Ancient Empires of the Sub Continent

Soan valley near Rawalpindi has been the part of earliest relics of Stone Age man which is dated back to nearly 50,000 years. It has been an agricultural region; the people learned to domesticate animals and also used to cultivate crops about 9000 years ago. The Farming villages have been excavated in Baluchistan, Punjab and the North West Frontier Province dating back to 6000 BC.

Indus Valley Civilization is considered to be evolved around 2600BC. It was built on the remains of towns near to Kot Diji. Now it is believed that this civilization was emerged from the farming communities. Indus Valley Civilization further immense historical cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa. The towns were very well planned; there were wide main roads, watchtowers, assembly halls, multistoried houses and food warehouses. People of these towns developed an advanced script that no one has been able to understand till date. The decline of Indus Civilization was around 1700BC due to the foreign invaders, they violently destroyed the cities at some sites. But the exact reasons of the decline of this civilization are unknown to the researchers and historians

Around 1700 BC, the rough cattle breeders from Central Asia came to seek the grass land for their herds, named as Aryans. They developed their religion with gods identified from the elements of nature. They had a strict cast system which later on became Hinduism. The first book of Hindu scripture was written by Aryans named as Rig Veda. It was a collection of hymns (Religious songs) that was remembered through several generations. Some anthropologists believe that the coming of Aryans to this region is a myth because there is no strong evidence.

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People of the region were strongly dissatisfied with the Hindu cast system. In sixth century BC, Buddha, son of a Kashtriya king preached about equality among humans. Teachings of Buddha were quickly accepted n the whole northern part of the subcontinent. Gandhara, the eastern province of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia became a major power in the region at the same time.  The two cities of this province named as Pushkalavati (Present day Charsadda) and the capital Taxila, they were the center of civilization and culture.

In 327 BC Alexander the Great Invaded sub continent. He conquered the Kalash calley by crossing the Indus river at Ohind, which is sixteen miles north of Attock. Afterwards he defeated the elephant army of Porus at Jhelum, moved forward towards Ganges plain. However, he was forced to sail back home when the war-ewary troop-s of his army refused to move forward. While fighting the Mollai people at Multan he received a serious wound on his way back, finally took its toll. His conquest was left among his officers when Alexander died in 323 BC.

Reference: http://storyofpakistan.com/ancient-empires-of-the-sub-continent/

Author: Waqas Ali

waqas_ali_90@hotmail.com