History Forum / General / General Topics / September 2005

I posted the following in 1994:

[ Subject: TIMELINE (Complete)
[ From: Dr. Jai Maharaj
[ Date: Mon, 26 Dec 1994 00:39:37 UTC

Hindu Timeline (by Hinduism Today  http://www.hinduismtoday.com )

Introduction

A History of India and Hindu Dharm

Much of  what India and Hinduism  are today can be  understood by examining
their origins and history. Here is a humble chronology that tells the story
of the sages, kings, outside  invaders and inside reformers who contributed
to the world's oldest living civilization and largest modern-day democracy.
Remarkably, Hindu India has been home to one-fourth of the human race since
the dawn of recorded time. Its  story, summarized here, is crucial to human
history.

The emphasis on spirituality in India's thought and history is unparalleled
in human experience.  The king in his court,  the sage on his hill  and the
farmer in one  of Bharat's 700,000 villages each pursues  his dharma with a
common ultimate  purpose: spiritual enlightenment. This  perspective is the
source  of  Hinduism's  resilience  in  the  face  of  competing faiths and
conquering armies. No other nation has  faced so many invaders and endured.
These  invasions have  brought the  races of  the world  to a  subcontinent
one-third the size of the United States.  There are many feats of which the
ancient Hindus could be proud, such  as the invention of the decimal system
of numbers, philosophy, linguistics, surgery, city planning and statecraft.
And  most  useful  to  us  in  this  particular  timeline:  their  skill in
astronomy.

Dates in  Hindu history after Buddha  are subject to little  dispute, while
dates  before Buddha  have been  decided  as  much by  current opinion  and
politics  as by  scientific evidence.  An overwhelming  tendency of Western
scholarship has been to deny the great antiquity of Hinduism.

Indian scholar S.B. Roy points out that the commonly accepted chronology of
German linguist Max Muller (1823-1900) is  based solely "on the ghost story
of  Kathasaritasagara."  Historian  Klaus   K.  Klostermaier  agrees:  "The
chronology provided by Max Muller and accepted uncritically by most Western
scholars  is  based  on  very  shaky  ground  indeed." While making crucial
historical  contributions in  bringing India's  wisdom to  the West, Muller
admitted his  covert intention to  undermine Hinduism. In  a letter to  his
wife in 1886 he wrote: "The translation  of the Veda will hereafter tell to
a great extent on the fate of India  and on the growth of millions of souls
in that country.  It is the root of  their religion, and to show  them what
the root is, I feel sure, is the  only way of uprooting all that has sprung
from it during the last 3,000 years.''

Contemporary researchers, such as Dr.  B.G. Siddharth of B.M. Birla Science
Centre, Dr. S.B.  Roy, Professor Subhash Kak, Dr.  N.R. Waradpande, Bhagwan
Singh  and Dr.  David Frawley,  Vedacharya, have  developed a more accurate
picture  of ancient  India, assembling  new chronologies  based on a highly
reliable method: dating scriptural references  by their relationship to the
known  precession of  the equinoxes.  Earth's axis  of rotation  "wobbles,"
causing constellations, as  viewed from Earth, to drift  at a constant rate
and along a predictable course over a 25,000-year cycle. For example, a Rig
Vedic verse observing winter solstice at  Aries can be correlated to around
6500 bce. Frawley  states, "Precessional changes are the  hallmark of Hindu
astronomy. We cannot ignore them in ancient texts just because they give us
dates  too  early  for  our  conventional  view  of human history." Besides
astronomical  references from  scripture, there  is much  to support  their
dates, such  as carbon-14 dating,  the discovery of  Indus-Sarasvati Valley
cities and the recent locating of the Sarasvati River, a prominent landmark
of Vedic writings.

Much of the dating in this timeline  prior to 600 bce derives from the work
of Dr.  S.B. Roy (Chronological Framework  of Indian Protohistory-The Lower
Limit,  published  in  The  Journal   of  the  Baroda  Oriental  Institute,
March-June 1983) and  that of David Frawley Ph.D.  (Gods, Sages and Kings).
For technical  enhancements to the timeline  we depended on Prof.  Shiva G.
Bajpai PhD., Director of Asian  Studies at California State University, who
co-authored  "A  Historical  Atlas  of  South  Asia"  with  Prof. Joseph E.
Schwartzberg and Dr. Raj B. Mathur.

Max  Muller is  the primary  evangelist of  another, more  invidious, dogma
imposed on Hindu  history: the "Aryan invasion" theory.  Originally a Vedic
term  meaning  "noble,"  then  applied  to  the  parent-language  of Greek,
Sanskrit, Latin and German, the term Aryan soon referred to those who spoke
it,  a supposed  race of  light-skinned Aryans.  The idea  of a parent race
caught  the  imagination  of  18th  and  19th  century  European  Christian
scholars, who  hypothesized elaborate Aryan  migrations from Central  Asia,
west to Europe,  south to India (ca 1500 bce)  and east to China-conquering
local primitive peoples and founding  the world's great civilizations. This
theory states that  the Vedas, the heart and core  of Sanatana Dharma, were
brought to India by these outsiders and not composed in India.

Although  lacking  supporting  scientific  evidence,  this  theory, and the
alleged Aryan-Dravidian racial split, was  accepted and promulgated as fact
for three  main reasons. It  provided a convenient  precedent for Christian
British subjugation of India. It reconciled ancient Indian civilization and
religious scripture with the 4000 bce Biblical date of Creation. It created
division and conflict between the  peoples of India, making them vulnerable
to conversion by Christian missionaries.

Scholars today of both East and West believe the Rig Veda people who called
themselves Aryan  were indigenous to  India, and there  never was an  Aryan
invasion. The languages  of India have been shown  to share common ancestry
in  ancient  Sanskrit  and  Tamil.  Even  these  two  apparently  unrelated
languages,  according to  current  "super-family"  research, have  a common
origin: an ancient language dubbed Nostratic.

Sidebar: Rewriting History

Still confused? Here's a guide to competing theories of Indian history

TAKING SIDES:

The Old Model

Credits India's culture to foreign  invaders. Hypothesis, first proposed by
German  Max  Muller  (1823-1900),  is  still  accepted  in  most historical
textbooks. Supporters: Sir William Jones, Thomas Young, Joseph de Goubinau,
Dwight Witney, Sir Mortimer Wheeler, A.L. Basham.

The New Model

Offers  astrological  and  archeological  evidence  to  discredit  invasion
theory, pushes Indian history back several thousand years. Supporters: B.G.
Tilak, P.C. Sengupta,  S.B. Roy, Pargiter, Jagat Pati  Joshi, Dikshit, K.N.
Shastri,  Sri Aurobindo,  Hermann  Jacobi,  S.R. Rao,  Dayananda Saraswati,
Subash Kak, David Frawley, B.G. Sidharth, and others.

WHAT IS CLAIMED?

The Old Model

Conquering legions of blue-eyed, white "Aryans" from Eastern Russia invaded
North India  on horseback around  1500bce and ultimately  displaced most of
India's  unsophisticated Dravidian  tribals. They  brought civilization and
the refined Sanskrit language into  India, built the expansive Indus Valley
complex,  wrote the  Vedas and   other sacred  texts. The  Sarasvati River,
prominent in  the Vedas, is mythical,  or lies outside of  India somewhere.
Claims no astronomical references are found in the Rig Veda.

The New Model

There  was  no  invasion  at   all.  India's  native  peoples  founded  the
Indus/Sarasvati River  civilization, developed Sanskrit  and wrote all  her
ancient texts.  uropean ates are all  wrong. Rig Veda verses  belie the old
chronology (VI.51.14-15  mentions the winter  solstice occurs when  the sun
rises  in Revati  nakshatra, only   possible at  6,000bce, long  before the
alleged invasion.)  Carbon dating confirms  horses in Gujarat  at 2,400bce,
contradicting old model claim Aryans must have brought them. NASA satellite
photos  prove  Sarasvati  River  basin  is  real,  not  a myth. Fire altars
excavated at Kali Bangan in Rajasthan support existence of Rig Veda culture
at 2,700 bce. Kunal, a new site in Haryana, shows use of writing and silver
craft in pre-Harappan India, 6-7,000bce.

WHAT IT MEANS?

The Old Model

India's  native peoples  were primitive  and her  foundational culture  and
religion were  imported. All the  good stuff came  from Eastern Europe,  of
course, and  the rest is  a vestige of  conquered dark-skinned aboriginals.
The Vedas are, at most, 3,500 years old.

The New Model

India's  history goes  back much  farther than  anyone knew, perhaps 10,000
years.  India need  not be  indebted  to  others for  her rich  and ancient
traditions.  The  Vedic  texts,  thought  to  be  part mythology, are being
vindicated by scientific evidence to  be the world's oldest factual account
of human experience.

Hindu Timeline Article

It's About Time!

New Finds and Intriguing Theories Conspire with Scholars To Rewrite India's
History-Plus HT's 7-Page Timeline

When  you learned  Indian history,  a  startling  amount of  myth may  have
inadvertently been mixed in the masala with fact. The "official" history of
India and  Hinduism was set  down by Western  scholars more than  a hundred
years ago,  a history based on  the now-disputed principle that  an outside
group of "Aryans," not her indigenous peoples, were responsible for most of
India's  civilization. Subsequent  discoveries, research  and analysis have
unearthed major flaws in that history.  Still, to this day, virtually every
textbook  and  encyclopedia  in  the  world  contains  the same century-old
conjectures.

"Early Indian history is on the brink of a change," says Professor Shiva G.
Bajpai, co-author of the monumental work  A Historical Atlas of South Asia.
He told  Hinduism Today that  "Archaeological explorations taking  place in
the recent decade have  changed many of the views we used  to hold as being
very historical. Many do not even know what they have excavated so far."

Revising  India's   history  is  practically  a   cottage  industry  today.
Archaeologists  and  historians  are  forming  strategic partnerships, even
teaming up  with astronomers who  turn Rig Veda  observations of the  stars
into firm dates for recorded events. Two conferences were held already this
year-January  in  Hyderabad  and  April  in  Sringeri.  A  third, the World
Archaeology Congress, is scheduled in New Delhi on December 4-11, where the
latest,  most  significant  findings  will  be  revealed.  Author and Vedic
scholar, David Frawley, reports, "The conferences featured S.R. Rao, Subash
Kak, Rajaram and others working in  this field. Nobody was really upholding
the old model.  The issue wasn't so much whether  the old model is working,
but how  the new model  is going to  be formed. It's  no longer just Hindus
claiming their faith  in what their holy books  say. All the archaeological
and scientific evidence is pretty much in agreement with them."

