• 2500-1500 BCE
• Also Called HArappan civilisation
• India derived from Indus
• Aspects of religious life suggest continuities with Hinduism EX. Ithyphallic proto-siva (T/F, is it really siva: not for sure), smooth linga, yoni stones, bathing tanks
• Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro: Major sites

• 1500-500 BCE
• Called the period of Brahmanism, rise of Aryan culture.
• Veda formulated and ritual textx and dharma texts composed

The Epic and Puranic Period

• 500 BCE-500 CE
• Composition of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, and many Puranas
• Great kingdoms: Mauryas:Buddhism under Asoka
• Gupta Dynasty (320-500CE) marked classical period of Hinduism: art, literature, architecture
• Sectarian traditions: vaisnavism, saivism, saktism

• 500-1500 CE
• Bhakti Hinduism developes (Visnu, Siva and Devi)
• Poetry/literature in Sanskrit
• Tantric Literature written
• Islam enters ion 7th century, footholds in 8th
• Islam controls N. India by 1200 (persecution)

• Rise of Mughal Empire