Indian History

Aryans, Part II

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After the Aryans moved into the Ganges valley about 800 BC, they were further from West Asia and had less contact with West Asian people. They began to mix more with the Indian people and the Indian gods became mixed with the Aryan gods. The Aryan conquest of the Ganges is remembered in the Mahabharata, first told about this time.

But still the Aryans did not control all of India. Southern India was ruled by a bunch of independent kings who did not have to do what the Aryans wanted. Stories of fights between the Aryans and the southerners are told in the Ramayana.

In the 500's BC, part of north-western India (modern Pakistan) was conquered by the Persians under their kings Cyrus and Darius. The Persians were also Indo-Europeans, but they had left their homeland later and settled in modern Iran. But the Persians never really controlled India much- they made the Indians pay tribute in gold to Persia, but they didn't really tell them what to do.


Persian archers

Meanwhile, the Aryans continued to rule north-eastern India. In the 400's BC, this was where Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, lived and started the faith of Buddhism. 

To find out more about the Indo-Europeans or Aryans in India, check out this book from Amazon.com or from your library:

Early India : From the Origins to AD 1300, by Romila Thapar (University of California Press 2004). For adults, and a little dry.

There's also a good article on this, with some recent citations, on Wikipedia.

Alexander the Great 

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