ancient india

India is a 34,000 years old country. Ancient India covered the territories of Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Republic of India.

Ancient Indian history can be broadly divided into the Bronze Age, Indus valley civilization and The Vedic period in the 6th century BC.

Medieval India began in the 7th century, with a series of Muslim conquests.

Ancient India government started with the heads of nomadic tribes being given the designation of kings when they started settling in groups for agricultural purposes. The passage of time saw the growth of large kingdoms.

By the 6th century BC there were 16 Mahajanapadas or kingdoms in ancient India. Many small republics were formed at this time with the elements of the democratic form of governance. The raja (king) heads the judiciary, legislative and executive structures and is appointed many officials or council of ministers as advisors under him.

Ancient Indian culture is old and unique. Ancient India cultures were amazingly diverse because of the vast geographical territory. Every state in India has its unique language, art and life style.

India is the womb of many world big religions like Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and Buddhism. Indian culture nourishes a vast variety of cultural influences. Indian festivals are fascinating for their rituals, traditions, spiritual philosophy, art, pomp and gaiety.

Ancient India food habits reflected its cultural diversity. Ancient Indian cuisine was a composite mixture of many styles and influences. Each state had its own unique style of cooking and serving food. This was based on the geography of the region.

A combination of these factors has resulted in an exclusive Indian culture - a composite mixture of varying styles and influences. In the case of cuisine for instance, the North and the South are totally different.

Festivals in India are characterized by face painting, color, gaiety, enthusiasm, prayers and rituals. In the realm of music, there are varieties of folk, popular, pop, and classical music. The classical tradition of music in India includes the Karnatak and the Hindustani music.

Ancient India art was very cerebral. Music, painting and the scriptural texts were highly evolved and everything had to be learnt and not written. The language of ancient India was Sanskrit. It was a very evolved language in terms of phonetics.

Ancient Indian art was highly introspective and driven towards the full evolution of human mind and body.

Patanjalis yoga shastra and yoga vidhya are a very good example of this. Ancient India adapted to ornamentation and beauty for a religious life and metaphysical ex-pression. Gods and Goddesses were depicted in all works of ancient Indian art as representing different elements of nature..