Table of Contents
Section A – Ancient India
Timeline of History
The Importance of the Gupta Dynasty
The Importance of the Mughal Dynasty
The Taj Mahal and its Importance
The Importance of the Ganges River
The Caste System
Section B – Contributions from India to Trinidad and Tobago
Why did the Indians come to Trinidad
How did they come to Trinidad
The Legacies they left behind

Timeline of History
400 BC
Gautama 'Buddha' founds Buddhism
333 BC Persian rule in the northwest ends after Darius III is defeated by Alexander the Great. Alexander had established the Macedonian Empire after inheriting the Persian Achaemenid Empire.
326 BC Ambhi, king of Taxila surrenders to Alexander. Porus who ruled parts of the Punjab, fought Alexander at the Battle of the Hydaspes River.
321 BC Mauryan Empire is founded by Chandragupta Maurya in Magadha after he defeats the Nanda dynasty and Macedonian Seleucid Empire. Mauryan capital city is Patliputra (Modern Patna in Bihar)
305 BC Chandragupta Maurya defeats Seleucus Nicator of the Seleucid Empire.
304 BC Seleucus gives up his territories in the subcontinent (Afghanistan/Baluchistan) to Chandragupta in exchange for 500 elephants. Seleucus offers to marry his daughter to Chandragupta to seal their friendship.
273 BC Ashoka the Great, grandson of Chandragupta Maurya, ascends as emperor of the Mauryan Empire.
266 BC Ashoka conquers and unifies most of South Asia, along with Afghanistan and eastern Iran.
265 BC Kalinga War takes place. After conquering Kalinga, Ashoka regrets the killings in the war, leading him to adopt Buddhism, which then became the quasi-official state religion of the Mauryan Empire.
260s
Ashoka begins displaying religious tolerance, grants animal rights, builds hospitals for people and animals, treats his subjects as equals regardless of caste or creed, and promotes non-violence and republicanism. Ashoka inscribes the Edicts of Ashoka, written down using Brahmi script.
232 BC Ashoka dies and is succeeded by Kunala.
230 BC
Simuka declares independence from Mauryan rule and establishes the Satavahana Empire.
200 BC Kuninda Kingdom established.
200-100 BC Tholkappiyam describes the grammar and morphology of Tamil; it is the oldest existing Tamil grammar (dates vary between 200 BCE and 100 CE).
184 BC The Mauryan Empire, which shrunk considerably, collapsed after its emperor Brihadrata was assassinated by his general Pusyamitra Sunga who then established the Sunga dynasty.
180 BC
Establishment of the Indo-Greek kingdom.
80 BC
Establishment of the Indo-Scythian kingdom.
65 BC
The Pandyan king sends ambassadors to the Greek and Roman lands.
57 BC
Beginning of Vikram Era
10 AD
Establishment of the Indo-Parthian kingdom.
68 AD
Establishment of the Kushan empire by Kujula Kadphises.
78 AD
Gautamiputra Satkarni becomes Satavahana emperor and starts Shalivahana era calendar after defeating Scythian king Vikramaditya.
35 AD Western Satraps formed.
240 AD
Sri-Gupta starts the Gupta Empire in Magadha, with its capital in Patliputra
320 AD
Chandragupta I ascends to the Gupta throne.
335 AD
Samudragupta ascends the Gupta throne and expands the empire.
380 AD
Chandragupta II, Samudragupta's son becomes the Gupta Emperor.
450 AD
Invasions by the Huna.

