A History of Bangladesh

• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Ancient Bengal: Land and People
• Chapter 2 The Mauryan and Gupta Empires in Bengal
• Chapter 3 The Rise of Independent Kingdoms: Gauda and Vanga
• Chapter 4 The Pala Dynasty: A Buddhist Golden Age
• Chapter 5 The Sena Dynasty and the Arrival of Islam
• Chapter 6 The Bengal Sultanate: An Independent Power
• Chapter 7 Mughal Conquest and Administration
• Chapter 8 European Traders and the Battle of Plassey
• Chapter 9 The British East India Company and Colonial Rule
• Chapter 10 The Permanent Settlement and its Consequences
• Chapter 11 The Bengal Renaissance: Social and Cultural Awakening
• Chapter 12 The Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 in Bengal
• Chapter 13 The Partition of Bengal (1905) and the Swadeshi Movement
• Chapter 14 The Road to Partition: 1905-1947
• Chapter 15 East Bengal as East Pakistan: The Early Years
• Chapter 16 The Language Movement of 1952
• Chapter 17 Political and Economic Disparities
• Chapter 18 The Six-Point Movement and the Rise of Nationalism
• Chapter 19 The 1970 Election and the Path to War
• Chapter 20 The 1971 Liberation War and the Birth of Bangladesh
• Chapter 21 The Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Era: 1972-1975
• Chapter 22 Years of Military Rule and Political Upheaval
• Chapter 23 The Return to Democracy and its Challenges
• Chapter 24 Economic Development and Social Change
• Chapter 25 Bangladesh in the 21st Century
• Afterword

To write a history of Bangladesh is to tell a story written in water and silt. The land itself is a sprawling, dynamic delta, the largest in the world, formed by the confluence of the great Himalayan rivers: the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna. These rivers and their countless tributaries have shaped the terrain, depositing rich alluvial soil that has made this one of the most fertile regions on earth. For millennia, they have dictated the rhythms of life, enabling bountiful rice cultivation and providing fish, the staples of the Bengali diet. They have been the highways of commerce and the conduits of cultural exchange, connecting the region to the wider world.

But this liquid landscape is ever-changing. The rivers are prone to shifting their courses, sometimes dramatically, turning fertile plains into malarial marshlands and forcing migrations. The annual monsoon floods, while vital for replenishing the soil, can bring devastation. This constant interplay between creation and destruction, abundance and precarity, has forged a people known for their resilience, adaptability, and a profound connection to their environment. It is a connection woven into their poetry, music, and folklore, a constant character in the epic of their past. Understanding this geography is the first step to understanding the currents of its history.

The name itself, 'Bangladesh', meaning "the country of Bengal," has ancient roots, though its exact origin is a matter of scholarly debate. One popular theory traces it to the Dravidian-speaking Bang or Banga tribe that settled in this area over three thousand years ago. Another connects it to the Austroasiatic word "Bonga," for a sun god. Ancient texts like the Mahabharata refer to the Vanga Kingdom, one of the earliest geopolitical entities in the region. Over centuries, the name evolved. An 11th-century inscription from the Chola dynasty in southern India speaks of "Vangaladesa." During the medieval period, under Islamic rule, the term "Bangalah" became common, with the powerful Sultans of Bengal styling themselves the "Shah of Bangalah."

This name would persist through the Mughal era, when the province was known as Subah-i-Bangalah. The very term 'Bangladesh,' a union of 'Bangla' and 'Desh' (country), can be found in literature long before it became the official name of a sovereign state. It was a name invoked by poets and nationalists to capture a sense of a unified cultural and linguistic homeland. When independence was finally achieved in 1971, the choice of 'Bangladesh' was a powerful assertion of this long-held identity, a declaration that this new nation was the political embodiment of an ancient cultural consciousness.

The story of this land stretches back into the mist of prehistory, with Stone Age remnants dating back 20,000 years having been found in the region. Early inhabitants included tribal peoples of Austric and Austro-asiatic origin. By the late Vedic period, a distinct civilization, different in culture and ethnicity from the Aryan peoples of the Gangetic plain to the west, had taken root here. This distinction was noted by outsiders; the Vedic people sometimes referred to the inhabitants of Bengal as 'dasyus', or demons, a testament to their otherness. The region was not a monolith, but a collection of janapadas, or kingdoms, such as Vanga, Pundra, Gauda, and Samatata, each with its own distinct character.

The oldest known major urban center and archaeological site, Mahasthangarh, dates back to at least 700 BCE, revealing a sophisticated society engaged in agriculture and trade. The strategic location of Bengal, a gateway connecting the Indian subcontinent to Southeast Asia via the Bay of Bengal, made it a commercial hub. Ancient Bengal was a thalassocracy, a maritime power, whose merchants forged strong trade links with Persia, Arabia, and even the Roman Empire, exporting prized goods like its famously fine cotton muslin textiles. It was a land of wealth and power, a reputation that would echo through the centuries.