The "Aryan invasion" of India is taught as fact everywhere, but many modern
researchers  don't support  it.  Establishment  historians aren't  ready to
accept any  wholesale revision, and  are slow to  explore discoveries which
necessitate such a revision. Nor is  Indian history the only one undergoing
rethinking. Just  a few years  ago the Egyptian  sphinx was suddenly  dated
thousands of years  earlier by new technology, turning  Egyptian history on
its head.

Hinduism Today has been following the dramatic events among historians, and
our  staff has  assembled a  new Timeline  of Hinduism,  a chronology  that
incorporates recent  findings and tempers the  anti-Hindu bias undergirding
previous  histories of  India. Beginning  on page  four, we present 600,000
years in 585 entries.

Our seven-page  timeline is generous toward  Hinduism, listing the earliest
possible  dates  for  events  and  scriptures.  Bajpai  does not mind, "The
Hinduism Today  Timeline is extremely  important because it  highlights the
Hindu heritage. This  is both its greatest strength  and, others might say,
its weakness.  No timeline can be  wholly satisfactory for everyone,  as is
the case with any encyclopedia."

Hindu Timeline #1

-2.5 m to -1000

How to Read the Timeline

The thick  line represents the  flow of time  from the date  on the top  to
dates on the bottom. The thinner lines to the left indicate the duration of
major  ruling dynasties.  Not all  are  included,  for at  times India  was
divided into  dozens of small  independent kingdoms. Approximate  dates are
preceded by  the letter "ca,"  an abbreviation of  the word "circa,"  which
denotes "about," "around" or "in  approximately." all dates prior to Buddha
(624 bce) are considered estimates.

bce: Abbreviation for "before common era," referring to dating prior to the
year zero in the Western, or Gregorian calendar, system.

ce:  Abbreviation  for  "common  era."  Equivalent  to the abbreviation ad.
Following a  date, it indicates that  the year in question  comes after the
year zero in the Western, or Gregorian calendar, system.

-2.5 m: Genus Homo originates in Africa, cradle of humanity.

-2 m: Stone artifacts are made and used by hominids in North India, an area
rich in animal species, including the elephant.

-500,000: Stone hand axes and other tools are used in N. India.

-470,000: India's hominids are active in Tamil Nadu and Punjab.

-400,000: Soan culture in India is using primitive chopping tools.

-360,000: Fire is first controlled by homo erectus in China.

-300,000: Homo sapiens roams the earth, from Africa to Asia.

-100,000: Homo sapiens sapiens (humans)  with 20th-century man's brain size
(1,450 cc) live in East Africa. Populations separate. Migrations proceed to
Asia via the Isthmus of Suez.

-75,000: Last ice age begins. Human population is 1.7 million.

-45,000: After mastery of marine navigation, migrations from Southeast Asia
settle Australia and the Pacific islands.

-40,000: Groups of hunter-gatherers in  Central India are living in painted
rock  shelters.  Similar  groups  in  Northern  Punjab  work  at open sites
protected by windbreaks.

-35,000: Migrations of separated Asian populations settle Europe.

-30,000: American Indians spread throughout the Americas.

-10,000:  Last  ice  age  ends   after  65,000  years;  earliest  signs  of
agriculture. World population 4 million; India is 100,000.

-10,000:  Taittiriya Brahmana  3.1.2 refers  to Purvabhadrapada nakshatra's
rising due east, a phenomenon occurring at this date (Dr. B.G. Siddharth of
Birla  Science  Institute),  indicating  the  earliest  known dating of the
sacred Veda.

-10,000: Vedic culture, the essence  of humanity's eternal wisdom, Sanatana
Dharma, lives in the Himalayas at end of Ice Age.

-9000:  Old Europe,  Anatolia and  Minoan Crete  display a Goddess-centered
culture reflecting a matriarchial order.

-8500:  Taittiriya  Samhita  6.5.3   places  Pleiades  asterism  at  winter
solstice, suggesting the antiquity of this Veda.

-7500: Excavations  at Neveli Cori  in Turkey reveal  advanced civilization
with meticulous architecture and planning.  Dr. Sri B.G. Siddharth believes
this was a Vedic culture.

-7000: Proto-Vedic period ends.  Early Vedic period begins.

-7000:    Time   of    Manu   Vaivasvata,    "father   of    mankind,"   of
Sarasvati-Drishadvati  area (also  said to  be a  South Indian Maharaja who
sailed to the Himalayas during a great flood).

-7000: Early evidence of horses in the Ganga region (Frawley).

-7000: Indus-Sarasvati area residents of  Mehrgarh grow barley, raise sheep
and goats. They  store grain, entomb their dead  and construct buildings of
sun-baked mud bricks.

-6776: Start of Hindu lists of  kings according to ancient Greek references
that  give Hindus  150 kings  and a  history of  6,400 years before 300bce;
agrees with next entry.

-6500:  Rig Veda  verses (e.g.,  1.117.22, 1.116.12,  1.84.13.5) say winter
solstice  begins in  Aries (according  to Dr.  D. Frawley),  indicating the
antiquity of this section of the Vedas.

-6000: Early  sites on the  Sarasvati River, then  India's largest, flowing
west of  Delhi into the Rann  of Kutch; Rajasthan is  a fertile region with
much  grassland, as  described in  the Rig  Veda. The  culture, based  upon
barley  (yava), copper  (ayas) and  cattle, also  reflects that  of the Rig
Veda.

-5500: Mehrgarh villagers are making  baked pottery and thousands of small,
clay  of  female  figurines  (interpreted  to  be  earliest signs of Shakti
worship), and  are involved in  long-distance trade in  precious stones and
sea shells.

-5500:  Date of  astrological observations  associated with  ancient events
later mentioned in the Puranas (Alain Danielou).

-5000: World population, 5 million, doubles every 1,000 years.

-5000:   Beginnings  of   Indus-Sarasvati  civilizations   of  Harappa  and
Mohenjo-daro.  Date  derived  by  considering  archeological sites, reached
after  excavating  45  feet.  Brick  fire  altars  exist  in  many  houses,
suggesting Vedic fire rites, yajna. Earliest signs of worship of Lord Siva.
This mature culture will last 3,000 years, ending around -1700.

-5000: Rice is  harvested in China, with grains found  in baked bricks. But
its cultivation originated in Eastern India.

-4300: Traditional dating for Lord Rama's time.

-4000:  Excavations from  this period  at Sumerian  sites of  Kish and Susa
reveal existence of Indian trade products.

-4000: India's population is 1 million.

-4000: Date of world's creation (Christian genealogies).

-3928: July 25th, the earliest eclipse mentioned in the Rig Veda (according
to Indian researcher Dr. Shri P.C. Sengupta).

-3200:  Hindu astronomers  called nakshatra  darshas record  in Vedic texts
their  observations of  full moon  and new  moon at  the winter  and summer
solstices and  spring and fall equinoxes  with reference to 27  fixed stars
(nakshatras) spaced nearly equally on  the moon's ecliptic or apparent path
across the sky. The precession of  the equinoxes (caused by the wobbling of
the Earth's axis of rotation) causes the nakshatras to appear to drift at a
constant  rate along  a predictable  course over  a 25,000-year cycle. From
these observations historians are able to calculate backwards and determine
the date when the indicated position of moon, sun and nakshatra occurred.

-3102: Kali Era Hindu calendar starts.  Kali Yuga begins.

-3100: Reference to  vernal equinox in Rohini (middle  of Taurus) from some
Brahmanas, as noted by B.G.  Tilak, Indian scholar and patriot. Traditional
date of the Mahabharata war and lifetime of Lord Krishna.

-3100: Early Vedic period ends, late Vedic period begins.

-3100: India includes Afghanistan and parts of Central Asia.

-3100: Aryan  people inhabit Iran, Iraq  and Western Indus-Sarasvati Valley
frontier. Frawley  describes Aryans as "a  culture of spiritual knowledge."
He and others believe 1) the  Land of Seven Rivers (Sapta Sindhu) mentioned
in the Rig Veda refers to India only, 2) that the people of Indus-Sarasvati
Valleys  and those  of Rig  Veda are  the same,  and 3)  there was no Aryan
invasion. This view is now prevailing over the West's historical concept of
the Aryans as a separate ethnic or linguistic group. Still others claim the
Indus-Sarasvati people were  Dravidians who moved out or  were displaced by
incoming Aryans.

-3000: Weaving in Europe, Near East and Indus-Sarasvati Valley is primarily
coiled basketry, either spiraled or sewn.

-3000: Evidence of horses in South India.

-3000: People of Tehuacan, Mexico, are cultivating corn.

-3000: Saiva Agamas are recorded in  the time of the earliest Tamil Sangam.
(A traditional date.)

-2700: Seals of Indus-Sarasvati Valley indicate Siva worship, in depictions
of Siva as Pashupati, Lord of Animals.

-2600: Indus-Sarasvati civilization reaches a height it sustains until 1700
be. Spreading from Pakistan to Gujarat, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, it is the
largest of the world's three oldest civilizations with links to Mesopotamia
(possibly  Crete), Afghanisthan,  Central Asia  and Karnataka.  Harappa and
Mohenjo-daro have populations of 100,000.

-2600: Major  portions of the Veda  hymns are composed during  the reign of
Vishvamitra I (Dating by Dr. S.B. Roy).

-2600: Drying  up of Drishadvati River  of Vedic fame, along  with possible
shifting of the Yamuna to flow into the Ganga.

-2600: First Egyptian pyramid is under construction.

-2500:  Main period  of Indus-Sarasvati  cities. Culture  relies heavily on
rice and cotton,  as mentioned in Atharva Veda,  which were first developed
in India.  Ninety percent of  sites are along  the Sarasvati, the  region's
agricultural  bread  basket.  Mohenjo-daro  is  a  large peripheral trading
center.  Rakhigari  and  Ganweriwala  (not  yet  excavated  in 1994) on the
Sarasvati  are  as  big  as   Mohenjo-daro.  So  is  Dholarvira  in  Kutch.
Indus-Sarasvati sites have been found  as far south as Karnataka's Godavari
River and north into Afghanistan on the Amu Darya River.

