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Ancient India Facts & Worksheets

In the 3rd millennium BCE, the ancient Indus Civilization emerged along the Indus River. It was famous for well-planned cities and the origin of several religions.

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India is a country in South Asia called after the Indus River. During the early third millennium BCE, the Indus Valley Civilization arose in ancient India, in what is now Pakistan and northwest India. The well-planned cities made it famous. The Indus Valley civilization perished in the mid-second millennium BCE. The formation of religious culture in ancient India, from which Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism evolved as different religions, was a significant milestone in global history.

Facts & Information

Timeline and Overview

  • During the early third millennium BCE, the Indus Valley Civilization arose in ancient India along the Indus River, in what is now Pakistan and northwest India.
  • It was concurrent with other ancient global civilizations, including Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, and is one of the world’s first civilizations. The well-planned cities made it famous.
  • The Indus Valley civilization perished in the mid-second millennium BCE. Aryans, who spoke an Indo-European language, advanced into northern India from central Asia during the next thousand years.
  • They migrated to India as semi-nomadic pastoral clans led by military chiefs. They developed and established themselves as overlords over the ancient Dravidian populations they encountered, building tribal kingdoms.
  • As described in the earliest Indian scriptures, the Vedas, this period of ancient Indian history is known as the Vedic Age.
  • The Vedic Age is the most fundamental characteristic of traditional Indian culture. These include the rise of early Hinduism as India’s founding religion and the social/religious phenomenon known as caste. It lasted roughly 1500 BCE to 500 BCE, or from the beginning of the Aryan migrations until the age of the Buddha.
  • The tribal lifestyle of the early Aryans gave way to the more sophisticated civilization of Ancient India’s Classic Age. This time saw the emergence of urban society and literary culture in the Indian subcontinent.
  • It was one of the most creative periods in Indian history, with the creation of two new religions, Jainism and Buddhism. This period of ancient India concluded with the formation of the Mauryan Empire, the first significant imperial power in old India, in 320 BCE.
  • Ashoka was the most renowned of the Maurya emperors, the most famous monarch in ancient India’s history, and one of the most noteworthy in the whole ancient world (also spelled Asoka – reigned 272-232 BCE). He was an excellent and appealing ruler: sympathetic, tolerant, and uncompromising in his pursuit of justice and the well-being of all his subjects.
  • The massive Mauryan empire fell apart fifty years after Ashoka’s death. Outlying provinces slipped away, and the empire had dwindled to its core territories by the mid-2nd century BCE. In the ruins of the empire, several great states emerged, the greatest of which was the Satavahana kingdom.
  • Another powerful state, the Indo-Greek kingdom of Bactria, emerged northwest of the subcontinent in what is now Afghanistan. The territory was soon broken and invaded by the Scythian people of central Asia, known as the Saka in Indian history. The Kushana people, who established a formidable empire spanning northern India and portions of Central Asia, drove them out of the northwest.
  • This sequence of northwest republics produced a separate culture known to contemporary researchers as the Gandhara civilization. It was a mash-up of Indian, Greek, and Persian influences. Buddhism was the major religion in Gandhara, and its location along the Silk Road spread its influence far and wide. Its missionaries, in particular, brought Buddhism to China.
  • Gandhara had a significant cultural impact on the Indian subcontinent, and the Gupta empire’s art and architecture owed a great deal to it.

Society and Economy in Ancient India

  • In Indian history, the Vedic Age was a “dark age” because it was a period of violent turmoil, and no written documents from that time have remained it. However, it was one of the most tested for significance in ancient Indian civilization.
  • The arrival of the Aryans in ancient India, and their subsequent establishment as the dominant group, led directly to the caste system. This rigidly separated Indian society into tiers supported by religious norms.
  • Originally there were just four castes, the priestly, the warrior, the farmers and traders, and the menial workers. Outside the caste system, excluded from Aryan-dominated society, were the “Untouchables.”
  • Many hunter-gatherer societies occupied most of the Indian subcontinent in the early days—however, one of the agricultural advancements in ancient India’s economic history.
  • From circa 800 BCE, the use of iron extended throughout the Middle East, increasing agricultural productivity and population growth. It initially happened on the northern Indian plains, and iron age farming, on the other hand, rapidly extended throughout the whole subcontinent.
  • The hunter-gatherers were pushed farther and deeper into India’s jungles and hills and later took up farming and assimilated into the Aryan civilization as new castes.
  • The introduction of iron age farming was a watershed event in the history of ancient India, ushering in the revival of urban society on the subcontinent. Cities prospered, trade increased, metal money arrived, and developed alphabetic script.

