Kids Project - Early India

There were many changes during the early part of India's history. From 2500 B.C. to 1500 B.C. the Indus Valley people of northern India lived as farmers. Then invaders, called Indo-Aryans, arrived. Over the next thousand years, the Hindu civilization developed. It was a mixture of early Indian customs and Indo-Aryan beliefs. India was divided into separate kingdoms, ruled by Hindu warriors. Hindu laws and customs were first written down in holy songs, called Vedas, around 600 B.C.

First Indian Empire

Chandragupta Maurya was a Hindu warrior. Before he came to power, India was made up of thousands small settlements with many languages and customs. By 322 B.C., he had created a new empire that united and controlled much northern and central India.

Riding Off To Battle

From about 320 B.C. to 185 B.C. Hindu warriors fought wars to win riches and conquer new land. They rode to war on elephants and in chariots pulled by horses. The well-trained elephants led the armies into battle.

Indus Valley Civilization

Around 2500 B.C. two great cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, were built in the Indus Valley, in present-day Pakistan and northern India. These cities had forts, palaces,open-air baths and comfortable brick houses. The Indus Valley people were farmers, traders, artists and craft-workers and were ruled by priest-kings.

Amazing Facts

*When the rest of the world managed without indoor plumbing, Indus Valley houses already had bathrooms, piped water and drains. *

New Religious Laws

King Ashoka was Chandraupta's grandson. He was also mighty warrior. However, in 262 B.C. after many battles with the Kalinga people, during which 1,00,000 people were killed, he realized that violence was terrible. King Ashoka ordered pillars carved with his new laws to be built throughout his kingdom. Ashoka's lion is a symbol of modern India. He became a Buddhist and made many new laws based on peaceful Buddhist teachings. He also built roads and hospitals.