The many facets of Indian history mirror the Geographical, Racial, Linguistic and Cultural complexities of the vast Indian sub-continent and as such are not very easy to decipher. However, it is abundantly clear that the chain of events extends way back into the pre-historic times..
That the Early Man, was present and thriving in the Indian heartland, is evident from the Cave-paintings of Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh. These paintings date from 40,000 BCE (earlier known as BC) and show the antiquity of human existence in this part of the world.

A large amount of information is available through literary evidence of the Hindu Vedas, Persian Avesta, regional literature and assorted accounts of travelers from both East and West throwing ample light on different aspects of early Hindu civilization.
Through the analysis of these literary masterpieces and corroborating them with the evidence unearthed in recent excavations from Rajasthan and Gujarat in India and the North-western region of Pakistan have pushed back origins of ancient Indian civilization by at least three millenia more!

While the proto-cities excavated in Mehrgarh have been dated to around 6500 BCE, discoveries in the Gulf of Cambay, off the coast of Gujarat (where the fabled city of Dwarka was located), have revealed dates corresponding to 7500 BCE which is older than ANY other civilization in the World!

However, recent research carried out by international archaeologists has shed a great deal of light on the origin, course and final disappearance of the mighty river referred to as the ‘Mother of all rivers’ in the Rigveda and can even help date the scriptures to a large extent!
In the article titled {The Riddle of India’s Ancient Past}, the French proto-historian Michel Danino believes there are strong links between the Veda and the Harappan culture.
‘We find statues and seals depicting yogis and yogic postures, we find a Shiva-like deity, worship of a mother-goddess, fire altars, all of which are suggestive of Vedic culture. Harappan symbols include the Trishul, the Swastika, the Conch shell, the Peepal tree, all of which are central to later Indian culture. The Rig-Veda itself is full of references to fortified cities and towns, to oceans, sailing, trade and industry, all of which are found in the Harappan civilization.’

Vedic altars found in these sites re-affirm that the culture followed in these sites extending from Pakistan-Iran border in the West to Uttar Pradesh in the East; and Kashmir in the North to Godavari in the South was a part of Vedic culture.
Similarly, thoughts are echoed by David Frawley, the director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies, in the article {The Myth of Aryan Invasion},
‘The term ‘Destroyers of cities’ was used to disregard the Vedic as a primitive non-urban culture that destroys cities and urban civilization. However, there are also many verses in the ‘Rig Veda’ that speak of the Aryans as having having cities of their own and being protected by cities upto a hundred in number.
Destruction of cities also happens in modern wars; this does not make those who do this nomads. The idea of Vedic culture as destroying but not building the cities is based upon ignoring what the Vedas actually say about their own cities.’
With the new insights available, even the nomenclature of the Indus Valley Civilization is no more apt as a majority of sites in later excavations fit perfectly along the banks of the newly discovered course of Saraswati. Some scholars have therefore started referring to it as the Indus-Saraswati Civilization.

Brahmagupta (The first man to use Zero), Aryabhata (The first man to calculate the value of Pie), Bhaskar acharya (The first man to write numbers in decimal system) and Varahamihira (The first astronomer to collate Hindu, Greek and Roman astronomy).
Other visitors like Hiun-Tsang, Fa-Hien and Megasthenes also left extensive accounts of life and its various nuances in ancient India.

The actual dates of origin of the Indian civilization may yet be shrouded in the mists of time, but help has come from a totally unexpected branch of Science – Genetics.
According to the research findings such as MtDNA Haplogroup Study in Indian Peninsula and the Indian Genome Variation project, Indian sub-continent saw the first wave of migration of humanity out of Africa, directly into India about 50,000 years ago! It was from here that waves of people migrated to other parts of Asia as well as the continents of Europe and America!
The results also indicate that there has never been an Aryan Invasion NOR Migration INTO India. Our present genetic diversity evolved as waves of initial settlers in the central regions moved towards both north as well as south of the country, all the time intermixing and migrating to other countries.

• Beginning in the Pre-glacial periods around 40,000 BCE when Humans settled in India;