This wealth and strategic importance did not go unnoticed. By the 3rd century BCE, early Greek and Roman accounts spoke of a formidable kingdom in the delta known as the Gangaridai. The Greek historian Diodorus Siculus described the Gangaridai king's immense army, particularly its fearsome war elephants, which reportedly numbered in the thousands. This military might was so renowned that it is credited by some historians with halting the eastward advance of Alexander the Great's conquering army. The Gangaridai represented one of the earliest expressions of a powerful, unified state in the Bengal region, a precursor to the many empires that would later rise and fall on this fertile soil.

Over the next millennium, Bengal’s fate was intertwined with the great empires of the Indian subcontinent. It became a province of the Mauryan Empire, which unified vast swathes of India under rulers like Chandragupta and Ashoka. Later, it was absorbed into the Gupta Empire, a period often considered a golden age for art, science, and culture across northern India. Yet, Bengal was never merely a passive recipient of imperial rule. Its distance from the centers of power in the Gangetic plain allowed for the flourishing of strong regional kingdoms. It was a land that bent to imperial will but never fully broke, maintaining a distinct identity.

This era was marked by a dynamic interplay of religious ideas. Hinduism and Buddhism, in particular, vied for dominance, each leaving an indelible mark on the cultural landscape. This was not always a peaceful coexistence, but it created a rich spiritual and philosophical environment. Independent kingdoms like the Khadgas and the Chandras rose to prominence, particularly in the eastern parts of Bengal. The Chandras, ruling from their capital at Vikramapura for about 150 years from the 10th century, became a significant power, controlling a large territory and matching the strength of their contemporaries.

The first truly independent and unified Bengali empire emerged in the 8th century with the rise of the Pala dynasty. This period is often celebrated as a golden age in Bengal's history, a time of remarkable cultural, artistic, and intellectual achievement. The Pala kings, who were devout Buddhists, were patrons of great monasteries and centers of learning, such as Nalanda and Vikramshila, which attracted scholars from across Asia. Under their rule, a unique school of art, characterized by elegant sculpture and manuscript painting, flourished. It was during the Pala era that the Bengali language began to take a distinct form.

The ascendancy of rulers like Dharmapala and Devapala in the 8th and 9th centuries saw the empire become a dominant force in northern India. The Palas were famed for their massive war elephant cavalry and a strong naval fleet. Their influence extended far beyond the subcontinent, as they maintained diplomatic and trade relations with powers in Tibet, Southeast Asia, and the Abbasid Caliphate. The Pala era represents a high point of Bengali power and cultural expression, a time when the region was not on the periphery of the Indian world, but one of its vibrant centers.

Following the decline of the Palas, the Hindu Sena dynasty came to power in the 11th century. The Senas were great patrons of Sanskrit literature and were responsible for consolidating the caste system in Bengal, a social structure that had previously been less rigid than in other parts of India. They continued the tradition of architectural and artistic patronage, but their rule also marked a shift away from the Buddhist influence that had characterized the Pala period. This era set the stage for another profound transformation that was already on the horizon.

The arrival of Islam in Bengal marks one of the most significant turning points in its history. While Muslim traders and missionaries had been present in the region for centuries, the 13th century brought military conquest. In a remarkably swift campaign around 1204, the Turkic general Bakhtiyar Khalji defeated the Sena ruler and established Muslim rule, initially as an outpost of the Delhi Sultanate. This event began a process of religious and cultural transformation that would reshape Bengali society in profound ways.

The introduction of Islam was not simply a top-down imposition. It was a gradual process facilitated by the work of Sufi missionaries who traveled through the countryside, spreading a mystical and syncretic form of the faith that resonated with the local population. These Sufis, or pirs, often blended Islamic teachings with existing folk beliefs and practices, creating a uniquely Bengali version of Islam. This syncretism became a hallmark of the region's culture, fostering an atmosphere of tolerance and mutual influence between Muslim and Hindu communities that would endure for centuries.

In 1352, Bengal broke away from the Delhi Sultanate and established its own independent Bengal Sultanate, which would rule for over two centuries. This was a period of great prosperity and political stability. The sultans, such as the powerful Ilyas Shah and Hussain Shah, were patrons of Bengali literature and architecture, fostering a distinct regional high culture. They established a unified currency and expanded their territory, making Bengal a formidable power in eastern India. Europeans who arrived during this time described it as one of the richest countries in the world to trade with, a testament to its agricultural wealth and flourishing textile industry.

The independence of the Bengal Sultanate came to an end in the late 16th century with the arrival of a new, formidable power: the Mughals. After a period of resistance led by local chieftains known as the Baro-Bhuyans, Bengal was fully integrated into the Mughal Empire as its wealthiest province, the Subah-i-Bangalah. The Mughals established a sophisticated administrative system and fostered economic growth. Cities like Dhaka became major centers of commerce and Mughal administration. The period saw a great flourishing of art, architecture, and literature, with a continued blending of Persian, Indian, and local Bengali traditions.