The Importance of the Gupta Dynasty
The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire, founded by Maharaja Sri Gupta, which existed from approximately 320 to 600 CE and covered much of the Indian Subcontinent. The peace and prosperity created under the leadership of the Gupta’s enabled the pursuit of scientific and artistic endeavours. This period is called the Golden Age of India and was marked by extensive inventions and discoveries in science, technology, engineering, art, dialectic, literature, logic, mathematics, astronomy, religion and philosophy that crystallized the elements of what is generally known as Hindu culture. The empire gradually declined because of many factors such as substantial loss of territory and imperial authority caused by their own erstwhile feudatories and an invasion. After the collapse of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century, India was again ruled by numerous regional kingdoms. A minor line of the Gupta clan continued to rule Magadha after the disintegration of the empire. These Guptas were ultimately ousted by Vardhana ruler Harsha Vardhana, who established an empire in the first half of the 7th century.
Ashoka Maurya (304–232 BCE), commonly known as Ashoka and also as Ashoka the Great, was an Indian emperor of the Maurya Dynasty who ruled almost all Indian subcontinent from ca. 269 BCE to 232 BCE. One of India's greatest emperors, Ashoka reigned over most of present-day India after a number of military conquests. In about 260 BCE Ashoka waged a bitterly destructive war against the state of Kalinga (modern Odisha). He conquered Kalinga, which none of his ancestors (starting from Chandragupta Maurya) had done. His reign was headquartered in Magadha (present-day Bihar). He embraced Buddhism after witnessing the mass deaths of the Kalinga War, which he himself had waged out of a desire for conquest. "Ashoka reflected on the war in Kalinga, which reportedly had resulted in more than 100,000 deaths and 150,000 deportations. Ashoka converted gradually to Buddhism beginning about 263 BCE at the latest. He was later dedicated to the propagation of Buddhism across Asia, and established monuments marking several significant sites in the life of Gautama Buddha. Thus giving hope for the Indian people and bringing honour to the Gupta Dynasty. The Gupta dynasty primarily impacted India in gaining control of territory of the Himalayas in the north to the Narbada River in the south, and in tributaries of the Indus River in the west through most of the Ganges Valley in the east.
Gupta rule produced India's greatest advances in literature, sculpture, and arts. It produced great learning in academic fields as well as in spreading primarily Hinduism, and to a lesser degree Buddhism. This culture spread to Southeast Asia influncing court ceremonies, language, and religious practices.

The Gupta Empire Emperor Asoka

The Importance of the Mughal Dynasty
The Mughal Empire was a very large covering over many areas of the Indian subcontinent by a Dynasty. In the early 16th century, northern India, being then under mainly Muslim rulers, fell to the superior mobility and firepower of the Mughals The resulting Mughal Empire did not stamp out the local societies it came to rule, but rather balanced and pacified them through new administrative practices and diverse and inclusive ruling elites, leading to more systematic, centralised, and uniform rule.
The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the 17th century was a factor in India's economic expansion, resulting in greater patronage of painting, literary forms, textiles, and architecture. Newly coherent social groups in northern and western India, such as the Marathas, the Rajput, and the Sikhs, gained military and governing ambitions during Mughal rule, which, through collaboration or adversity, gave them both recognition and military experience.
A major Mughal contribution to the Indian subcontinent was their unique architecture. Many monuments were built by the Muslim emperors, especially Shahjahan, during the Mughal era including the UNESCO World Heritage Site Taj Mahal, which is known to be one of the finer examples of Mughal architecture. Other World Heritage Sites include Humayun's Tomb, Fatehpur Sikri, the Red Fort, the Agra Fort, and the Lahore Fort The palaces, tombs, and forts built by the dynasty stands today in Agra, Aurangabad, Delhi, Dhaka, Fatehpur Sikri, Jaipur, Lahore, Kabul, Sheikhupura, and many other cities of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. With few memories of Central Asia, Babur's descendents absorbed traits and customs of the South Asia, and became more or less naturalised.
Mughal Empire

The Taj Mahal and its Importance
The Taj Mahal is a white marble mausoleum located in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The Taj Mahal is widely recognized as “the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world's heritage.” The Taj Mahal is located in Agra, a city in the Uttar Pradesh region of northern India. Taj Mahal is regarded by many as the finest example of Mughal architecture, a style that combines elements from Islamic, Persian, Ottoman Turkish and Indian architectural styles.
The construction began around 1632 and was completed around 1653, employing thousands of artisans and craftsmen. The construction of the Taj Mahal was entrusted to a board of architects under imperial supervision, including Abd ul-Karim Ma'mur Khan, Makramat Khan, and Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. is generally considered to be the principal designer.