-2500: Reference to  vernal equinox in Krittika (Pleiades  or early Taurus)
from  Yajur  and  Atharva  Veda  hymns  and  Brahmanas. This corresponds to
Harappan seals that show seven women (the Krittikas) tending a fire.

-2300:   Sargon  founds   Mesopotamian  kingdom   of  Akkad,   trades  with
Indus-Sarasvati Valley cities.

-2300:  Indo-Europeans  in  Russia's  Ural  steppelands  develop  efficient
spoked-wheel chariot  technology, using 1,000-year-old  horse husbandry and
freight-cart technology.

-2050: Vedic people are living in Persia and Afghanistan.

-2051:  Divodasa reigns  to -1961,  has contact  with Babylon's King Indatu
(Babylonian chronology). Dating by S.B. Roy.

ca -2040: Prince Rama is born at Ayodhya, site of future Rama temple. (This
and next two datings by S.B. Roy.)

-2033: Reign  of Dasharatha, father of  Lord Rama. King Ravana,  villain of
the Ramayana, reigns in Sri Lanka.

-2000:  Indo-Europeans   (Celts,  Slavs,  Lithuanians,   Ukranians)  follow
cosmology, theology, astronomy, ritual,  society and marriage that parallel
early Vedic patterns.

-2000: Probable date of first written Saiva Agamas.

-2000: World  population: 27 million.  India: 5 million  or 22%. India  has
roughly G of human race throughout history.

-1915: All Madurai Tamil Sangam  is held at Thiruparankundram (according to
traditional Tamil chronology).

-1900: Late Vedic period ends, post Vedic period begins.

-1900: Drying up of Sarasvati River, end of Indus-Sarasvati culture, end of
the  Vedic age.  After this,  the center  of civilization  in ancient India
relocates from the Sarasvati to the Ganga, along with possible migration of
Vedic peoples  out of India  to the Near  East (perhaps giving  rise to the
Mittani  and Kassites,  who worship   Vedic Gods).  The redirection  of the
Sutlej into the Indus causes the  Indus area to flood. Climate changes make
the Sarasvati region  too dry for habitation. (Thought  lost, its river bed
is finally photographed from satellite in the 1990s.)

-1500: Egyptians bury their royalty in the Valley of the Kings.

-1500: Polynesians migrate throughout Pacific islands.

-1500: Submergence  of the stone  port city of  Dwarka near Gujarat,  where
early Brahmi  script, India's ancient alphabet,  is used. Recent excavation
by Dr. S.R. Rao. Larger than Mohenjo-daro, many identify it with the Dwarka
of Krishna.  Possible date of  Lord Krishna. Indicates  second urbanization
phase of India between Indus-Sarasvati  sites like Harappa and later cities
on the Ganga.

-1500: Indigenous iron technology in Dwarka and Kashmir.

-1500: Cinnamon is exported from Kerala to Middle East.

-1472:  Reign   of  Dhritarashtra,  father   of  the  Kauravas.   Reign  of
Yudhisthira, king of the Pandavas. Life  of Sage Yajnavalkya. Date based on
Mahabharata's  citation  of  winter  solstice  at  Dhanishtha, which occurs
around this time.

-1450: End of Rig Veda Samhita narration.

-1450:  Early Upanishads  are composed  during the  next few hundred years,
also Vedangas and Sutra literature.

-1424: Bharata battle is fought,  as related in the Mahabharata. (Professor
Subash Kak places  the battle at -2449. Other authors  give lower dates, up
to 9th century bce)

-1424: Birth of Parikshit, grandson of Arjuna, and next king.

-1350: At  Boghaz Koi in  Turkey, stone inscription  of the Mitanni  treaty
lists as  divine witnesses the Vedic  Deities Mitra, Varuna, Indra  and the
Nasatyas (Ashvins).

-1316: Mahabharata epic poem is composed by Sage Vyasa.

-1300: Panini composes Ashtadhyayi, systematizing Sanskrit grammar in 4,000
terse rules. (Date according to Roy.)

-1300: Changes  are made in the  Mahabharata and Ramayana through  200 bce.
Puranas are  edited up until  400 ce. Early  smriti literature is  composed
over next 400 years.

-1255:  King   Shuchi  of  Magadha   writes  Jyotisha  Vedanga,   including
astronomical  observations which  date this  scripture-that summer solstice
occurs in Ashlesha Nakshatra.

-1250: Moses leads 600,000 Jews out of Egypt.

-1200:  Probable  time  of  the  legendary  Greek  Trojan War celebrated in
Homer's epic poems, Iliad and Odyssey (ca -750).

-1124:  Elamite Dynasty  of  Nebuchadnezzar  (-1124-1103) moves  capital to
Babylon, world's  largest city, covering  10,000 hectares, slightly  larger
than present-day San Francisco.

-1000: Late Vedic period ends.  Post-Vedic period begins.

Hindu Timeline #2

-1000 to 1000

-1000: World population is 50 million, doubling every 500 years.

-975:  King Hiram  of Phoenicia,  for the  sake of  King Solomon of Israel,
trades  with  the  port  of  Ophir  (Sanskrit:  Supara) near modern Bombay,
showing  the  trade  between  Israel  and  India.  Same  trade goes back to
Harappan era.

-950: Jewish people arrive in India in King Solomon's merchant fleet. Later
Jewish colonies find India a tolerant home.

-950: Gradual  breakdown of Sanskrit as  a spoken language occurs  over the
next 200 years.

-925: Jewish King  David forms an empire in what  is present-day Israel and
Lebanon.

-900: Iron Age in India. Early use dates to at least -1500.

ca -900: Earliest records of the holy  city of Varanasi (one of the world's
oldest living cities) on the sacred river Ganga.

-900: Use of iron supplements bronze in Greece.

-850: The  Chinese are using  the 28-nakshatra zodiac  called Shiu, adapted
from the Hindu jyotisha system.

ca -800: Later Upanishads are recorded.

-800: Later smriti, secondary Hindu  scripture, is composed, elaborated and
developed during next 1,000 years.

-776: First Olympic Games are held in Greece.

-750: Prakrits,  vernacular or "natural"  languages, develop among  India's
common peoples.  Already flourishing in 500  bce , Pali and  other Prakrits
are chiefly known from Buddhist and Jain works composed at this time.

-750: Priestly Sanskrit is gradually refined over next 500 years, taking on
its classical form.

-700:  Life of  Zoroaster of  Persia, founder  of Zoroastrianism.  His holy
book, Zend Avesta, contains many verses  from the Rig and Atharva Veda. His
strong distinctions between good and evil set the dualistic tone of God and
devil which distinguishes all later Western religions.

-700: Early Smartism emerges from the syncretic Vedic brahminical (priestly
caste) tradition.  It flourishes today  as a liberal  sect alongside Saiva,
Vaishnava and Shakta sects.

-623-543: Life of Siddhartha Gautama, the  Buddha, born in Uttar Pradesh in
a princely  Shakya Saivite  family. (Date  by Sri  Lankan Buddhists. Indian
scholars say  -563-483. Mahayanists of  China and Japan  prefer -566-486 or
later.)

ca 600: Life of Sushruta, of Varanasi, the father of surgery. His ayurvedic
treatises  cover  pulse  diagnosis,  hernia,  cataract,  cosmetic  surgery,
medical  ethics,  121  surgical  implements,  antiseptics,  use of drugs to
control   bleeding,  toxicology,   psychiatry,  classification   of  burns,
midwifery, surgical anesthesia and therapeutics of garlic.

ca  -600: The  Ajivika sect,  an ascetic,  atheistic group  of naked sadhus
reputated for fierce  curses, is at its height,  continuing in Mysore until
the 14th century. Adversaries of both Buddha and Mahavira, their philosophy
is deterministic, holding that everything is inevitable.

ca -600: Lifetime of Lao-tzu, founder  of Taoism in China, author of Tao-te
Ching. Its esoteric teachings of  simplicity and selflessness shape Chinese
life  for 2,000  years and  permeate the  religions of  Vietnam, Japan  and
Korea.

-599-527:  Lifetime of  Mahavira Vardhamana,  24th Tirthankara  and revered
renaissance   Jain   master.   His   teachings   stress   strict  codes  of
vegetarianism,  asceticism and  nonviolence. (Some  date his  life 40 years
later. )

-560:  In  Greece,  Pythagoras   teaches  math,  music,  vegetarianism  and
yoga-drawing from India's wisdom ways.

-551-478:  Lifetime  of  Confucius,  founder  of  Confucianist  faith.  His
teachings on social ethics are the basis of Chinese education, ruling-class
ideology and religion.

-518:  Darius  I  of  Persia  (present  Iran)  invades  Indus  Valley. This
Zoroastrian king shows tolerance for local religions.

ca  -500: Lifetime  of Kapila,  founder  of  Sankhya Darshana,  one of  six
classical systems of Hindu philosophy.

ca -500: Dams to store water are constructed in India.

-500: World population  is 100 million. India population  is 25 million (15
million of whom live in the Ganga basin).

ca -500: Over the next 300 years  (according to the later dating of Muller)
numerous secondary Hindu scriptures  (smriti) are composed: Shrauta Sutras,
Grihya Sutras, Dharma Sutras, Mahabharata, Ramayana and Puranas, etc.

ca  -500: Tamil  Sangam age  (500 bce-500  ce) begins.  Sage Agastya writes
Agattiyam,  first  known  Tamil  grammar.  Tolkappiyar  writes  Tolkappiyam
Purananuru,  also on  grammar, stating   that he  is recording  thoughts on
poetry,  rhetoric,   etc.,  of  earlier   grammarians,  pointing  to   high
development  of  Tamil  language  prior  to  his  day.  He  gives rules for
absorbing Sanskrit words into Tamil. Other famous works from the Sangam age
are the poetical collections Paripadal, Pattuppattu, Ettuthokai Purananuru,
Akananuru, Aingurunuru, Padinenkilkanakku. Some refer to worship of Vishnu,
Indra, Murugan and Supreme Siva.

ca -486: Ajatashatru (reign -486-458) ascends Magadha throne.

-480: Ajita, a nastika (atheist)  who teaches a purely material explanation
of life and that death is final, dies.

-478:  Prince Vijaya,  exiled by   his father,  King Sinhabahu,  sails from
Gujarat  with  700  followers.  Founds  Singhalese  kingdom  in  Sri Lanka.
(Mahavamsa chronicle, ca 500.)

-450: Athenian philosopher Socrates flourishes (ca -470-400).

