Indian history timeline
This chart puts 32 Indian empires and dynasties on one timeline in order, from Early Harappan phase (before 3200 to 2600 BCE) to Bangladesh (1971 CE to the present).
See it on the interactive chart
- Early Harappan phasebefore 3200 to 2600 BCE
- Indus Valley Civilization (Mature Harappan)c. 2600 to 1900 BCE
- Late Harappan phasec. 1900 to 1300 BCE
- Kuru Kingdomc. 1200 to 345 BCE
- Magadha (Haryanka dynasty)c. 544 to 413 BCE
- Nanda Empirec. 345 to 322 BCE
- Maurya Empirec. 322 to 185 BCE
- Shunga Empire185 to 73 BCE
- Satavahana dynastyc. 120 BCE to 220 CE
- Kushan Empirec. 30 to 375 CE
- Pallava dynastyc. 275 to 897 CE
- Gupta Empirec. 320 to 550 CE
- Chalukyas of Badami543 to 753 CE
- Empire of Harsha606 to 647 CE
- Gurjara-Pratihara dynastyc. 730 to 1036 CE
- Pala Empirec. 750 to 1161 CE
- Rashtrakuta dynasty753 to 982 CE
- Chola Empire848 to 1279 CE
- Western Chalukyas973 to 1189 CE
- Hoysala Empirec. 1026 to 1343 CE
- Delhi Sultanate1206 to 1526 CE
- Vijayanagara Empire1336 to 1646 CE
- Bahmani Sultanate1347 to 1527 CE
- Mughal Empire1526 to 1857 CE
- Sur Empirec. 1540 to 1556 CE
- Maratha Confederacy1674 to 1818 CE
- Company rule in India1757 to 1858 CE
- Sikh Empire1799 to 1849 CE
- British Raj1858 to 1947 CE
- Republic of India1947 CE to the present
- Pakistan1947 CE to the present
- Bangladesh1971 CE to the present
- Indo-Aryan
- Iranian
- Dravidian
- Turkic
- Germanic
- People or culture without a state
In order
Early Harappan phase
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)
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
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.
Kuru Kingdom
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)
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
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
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.
Shunga Empire
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
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
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.
Pallava dynasty
Kings of Kanchipuram who carved the Shore Temple and rathas of Mamallapuram and whose Pallava script gave rise to Southeast Asian scripts such as Khmer. Narasimhavarman I sacked the Chalukya capital Badami in 642, and the Cholas absorbed them in the late 9th century.
Gupta Empire
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.
Chalukyas of Badami
Pulakeshin II stopped Harsha on the Narmada and built an empire across the Deccan, and the temples of Aihole and Pattadakal date from this dynasty. Their feudatory Dantidurga Rashtrakuta overthrew them in 753.
Empire of Harsha
Harshavardhana of the Pushyabhuti family ruled much of north India from Kannauj, though Pulakeshin II defeated him at the Narmada. The Chinese traveller Xuanzang described his court, and he reigned until his death in 647.
Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty
A dynasty of disputed origin that contained Arab armies from Sindh in the 8th century and won Kannauj in 816 in a three-way struggle with the Palas and Rashtrakutas. Under Mihira Bhoja and Mahendrapala I it ruled much of north India.
Pala Empire
Gopala was chosen king by the chiefs of Bengal around 750. His successors Dharmapala and Devapala ruled Bengal and Bihar, fought for Kannauj and funded the Buddhist universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila.
Rashtrakuta dynasty
Deccan rulers who fought the Palas and Pratiharas for Kannauj and raided the Ganges. They cut the Kailasa temple at Ellora from a single rock, and Arab travelers ranked their king among the four great rulers of the world.
Chola Empire
Rajaraja I and Rajendra I conquered the south, Sri Lanka and the Maldives, raided the Ganges, sent a fleet against Srivijaya in 1025 and built the Brihadeeswara temple at Thanjavur. Pandya victories ended the dynasty in 1279.
Western Chalukyas
Tailapa II revived the Chalukya name by overthrowing the Rashtrakutas in 973. The dynasty fought the Cholas for over a century for control of Vengi and broke apart as the Hoysalas, Yadavas and Kakatiyas went their own way.
Hoysala Empire
Malnad hill chiefs who rose from Western Chalukya feudatories to kings of southern Karnataka. They built the carved temples of Belur, Halebidu and Somanathapura. Veera Ballala III was killed fighting the Madurai Sultanate in 1343, and his lands passed to Harihara I.
Delhi Sultanate
Five dynasties of Turkic, Sayyid and Afghan origin ruled from Delhi for 320 years. The sultanate repelled Mongol attacks, saw the rise of Hindustani and Indo-Islamic architecture, and under Muhammad bin Tughlaq held most of the subcontinent.
Vijayanagara Empire
Founded by the brothers Harihara and Bukka. Under Krishnadevaraya it ruled the south from Hampi, one of the largest cities on earth; the Deccan sultanates crushed it at Talikota in 1565 and it faded by 1646.
Bahmani Sultanate
Founded by Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah when Deccan nobles revolted against Muhammad bin Tughlaq. Its minister Mahmud Gawan built a great madrasa at Bidar, and after his execution in 1481 the governors broke away into five sultanates.
Mughal Empire
Founded in 1526 by Babur, a Timurid prince from Fergana. Under Akbar, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb it ruled most of the subcontinent and built monuments such as the Taj Mahal; by 1760 it was reduced to the area around Delhi, and the British dissolved it after 1857.
