The History of India is a deep and layered journey that spans over 4000 years. From early migrations and cultural exchange to foreign invasions and the rise of the caste system, every chapter has left a mark on the country’s social fabric. This blog traces that long story — not just through rulers and empires, but through the impact on India’s original people: the Adivasis, Dalits, and tribal communities often left out of mainstream history.

1. Early Civilizations: The Forgotten Roots of the History of India
Long before India was called “India”, before maps marked lines between nations, and before anyone heard of “high” or “low” caste — people lived on this land with deep respect for nature, community, and shared labour.
This was the time of the Indus Valley Civilization — one of the world’s oldest urban societies, flourishing around 2600 BCE. Cities like Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had drainage systems, public baths, standardized weights, and peaceful layouts. But interestingly, no grand temples or palaces have been found — suggesting a society with no centralized power or oppressive ruling class.[¹]
Alongside this civilization lived indigenous tribal communities, who would later be known as Adivasis — literally “original inhabitants.” They spoke diverse languages, honoured the forests, and followed spiritual practices rooted in earth, sky, water, and ancestors.
They lived in balance, not luxury, but dignity. There were no rigid hierarchies based on birth. People worked, worshipped, and moved freely — until change arrived.
Source Notes:
[¹] D. D. Kosambi, The Culture and Civilization of Ancient India in Historical Outline
[²] Romila Thapar, Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300
2. The Aryan Migration and Rise of the Vedic Order
Around 1500 BCE, a new chapter began in India’s history, marked not by destruction, but by migration.
Groups of Indo-Aryan-speaking people, likely from the Central Asian steppes, began moving into northwestern India. This movement, supported by archaeological and linguistic evidence, wasn’t an invasion in the violent sense, but a slow integration with existing communities.
They brought with them Sanskrit, cattle-based agriculture, and most importantly, the early Vedic hymns, which later formed the basis of Hindu religious texts. These texts — starting with the Rigveda — offered prayers to natural forces like fire (Agni), sun (Surya), and rain (Indra), and were passed down orally for centuries.
Shifting Values: From Community to Classification
In the earliest Vedic period, society was mostly pastoral and tribal. But as the Indo-Aryans settled and expanded, they began organizing themselves around new roles — what came to be called the Varna system. This four-fold division classified people as:
- Brahmins – priests and scholars
- Kshatriyas – warriors and rulers
- Vaishyas – merchants and farmers
- Shudras – servants and labourers
At first, this structure was based on function, not birth. But over time, it became hereditary — locking individuals into roles based on the family they were born into.
This marked the beginning of social stratification. The spiritual life that once centered around nature and community gradually came under the control of rituals, priests, and rigid rules.
Who Was Left Out?
What’s critical is this: the original tribal people, who had lived on the land long before the Indo-Aryans arrived, were not included in the four varnas. They were considered outside the system — or “Avarna.”
Many were labelled “impure” and gradually became excluded from rituals, temples, and even society itself. This slow marginalization laid the foundation for what would later become untouchability — a practice completely absent from the Indus or early tribal cultures.
From Sacred Songs to Social Control
As the Vedic texts grew in number and influence — especially with later texts like the Manusmriti — rules became stricter. One’s duties, punishments, and even daily behaviour were dictated by caste. The spiritual wisdom of the early Vedas was now being used to justify social inequality.
This shift was not immediate, but over centuries, it changed Indian society from one of coexistence to hierarchy, from shared respect to inherited status.
Source Notes:
[¹] Romila Thapar, Early India
[²] D. N. Jha, Ancient India: An Introductory Outline
[³] Michael Witzel, Early Sanskritization: Origins of the Brahmanical System
3. Power Consolidates – Social Roles Become Birthrights
As centuries passed after the Aryan migration and the Vedic system took root, what began as a functional division of labour gradually turned into a rigid caste hierarchy. The flexibility of the early varna system faded. Social roles were no longer chosen — they were inherited at birth.
India’s society was being reshaped, and not for the better.