-428-348:  Lifetime of  Plato, Athenian  disciple of  Socrates. This  great
philosopher founds Athens Academy in -387.

ca  -400:  Panini  composes  his  Sanskrit  grammar, the Ashtadhyayi. (Date
accepted among most Western scholars.)

ca -400: Lifetime of Hippocrates, Greek physician and "father of medicine,"
formulates  Hippocratic  oath,  code  of  medical  ethics  still pledged by
present-day Western doctors.

ca -350: Rainfall is measured by Indian scientists.

-326: Alexander the Great of Greece invades, but fails to conquer, Northern
India.  His soldiers  mutiny. He  leaves India  the same  year. Greeks  who
remain  in  India  intermarry  with  Indians.  Interchanges  of  philosophy
influence both civilizations. Greek sculpture impacts Hindu styles. Bactria
kingdoms later enhance Greek influence.

30:  Chandragupta Maurya,  founder of  first pan-Indian  empire (-324-184),
defeats Greek garrisons  of Seleucus, founder of Seleucan  Empire in Persia
and Syria. At its height under Emperor Ashoka (reign -273-232), the Mauryan
Empire includes all India except the far South.

ca  -302:  Kautilya  (Chanakya),  minister  to  Chandragupta Maurya, writes
Arthashastra, a compendium of laws, administrative procedures and political
advice for running a kingdom.

-302: In Indica, Megasthenes, envoy to  King Seleucus, reveals to Europe in
colorful  detail the  wonders of   Mauryan India:  an opulent  society with
abundant  agriculture, engineered  irrigation and  7 castes:  philosophers,
farmers, soldiers, herdsmen, artisans, magistrates and counselors.

ca -300: Chinese discover cast iron, known in Europe by 1300 ce.

ca -300: Pancharatra Vaishnava sect is prominent. All later Vaishnava sects
are based  on the Pancharatra  beliefs (formalized by  Shandilya around 100
ce).

ca -300: Pandya  kingdom (-300-1700 ce) of S.  India is founded, constructs
magnificent  Minakshi temple  at its  capital, Madurai.  Builds temples  of
Shrirangam and Rameshvaram, with its thousand-pillared hall (ca 1600 ce).

-297: Emperor Chandragupta abdicates to become a Jain monk.

-273:  Ashoka  (-273-232  reign),  greatest  Mauryan  Emperor,  grandson of
Chandragupta, is coronated. Repudiating  conquest throgh violence after his
brutal invasion  of Kalinga, 260  bce, he converts  to Buddhism. Excels  at
public works and  sends diplomatic peace missions to  Persia, Syria, Egypt,
North Africa and Crete, and Buddhist missions to Sri Lanka, China and other
Southeast Asian  countries. Under his  influence, Buddhism becomes  a world
power.  His work  and teachings  are preserved  in Rock  and Pillar  Edicts
(e.g., lion capital of the  pillar at Sarnath, present-day India's national
emblem).

-251: Emperor Ashoka  sends his son Mahendra (-270-204)  to spread Buddhism
in  Sri Lanka,  where he  is to  this day  revered as  the national faith's
founding missionary.

ca  -250: Lifetime  of Maharishi   Nandinatha, first  known satguru  in the
Kailasa  Parampara of  the Nandinatha  Sampradaya. His  eight disciples are
Sanatkumar,  Shanakar,  Sanadanar,  Sananthanar,  Sivayogamuni,  Patanjali,
Vyaghrapada and Tirumular (Sundaranatha).

ca -221:  Great Wall of  China is built,  ultimately 2,600 miles  long, the
only man-made object visible from the moon.

ca -200: Lifetime  of Rishi Tirumular, shishya of  Maharishi Nandinatha and
author  of the  3,047-verse Tirumantiram,  a summation  of Saiva Agamas and
Vedas,  and concise  articulation of  the Nandinatha  Sampradaya teachings,
founding South India's monistic Saiva Siddhanta school.

ca -200: Lifetime of Patanjali, shishya of Nandinatha and gurubhai (brother
monk)  of Rishi  Tirumular. He  writes the  Yoga Sutras  at Chidambaram, in
South India.

ca  -200: Lifetime  of Bhogar  Rishi, one  of eighteen  Tamil siddhas. This
mystic  shapes  from  nine  poisons  the  Palaniswami  murti  enshrined  in
present-day Palani Hills temple in South India. Bhogar is either from China
or visits there.

ca  -200:  Lifetime  of  Saint  Tiruvalluvar,  poet-weaver  who  lived near
present-day Madras, author of Tirukural, "Holy Couplets," the classic Tamil
work  on  ethics  and  statecraft  (sworn  on  in  today's South Indian law
courts).

ca -200: Jaimini writes the Mimamsa Sutras.

ca  -150:  Ajanta  Buddhist  Caves  are  begun  near present-day Hyderabad.
Construction  of   the  29  monasteries   and  galleries  continues   until
approximately 650 ce. The famous murals are painted between 600 bce and 650
ce.

-145: Chola  Empire (-145-1300 ce)  of Tamil Nadu  is founded, rising  from
modest  beginnings  to  a  height  of  government organization and artistic
accomplishment, including the development of enormous irrigation works.

-140: Emperor Wu begins three-year reign of China; worship of
the Mother Goddess, Earth, attains importance.

-130:  Reign ends  of Menander  (Milinda), Indo-Greek  king who converts to
Buddhism.

-58: Vikrama Samvat Era Hindu calendar begins.

-50: Kushana  Empire begins (-50-220  ce). This Mongolian  Buddhist dynasty
rules  most of  the Indian  subcontinent, Afghanistan  and parts of Central
Asia.

ca -10:  Ilangovadikal, son of  King Cheralathan of  the Tamil Sangam  age,
writes the  outstanding epic Silappathikaram,  classical Tamil treatise  on
music and dance.

Western Calendar Begins. C.E. - Common Era

-4:  Jesus of  Nazareth (-4-30  ce), founder  of Christianity,  is born  in
Bethlehem (current Biblical scholarship).

10: World population is 170 million.  India population is 35 million: 20.5%
of world.

ca 50: South Indians occupy Funan, Indochina. Kaundinya, an Indian brahmin,
is first king. Shaivism is the state religion.

53:  Legend  records  Saint  Thomas'  death  in  Madras,  one of the twelve
Apostles  of  Christ  and  founder  of  the  Church  of  the Syrian Malabar
Christians (Syrian Rite) in Goa.

ca 60:  Buddhism is introduced in  China by Emperor Ming  Di (reign: 58-76)
after  he converts  to the  faith. Brings  two monks  from India  who erect
temple at modern Honan.

ca 75: A Gujarat prince named Ajishaka invades Java.

78: Shaka Hindu calendar begins.

ca 80:  Jains divide, on points  of rules for monks,  into the Shvetambara,
"white-clad," and the Digambara, "sky-clad."

ca  80-180: Lifetime  of Charaka.  Court physician  of the  Kushan king, he
formulates a  code of conduct  for doctors of  ayurveda and writes  Charaka
Samhita, a manual of medicine.

ca 100: Lifetime of Shandilya,  first systematic promulgator of the ancient
Pancharatra doctrines, whose Bhakti Sutras, devotional aphorisms on Vishnu,
inspire  a  Vaishnava  renaissance.  The   Samhita  of  Shandilya  and  his
followers, the Pancharatra Agama, embody the chief doctrines of present-day
Vaishnavas. By the  10th century the popular sect  leaves permanent mark on
many Hindu schools.

100: Zhang Qian of China establishes trade  routes to India and as far west
as Rome, later known as the "Silk Roads."

105: Paper is invented in China.

117: The Roman Empire reaches its greatest extent.

125: Shatakarni (ca 106-130 reign) of Andhra's Satavahana

(-70-225) dynasty destroys Shaka kingdom of Gujarat.

ca 175:  Greek astronomer Ptolemy, known  as Asura Maya in  India, explains
solar astronomy, Surya Siddhanta, to Indian  students of the science of the
stars.

180:  Mexican city  of Teotihuacan   has 100,000  population and  covers 11
square miles. Grows to 250,000 by 500 ce.

ca 200:  Lifetime of Lakulisha, famed  guru who leads a  reformist movement
within Pashupata Saivism.

ca 200: Hindu kingdoms established in Cambodia and Malaysia.

205-270: Lifetime of Plotinus, Egyptian-born monistic Greek philosopher and
religious genius who transforms a revival  of Platonism in the Roman Empire
into what present-day scholars  call Neoplatonism, which greatly influences
Islamic  and European  thought.  He  teaches ahimsa,  vegetarianism, karma,
reincarnation   and  belief   in  a   Supreme  Being,   both  immanent  and
transcendent.

ca  250:  Pallava  dynasty  (ca  250-885)  is  established  in  Tamil Nadu,
responsible for  building Kailasa Kamakshi Temple  complex at their capital
of Kanchi and the great 7th-century stone monuments at Mahabalipuram.

ca 275: Buddhist moastery Mahavihara is founded in Anuradhapura, capital of
Sri Lanka.

350: Imperial  Gupta dynasty (320-540)  flourishes. During this  "Classical
Age" norms of literature, art, architecture and philosophy are established.
This  North  Indian  empire  promotes  Vaishnavism  and  Saivism and,at its
height,  rules or  receives tribute  from nearly  all India.  Buddhism also
thrives under tolerant Gupta rule.

ca 350: Lifetime of Kalidasa, the great Sanskrit poet and dramatist, author
of Shakuntala and Meghaduta. (The traditional date, offered by Prof. Subash
Kak, is 50 bce.)

ca  350: Licchavi  dynasty (ca  350-900) establishes  Hindu rule  in Nepal.
Small kingdom becomes the major  intellectual and commercial center between
South and Central Asia

358:  Huns,  excellent  archers  and  horsemen  possibly of Turkish origin,
invade Europe from the East.

375: Maharaja Chandragupta II  Vikramaditya, greatest Hindu monarch, reigns
to 413,  expanding the prosperous  Gupta empire northward  beyond the Indus
River.

391: Roman  Emperor Theodosius destroys Greek  Hellenistic temples in favor
of Christianity.

ca  400: Laws  of Manu  (Manu Dharma  Shastras) written.  Its 2,685  verses
codify cosmogony,  four ashramas, government,  domestic affairs, caste  and
morality (others date at -600).

ca 400: Polynesians sailing in open outrigger canoes reach as far as Hawaii
and Easter Island.

ca 400: Shaturanga, Indian forerunner of chess, has evolved from Ashtapada,
a board-based race  game, into a  four-handed war game  played with a  die.
Later, in  deference to the  Laws of Manu,  which forbid gambling,  players
discard the die and create Shatranj, a two-sided strategy game.

ca 400: Vatsyayana writes Kamasutra, famous text on erotics.

