Religious Timelines

Hinduism and Islam in India (8000 BCE - 1500 CE)

Related Pages • Chronology Index

This first timeline covers the period from 8000 BCE until the end of the early 16th century. There is a second timeline which covers the Mughal period until the 20th century. There are five different types of color-coded dates:

• Dates of probable events in the history of Hinduism
• Dates in the composition of Hindu texts
• Important dates in the history of India
• Important dates in the history of other religions.
• Other dates in history for comparison

Words in red are linked to the glossary - so clicking on them will take you to much more information than can be included in brief chronology like this.

Vedic Period

Classic Hinduism

Muslim conquest

Early Civilization (Dates are BCE = Before the Common Era = BC)
8000	Agriculture began in Near East.
c. 6000	Earliest neolithic settlements in Baluchistan in the Northwest of present-day India.
5000 -4000	Earliest settlements in the Indus valley.
c. 3000	Emergence of pastoral nomad societies in the Deccan.
2800-2600	Earliest signs of the Indus civilization.
2613	Great Pyramid of Cheops at Giza was built.
2560	Great Sphinx at giza, a 189-foot long monument to King Khafra, was carved.
2300-1700	Civilization of the great cities in the Indus valley (Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa).
c. 2000 - 1500	Decline of the Indus civilization as Indo-Iranian pastoral nomads migrate from central Asia onto the Iranian plateau and northwest India.
c. 1792-1750	Hammurabi ruled Babylon and created his famous legal code.
1400	Iron Age begins in Asia Minor as methods for smelting iron ore were developed.
1300/1200	Arrival of the Vedic Aryans.
c. 1250	Possible date of the Exodus of the Hebrews out of Egypt.
1200	Gilgamesh epic, recorded in cuneiform script, is the first known such written legend.
c. 1200	Early Vedic period and composition of the hymns of the Rigveda. Aryans settle in the Punjab and the western Ganga Yamuna plain.
1200-900	Probable composition of the Yajurveda, Samaveda, Atharvaveda.
1193	City of Troy was destroyed by besieging Greek armies.
c. 1000	Iron first used in India
900-600	Late Vedic period - development of the Brahmanas and early Shrauta Sutras. Aryans settle in the central and eastern Gangetic plain ("Âryavarta").
c. 850	Traditional date for the probable composition of Homer's epic poems The Illiad and The Odyssey.
800-400	Painted grey ware in the area of Aryan settlement was first used.
753	Traditional date of the foundation of Rome by Romulus and Remus.
700-400	"Tribal trauma" in northern India.
c. 605	Persian religious leader Zoroaster (Zarathustra) founded Zoroastrianism - a faith which would come to dominate the Persian empire for centuries and later have a profound influence upon Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
600-100	Gangetic valley became urbanized. The Caste system first developed. The Sutras first appeared. The Upanishads were first written down.
600 - 200	Development of the later Upanishads and other Sutras dependent upon the Vedas.
599-527	Mahâvîra, founder of Jainism, lived.
565	Daoism (Taoism) is created by Chinese philosopher Lao-tse in the Honan province.
c. 563-483	Gautama Buddha, founder of Buddhism, lived.
551-497	Probable life of K'ung Fu-tzu (Confucius).
c. 550	Goshâla Maskariputra, former disciple of Mahâvîra, leader of Âjîvakas, lived.
c. 550	Ascetic sects break away from the traditional authority of the priests (Brahmins): Buddhism, Jainism and Ajivaka movement. All three of these movements started around the kingdom of Magadha in the eastern Ganges Valley.
c. 550	Books of Genesis through Kings were edited together to create a history of the Hebrew people from earliest times.
558-530	Cyrus the Great of Persia established a province under his control in western India.
c. 500	By this date, the six basic Hindu texts are probably written down: Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajor Veda, Atharva Veda, Aranyakas and Upanishads.
447	Athenians began building the Parthenon.
400-300	Beginning of Saiva literature.
327-325	Alexander the Great campaigned in South Asia and moved toward India.
300	Maya civilization in Yucatan and farther south in Central America.
261	Asoka conquered of Kalinga, eastern India, and converted to Buddhism.
256	Buddhist missions in South Asia and the Hellenistic world developed.
c. 200 BCE - 400 CE	Vaisnavu cult devoted to the Hindu god Vishnu developed and thrived.
c. 200	Earliest known Vaishnavite worship sanctuary, between Mathurâ and Dvârakâ, was established.
c.200 BCE-200 CE	Important texts for the Vaishnavite cults (Laws of Manu, Mahâbhârata, Râmâyana) were composed.
c. 185	Brahman general Pushyamitra Sunga favored a return to vedic religion. This occurred at the same time as the rise of brahmanical religion tied to kingship.
c. 182	Foundation of the Indo-Greek empire in Punjab by King Demetrios of Bactria.
c. 166-150	Menander, the most important king of the Indo-Greeks, lived.
c. 100	The Bhagavad Gita was composed
80	The Svetambara and Digambara Jain sects split.