Caste Becomes a Wall — Not a Ladder
By the time of the Later Vedic period (1000–600 BCE), rituals grew more complex. Brahmins became the only ones allowed to perform sacred duties. Knowledge, once shared in the form of oral tradition, was now guarded by a few.
The varna system hardened into jati — a system of thousands of sub-castes, each tied to a profession, village, or family line. You were born into your caste and couldn’t change it, no matter how talented or hardworking you were.
Meanwhile, those outside the system — including many Adivasis, Dalits, and tribal communities — were now called “untouchables.” They were forced to do tasks considered “impure,” such as handling dead animals, sweeping, or manual scavenging.
This was no longer just social division. It was systemic oppression — passed from generation to generation.
The Manusmriti: Turning Custom into Law
Between 200 BCE and 200 CE, one text played a major role in giving religious sanction to inequality — the Manusmriti. It listed rules for every caste and prescribed severe punishments for Shudras and Avarnas who tried to read Vedas or question their place.
For example, it said:
“If a Shudra listens to a recitation of the Veda, his ears should be filled with molten lead.” [¹]
Texts like this turned birth-based discrimination into divine law, making it harder for society to question or reform the system.
Who Paid the Price?
India’s original people — the forest dwellers, artisans, and farmers — who once lived freely, were now treated as “lesser humans.” They lost access to education, land, temples, and dignity. Entire communities were pushed out of villages, denied water from wells, and barred from basic human contact.
And this wasn’t just social — it was economic. Without land, education, or fair work, generations of families were trapped in poverty and dependence. The same system that celebrated spiritual wisdom now tied people to suffering — all based on birth.
Cultural Pride Used to Divide
It’s important to note: not all Vedic knowledge was harmful. India gave the world the ideas of karma, dharma, meditation, and oneness. But in the hands of those in power, even the most noble ideas can be twisted.
This period in history shows how social control can hide behind culture, and how inequality can be passed off as “tradition.”
Source Notes:
[¹] Manusmriti, Chapter 2 and 8 – various verses
[²] Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste
[³] Romila Thapar, Cultural Pasts
[⁴] Kancha Ilaiah, Why I Am Not a Hindu
4. Waves of Invasion – From Persians to Mughals
As Indian society became more divided from within, the subcontinent also began facing powerful forces from beyond its borders. Between 500 BCE and 1700 CE, India experienced repeated waves of invasions — each one leaving behind new rulers, new customs, and deeper changes in identity, faith, and social structure. These events form a crucial part of the history of medieval India, influencing not just politics, but also caste and community relations.
Early Influences: Persians, Greeks, and Central Asians
The earliest recorded foreign rulers in India were the Achaemenid Persians, followed by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE. While their control didn’t last long, they opened India to the larger political and trade networks of Central Asia and the Middle East.
Later came Central Asian tribes like the Shakas, Kushans, and Huns, many of whom settled and adopted local cultures. However, these migrations also reconfigured power structures, often favoring the already dominant caste-based elites while leaving Adivasi and Dalit communities out of the new order. These early waves marked the beginning of cultural and social transformations that would define the history medieval India would later record.
The Arrival of Islam and New Rulers
The 8th century brought a major turning point — the arrival of Islam through Arab traders and later through military campaigns, especially in Sindh and northwestern India. By the 12th century, Muslim dynasties like the Delhi Sultanate took firm control. This marked a defining phase in the history of medieval India, shaping new forms of governance, religious life, and social mobility.
These rulers introduced new systems of law (like Sharia), new architectural styles, and Persian as the court language. Many lower-caste Hindus and tribal communities converted to Islam — not only for faith, but also to escape caste discrimination and gain social freedom.
Yet, conversions didn’t always bring complete equality. Discrimination followed them into new identities, creating a new layer of inequality — now based on both caste and religion.
Despite religious shifts and changing rulers, caste-based discrimination remained deeply embedded in society. As documented by Cultural Survival Quarterly, untouchability as a religiously legitimated practice was well established by around 100 BCE. The article notes:
“Untouchability as a religiously legitimated practice attached to certain hereditary Indian castes was well established by 100 B.C. … Untouchables challenged the high degree of self-interest and deeply ingrained social beliefs that permeate Hindu society.”
