In the south, megaliths were being raised to the dead, and herdsmen were piling dung and establishing ash-mounds

Illustration/Devdutt Pattanaik

If the 5,000-year-old history of India can be reduced to five days, this is how events unfurled:

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The first day saw the rise of agriculture north of the Vindhyas, followed by the rise and fall of well-planned cities in the Indus river basin. These were built by merchants who traded bronze, cotton and beads of lapis lazuli and carnelian with the Middle East.

In the south, megaliths were being raised to the dead, and herdsmen were piling dung and establishing ash-mounds. Art appeared painted on cave walls and etched on rocks along the coast.

The second day was silent until dusk when nomads entered the north from beyond the Hindu Kush mountains. They came with horses, and through fire altars and chants........

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