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Introduction to India The States of India

Indus Valley Culture (Harappans)
c.2500 - c.1800 BC

People of unknown origin centered in the Indus Valley in modern Pakistan and India.

c.1800 BC

Civilisation dies out as the Indo-European Aryans drift in from the west.

Kingdom of Magadha

Aryan descendants centered on the Ganges Plain. They later spread out to encompass much of India. Capital unknown.

c.500 BC

Bimbisara

c.370 - 324 BC

Nanda monarchs of Magadha

c.261 BC

Conquered the kingdom of Kalinga.

c.AD 684

Bhogaverma

His daughter m.Shiva Deva II, king of Nepal.

Kingdom of Kalinga

c.261 BC

Conquered by Magadha.

from 184 BC

There is a new era of independent rajahs.

Mauryan Empire
321 - 184 BC

c.324 - 301 BC

Chandragupta Maurya

Gained Afghanistan from Seleucids 324-303 BC.

Chandragupta is known as Sandrokotos by the Greeks of Macedon.

301 - 269 BC

Bindusara Maurya

Son of Chandra. Gained Deccan Plateau.

273 - 269 BC

War of Succession.

269 - 232 BC

Ashoka Maurya

Son of Bindusara. Visited Nepal on pilgrimage in around 250 BC.

232 BC

Ashoka's sons dispute the title and the empire starts to crumble.

? - 184 BC

Last Mauryan king - assassinated.

Gupta Dynasty
c.AD 320 - 550

The Guptas were the descendants of an obscure line of local rulers, probably in Bihar. By the fifth century they controlled India from the Himalayas to the River Narmada, and the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian Sea. Their capital was at Purushapura (modern Peshawar).

AD 78 - 101

Kanishka

320 - 335

Chandra Gupta I

Brought Guptas to power. m.daughter of the king of Nepal.

335 - 375

Samudra Gupta

Son.

375 - 415

Chandra Gupta II

415 - 455

Kumara Gupta

455 - 467

Skanda Gupta

from 467

The empire is overrun by White Hunnish tribes from the north-west.

c.550s

The Sassanids of Persia make conquests in India.

Kushan Rulers

The Kushan held power in the north only.

c.AD 250

The Kushans are toppled by Persia. The follows a power vacuum until circa 300.

Thaneshwar Kingdom

Centred on Ganges Plain.

606 - 647

Harsha Vardhana

Reunited parts of North India.

647

Harsha is overthrown. India breaks up into a patchwork of fighting states and petty kingdoms that would not reform into one kingdom. For the next 300 years India's main events occur in the southern plateau.

Southern Indian Kingdoms

The Chalukyas

Probably migrated from Central Asia.

The Pändyas

The Pallavas

1008 - 1186

The Ghaznavids of (eastern) Persia conquer the Punjab.

1186 - 1215

The Ghurid sultanate of Afghanistan conquer the Ghaznavids and rule much of Northern India.

1215 - 1526

The Delhi Sultanate rules Northern India.

1221

Indus Valley under Mongols.

1526 - 1858

Most of India is ruled or controlled by the Moghuls.

Nawwabs of Bengal
Post-Moghul States of India AD 1704 - 1765

1704 - 1725

Murshid Quli Khan Ala' ad Dawla

1725 - 1739

Shuja Khan Shuja ad Dawla

1739 - 1740

Sarfaraz Khan Ala ad Dawla

1740 - 1756

Alîwirdi Khan Hashim ad Dawla

1756 - 1757

Mirza Mahmud Siraj ad Dawla

1757

Defeated & dethroned by the Briton Robert Clive after the Battle of Plassey.

1757 - 1760

Mîr Jafar Muhammad Khan/Hashim ad Dawla

1760 - 1763

Mîr Qasim Ali

1763 - 1765

Mir Jafar Muhammad Khan/Hashim ad Dawla

1765 - 1858

The British East India Company rules under the Presidency of Calcutta.

1858 - 1947

Direct British rule follows the Indian Mutiny (or Great Sepoy Mutiny).

Nawwabs & Kings of Oudh (Awadh)
Post-Moghul States of India AD 1722 - 1856

1722 - 1739

Sa'adat Khan Burhan al Mulk

1739 - 1754

Abu Mansur Khan Safdar Jang

1754 - 1775

Haydar Shuja ad Dawla

1775 - 1797

Âsaf ad Dawla

1797 - 1798

Wazir Ali

Died 1817.

1798 - 1814

Sa'adat Ali Khan

1814 - 1827

Haydar I Ghazi ad Din

King from 1819.

1827 - 1837

Haydar II Sulayman Jah

1837 - 1842

Muhammad Ali Mu'in ad Din

1842 - 1847

Amjad Ali Thurayya Jah

1847 - 1856

Wajid Alî

Deposed by British (d.1887).

1857 - 1858

Oudh is annexed to British India during the Great Sepoy Mutiny.

1857

Barjis Qadir

During the mutiny.

1858 - 1947

Direct British rule follows the mutiny.

Nizams of Hyderabad (Haydarabad)
Post-Moghul States of India AD 1720 - 1948

1720 - 1748

Chin Qilich Khan Nizam al Mulk

1748 - 1751

Nasir Jang

1751 - 1752

Muzaffar Jang

1752 - 1762

Salabat Jang

1762 - 1803

Nizam Ali Khan

1829 - 1857

Farkhanda Ali Khan Nasir ad Dawla

1857 - 1869

Mir Mahbub Ali I Afdal ad Dawla

1869 - 1911

Mir Mahbub Ali II

1911 - 1948

Mir Uthman Ali Khan Bahadur Fath Jang

1948

Annexation by the Dominion of India follows.

British Viceroys of India
AD 1858 - 1947

After the British government had to interpose directly to end the Indian Mutiny, the Crown took control of the Indian possessions and ended the East India Company's rule.

1856 - 1862

Lord Canning

Governor-General 1856-1858, Viceroy 1858.

1862 - 1863

Lord Elgin

1863 - 1869

Lord Lawrence

1869 - 1872

Lord May

1872 - 1876

Lord Northbrook

1876 - 1880

Lord Lytton

1880 - 1884

Lord Rippon

1884 - 1888

Lord Dufferin

1885 - 1886

Britain captures Mandalay and Burma becomes a province of British India.

1888 - 1894

Lord Landsdowne

1894 - 1899

Lord Elgin

1899 - 1905

Lord Curzon

1905 - 1910

Lord Minto

1910 - 1916

Lord Hardinge

1916 - 1921

Lord Chelmsford

1921 - 1926

Lord Reading

1926 - 1931

Lord Irwin (Halifax)

1931 - 1936

Lord Willingdon

1936 - 1943

Lord Linlithgow

1937

Britain separates Burma from India.

1943 - 1947

Lord Wavell

1947

The post of viceroy (sub-king, or commander in the king's name) of India is downgraded to that of Governor General of India upon the eve of independence. Following the handover by Britain, native governor-generals are appointed by their respective governments.

1947 - 1948

Lord Mountbatten

 

1947 - ?

C Rajagopala Chari

Governor-General of India.

1947 - 1948

Mohammad Ali Jinnah

Governor-General of Pakistan.

1955 - 1956

Iskander Mirza

Governor-General of Pakistan.

Principality of Rajasthan

1870s

Jai Singh

1947

India gains independence from the British empire.

Maharajahs of Jaipur

Title with no real power in democratic India.

1980s

(Unknown)