India’s UntouchablesEven in modern times, the article points out that over 90% of India’s Untouchables (now referred to as Dalits) still live in rural areas, where they remain geographically and socially isolated. Violence, denial of access to water, temples, and schools, and bonded labor continue to be part of their everyday reality.
The Mughal Empire: Culture, Control, and Coexistence
In the 16th century, the Mughal Empire rose under Babur and flourished under rulers like Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan. The Mughals are remembered for their grand architecture, centralized administration, and cultural blending of Hindu-Muslim traditions.
Akbar tried to build religious harmony through policies like Sulh-e-kul (universal peace), and he even removed the jizya (tax on non-Muslims). But despite such efforts, the deep-rooted caste system was never dismantled. In fact, Mughal taxation and land control often strengthened the upper classes, while marginalized communities remained voiceless.
Invasions and Social Shifts: Who Benefited, Who Suffered
While foreign dynasties brought art, science, and architecture to India, they also reshaped India’s social and power structures. High-caste elites often adapted and benefited, while the tribal, Adivasi, and Dalit communities were left further behind — disconnected from power, land, and representation.
Invasions didn’t invent inequality — but they cemented it further, as local rulers and foreign powers alike continued to ignore or exploit India’s original inhabitants. These social consequences are key to understanding the history medieval India left behind — one of beauty, empire, and deep-rooted inequality.
Much like how foreign invasions reshaped India’s social fabric, conflicts in the modern world continue to carry long-lasting social and cultural consequences. The ongoing Iran and Israel War: Conflict, History, and Global Impact highlights how deep-rooted historical tensions can still shape present-day struggles — not unlike the effects seen throughout India’s past.
Source Notes:
- Romila Thapar, Early India
- Richard Eaton, India in the Persianate Age
- Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb: The Man and the Myth
- Satish Chandra, Medieval India
- Irfan Habib, The Agrarian System of Mughal India
5. British Rule – Divide, Exploit, Institutionalize
If earlier invaders reshaped Indian society, the British colonizers reorganized it completely — and not for the better.
When the British East India Company began ruling India in the 18th century, their main aim was profit. But in the process of managing such a diverse land, they also institutionalized social divisions — especially caste — in a way that made inequality even harder to escape.
The Census: Turning Caste Into Official Identity
Before British rule, caste was already present, but it was fluid in many regions. The British, obsessed with categorization, began collecting caste data in official censuses starting from 1871. They asked every Indian to declare their caste — and that label became permanent on paper.
People who had never used caste labels before were now forced to fit into rigid categories. British officers treated caste like race — assuming some groups were “naturally” superior or better suited for military, labor, or education.
This led to the codification of caste. It was no longer just a social idea — it became an administrative tool.
Land Laws That Dispossessed the Original People
Through acts like the Permanent Settlement (1793) and Forest Acts, the British changed land ownership systems. Traditional village commons, forests, and tribal lands were declared state property.
As a result, Adivasis lost their ancestral lands. Many became bonded laborers or were forced into industries as low-wage workers. Meanwhile, upper-caste landlords and zamindars often collaborated with the British and benefited from tax systems and land redistribution.
India’s original people — once free in forests and hills — were now criminalized, taxed, or displaced.
Divide and Rule: Pitting Communities Against Each Other
To avoid resistance, the British followed the strategy of “divide and rule.” They encouraged religious and caste-based divisions through separate electorates, favoring certain castes for jobs and education, and sowing distrust between Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Dalits, and Adivasis.
They classified communities as “martial” (fit for army) or “criminal” (naturally lawless) — designations with devastating effects. Many tribal and nomadic groups were labeled “criminal tribes” in 1871, treated as threats just for being different.
The British did not create caste, but they hardened it into law, turning an unjust system into a governing structure.