419: Moche people of Peru build a Sun temple 150 feet high using 50 million
bricks.

438-45:  Council  of  Ferrara-Florence,  Italy,  strengthens Roman Catholic
stance against doctrine of reincarnation.

ca 440:  Ajanta cave frescoes (long  before Islam) depict Buddha  as Prince
Siddhartha, wearing  "chudidara pyjama" and a  prototype of the present-day
"Nehru shirt."

450-535:  Life of  Bodhidharma of  South India,  28th patriarch  of India's
Dhyana Buddhist  sect, founder of Ch'an  Buddhism in China (520),  known as
Zen in Japan.

ca 450: Hephtalite invasions (ca 450-565) take a great toll in North India.
These  "white Huns"  (or Hunas)  from  China  are probably  not related  to
Europe's Hun invaders.

ca 450: As  the Gupta Empire declines, Indian  sculptural style evolves and
continues  until the  16th century.  The trend  is away  from the  swelling
modeled forms of the Gupta period toward increasing flatness and linearity.

453: Attila the Hun dies after lifetime of plundering Europe.

499: Aryabhata  I (476-ca 550), Indian  astronomer and mathematician, using
Hindu (aka Arabic) numerals accurately calculates  pi () to 3.1416, and the
solar  year  to  365.3586805  days.  A  thousand  years  before Copernicus,
Aryabhata  propounds  a  heliocentric  universe  with elliptically orbiting
planets and a spherical Earth spinning on its axis, explaining the apparent
rotation of the heavens. Writes  Aryabhatiya, history's first exposition on
plane and spherical trigonometry, algebra and arithmetic.

ca 500: Mahavamsa,  chronicling Sri Lankan history from  -500 is written in
Pali, probably by Buddhist monk  Mahanama. A sequel, Chulavamsha, continues
the history to 1500.

ca 500:  Sectarian folk traditions  are revised, elaborated  and reduced to
writing as  the Puranas, Hinduism's encyclopedic  compendium of culture and
mythology.

500: World population is 190 million. India population is 50 million: 26.3%
of world.

510: Hephtalite  Mihirakula from beyond  Oxus River crushes  imperial Gupta
power. Soon controls much of N.C. India.

ca 533:  Yashovarman of Malva and  Ishanavarman of Kanauj defeat  and expel
the Hephtalites from North India.

ca  543: Pulakeshin  I founds  Chalukya Dynasty  (ca 543-757;  975-1189) in
Gujarat and later in larger areas of West India.

548: Emperor Kimmei officially recognizes  Buddhism in Japan by accepting a
gift image of Buddha from Korea.

553:  Council  of  Constantinople  II  denies  doctrine of soul's existence
before  conception, implying  reincarnation is  incompatible with Christian
belief.

565: The Turks and Persians defeat the Hephtalites.

570-632:  Lifetime  of  Mohammed,  preacher  of  the  Quraysh Bedoin tribe,
founder of  Islam. Begins to  preach in  Mecca,  calling for an  end to the
"demons and idols"  of Arab religion and conversion to  the ways of the one
God, Allah.

ca 590-671:  Lifetime of Saiva  saint Nayanar Tirunavukkarasu,  born into a
farmer family at Amur, now in South Arcot, Tamil Nadu. He writes 312 songs,
totalling 3,066 Tirumurai  verses. Cleaning the grounds of  every temple he
visits, he exemplifies truly humble service to Lord Siva. His contemporary,
the child-saint  Nayanar Sambandar, addresses him  affectionately as Appar,
"father."

ca  598-665: Lifetime  of  Brahmagupta,  preeminent Indian  astronomer, who
writes  on gravity  and sets  forth the  Hindu astronomical  system in  his
Brahma  Sphuta   Siddhanta.  Two  of  25   chapters  are  on  sophisticated
mathematics.

ca  600: Religiously  tolerant  Pallava  King Narasinhavarman  builds China
Pagoda, a Buddhist temple, at the  Nagapatam port for Chinese merchants and
visiting monks.

ca 610: Muhammed begins prophecies, flees to Mecca in 622.

ca 600-900: Twelve  Vaishnava Alvar saints of Tamil  Nadu flourish, writing
4,000 songs and poems (assembled in their cannon Nalayira Divya Prabandham)
praising Narayana, Rama and narrating the love of Krishna and the gopis.

ca  600: Life  of Banabhatta,  Shakta master  of Sanskrit  prose, author of
Harshacharita (story of Harsha) and Kadambari.

606:  Buddhist Harshavardhana,  reigning 606-644,  establishes first  great
kingdom after the Hephtalite invasions,  eventually ruling all India to the
Narmada River in the South.

ca 630: Vagbhata writes Ashtanga Sangraha on ayurveda.

630-34:  Chalukya Pulakeshin  II becomes  Lord of  South India by defeating
Harshavardhana, Lord of the North.

630-44: Chinese pilgrim Hiuen-Tsang (Huan Zang) travels in India, recording
voluminous observations.  Population of Varanasi  is 10,000, mostly  Saiva.
Nalanda Buddhist  university (his biographer writes)  has 10,000 residents,
including 1,510 teachers, and thousands of manuscripts.

641-45: Arab Muslims conquer Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia.

ca 650: Lifetime of Nayanar Saiva  saint irujnana Sambandar. Born a brahmin
in Tanjavur,  he writes 384 songs  totalling 4,158 verses that  make up the
first three  books of Tirumurai. At  16, he disappears into  the sanctum of
Nallur temple, near Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu.

ca 650: More than 60 Chinese monks have traveled to India and her colonies.
Four hundred Sanskrit works have  been translated into Chinese, 380 survive
to the present day.

686-705:  Reign of  Pallava King  Rajasinha. He  inherits the stone-carving
legacy of Emperor Mahendra and his  son, Narasinha, who began the extensive
sculptural art in the thriving sea-port of Mahabalipuram.

ca  700: Over  the next  100 years  the Indonesian  island of Bali receives
Hinduism from its neighbor, Java.

712: Muslims  conquer Sind region (Pakistan),  providing base for pillaging
expeditions that drain North India's wealth.

732: French prevent Muslim conquest  of Europe, stopping Arabs at Poitiers,
France, the NW limit of Arab penetration.

739: Chalukya armies beat back Arab  Muslim invasions at Navasari in modern
Maharashtra.

ca750-1159: Pala dynasty arises in Bihar  and Bengal, last royal patrons of
Buddhism, which they help establish in Tibet.

ca 750: Kailasa temple is carved out of a hill of rock at Ellora.

ca  750:  Hindu  astronomer  and  mathematician  travels  to  Baghdad, with
Brahmagupta's Brahma Siddhanta (treatise  on astronomy) which he translates
into Arabic, bestowing decimal notation and use of zero on Arab world.

ca  750:  Lifetime  of  Bhavabhuti,  Sanskrit  dramatist,  second  only  to
Kalidasa. Writes Malati Madhava, a Shakta work.

ca 750: Valmiki writes 29,000-verse Yoga Vasishtha.

ca 750:  A necklace timepiece,  kadikaram in Tamil,  is worn by  an Emperor
(according to scholar M. Arunachalam).

788: Adi Shankara (788-820) is born  in Malabar, famous monk philosopher of
Smarta  tradition  who  writes  mystic  poems  and  scriptural commentaries
including  Viveka Chudamani,  and  regularizes  ten monastic  orders called
Dashanami. Preaches Mayavada Advaita, emphasizing the world as illusion and
God as the sole Reality.

ca  800: Bhakti  revival curtails  Buddhism in  South India.  In the North,
Buddha is revered as Vishnu's 9th incarnation.

ca 800:  Life of Nammalvar, greatest  of Alvar saints. His  poems shape the
beliefs of Southern Vaishnavas to the present day.

ca  800:  Lifetime  of  Vasugupta,  modern  founder  of  Kashmir Saivism, a
monistic, meditative school.

ca 800: Lifetime  of Auvaiyar, woman saint of Tamil  Nadu, great devotee of
Lord Ganesha and author of Auvai  Kural. She is associated with the Lambika
kundalini school.  (A second date for  Auvaiyar of 200 bce  is from a story
about  Auvaiyar  and  Saint  Tiruvalluvar  as  siblings.  A  third Auvaiyar
reference is dated at approximately 1000. (Auvaiyar is a Tamil word meaning
"old,  learned  woman;"  some  believe  it  may  refer  to  three different
persons.)

ca 800: Lifetime of Karaikkal Ammaiyar, one of the 63 Saiva saints of Tamil
Nadu.  Her mystical  and yogic  hymns, preserved  in the  Tirumurai, remain
popular to the present day.

ca 825:  Nayanar Tamil saint  Sundarar is born  into a family  of Adishaiva
temple priests in Tirunavalur in present-day  South Arcot. His 100 songs in
praise  of Siva  (the only  ones  surviving  of his  38,000 songs)  make up
Tirumurai book  7. His Tiru Tondattohai  poem, naming the Saiva  saints, is
the basis for Saint Sekkilar's Periyapuranam.

ca 800:  Lifetime of Andal,  woman saint of  Tamil Nadu. Writes  devotional
poetry to Lord Krishna, disappears at age 16.

ca 825: Vasugupta discovers the rock-carved Siva Sutras.

846: Vijayalaya  reestablishes his Chola  dynasty, which over  the next 100
years grows and  strengthens into one of the  greatest South Indian Empires
ever known.

ca 850: Shri Vaishnava sect established in Tamil Nadu by Acharya Nathamuni,
forerunner of great theologian Ramanuja.

ca  850:  Life  of  Manikkavasagar,   Saiva  Samayacharya  saint,  born  in
Tiruvadavur,  near  Madurai,  into  a  Tamil  brahmin  family. Writes famed
Tiruvasagam, 51 poems of 656 verses  in 3,394 lines, chronicling the soul's
evolution  to  God  Siva.  Tirupalli-eluchi  and  Tiruvembavai  are classic
examples of his innovative style of devotional songs.

875: Muslim conquests extend from Spain to Indus Valley.