Ancient India Religion

  • Ancient India’s civilization was an excellent breeding ground for religious creativity. It is hard to reconstruct the religion of the Indus Valley civilization, but there are strong indications that it significantly affected India’s later religious history.
  • In any event, the next era of ancient Indian history, the Vedic Age, witnessed the emergence of a belief system that served as the foundation for all subsequent Indian faiths. It is also known as the Vedic religion or Brahmanism. The pantheon of gods and goddesses also incorporates the “Cycle of Life” – the soul’s reincarnation from one species to another (both for animals and humans).
  • Later, the concept of the physical realm as an illusion expanded. Prominently stressed in the new doctrines of Buddhism and Jainism, both of which had their beginnings in ancient India circa 500 BCE.

Ancient Indian Literature

  • Strongly tied to these religious changes is that ancient India generated wealthy literature. During the years after they arrived in northern India, known as the “Vedic Age,” the Aryans created an abundance of songs, stories, chants, rituals, and so on, in an oral tradition recognized as the Vedas.
  • The earliest instances of written literature in ancient India are short sutras and concise sentences that represent religious and philosophical concepts. It also shows the creation of the first Jainism and Buddhist texts.
  • Sanskrit was an Indo-European language distantly connected to Persian, Greek, Latin, German, and other languages. It was done in Sanskrit, utilizing the Brahmic script, the primordial alphabet for all subsequent Indian literature.
  • The Gupta era was the pinnacle of ancient Indian literature. Kalidasa, the best of all Indian poets and playwrights, most likely lived and worked around this time, as did many others.
  • There were other works on mathematics, health, politics, and other disciplines. For example, the legendary politician Kautilya’s Arthashastra predates Machiavelli by about 2,000 years.

Legacy of Ancient India in World History

  • The formation of religious culture in ancient India, from which Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism evolved as different religions, was a significant milestone in global history.
  • Today, billions of people follow one or more of these religions. Outside of the Indian subcontinent, Buddhism has profoundly affected cultures in China, Japan, Korea, Tibet, and South East Asia.
  • It is expanding rapidly in the West, with some calling it the largest rising religion.
  • The interaction of three competing but closely linked belief systems and the strict logic derived from Sanskrit’s well-defined grammatical norms formed a rich and tolerant intellectual environment. It would pave the way for world-changing achievements.

Ancient India Worksheets

This bundle contains 11 ready-to-use Ancient India Worksheets that are perfect for students who want to learn more about the emergence of the Indus Valley Civilization, which marked the history of ancient India. The earliest literary source that accounted the history of ancient India was the Rig Veda, created between 1,500 to 1,000 BC. During the 5th century, Ashoka the Great united most parts of India, while the Gupta Empire is considered as India’s golden age.

Download includes the following worksheets:

  • Ancient India Facts
  • Ancient Indian Empires
  • The Caste System
  • Religions in Ancient India
  • Mapping Ancient Civilizations
  • Hindu Deities
  • Ancient Rulers
  • Fascinating India
  • Contributions to the World
  • Let’s Excavate!
  • Ancient and Modern India

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Ancient India’s history?

During the early third millennium BCE, the Indus Valley Civilization arose in ancient India, in what is now Pakistan and northwest India.

Who founded ancient India?

The Indus Valley civilization perished in the mid-second millennium BCE. Aryans, who spoke an Indo-European language, advanced into northern India from central Asia during the next thousand years.

What is the oldest culture of India?

During the early third millennium BCE, the Indus Valley Civilization arose in ancient India, in what is now Pakistan and northwest India. It was concurrent with other ancient global civilizations, including Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, and is one of the world’s first civilizations. The well-planned cities made it famous.

What was the legacy of ancient India in world history?

The formation of religious culture in ancient India, from which Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism evolved as different religions, was a significant milestone in global history.

What does Vedic Age mean in ancient India?

In Indian history, the Vedic Age was a “dark age” because it was a period of violent turmoil, and no written documents from that time have remained it. However, it was one of the most tested for significance in ancient Indian civilization.

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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