Reformers Rise, But the Damage Runs Deep
During this time, Indian reformers like Jyotirao Phule, Savitribai Phule, and later Dr. B.R. Ambedkar began fighting against caste oppression. They opened schools, wrote books, and challenged both Brahminical dominance and colonial exploitation.
Yet, the majority of India’s oppressed remained poor, uneducated, and voiceless. The British were not interested in real upliftment — only in control.
When India gained independence in 1947, it inherited not just freedom, but also a deeply unequal society structured by colonial systems.
Source Notes:
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste
- David Hardiman, The Coming of the Devi: Adivasi Movement in Western India
- Nicholas Dirks, Castes of Mind
- Ramachandra Guha, India After Gandhi
- Irfan Habib, Colonialism and the Indian Economy
6. A Society Rewritten – Loss of Land, Identity, and Dignity
By the time the British left in 1947, the damage had already been done. For millions of Adivasis, Dalits, and lower-caste communities, centuries of exclusion had taken a heavy toll — socially, economically, and emotionally.
They had not only lost land and opportunity, but something even more precious: their identity and dignity.
Stripped of Land, Culture, and Autonomy
Under both foreign rulers and local elites, tribal and lower-caste communities were forced off their lands, labeled as “backward,” and denied access to temples, schools, wells, and even common roads. In many regions, forest-dwelling Adivasis were branded as criminals under the British-era Criminal Tribes Act, despite having lived sustainably for generations.
They were now outsiders in their own homeland.
Their spiritual systems — based on nature, ancestors, and earth — were dismissed as “primitive.” Their oral traditions, farming knowledge, and healing practices were ignored or erased. Their voices were barely part of the “Indian identity” being written during the freedom movement.
From Displacement to Daily Discrimination
The legacy of inequality went beyond history books. Children from these communities were often mocked, mistreated, or made to sit separately in schools. Adults were underpaid, made to do degrading work, or denied entry into shops, temples, and villages.
Even in independent India, manual scavenging — a practice where Dalits were forced to clean human waste — continued for decades, despite being banned by law. In many villages, Dalits still live in separate hamlets, denied access to water and justice.
Economic hardship and social exclusion became a daily reality, not just a historical consequence.
The Mental Weight of Generational Rejection
When people are told for generations that they are impure, unworthy, or less human, it breaks more than their backs — it breaks their spirit. Caste and tribal exclusion in India is not just about poverty; it’s about psychological violence. Many still feel shame, fear, or silence when speaking of their past.
This silent suffering, carried from parent to child, became one of India’s deepest unspoken wounds.
A System Built to Benefit a Few
While some upper castes and elites gained from colonization, education, and land policies, those at the bottom were left behind. The wealth, progress, and power of a “rising India” was often built on the backs of the very people it had forgotten.
And yet, despite centuries of injustice, India’s original people endured — through music, resistance, rituals, and quiet strength. Their story deserves not pity — but recognition and respect.
Source Notes:
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, The Problem of the Rupee
- Kancha Ilaiah, Post-Hindu India
- Harsh Mander, Unheard Voices
- Sukhadeo Thorat, Caste, Social Exclusion and Poverty
- Jean Drèze and Amartya Sen, An Uncertain Glory: India and Its Contradictions
7. Modern India – Laws Changed, Mindsets Didn’t
When India became independent in 1947, the country took a bold step toward building an equal and just society. Under the leadership of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the framers of the Constitution outlawed untouchability, guaranteed equality before the law, and promised justice for all — regardless of caste, class, or religion.
But while laws were rewritten, deep-rooted beliefs and centuries-old mindsets did not disappear overnight.
Constitutional Promises vs. Ground Realities
The Indian Constitution (1950) was revolutionary. It banned caste discrimination (Article 15), abolished untouchability (Article 17), and introduced reservations in education, jobs, and politics for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and Other Backward Classes (OBC).
These policies helped millions rise out of poverty, access education, and find representation in public life.
Yet, in many places — especially rural areas — discrimination simply went underground. Caste was no longer written into law, but it was still whispered in marriages, job interviews, housing, and classrooms.