885: Cholas kill Aparajita, king of the Pallavas, in battle.

ca 900: Lifetime of Matsyendranatha, exponent of the Natha sect emphasizing
kundalini yoga practices.

ca 900:  Under the Hindu  Malla dynasty (ca  900-1700) of Nepal,  legal and
social codes  influenced by Hinduism  are introduced. Nepal  is broken into
several principalities.

ca 900-1001: Lifetime  of Sembiyan Ma Devi, queen  of Maharaja Gandaraditta
Chola  from 950-957  and loyal  patron of  Saivism, builds  ten temples and
inspires and molds her grand-nephew prince,  son of Sundara Chola, into the
great temple-builder, Emperor Rajaraja I.

900: Mataramas dynasty  in Indonesia reverts to Saivism  after a century of
Buddhism, building 150 Saiva temples.

ca  950: Lifetime  of Gorakshanatha,  Natha yogi  who founds  the order  of
Kanphatha Yogis and Gorakshanatha  Saivism, the philosophical school called
Siddha Siddhanta.

ca 950-1015: Lifetime of Kashmir Saiva guru Abhinavagupta.

960:  Chola King  Vira, after  having a  vision of  Siva Nataraja  dancing,
commences  enlargement of  the Siva  temple at  Chidambaram, including  the
construction  of the  gold-roofed shrine.  The enlargement  is completed in
1250 ce.

985: Rajaraja I (reign 985-1014) ascends  the South Indian Chola throne and
ushers  in  a  new  age  of  temple  architecture  exemplified at Tanjavur,
Darasuram, Tirubhuvanam  and Chidambaram. Pallava  architectural influences
(dominant vimanas, inconspicuous gopuras) fade.

ca  1000: Gorakshanatha  writes Siddha  Siddhanta Paddhati,  "Tracks on the
Doctrines  of the  Adepts." The  nature of  God and  universe, structure of
chakras, kundalini force  and methods for realization are  explained in 353
verses.

Hindu Timeline #3

1000ce to 1500

1000:  World population  is 265  million. India  population is  79 million,
29.8% of world.

ca 1000: A few Hindu communities from Rajasthan, Sindh and other areas, the
ancestors of present-day  Romani, or Gypsies, gradually move  to Persia and
on to Europe.

ca 1000: Vikings reach North America, landing in Nova Scotia.

ca  1000: Polynesians  arrive in  New Zealand,  last stage  in the greatest
migration  and   navigational  feat  in  history,   making  them  the  most
widely-spread race on Earth.

1001: Turkish Muslims  sweep through the Northwest under  Mahmud of Ghazni,
defeating Jayapala of Hindu Shahi Dynasty  of S. Afghanisthan and Punjab at
Peshawar. This is the first major Muslim conquest in India.

ca 1010: Tirumurai, Tamil devotional hymns of Saiva saints, is collected as
an anthology by Nambiandar Nambi.

1017:  Mahmud of  Ghazni sacks   Mathura, birthplace  of Lord  Krishna, and
establishes a mosque on the site during  one of his 17 Indian invasions for
holy war and plunder.

1017-1137: Life of Ramanuja of Kanchipuram, Tamil philosopher-saint of Shri
Vaishnava sect that  continues bhakti tradition of S.  Indian Alvar saints.
His strongly  theistic nondual Vishishtadvaita  Vedanta philosophy restates
Pancharatra tradition.  Foremost opponent of Shankara's  system, he dies at
age 120 while head of Shrirangam monastery.

1018-1060: Lifetime of Bhojadeva Paramara,  Gujarati king, poet, artist and
monistic Saiva Siddhanta theologian.

1024: Mahmud of Ghazni plunders  Somanath Siva temple, destroying the Linga
and  killing  50,000  Hindu  defenders.  He  later  builds  a mosque on the
remaining walls.

1025: Chola ruler Maharaja Rajendra I sends victorious naval expeditions to
Burma,  Malaysia and  Indonesia,  initiating  decline of  Mahayana Buddhist
empire of Shrivijaya.

ca 1040: Chinese  invent the compass and moveable type  and perfect the use
of gunpowder, first  invented and used in India as  an explosive mixture of
saltpetre, sulfur and charcoal to power guns, cannons and artillery.

ca  1050: Lifetime  of Shrikantha,   promulgator of  Siva Advaita,  a major
philosophical school of Saivism.

ca 1130-1200: Lifetime of Nimbarka, Telegu founder of the Vaishnava Nimandi
sect holding the philosophy of dvaitadvaita, dual-nondualism. He introduces
the worship  of Krishna together with  consort Radha. (Present-day Nimavats
revere Vishnu Himself, in the form  of the Hamsa Avatara, as the originator
of their sect.)

ca  1130: Lifetime  of Sekkilar,  Tamil chief  minister under Chola Emperor
Kulottunga II  (reign 1133-1150) and  author of Periyapuranam,  4,286-verse
epic  biography (hagiography)  of the  63  Saiva  saints and  12th book  of
Tirumurai.

ca  1150: Life  of Basavanna,  renaissance  guru  of the  Vira Saiva  sect,
stressing  free will,  equality, service   to humanity  and worship  of the
Sivalinga worn around the neck.

ca  1150:  Khmer  ruler  Suryavarman  II  completes  Angkor  Wat temple (in
present-day Cambodia), where his body is later entombed and worshiped as an
embodiment  of Vishnu.  This largest  Hindu temple  in Asia  is 12 miles in
circumference, with a 200-foot high central tower.

ca 1162: Mahadevi is born, female  Saiva ascetic saint of Karnataka, writes
350 majestic and mystical poems.

1175: Toltec Empire of Mexico crumbles.

1185: Mohammed of Ghur conquers Punjab and Lahore.

1191: Eisai founds Rinzai Zen sect in Japan after study in China.

1193:  Qutb   ud-Din  Aybak  founds   first  Muslim  Sultanate   of  Delhi,
establishing the Mamluk Dynasty (1193-1290).

1197: Great Buddhist university of  Nalanda is destroyed by Muslim Ikhtiyar
ud-din.

1200: All of North India is under Muslim domination.

1200: India population reaches 80 million.

ca 1200: An unknown author writes Yoga Yajnavalkya.

1215: King John is forced to sign the Magna Carta, giving greater rights to
citizens in England.

1227:  Mongolian  Emperor  Genghis  Khan,  conqueror  of  a  vast area from
Beijing, China,  to Iran and north  of Tibet, the largest  empire the world
has yet seen, dies.

1230-60: Surya temple at Konarak, Orissa, India, is constructed.

1238-1317: Lifetime  of Ananda Tirtha, Madhva,  venerable Vaishnava dualist
and  opponent of  Shankara's mayavadin  advaita philosophy.  He composes 37
works and founds Dvaita Vedanta school, the Brahma Vaishnava Sampradaya and
its eight monasteries, ashtamatha, in Udupi.

ca 1250: Lifetime of Meykandar, Saiva saint who founds the Meykandar school
of  pluralistic  Saiva  Siddhanta,  of  which  his 12-sutra Sivajnanabodham
becomes its core scripture.

1260: Meister Eckhart, the German mystic, is born.

1268-1369: Lifetime of Vedanta Deshikar,  gifted Tamil scholar and poet who
founds sect of Vaishnavism called Vadakalai, headquartered at Kanchipuram.

1270-1350:  Lifetime  of  Namadeva,  foremost  poet  saint of Maharashtra's
Varkari  ("pilgrim") Vaishnava  school, disciple  of Jnanadeva.  He and his
family compose a million verses in praise of Lord Vithoba (Vishnu).

1272: Marco Polo visits India en route to China.

1274: Council  of Lyons II  declares that souls  go immediately to  heaven,
purgatory  or  hell;  interpreted  by  Catholic  fathers  as condemning the
doctrine of reincarnation.

1275-96: Lifetime  of Jnanadeva, Natha-trained Vaishnava  saint, founder of
the Varkari school,  who writes Jnaneshvari, a Marathi  verse commentary on
Bhagavad Gita, which becomes Maharashtra's most popular book.

1279:  Muktabai  is  born,  Maharashtrian  Varkari  saint and Natha yogini,
writes 100 sacred verses.

1280: Mongol (Yuen) dynasty (1280-1368) begins in China, under which occurs
the last of much translation work into Chinese from Sanskrit.

1296: Ala-ud-din, second king of Khalji  dynasty, rules most of India after
his  General  Kafur  conquers  the  South,  extending  Muslim  dominion  to
Rameshwaram.

ca 1300:  Lifetime of Janabai, Maharashtrian  Varkari Vaishnava woman saint
who writes a portion of Namadeva's million verses to Vithoba (Vishnu).

ca 1300: The Ananda Samucchaya is  written, 277 stanzas on hatha yoga, with
discussion of the chakras and the nadis.

1300: Muslim conquerors reach Cape Comorin at the southernmost tip of India
and build a mosque there.

1317-72:  Life  of  Lalla  of  Kashmir.  Saiva  renunciate,  mystic poetess
contributes significantly to the Kashmiri language.

1336:  Vijayanagara  Empire  (1336-1565-1646)  of  South  India is founded.
European  visitors are  overwhelmed by  the wealth  and advancement  of its
17-square-mile capital.

1345: Aztecs establish great civilization in Mexico.

1346-90: Life of Krittivasa, translator of Ramayana into Bengali.

1347:  Plague called  the Black  Death spreads  rapidly, killing 75 million
worldwide before it recedes in 1351.

ca 1350: Svatmarama writes Hatha Yoga Pradipika.

ca 1350: Lifetime  of Appaya Dikshita, South Indian  philosoper saint whose
writings reconcile  Vaishnavism and Saivism.  He advances Siva  Advaita and
other Saiva schools and compiles a temple priests' manual still used today.

1398: Tamerlane (Timur)  invades India with 90,000 cavalry  and sacks Delhi
because its Muslim Sultanate is too tolerant of Hindu idolatry. A Mongolian
follower of Sufism, he is one of the most ruthless of all conquerors.

1399: Hardwar, Ganga pilgrimage town, is sacked by Timur.

ca 1400: Goraksha Upanishad is written.

1414: Hindu prince Parameshvara of Malaysia converts to Islam.

1414-80: Life of Gujarati Vaishnava poet-saint Narasinha Mehta.

1415:  Bengali  poet-singer  Baru  Chandidas  writes  Shrikrishnakirtana, a
collection of exquisite songs praising Krishna.

1429: Joan of Arc, age 17, leads the French to victory over the English.

ca  1433: China  cloisters itself   from outside  world by  banning further
voyages to the West. (First bamboo curtain.)