The Importance of the Ganges River The Ganges River is a trans-boundary river of India and Bangladesh. The 2,525 km river rises in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain of North India into Bangladesh, where it empties into the Bay of Bengal. It is the third largest river by discharge. The Ganges is ranked fifth as one of the world’s most populated rivers but pollution threatens the river and fish and amphibians that live in it. The Ganga Action Plan, an environmental initiative to clean up the river, has been a major failure thus far, due to corruption and lack of technical expertise, lack of good environmental planning, and lack of support from religious authorities. The Ganges supplies the many people who live there with water and food source which may cause problems due to the pollution.
The Ganges is the most sacred river to Hindus and is also a lifeline to millions of Indians who live along its course and depend on it for their daily needs. It is worshipped as the goddess Ganga in Hinduism. Hindus bathe in its waters, paying homage to their ancestors and to their gods by cupping the water in their hands, lifting it and letting it fall back into the river; they offer flowers and rose petals and float shallow clay dishes filled with oil and lit with wicks. On the journey back home from the Ganges, they carry small quantities of river water with them for use in rituals (Ganga jal), literally water of the Ganga). When a loved one dies, Hindus bring the ashes of the deceased person to the Ganges River.

The Caste System
The Caste System is a system used to classify people of different status limiting their way of life, Job, People they socialize with and more. Although strongly identified with Hindus, the caste systems has been carried over to other religions on the Indian subcontinent, including Buddhists, Christians, Muslims. Caste is commonly thought of as an ancient fact of Indian life, but various contemporary scholars have argued that the caste system was constructed by the British colonial regime. Between 1860 and 1920, the British segregated Indians by caste, granting administrative jobs and senior appointments only to higher castes. Social unrest during 1920s, led to a change in this policy.
From 1920s, the British colonial administration began a policy of affirmative action by reserving a certain percentage of government jobs for the lower castes. After India achieved independence, this policy of reservation of jobs and positive discrimination based on caste system was formalized with lists of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The People in the lower classes believed if they did good and prayed they would be born again into a better caste.
The Caste System is ranked Highest to Lowest respectively:
Brahmans
Princes
Soldiers
Workmen and Craftsmen
Shudra or Untouchables

Why did the Indians come to Trinidad

The 143,939 Indians who arrived as indentured immigrants to Trinidad during the period 1845-1917 came from a society that was elaborately organised since ancient times. The period of indentureship was not like African slavery, with commencement and termination dates; instead after 1850, indentured and time-expired Indians co-existed, each contributing to and affecting the other’s lifestyle. Some lifestyles that were brought by the Indians to Trinidad are agriculture, food, religion and education. When the first group of indentured Indian immigrants numbering 213 came to Trinidad in 1845, they entered a cosmopolitan society, which, according to a Secretary of State, ‘was divided into castes as strongly marked as those of Hindustan’. It consisted of people of English, French, Spanish and Portuguese descent, in ‘the basic three-tier structure of 19th century Creole society, stratified according to the colour and ethnicity as well as wealth. East Indians faced many challenges in the West Indies. Although the Indentureship system was not supposed to mirror that of slavery, it did in many ways. The Indians were now faced with a language barrier. Many were converted to Christianity. Living conditions were poor and life was generally difficult. However, this did not stop East Indians from making their mark on the culture of Trinidad. Many held on to their traditions and customs with their families. They persevered, toiled the land and ensured that their children were educated. Today, Indo-Trinidadians are professionals in the fields of Business, Science, Medicine, Law, Culture, Economics, Education and even Politics. Due to the magnificent contributions of all ethnic groups to the development of the society of Trinidad and Tobago, the Government declared, in 1995, that May 30th be Arrival Day, a public holiday to mark the coming of the East Indians, Chinese, Syrians, Portuguese, and other groups to our country.

How did the Indians come to Trinidad

On May 30th 1845, the Fath Al Razak docked in the Port of Spain harbour in Trinidad and Tobago with 225 adult passengers on board. The passengers were immigrants from India who had come to the British colony to work in the sugarcane plantations after the abolition of African slavery. They had spent 103 days on sea during the arduous and dangerous journey that spanned 14,000 miles (36,000 km). The immigrants were contracted for five to ten years to work in the sugarcane estates in a system that ended in 1917.