Invisible Barriers in a “New” India
In today’s India, caste discrimination often hides behind modern language and systems. Dalits and Adivasis are still:
- Denied entry into homes and temples in many villages
- Given separate cups in tea stalls
- Made to sit at the back in some schools
- Kept out of rental housing in cities
- Targeted in hate crimes and “honor” killings for intercaste love or marriage
Even in universities and corporate offices, upper-caste dominance in leadership and hiring is widespread. Those who speak against caste often face online abuse or social isolation.
Merit vs. Reservations: A Misunderstood Debate
Many question the reservation system, arguing that it affects “merit.” But this ignores the 4000-year head start upper castes have had in accessing land, learning, and leadership. Reservations are not charity — they are a corrective measure to balance historic injustice.
As Dr. Ambedkar once said:
“You cannot build anything on the foundation of caste. You cannot build up a nation.”
The Rise of Awareness and Resistance
Despite challenges, India is seeing a powerful awakening. From street protests and poetry to digital campaigns and Dalit literature, young people from oppressed communities are speaking out louder than ever.
Movements like #DalitLivesMatter, university protests, and rights-based advocacy are beginning to challenge silence with truth. But this is not just the fight of Dalits and Adivasis — it’s a fight for India’s soul.
Source Notes:
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste
- Sukhadeo Thorat & Katherine Newman, Blocked by Caste
- Anand Teltumbde, Republic of Caste
- Human Rights Watch Reports on Caste Discrimination (2019, 2023)
- Jean Drèze & Amartya Sen, An Uncertain Glory
8. Conclusion – Remembering the Roots to Reshape the Future
India is often celebrated as the land of diversity, wisdom, and resilience — and it truly is. But behind the glorious temples, ancient texts, and colorful traditions lies a complex and painful story of power, exclusion, and struggle.
For over 4000 years, India has been shaped by waves of migration, cultural shifts, invasions, and foreign rule. While each chapter brought something new, one pattern remained: the steady marginalization of its original people — the Adivasis, Dalits, and lower castes, who lost their land, their voice, and their dignity.
They were once the heart of this land — its earliest farmers, forest dwellers, artisans, and storytellers. Yet, history gradually pushed them out of the frame and rewrote their role as “lesser.”
Facing the Truth Is the First Step Toward Healing
This blog doesn’t aim to blame any one religion or group. The truth is more complex. Over centuries, those in power — whether Brahminical rulers, foreign invaders, or colonial administrators — built systems that served the few and excluded the many.
But truth, when told clearly and fairly, can heal. India must face this past if it truly wants to create a future where every citizen feels seen, valued, and equal.
What We Can Learn from the Past
- Spirituality must not be used to divide
- Tradition must not silence justice
- Culture must be shared, not hoarded
- Progress must include everyone — especially those left behind
India’s strength doesn’t come from pretending the past was perfect. It comes from acknowledging the broken parts, respecting the silenced voices, and rebuilding with honesty.
The Way Forward Is Not Just Legal — It’s Moral
Laws alone can’t erase the scars of the past. What India needs is a change of mindset, media, education, and everyday behavior. Caste bias must be challenged in homes, hiring, housing, schools, and hearts.
A country cannot move forward if it leaves behind its foundation.
A Hopeful Nation Can Rise from an Honest History
Today, the children of those once silenced are becoming poets, teachers, scientists, and activists. They carry not just pain — but strength, memory, and courage.
India owes them more than sympathy. It owes them respect, representation, and opportunity.
May we never forget who this land first belonged to — and may we never stop working to make it belong to everyone again.
Source Notes:
- Romila Thapar, Early India
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste
- Kancha Ilaiah, Why I Am Not a Hindu
- Sukhadeo Thorat, Caste, Social Exclusion and Poverty
- Jean Drèze & Amartya Sen, An Uncertain Glory
- Nicholas Dirks, Castes of Mind
- Satish Chandra, Medieval India
- Irfan Habib, Colonialism and the Indian Economy
- Harsh Mander, Unheard Voices