, most likely between 1500 and 1000 BCE. The Bharatas under Sudas beat a confederation of ten tribes on the Ravi and later merged with the Purus into the Kuru.

Kuru Kingdom

c. 1200 to 345 BCE. about 855 years. capital Asandivat, later Hastinapura. Gangetic plain and Nepal, South Asia.

A Vedic tribal union of the Bharata and Puru tribes in Haryana, Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh, described as the first recorded state-level society in the subcontinent. It collected the Vedic hymns into fixed collections, and its legends shaped the Mahabharata.

Magadha (Haryanka dynasty)

c. 544 to 413 BCE. about 131 years. capital Rajagriha, later Pataliputra. Gangetic plain and Nepal, South Asia.

Bimbisara and his son Ajatashatru expanded Magadha by annexing Anga, Kosala and the Vajjika League. Ajatashatru was a contemporary of the Buddha and Mahavira, and Udayin moved the capital to Pataliputra.

Nanda Empire

c. 345 to 322 BCE. about 23 years. capital Pataliputra. Gangetic plain and Nepal, South Asia.

The Nandas, whose founder was said to be of low birth, ruled the Ganges plain from Pataliputra with a centralised state and great wealth. The prospect of fighting their army helped push Alexander's troops to mutiny at the Beas, and Chandragupta Maurya overthrew them c. 322 BCE.

Maurya Empire

c. 322 to 185 BCE. about 137 years. capital Pataliputra. Gangetic plain and Nepal, South Asia.

Chandragupta Maurya, by tradition counselled by Chanakya, overthrew the Nandas and ruled from Pataliputra to Afghanistan. His grandson Ashoka turned to Buddhism after the Kalinga war and set up edicts across South Asia; the last emperor was killed by his general Pushyamitra.

Indo-Greek Kingdom

c. 200 BCE to 10 CE. about 209 years. capital Taxila, Sagala (Sialkot). Indus, Punjab and Kashmir, South Asia.

Greek kings from Bactria who crossed into Gandhara and Punjab around 200 BCE. Menander I, the Milinda of Buddhist texts, may have campaigned down the Ganges as far as Pataliputra. Indo-Scythian invasions ended the kingdom around 10 CE.

Shunga Empire

185 to 73 BCE. about 112 years. capital Pataliputra, Vidisha. Gangetic plain and Nepal, South Asia.

Founded by the Brahmin general Pushyamitra after he killed the last Maurya. The Shungas fought the Indo-Greeks, revived Vedic sacrifices and held the Ganges plain and Malwa until their minister Vasudeva Kanva took power.

Satavahana dynasty

c. 120 BCE to 220 CE. about 339 years. capital Pratishthana (Paithan), Amaravati. Deccan, South Asia.

Deccan kings who ruled from Pratishthana (Paithan) and later Amaravati, issuing Prakrit inscriptions and coins with royal portraits. Gautamiputra Satakarni defeated the Western Satrap Nahapana, and the dynasty adorned the stupas of Sanchi and Amaravati.

Kushan Empire

c. 30 to 375 CE. about 345 years. capital Kapisa, then Purushapura (Peshawar) and Mathura. Afghanistan and the northwest, South Asia.

Kujula Kadphises united the Yuezhi clans and his heirs ruled from the Oxus to the Ganges. Under Kanishka it sat at the hub of Silk Road trade and spread Mahayana Buddhism and Gandharan art. Sasanian Persia and the Guptas broke it up.

Western Satraps

c. 35 to 415 CE. about 380 years. capital Ujjain, Bharuch, Minnagara. Rajasthan, Gujarat and Malwa, South Asia.

Saka rulers of Gujarat, Malwa and Sindh, possibly vassals of the Kushans at first. Rudradaman I left the first long inscription in fairly standard Sanskrit at Junagadh soon after 150 CE, and the Gupta emperor Chandragupta II conquered them.

Vakataka dynasty

c. 250 to 500 CE. about 250 years. capital Nandivardhana, Vatsagulma. Deccan, South Asia.