1440-1518: Lifetime of  Kabir, Vaishnava reformer with who  has both Muslim
and  Hindu followers.  (His Hindi   songs remain  immensely popular  to the
present day.)

ca  1440:  Johannes  Gutenberg  (ca  1400-1468)  invents  the  West's first
moveable-type printing press in Germany.

1450?-1547:  Lifetime  of  Mirabai,  Vaishnava  Rajput  princess saint who,
married at an early age to the  Rana of Udaipur, devotes herself to Krishna
and later renounces  worldly life to wander India  singing to Him beautiful
mystic compositions that are sung to the present day.

1469-1538:  Lifetime  of  Guru  Nanak,  founder  of  Sikhism,  originally a
reformist Hindu sect  stressing devotion, faith in the  guru, repetition of
God's  name and  rejection of  renunciation and  caste. (Most  Sikhs in the
present day consider themselves members of a separate religion.)

1478: Spanish Inquisition  begins. Over the next 20  years, Christians burn
several thousand persons at the stake.

1479-1531: Lifetime  of Vallabhacharya, a married  Telegu brahmin saint who
teaches  pushtimarga,  "path  of  love,"  and  a  lofty nondual philosophy,
Shuddhadvaita  Vedanta,  in  which  souls  are  eternally one with Brahman.
Vallabhacharya's Vaishnavism worships Krishna in the form of Shri Nathji.

1483-1563: Lifetime of Surdas, sightless Hindi bard of Agra, whose hymns to
Krishna are compiled in the Sursagar.

1486-143:  Life of  Chaitanya, Bengali  founder of  popular Vaishnava  sect
which  proclaims  Krishna  Supreme  God  and  emphasizes  sankirtan,  group
chanting and dancing.

1492: Looking for India, Christopher  Columbus lands on San Salvador island
in  the Caribbean,  thus "discovering"  the Americas  and proving  that the
earth is round, not flat.

1498: Portugal's Vasco  da Gama sails around Cape of  Good Hope to Calicut,
Kerala, first European to find sea route to India.

ca 1500: Life of Arunagirinathar,  Tamil saint, author of Tiruppugal hymns;
emphasizes  feeding  the  hungry  during  a  timeof  Muslim  oppression and
disrupted family life.

ca 1500: Buddhist  and Saiva Hindu princes are forced  off Java by invading
Muslims.  They  resettle  on   neighboring  Bali,  with  their  overlapping
priesthoods and vast royal courts:  poets, dancers, musicians and artisans.
Within 100 years they construct what many call a fairytale kingdom.

Hindu Timeline #4

1500 to 1800ce

1500: World population 425 million; 105 million live in India.

1503-1566:  Lifetime of  Nostradamus, French  physician and  astrologer who
wrote Centuries (1555), a book of prophecies.

1509-1529: Reign of Maharaja Krishnadevaraya  of the Vijayanagara Empire in
Andhra Pradesh.

1510: Portuguese Catholics  conquer Goa to serve as  capital of their Asian
maritime empire, beginning conquest and exploitation of India by Europeans.

1517: Luther begins Protestant reformation in Europe.

ca  1520:  Poet-saint  Purandardas  (1480-1564)  of  the Vijayanagara court
systematizes Karnatak music.

1526: Mughal  conqueror Babur (1483-1530)  defeats the Sultan  of Delhi and
captures  the Koh-i-noor  diamond. Occupying  Delhi, by  1529 he founds the
Indian Mughal Empire (1526-1761), consolidated by his grandson Akbar.

1528: Emperor Babur  destroys temple at Lord Rama's  birthplace in Ayodhya,
erects Muslim masjid, or monument.

1532-1623:   Life   of   Monk-poet   Tulasidasa.  Writes  Ramacharitamanasa
(1574-77),  greatest  medieval  Hindi  literature  (based  on Ramayana). It
advances Rama worship in the North.

1542: Portuguese Jesuit priest  Francis Xavier (1506-1552), most successful
Catholic missionary, lands in Goa. First  to train and employ native clergy
in conversion  efforts, he brings Christianity  to India, Malay Archipelago
and Japan.

1544-1603: Life of  Dadu, ascetic saint of Gujarat,  founder of Dadupantha,
which is guided by his Bani poems in Hindi.

1556: Akbar (1542-1605), grandson of Babur, becomes third Mughal Emperor at
age  13.  Disestablishes  Islam  as  state  religion  and  declares himself
impartial ruler  of Hindus and Muslims;  encourages art, culture, religious
tolerance.

1565: Muslim forces defeat and completely destroy the city of Vijayanagara.
Empire's final collapse comes in 1646.

1565:  Polish astronomer  Copernicus' (1473-1543)  Heliocentric system,  in
which  the  Earth  orbits  the   sun,  gains  popularity  in  Europe  among
astronomers and mathematicians.

1569: Akbar  captures fortress of  Ranthambor, ending Rajput  independence.
Soon controls nearly all of Rajasthan.

ca 1570:  Ekanatha (1533-99), Varkari Vaishnava  saint and mystic composer,
edits  Jnanadeva's Jnaneshvari  and translates  Bhagavata Purana, advancing
Marathi language.

1588:  British ships  defeat the  Spanish Armada  off the  coast of Calais,
France, to become rulers of the high seas.

1589: Akbar rules half of India, shows tolerance for all faiths.

1595: Construction is begun on Chidambaram Temple's Hall of a

Thousand Pillars in South India, completed in 1685.

ca  1600: "Persian  wheel" to  lift water  by oxen  is adopted,  one of few
farming innovations since Indus Valley civilization.

1600:  Royal Charter  forms the  East India  Company, setting  in motion  a
process that ultimately  results in the subjugation of  India under British
rule.

1603-4: Guru Arjun compiles Adi Granth, Sikh scripture.

1605: Akbar  the Great dies  at age  63.  His son Jahangir  succeeds him as
fourth Mughal Emperor.

1605:  Sikh Golden  Temple (Harimandir)  at Amritsar,  Punjab, is finished,
completely covered with gold leaf.

1608-49: Lifetime of Tukaram, beloved  Varkari sant famed for his abhangas,
"unbroken  hymns,"  to  Krishna.   Considered  greatest  Marathi  spiritual
composer.

1608-81: Lifetime of Ramdas, mystic poet, Sivaji's guru, Marathi saint, who
gives Hindus the dhvaja, saffron flag.

1610: Galileo  of Italy (1564-1642)  perfects the telescope,  with which he
confirms  the  Copernican  theory.  Condemned  a  heretic  by  the Catholic
Inquisition for his discoveries.

1613-14: British East India Company sets up trading post at Surat.

1615-18: Mughals  grant Britain right  to trade and  establish factories in
exchange for  English navy's protection  of the Mughal  Empire, which faces
Portuguese sea power.

1619: Jaffna kingdom  is annexed and Sri Lanka's  ruling dynasty deposed by
Portuguese  Catholics  who,  between  1505  and  1658,  destroy most of the
island's Hindu temples.

1619: First black slaves from Africa are sold in the USA.

1620: European pilgrims land and settle at Plymouth Rock, US.

1627-80:  Life of  Sivaji, valiant  general and  tolerant founder  of Hindu
Maratha Empire (1674-1818). Emancipates large areas confiscated by Muslims,
returning them to Hindu control. First  Indian ruler to build a major naval
force.

ca 1628-88: Lifetime of Kumaraguruparar,  prolific poet-saint of Tamil Nadu
who founds monastery in Varanasi to propound Saiva Siddhanta philosophy.

1630:  Over the  next two  years, millions  starve to  death as  Shah Jahan
(1592-1666), fifth Mughal Emperor, empties the royal treasury to buy jewels
for his "Peacock Throne."

1647:  Shah Jahan  completes Taj  Mahal in  Agra beside  Yamuna River.  Its
construction  has  taken  20,000  laborers   15  years,  at  a  total  cost
equivalence of US$25 million.

1649: Red Fort is completed in Delhi by Shah Jahan.

ca  1650: Dharmapuram  Aadheenam,  Saiva  monastery, founded  near Mayuram,
South India, by Guru Jnanasambandar.

ca 1650:  Robert de Nobili (1577-1656),  Portuguese Jesuit missionary noted
for fervor and intolerance, arrives in Madurai, declares himself a brahmin,
dresses like a Hindu monk and composes Veda-like scripture extolling Jesus.

ca 1650: Two yoga classics, Siva Samhita and Gheranda Samhita, are written.

1654:  A  Tamil  karttanam  is  written  and  sung  to  celebrate  recovery
installation of Tiruchendur's Murugan murti.

1658:  Zealous Muslim  Aurangzeb  (1618-1707)  becomes Mughal  Emperor. His
discriminatory  policies toward  Hindus, Marathas  and the  Deccan kingdoms
contribute to the dissolution of the Mughal Empire by 1750.

1660:  Frenchman Francois  Bernier reports  India's peasantry  is living in
misery under Mughal rule.

1664: Great Plague of London kills 70,000, 15% of the population.

1675: Aurangzeb executes Sikh Guru  Tegh Bahadur, beginning the Sikh-Muslim
feud that continues to this day.

1679: Aurangzeb levies Jizya tax on non-believers, Hindus.

1688: Mughal Emperor  Aurangzeb demolishes all temples in  Mathura, said to
number  1,000. (During  their reign,  Muslim rulers  destroy roughly 60,000
Hindu temples throughout India, constructing mosques on 3,000 sites.)

1700: World population is 610 million. India population is 165 million: 27%
of world.

1705-42:  Lifetime of  Tayumanavar, Tamil  Saiva poet  saint and devotional
yogic philosopher of Tiruchirappalli.

1708: Govind Singh, tenth and last Sikh guru, is assassinated.

1708-37: Jai  Singh II builds astronomical  observatories in Delhi, Jaipur,
Ujjain, Benares and Mathura.

1718-75: Lifetime of Ramprasad, Bengali Shakta poet-saint.

1722: Peter the Great rules in Russia.

ca  1725: Jesuit  Father Hanxleden   compiles first  Sanskrit grammar  in a
European language.

ca  1750:  Shakta  songs  of  Bengali  poets  Ramprasad Sen and Kamalakanta
Bhattacharya glorify Her as loving Mother and Daughter and stimulate a rise
in devotional Shaktism.

1751: Robert Clive, age 26, seizes Arcot in modern Tamil Nadu as French and
British fight for control of South India.