Sur Empire
Sher Shah Suri, an Afghan ruler based in Bihar, defeated the Mughal emperor Humayun and drove him to Sindh in 1540. He rebuilt the Grand Trunk Road, standardised the silver rupee and reorganised revenue collection, and Sur rule ended in 1556.
Maratha Confederacy
Shivaji was crowned chhatrapati in 1674 after years of war with Bijapur and the Mughals. Under the Peshwas the Marathas took Malwa and Gujarat and dominated Delhi. Their expansion stopped at Panipat in 1761, and the Anglo-Maratha wars ended the confederacy in 1818.
Company rule in India
The East India Company's army won Plassey in 1757 and the revenue rights of Bengal in 1765, then defeated Mysore, the Marathas and the Sikhs. After the 1857 rebellion Parliament transferred its territories to the Crown.
Sikh Empire
Ranjit Singh took Lahore in 1799 and modernised his army, taking Multan in 1818, Kashmir in 1819 and Peshawar by 1834. After his death the British won two Anglo-Sikh wars and annexed Punjab in 1849.
British Raj
Direct Crown rule after the 1857 rebellion, run by a viceroy over British provinces and 565 princely states. Railways, severe famines and a mass nationalist movement led by Congress and Gandhi marked it until independence and partition in 1947.
Republic of India
Independent in August 1947 and a federal republic from 1950 under a constitution whose drafting committee was chaired by B. R. Ambedkar. It is a parliamentary democracy and the world's most populous country.
Pakistan
Created at partition in August 1947 after a campaign for a homeland for the Muslims of British India, with Jinnah as governor-general. It became an Islamic republic in 1956, lost East Pakistan (Bangladesh) in 1971 and has alternated between civilian and military rule.
Bangladesh
Independent after the 1971 Liberation War, led first by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. A student uprising in 2024 ousted Sheikh Hasina after fifteen years in power, and Muhammad Yunus headed an interim government.
Major events
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Chola fleet raids Srivijaya. Rajendra Chola launches naval invasions of Srivijaya, sacking its capital Palembang and attacking other places in Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, a campaign described as unique in India's history.
- Nalanda sacked. Troops of Bakhtiyar Khalji plunder Bihar and burn the great Buddhist monastery of Nalanda around this time, a leading cause of its demise, though some teaching there went on for decades.
- First Battle of Panipat. Babur's smaller army, using field guns and cavalry flanking, defeats Ibrahim Lodi and founds the Mughal Empire.
- Battle of Talikota. An alliance of Deccan sultanates crushes the army of Vijayanagara, and the victors plunder the capital at Hampi.
- Taj Mahal begun. Shah Jahan starts building a white marble tomb at Agra for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, finished about twenty years later.
- Nader Shah sacks Delhi. The Persian ruler routs the Mughal army at Karnal and carries off the Peacock Throne and the Koh-i-Noor diamond.
- Battle of Plassey. Robert Clive's East India Company troops defeat the Nawab of Bengal after bribing his commander Mir Jafar, a battle seen as pivotal to colonial control of the subcontinent.
- Third Battle of Panipat. Ahmad Shah Durrani destroys the Maratha army north of Delhi in one of the largest battles of the 18th century.
- Indian Rebellion. Sepoys at Meerut mutiny and march on Delhi, setting off a revolt across north India. After its defeat the Crown takes over from the East India Company.
- Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Troops of the British Indian Army under Brigadier-General Dyer fire on an unarmed crowd at Amritsar, killing an estimated 379 to 1,500 or more. Anger at the massacre fed the non-cooperation movement.
- Gandhi's Salt March. Gandhi walks 387 km from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi in Gujarat to make salt in defiance of the British salt monopoly, starting the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement.
- Independence and partition. British India splits into India and Pakistan. About 14.5 million people cross the new borders, and estimates of those killed in the violence range from 200,000 to two million.
- Bangladesh Liberation War. After a brutal Pakistani army crackdown in East Pakistan, Bengali guerrillas and the Indian army win independence for Bangladesh in December.
- India and Pakistan test nuclear weapons. India's tests at Pokhran on 11 and 13 May are answered on 28 and 30 May by Pakistan's tests in the Chagai district of Balochistan.
- Indian Ocean tsunami. A tsunami from a Sumatran earthquake on 26 December kills about 35,000 people in Sri Lanka and thousands on India's southeast coast, over 6,000 in Nagapattinam district alone.
Questions
What is the order of Indian empires and dynasties?
By start date: Early Harappan phase, Indus Valley Civilization (Mature Harappan), Late Harappan phase, Kuru Kingdom, Magadha (Haryanka dynasty), Nanda Empire, Maurya Empire, Shunga Empire, Satavahana dynasty, Kushan Empire, Pallava dynasty, Gupta Empire, Chalukyas of Badami, Empire of Harsha, Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty, Pala Empire, Rashtrakuta dynasty, Chola Empire, Western Chalukyas, Hoysala Empire, Delhi Sultanate, Vijayanagara Empire, Bahmani Sultanate, Mughal Empire, Sur Empire, Maratha Confederacy, Company rule in India, Sikh Empire, British Raj, Republic of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
How many Indian empires and dynasties were there?
This timeline shows 32. Other lists count differently, depending on how they treat rival states and periods of division.
Which came first?
Early Harappan phase, 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.