Rulers of the northern Deccan, tied by marriage to the Guptas through Queen Prabhavatigupta, who ruled as regent. Many of the Buddhist caves at Ajanta were cut under the Vakataka king Harishena.

Gupta Empire

c. 320 to 550 CE. about 230 years. capital Pataliputra, Ujjain. Gangetic plain and Nepal, South Asia.

Founded in the 3rd century, the dynasty built an empire across north India under Chandragupta I (from about 320), Samudragupta and Chandragupta II. The age of Kalidasa and Aryabhata ended with Hun invasions and breakaway feudatories.

Major events

2600 BCE Indus cities reach their height. Mohenjo-daro and Harappa grow into planned cities of perhaps 30,000 to 60,000 people, with baked brick houses, drainage systems and standardised weights used across a huge area. Source: Wikipedia: Indus Valley Civilisation
1900 BCE Indus cities decline. From around 1900 BCE, as the monsoon weakened and rivers dried up, the Indus cities declined. Most were abandoned by 1700 BCE, and people moved east toward the Ganges basin. Source: Wikipedia: Indus Valley Civilisation
1500 BCE Rigveda hymns composed. On the usual scholarly dating, poets in the northwest of the subcontinent begin composing the Rigveda around this time, the oldest known Vedic Sanskrit text, passed down orally for centuries before it was written. Source: Wikipedia: Rigveda
1000 BCE Iron spreads across the Ganges plain. After about 1000 BCE iron axes and ploughs came into wide use, letting farmers clear the forests of the Ganges plain, where the kingdoms of the later Vedic age arose. Source: Wikipedia: Vedic period, Wikipedia: Iron Age in India
400 BCE Death of the Buddha. According to Buddhist tradition, Siddhartha Gautama dies at Kushinagar after decades of teaching in Magadha and Kosala. Older works date this to about 483 BCE, and many scholars now prefer about 400 BCE. Source: Wikipedia: The Buddha
261 BCE Ashoka's Kalinga war. Ashoka conquers Kalinga on the east coast. His own edict records 100,000 killed and 150,000 deported and expresses deep remorse, and he ends his wars of conquest. Source: Wikipedia: Kalinga War
247 BCE Buddhism reaches Sri Lanka. According to the chronicles, Mahinda, said to be Ashoka's son, converts King Devanampiya Tissa, who founds the Mahavihara at Anuradhapura, an important monastery of Theravada Buddhism. Source: Wikipedia: Devanampiya Tissa, Wikipedia: Mahavihara
127 Kanishka becomes Kushan emperor. Kanishka comes to the Kushan throne, on Harry Falk's dating, and rules from Gandhara to the Ganges plain. His patronage of Buddhism helped carry Mahayana Buddhism from Gandhara to China. Source: Wikipedia: Kanishka
499 Aryabhata writes the Aryabhatiya. The astronomer Aryabhata uses place-value numbers, gives pi as 3.1416 and argues that the earth spins on its axis. Source: Wikipedia: Aryabhata

Questions

What is the order of cultures and kingdoms of ancient India?

By start date: Mehrgarh and Baluchistan farmers, Early Harappan phase, Indus Valley Civilization (Mature Harappan), Late Harappan phase, Rigvedic tribes, Kuru Kingdom, Magadha (Haryanka dynasty), Nanda Empire, Maurya Empire, Indo-Greek Kingdom, Shunga Empire, Satavahana dynasty, Kushan Empire, Western Satraps, Vakataka dynasty and Gupta Empire.

How many cultures and kingdoms of ancient India were there?

This timeline shows 16. Other lists count differently, depending on how they treat rival states and periods of division.

Which came first?

Mehrgarh and Baluchistan farmers, before 3200 to 2600 BCE, is the earliest on this timeline.

Where do these dates come from?

Each row's dates were checked against the sources listed on that row's own page, mostly English Wikipedia articles, which cite the underlying scholarship. Dates that are uncertain are marked c.