The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c36.2

v1.c36.2

| B.C. | |
| 2500 | Probable date of the beginning of Āryan invasions (p. 70). |
| 1400 | Boghaz-köi inscriptions of kings of the Mitāni (pp. 72–3, 110–1). |
| 1200—1000 | Chhandas period of Indian literature: the earliest hymns of the Rigveda (p. 112). |
| 1000—800 | Mantra period, sometimes called the earlier Brāhmaṇa period: later hymns of the Rigveda and the Vedic collections—Rigveda, Yajurveda, Sāmaveda, Atharvaveda (p. 112). |
| | The tradition of the Purāṇas places the war between the Kurus and the Pāṇḍus in the earlier Brāhmaṇa period, c. 1000 B.C. (p. 307). The Mahābhārata which celebrates this war belongs in its present form to a much later date (pp. 252 ff.). |
| 800—600 | (Later) Brāhmaṇa period: the extant Brāhmaṇas (p. 112). |
| | The earliest Upanishads are probably not later than 550 or 600 B.C. (pp. 112, 147). |
| | It is possible that the story of the Rāmāyaṇa may have its origin in the later Brāhmaṇa period (p. 317). |
| 600—200 | Sūtra period (pp. 112, 227). |
| 563—483 | Siddhārtha Gautama, the Buddha (pp. 171–2, 312). |
| | According to Charpentier, 478 (477) B.C. appears to be a more probable date for the *nirvāṇa* of the Buddha (p. 156, n. 1). |
| | Among the contemporaries of the Buddha were Prasenajit (Pasenadi), king of Kosala (pp. 180, 309), Bimbisāra (Çreṇika) and Ajātaçatru (Ajātasattu, Kūṇika), kings of Magadha (pp. 183–4, 311), Pradyota (Pajjota), king of Avanti (pp. 185, 310–1), and Udayana (Udena), king of Vatsa (Vaṁsa) (pp. 187, 308, 310). |
| 558—530 | Cyrus, king of Persia. |
| | Conquered Bactria and certain countries in the Kābul valley and N.W. India including Kāpiça and Gandhāra (pp. 329–33). |
| 543—491 | Bimbisāra (Çreṇika), king of Magadha (pp. 157, 183, 311–2). |
| | Conquered Aṅga c. 500 B.C. (pp. 311, 315). |
| 540—468 | Vardhamāna Nātaputra, Mahāvīra (pp. 156, 163). |
| | Traditional date 600–528 B.C. (p. 155). |
| | Pārçva, the predecessor of Mahāvīra as *tīrthakara*, is said to have died 250 years before him (p. 153). |
| | For the contemporaries of Mahāvīra and Buddha *v. sup.* |
| 522—486 | Darius I, king of Persia. |
| | The Greek geographer Hecataeus lived in his reign (pp. 336, n. 2, 394). |
| | Naval expedition of Scylax c. 517 B.C.; conquest of 'India' = the country of the Indus c. 518 B.C. (pp. 335–6). |
| 491—459 | Ajātaçatru (Kūṇika), king of Magadha (pp. 157, 311–2). |
| | Probably added Kāçi, Kosala, and Videha to the dominions of Magadha (p. 315). |
| 486—465 | Xerxes, king of Persia. |
| | The continuance of Persian domination in Northern India during his reign proved by statements of Herodotus (p. 340). |