15 Interesting Ancient Indian Facts That Will Blow Your Mind

The more you know about India, the deeper you'd want to delve into its ancient history.

The modern India you know about now is a nation that has a history of an extremely plush cultural heritage. Be it religion or culture, science or art, any ancient India timeline is filled with interesting facts that might be centuries old but still hold their relevance to this day.

The Indian subcontinent has been home to ancient civilizations, indigenous empires, and rich spiritual practices which have always enchanted the world.

The ancient Indians were known to be erudite scholars who gifted the world valuable contributions in the field of mathematics, the solar system, architecture and city planning, surgery and medicine, and a lot more. While most of these developments are used throughout the world, only a handful of people know about their Indian origin.

One of the richest ancient civilizations of the world, the Indus Valley Civilization, displayed world-class architectural planning that once existed in the lands of India, at the bank of the Indus River.

The number system that the world uses today was a creation of an eminent Indian scholar of ancient times. Numerous empires of indigenous kings and Muslim invaders have left their rich, cultural imprints in the lands of this South Asian country.

With every passing century, India has evolved to such a level that most of its heritage discusses topics that are intriguing for people around the world.

Want to know more about ancient India? Here are the top facts that you shouldn't miss out on.

Find more fascinating shreds of evidence about the past from our ancient Greece facts and ancient Africa facts.

Ancient Indian History

There are reasons why the past of India is renowned and rich, laying the foundations for the India of today.

The Indian subcontinent is one of the oldest inhabited regions of the world. People have been known to reside in India over the last 250,000 years, molding India into what it is today.

It is not just now that the world is intrigued to know about ancient India. People from around the world studied, traveled, invaded, and settled in India over centuries, making it one of the most visited countries of ancient times.

The historic land of ancient India we study today was not just made of India alone. It was comprised of the undivided lands of Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, making it a huge yet diversified area.

Long before the dynasties of great emperors came into being, ancient India was home to the Indus Valley Civilization that lasted from 2600 BC to 1900 BC. The remnants of this architectural marvel displaying exemplary urban planning models with well-designed roads, well-connected sewage drainage systems, separate corners for bathing, and housing are still studied for modern urban planning.

The remnants of the Harappan Civilization exhumed from modern-day Pakistan also showcased significant architectural patterns and mesmerizing hand-made artifacts.

Although ancient India was always free from slavery, due to the migration of European and Central Asian people into the region, these communities invaded most parts of northern India and built dynasties that lasted over many centuries.

The important dynasties that existed in the Indian subcontinent were the Hariyanka Dynasty, Shishunaga Dynasty, Nanda Dynasty, Chola Dynasty, and Pandyan Dynasty, to name a few. The Mauryan Empire starting in 321 BCE had a popular king, Ashoka The Great, the third ruler of the empire.

With an early life filled with violence and bloodshed, as seen in the Kalinga War, Ashoka later converted to Buddhism and adopted the path of non-violence, which the world admires even after Ashoka's death.

Soon after the Muslim invasion, the Mughal Empire came into being which made glorious contributions to the rich, cultural heritage of ancient India. The Golden Era, as it is popularly known, existed between 1526 CE to 1857 CE, starting with Babur and ending with Bahadur Shah as kings.

Ancient Indian Religion Facts

India is the birthplace of Hinduism, with the word 'Hindu' emerging from the word Indus, a major river of ancient India.

Hinduism took shape in the Vedic period and is now the most followed religion in India, with over 80% of the population of northern India being Hindus. Apart from Hinduism, two other religions, Buddhism and Jainism also emerged in India in 600 BCE and 500 BCE, respectively.

While Lord Buddha was the creator of Buddhism, Jainism took shape through the preachings of Mahavira.

Ancient Indians of the Vedic period wrote two renowned religious scriptures, 'The Mahabharata' and 'The Ramayana'. While the epic of Mahabharata was written by Ved Vyasa, the story of Ramayana revolved around Lord Ram and was written by Valmiki.

The later Vedic period marked the segregation of ancient Indian society into the caste system. Its conception led to the class and occupation-based societal division with four classes; Brahmins being at the top of the hierarchy, followed by the Kshatriyas, and Vaishyas, and Shudras standing at the bottom class in the hierarchy.

Ancient Indian Civilizations

The most advanced civilization out of all the ancient civilizations was the Indus Valley Civilization which was situated on the banks of the Indus River and its tributaries.

The sites of Mohenjodaro and Harappa were among the key sites of the Indus Valley Civilization, that fall in the present-day territories of Pakistan and a small portion in the Sindh province of northwest India. The Harappan culture was well-ahead of its time, having well-planned housing, a sewage system, and city infrastructure, all built by bricks.

Apart from ornaments and handicrafts, the Harappans were proficient in making several terracotta idols of the Mother Goddess. They also worshipped Mother Earth as the goddess of fertility.

Harappan scriptures were mostly pictographic with logos symbolizing their ideas. With the invasion of Aryans, the occurrence of epidemics, and natural disasters, the decline of the well-flourished Indus Valley region became inevitable.

Ancient Indian Government

The ancient Indians of the pre-Vedic times were mostly nomadic until the formation of agricultural groups.

Several tribal agricultural groups had their leaders who ruled their territories in the early Vedic period. Thereafter, the Indian sub-continent became the kingdom of several kingdoms.

While in most kingdoms, the king was the supreme head of the region with no government, only during the Mauryan period did most parts of India get the taste of a government's rule having civil and military officials.

The empire was divided into provinces, each headed by a governor and a council of ministers. Royal spies were also an important part of the government who conveyed secretive information to the king in India's ancient history.

Did You Know...

Discover a few more facts about ancient India for kids and families here.

Ancient India was referred to as 'Golden Bird' throughout the world because of its wealth and riches in the form of gold, diamonds, and extremely fertile lands.

India invented the earliest herbal medicines called Ayurveda, developed by Acharya Charaka, an ancient Indian physician, over 2500 years ago, and it involves the holistic treatment of an ailing person.

Health scientists of ancient India were advanced and introduced most types of surgeries to the world. Sushruta, a prolific ancient physician, performed the first known medical procedures like plastic surgery, brain surgery, removal of urinary stones, cesareans, and repair of body fractures.

The oldest evidence of water harvesting was found through the Kallanai Dam, the earliest reservoir of the Earth.

The ancient civilizations of India introduced the technique of zinc extraction, which was then an important metal.

The Indian subcontinent was home to the earliest school and universities, Nalanda and Taxila that invited students from all over the world.

India's contribution to mathematics is unparalleled. Aryabhatta invented the digit zero, the most important digit of the number system. The place value and the decimal system were invented by ancient Indians in 100 BC.

Sridharacharya invented quadratic equations in algebra in the 11th century.

Over 2600 years ago, Acharya Kanad put forth the concept of 'anu' or the atom and laid the basis of atomic theory.

Bhaskaracharya, an astronomer, well known in ancient India history books, first calculated the time taken by the Earth to revolve around the Sun in the solar system.

The word navigation we know today comes from the Hindi word 'navgatih'. The word navy comes from the Sanskrit word 'nou'.

Indoor board games like snakes and ladders and chess were invented years ago by the ancient Indians.

The word shampoo was derived from the Hindi word 'champo'.

The introduction of prosthetics or using artificial limbs was also invented in the Indian subcontinent.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for ancient Indian facts then why not take a look at ancient japan facts, or ancient Mayan facts.