A total of 147,596 Indians came to Trinidad over a 70-year period. Although they were promised a free return passage back home, at least 75 percent of them stayed and settled in the New World colony. In many ways, they brought India to the Caribbean. They continued with their traditions of Hinduism and Islam, and eventually transformed Trinidad into a colourful cosmopolitan society with their introduction of new styles of dress, music, songs, dance, language, cuisine and customs.

Descendants of these Indian immigrants, who now comprise about half of the multi-ethnic society of the island (1.3 million), commemorate the arrival of their ancestors to these shores annually. The commemoration takes the form of prayers, speeches, songs, music, dances and plays in communal as well as public spaces. The spirit of the day is invoked at various beaches with the reenactment of the landing of the first boat-load of pioneers who gave birth to the Indian community in Trinidad. The historic day has been a national holiday since 1994.

Legacies left behind
The East Indians brought to Trinidad a wide range of festivals and religious observances. For East Indians - both Hindus and Muslims - these celebrations were important. They allowed the immigrants to hold on to the values and principles which had sustained them for centuries. They also served to make the harsh daily life more bearable. Events such as Divali, Eid-ul-Fitr, Phagwa and Hoosay have, over the years, become part of the cultural fabric of Trinidad and Tobago.
Divali

East Indians who came to the Caribbean initially came from various regions in India, each with its own language and customs. However, by the late 19th century there was less diversity in language as the majority of immigrants originated from Uttar Pradesh. The inhabitants of this region spoke Bhojpuri, a Hindi dialect, which became the shared and unifying language for East Indians in Trinidad.The indentured labourers brought not only their religion, food and clothing, but also the names of the places from which they came. They gave to the places they settled in Trinidad, the place names with which they were familiar. Hence the reason for village names such as Fyzabad, Barrackpore, Chandernagore, and many others.
Food
The indentured labourers who came to Trinidad brought with them their own East Indian cuisine, complete with traditional seasonings and ways of cooking. Most important of their spices were the curries. In Trinidad and Tobago most Hindi words in common use today relate to the kitchen and food. Over time foods such as roti, doubles, Saheena, Katchowrie, Barah, Anchar and Pholourie have become household names and are consumed by a wide cross-section of the society. Today, East Indian dishes are part of the national cuisine of Trinidad and Tobago.
Doubles

Music and Dance
Music was and still is, a fundamental part of the various Indian festivals. Consequently, the Indians brought their musical instruments with them when they migrated to Trinidad. A number of these musical instruments were previously unknown in the West Indies. These include the Tassa, Tabla, Dholak, Majeera, Bansoori, sitar and harmonium. The most popular musical instruments were the drums, of which there were several types. There was the dholak, which provided the rhythm for most of the folk songs. It is a cylindrical, double-headed drum which is beaten on both sides. The larger side provides the bass and the smaller side the tenor. There was also the tassa drum which is made of clay covered with goat's skin. It is beaten with a pair of sticks. Usually several tassa drums are played together by a group of people. The tassa drums are used at weddings, Gathka dancing and Hosay celebrations.There are also the Jhal, Majeera and sitar. The former consists of a pair of cymbals held in the hand and struck against each other. Dress
The East Indians introduced new fashions and clothing such as the sari, Choli, Kurtah, Orhni, Salwar, Kameez, Garara, Dupatta, Gangri, Pagri, and dhoti. Jewellery included the Nakphul, Bera, Churia, and Baju band, to name a few. The Sari is an unstitched length of fabric up to 9 yards in length and 18 to 60 in width with a decorated end panel draped in a wide variety of styles. It is perhaps the item of clothing most familiar to westerners, and is part of ancient tradition culture. The Gangri is a long, full skirt reaching down to the ankles. The Choli is a short blouse worn with the sari, and the Orhni is a veil which covers the upper part of the body.

Ancient and Present Day India
By
Aaron Joseph Form: 2-2