Classical Period (Dates from this point are Common Era = A.D.) [Top]
30 BCE	Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide.
58	Emperor Ming-Ti of China introduced Buddhism into his country.
1st century CE	Legends suggest that St. Thomas visited India.
78-144	King Kanishka favored Buddhism over other religions.
c. 150 - 300	The early Dharma Shastras, Manu (Manava) and Yajnavalkya, were composed.
200	The Vedanta system of thought first developed.
300	Jain sacred texts were compiled.
300-800	Early Puranas, sacred texts devoted to the gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, were composed: Markendeya, Matsya, Vayu, Narasimha, Vishnu and Devi.
300-1200	Sanskrit culture became common among the dominant classes in India. The popularity of Buddhism declined while that of Vaishnavism and Shaivism grew. Regional cultures also began to take hold.
320-540	Gupta dynasty flourished, allowing temple architecture to develop. Gupta rulers gave support to major gods, especially Vishnu, and referred to themselves as parama - bhagavatas, meaning supreme devotees of Bhagavan (Vasudeva- Krishna). The Saivite cult devoted to Shiva, god of destruction, began to develop.
372	Buddhism was introduced to Korea.
375-415	Sanskrit poetry (Kalidasa) developed.
405-11	Buddhist Chinese pilgrim Fa-hsien reached India.
410	Lead by Alaric, the Goths sacked Rome.
450	The Tamil epic Cilappatikaram was composed
c. 500	Saktism, mother goddess cult, developed, and followers worship the female, creative aspect of Brahma.
c. 500 - 700	The early Tantras were composed.
c. 500-528	Saivite king Mihirakula reigned & persecuted Buddhists.
c. 600-635	Saivite king Sasanka reigns & persecutes Buddhists.
c. 700	Caste system vastly increased in complexity - eventually consisting of over 3,000 castes and sub-castes.
711	Arab Muslims conquered Sind in the Northwest.
788-820	Shankara, a Saivite philosopher and founder of the Advaita Vedanta sect, opposed Buddhism and other popular, ascetic religious groups. He established four pivotal monasteries at four corners of India.
c. 800	Life of Manikkavachakar, Tamil Shaiva poet-saint and author of Tiruvachakam.
860	King Balaputra of Sumatra, Indonesia, established a Buddhist monastery at Nalanda near Bodh Gaya in the Northeast.
c. 1000	Gorakhnath created the Natha sect of Yogis and spread the practice of Yoga throughout India.
985-1014	Rajaraja established the Chola empire, conquest of South India and Sri Lanka.

Medieval Period [Top]
1000-27	Mahmud (Muhammad) of Ghazni (south of present-day Kabul in Afghanistan) raided North India in 17 'expeditions.' Abu Raihan Muhammad ibn Ahmad (al-Biruni, 973-1049), Iranian Muslim, came to Mahmud's court, learned Sanskrit and wrote the Kitabu'l Hind to record his understanding of the Hindus.
1137	Ramanuja, Vaishnava theologian of a dualistic Vedanta, died.
1192	Muslims conquered Dehli and later all of Northern and Eastern India. Hindus then suffered periods of persecution by Muslim rulers.
1200-1757	Muslim political domination of northern India.
1219	Shaikh Moinuddin Chishti settled in Ajmer, and brought Sufism to India.
c. 1250	King Narasimhavarman I (1239-64) resisted Muslim armies and built the Sun Temple of Konarak in Orissa, on the Northeastern coast.
1293	Marco Polo arrived in South India.
1380-1460	Life of Kabîr, who constructed a synthesis of Hinduism and Islam.
1398	Timur's (Tamerlane) Turkish army devastated the sultanate of Delhi, exterminated the local Hindu population, and then left.
1400-1470	Ramananada lived and established a sect devoted exclusively to the Hindu god Rama. He rejected both the caste system and the worship of images. He was the first to write in the popular language of Hindi rather than the aristocratic and scholarly Sanskrit.
1449-1569	Sankareb lived and promoted the cult of Vaisnava.
1469-1539	Life of Nânâk, founder of Sikhism.
1486-1533	Chaitanya lived - he established the Bengali Vaisnava sect. He also created popular celebrations to Vishnu which include the singing hymns, dancing, and parades.
1498	Vasco da Gama, Portuguese explorer, arrived in Calcutta.
1498-1546	Mirabai, female Vaishnava mystic, lived
1510	The Portuguese occupied Goa on the West coast of India

Keep reading about the history of Hinduism and India with the second timeline covering the Mughal period until the 20th century.