By the end of the Epic Age, in the 500s b. c., there was no longer such a thing as one Indo-European civilization in India. Instead, the Indo-Europeans had split into more than a dozen different kingdoms, the most important of which was Magadha (MAH-guh-duh), in eastern India. While Siddartha was on his quest for enlightenment, he spent most of his time in Magadha, a highly organized state formed in the 600s b. c.
Magadha would later come to prominence as the center of the Mauryan Empire. In between the end of the Epic Age (which, it should be stressed, was not a clearly defined period of time) and the rise of the Mauryan Empire, there were roughly two centuries of upheaval, or unrest. During this time,
Various princes, or rajas (RAH-zhahz), within India fought for control. The beginning and end of the era were marked by invasions from the west.
The first invading force came from Persia, when Darius I marched against India in 521 b. c. Three years later, the Persians had conquered the entire Punjab region. They managed to hold on to it for many years, but as their empire declined, local rajas reclaimed power in the region.
The second invasion occurred in 326 b. c., when
250,000 soldiers under Alexander the Great crossed the Indus. They moved eastward, deep into the Punjab, and Alexander might have kept going, but his troops were ready to go home. They reached the Beas (BEE-ahs) River in July of 326 B. C., then turned back toward Greece. After the Greeks left, it appeared that they had made almost no lasting cultural impact on India, but the Greek influence would resurface more than a century later. In the meantime, India saw the rise of a new conqueror inspired by the conquests of Alexander the Great.
World History