1760: Saiva sannyasis fight Vaishnava  vairagis in tragic battle at Hardwar
Kumbha Mela; 18,000 monks are killed.

1760: Eliezer (Besht), liberal founder of Hasidic Judaism, dies.

1761:  Afghan army  of Ahmad  Shah Durrani  routs Hindu  Maratha forces  at
Panipat, ending Maratha hegemony in North  India. As many as 200,000 Hindus
are said to have died in the strategic eight-hour battle.

1764: British  defeat the weak Mughal  Emperor to become rulers  of Bengal,
richest province of India.

1769: Prithivi  Narayan Shah, ruler of  Gorkha principality, conquers Nepal
Valley; moves  capital to Kathmandu, establishing  present-day Hindu nation
of Nepal.

ca 1770-1840:  Life of Rishi  from the Himalayas,  guru of Kadaitswami  and
first  historically known  satguru of  the Nandinatha  Sampradaya's Kailasa
Parampara since Tirumular.

1773:  British East  India Company  obtains monopoly  on the production and
sale of opium in Bengal.

ca 1780-1830:  Golden era of  Karnatik music. Composers  include Tyagaraja,
Dikshitar and Shastri.

1781: George Washington defeats British at Yorktown, US.

1781-1830:   Lifetime  of   Sahajanandaswami,  Gujarati   founder  of   the
Swaminarayan sect (with 1.5 million followers today).

1784: Judge and linguist Sir  William Jones founds Calcutta's Royal Asiatic
Society. First such scholastic institution.

1786: Sir William Jones uses the Rig  Veda term Aryan ("noble") to name the
parent language  (now termed Indo-European)  of Sanskrit, Greek,  Latin and
Germanic tongues.

1787-95: British Parliament impeaches  Warren Hastings, Governor General of
Bengal (1774-85) for misconduct.

1787: British  Committee for the  Abolition of the  Slave Trade is  formed,
marking the beginning of the end of slavery.

1789: French revolution begins with storming of the Bastille.

1792: Britain's  Cornwallis defeats Tipu  Sahib, Sultan of  Mysore and most
powerful  ruler  in  South  India,  main  bulwark  of resistance to British
expansion in India.

1793: Eli Whitney  invents the cotton gin in the  US, greatly affecting the
institution of slavery.

1796: Over two  million worshipers compete for sacred  Ganga bath at Kumbha
Mela in  Hardwar. Five thousand Saiva  ascetics are killed in  tragic clash
with Sikh ascetics.

1799: Sultan  Tipu is killed in  battle against 5,000 British  soldiers who
storm and raze his capital, Srirangapattinam.

Hindu Timeline #5

1800ce to the Present and Beyond!

1803:  Second Anglo-Maratha  war results  in British  Christian capture  of
Delhi and control of large parts of Indi.

1803: India's population is 200 million.

1803-82:  Lifetime  of  Ralph  Waldo   Emerson,  American  poet  who  helps
popularize Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads in US.

1807: Importation of slaves is banned in  the US through an act of Congress
motivated by Thomas Jefferson.

1809: British  strike a bargain  with Ranjit Singh  for exclusive areas  of
influence.

ca 1810-75: Lifetime of renaissance  guru Kadaitswami, born near Bangalore,
sent to Sri Lanka by Rishi from the Himalayas to strengthen Saivism against
Catholic incursion.

1812: Napoleon's  army retreats from  Moscow. Only 20,000  soldiers survive
out of a 500,000-man invasion force.

1814: First practical steam locomotive is built.

1817-92: Lifetime of Bahaullah, Mirza  Husayn 'Ali, founder of Baha'i faith
(1863), a major off-shoot religion of Islam.

1818-78:  Lifetime  of  Sivadayal,  renaissance  founder  of  the  esoteric
reformist Radhasoami Vaishnava sect in Agra.

1820: First Indian immigrants arrive in the US.

1822-79: Life of Arumuga Navalar of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, renaissance activist
who  propounds   Advaita  Siddhanta,  writes  first   Hindu  catechism  and
translates Bible into  Tamil so it can be compared  faithfully to the Vedas
and Agamas.

1823-74:  Life  of  Ramalingaswami,  Tamil  saint,  renaissance  founder of
Vadalur's "Hall of Wisdom for Universal Worship."

1824-83: Lifetime of Swami Dayananda Sarasvati, renaissance founder of Arya
Samaj (1875), Hindu reformist movement stressing a return to the values and
practices of the Vedas. Author of Satya Prakash, "Light on Truth."

1825: First massive immigration of Indian workers from Madras is to Reunion
and Mauritius. This immigrant Hindu  community builds their first temple in
1854.

1828: Ram Mohan Roy (1772-1833) founds  Adi Brahmo Samaj in Calcutta, first
movement  to  initiate  religio-social  reform.  Influenced  by  Islam  and
Christianity, he denounces polytheism,  idol worship; repudiates the Vedas,
avataras, karma and reincarnation, caste and more.

1831-91:  Lifetime  of  Russian  mystic  Madame  H.P. Blavatsky, founder of
Theosophical Society  in 1875, bringing  aspects of psychism,  Buddhism and
Hinduism to the West.

1831: British Christians  defeat Ranjit Singh's forces at  Balakot, in Sikh
attempt to establish a homeland in N.W. India.

1833:  Slavery  is  abolished  in  British  Commonwealth  countries, giving
impetus to abolitionists in United States.

1835: Civil service jobs in India are opened to Indians.

1835:  Macaulay's Minute  furthers Western  education in  India. English is
made official government and court language.

1835: Mauritius  receives 19,000 immigrant indentured  laborers from India.
Last ship carrying workers arrives in 1922.

1836-86: Lifetime of Shri Ramakrishna, God-intoxicated Bengali hakta saint,
guru of  Swami Vivekananda. He  exemplifies the bhakti  dimension of Shakta
Universalism.

1837: Britain formalizes emigration of Indian indentured laborers to supply
cheap  labor under  a system  more morally  acceptable to British Christian
society than slavery, illegal in the British Empire since 1833.

1837: Kali-worshiping Thugees are suppressed by British.

1838: British Guyana receives its first 250 Indian laborers.

1838-84: Lifetime of  Keshab Chandra Sen, Hindu reformer  who founds Brahma
Samaj of  India, a radical  offshoot of the  Adi Brahmo Samaj  of Ram Mohan
Roy.

1840-1915:  Lifetime  of  Satguru  Chellappaswami  of  Jaffna,  Sri  Lanka,
initiated at age 19 by Siddha Kadaitswami as next satguru in the Nandinatha
Sampradaya's Kailasa Parampara.

1840:  Joseph   de  Goubineau  (1816-1882),  French   scholar,  writes  The
Inequality  of Human  Races. Proclaims  the "Aryan  race" superior to other
great  strains and  lays down  the aristocratic  class-doctrine of Aryanism
that later provides the basis for Adolf Hitler's Aryan racism.

1842-1901:  Life  of  Eknath  Ranade,   founder  of  Prarthana  Samaj.  His
social-reform thinking inspires Gokhale and Gandhi.

1843: British conquer the Sind region (present-day Pakistan).

1845: Trinidad receives its first 197 Indian immigrant laborers.

1846: British forcibly  separate Kashmir from the Sikhs and  sell it to the
Maharaja of Jammu for pounds1,000,000.

1849: Sikh army is defeated by the British at Amritsar.

1850:  First English  translation of  the Rig  Veda by  H.H. Wilson,  first
holder of Oxford's Boden Chair, founded  "to promote the translation of the
Scriptures into English,  so as to enable his countrymen  to proceed in the
conversion of the natives of India to the Christian religion."

1851:   Sir   M.   Monier-Williams   (1819-99)  publishes  English-Sanskrit
Dictionary. His  completed Sanskrit-English Dictionary is  released in 1899
after three decades of work.

1853-1920: Lifetime of Shri Sharada Devi, wife of Shri Ramakrishna.

1853: Max Muller (1823-1900), German Christian philologist and Orientalist,
advocates the term Aryan to name a hypothetical primitive people of Central
Asia,  the  common  ancestors  of   Hindus,  Persians  and  Greeks.  Muller
speculates that  this "Aryan race" divided  and marched west to  Europe and
east to India  and China around 1500 bce.  Their language, Muller contends,
developed  into  Sanskrit,  Greek,  Latin,  German,  etc.,  and all ancient
civilizations descended from this Aryan race.

1856: Catholic missionary Bishop Caldwell coins the term Dravidian to refer
to South Indian Caucasian peoples.

1857:  First Indian  Revolution, called  the Sepoy  Mutiny, ends  in a  few
months with the fall of Delhi and Lucknow.

1858: India has  200 miles of railroad track. By  1869 5,000 miles of steel
track  have been  completed by  British railroad  companies. In 1900, total
track is 25,000 miles, and by World War I, 35,000 miles. By 1970, at 62,136
miles, it has become the world's greatest train system. Unfortunately, this
development depletes India's forest lands.

1859: Charles  Darwin, releases controversial book,  The Origin of Species,
propounding  his  "natural  selection"  theory  of  evolution,  laying  the
foundations of modern biology.

1860: S.S.  Truro and S.S.  Belvedere dock in  Durban, S. Africa,  carrying
first  indentured  servants  (from  Madras  and  Calcutta)  to  work  sugar
plantations. With contracts  of five years and up,  thousands emigrate over
next 51 years.

1861: American Civil War begins in Charleston, S. Carolina.

1861-1941: Lifetime of Bengali poet  Rabindranath Tagore, awarded the Nobel
Prize for Literature in 1913.

1863-1902:  Life of  Swami Vivekananda,  dynamic renaissance  missionary to
West and catalyst of Hindu revival in India.

1869-1948: Lifetime  of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi,  Indian nationalist and
Hindu  political   activist  who  develops   the  strategy  of   nonviolent
disobedience that  forces Christian Great Britain  to grant independence to
India (1947).

1870: Papal doctrine of infallibility is asserted by the Vatican.

1872-1964:  Lifetime of  Satguru Yogaswami,  Natha renaissance  sage of Sri
Lanka,  Chellappaswami's   successor  in  the  Kailasa   Parampara  of  the
Nandinatha Sampradaya.

1872-1950:  Life of  Shri Aurobindo  Ghosh, Bengali  Indian nationalist and
renaissance yoga philosopher. His  30-volume work discusses the "superman,"
the Divinely transformed individual soul. &nbs