It was also during the Mughal era that European traders began to establish a significant presence in Bengal. The Portuguese were the first to arrive, followed by the Dutch, the French, and the English. Drawn by the prospect of lucrative trade in textiles, saltpeter, and other goods, they set up fortified trading posts along the rivers. This commercial engagement brought new wealth and connected Bengal more directly to the currents of global trade, but it also introduced a new and ultimately disruptive political force.

As the central authority of the Mughal Empire weakened in the early 18th century, Bengal effectively became an independent state under a succession of rulers known as the Nawabs of Bengal. Based in their capital at Murshidabad, they presided over a province of immense wealth. However, their autonomy was increasingly challenged by the growing power of the European trading companies, particularly the British East India Company. The stage was being set for a confrontation that would not only determine the future of Bengal but of the entire Indian subcontinent.

That confrontation came in 1757 at the Battle of Plassey. In a decisive engagement, the forces of the British East India Company, led by Robert Clive, defeated the last independent Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daulah. This victory, achieved as much through conspiracy and betrayal as through military prowess, marked the beginning of British colonial rule in India. The Company was granted the right to collect revenue, effectively making it the ruler of Bengal. This pivotal event shifted the center of power from local hands to a foreign commercial entity, with profound and often devastating consequences for the people of Bengal.

The early years of Company rule were characterized by ruthless exploitation. The infamous Bengal Famine of 1770, exacerbated by the Company's policies, led to the deaths of millions. The economic landscape was fundamentally altered. Bengal's famed textile industry was systematically dismantled to serve the interests of Britain's Industrial Revolution, and the region was transformed into a supplier of raw materials for British factories. The Permanent Settlement of 1793, a land revenue system introduced by the British, created a new class of landlords (zamindars) while dispossessing many peasants of their traditional rights.

Despite the economic devastation, the 19th century also witnessed a remarkable social and intellectual awakening known as the Bengal Renaissance. Centered in the new colonial capital of Calcutta (now Kolkata), this movement produced a galaxy of brilliant thinkers, reformers, and artists who sought to synthesize Western ideas with Indian traditions. Figures like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, and Swami Vivekananda challenged traditional social practices, championed education, and laid the groundwork for modern Indian thought. It was a period of intense intellectual ferment that would have a lasting impact across India.

The political landscape of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was dominated by the rise of Indian nationalism, and Bengal was at its forefront. The discontent sown by colonial rule found expression in a growing movement for self-determination. A key moment was the Partition of Bengal in 1905 by the British Viceroy, Lord Curzon. The partition, ostensibly for administrative purposes, divided the province along religious lines and was widely seen as a cynical "divide and rule" tactic. It sparked massive protests and the Swadeshi movement, which called for the boycott of British goods and the promotion of indigenous industries.

Although the partition was annulled in 1911, the divisions it created had a lasting impact. The experience fueled the growth of both Indian nationalism and a distinct Muslim political consciousness in Bengal. The decades that followed were marked by growing political mobilization, communal tensions, and the struggle for independence from British rule. Bengali leaders played a pivotal role in the Indian National Congress and other nationalist organizations, and the province was a hotbed of revolutionary activity.

The end of British rule in 1947 brought not liberation, but another, more permanent partition. The Indian subcontinent was divided into two independent nations, India and Pakistan, based on religion. Bengal was once again split. The western, predominantly Hindu part became a state of India, while the eastern, predominantly Muslim part became the eastern wing of Pakistan, known as East Bengal and later East Pakistan. This second partition was accompanied by widespread violence and one of the largest mass migrations in human history, as millions of Hindus and Muslims crossed the new borders.

The union of East and West Pakistan was fraught from the beginning. The two wings were separated by over a thousand miles of Indian territory, but the geographic distance was less significant than the cultural and political gulf. The government, military, and civil service of Pakistan were dominated by the western wing. The Bengalis of East Pakistan, despite constituting the majority of the country's population, found themselves treated as second-class citizens. Their language, culture, and economic interests were consistently marginalized by the ruling elite in West Pakistan.

The first major flashpoint came in 1952 with the Language Movement. When the central government declared Urdu as the sole national language, it sparked massive protests in East Pakistan. On February 21, 1952, police in Dhaka opened fire on a student demonstration, killing several protesters. This event galvanized Bengali nationalism and cemented the importance of the Bengali language as a cornerstone of their identity. The date is now commemorated as International Mother Language Day, a testament to the movement's global significance.

Over the next two decades, the grievances of East Pakistan grew. The region was subjected to severe economic exploitation, with its export earnings being used to finance development in the west while it remained impoverished. Political disparities were equally stark, with Bengalis being denied their fair share of political power. This period saw the rise of a new generation of Bengali nationalist leaders, most notably Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, whose Awami League party championed the cause of East Pakistani autonomy.

The demand for autonomy was articulated in the Six-Point Movement of 1966, a political manifesto that called for a federal structure that would grant East Pakistan significant control over its own affairs. The movement was met with fierce opposition from the Pakistani regime, which saw it as a threat to the country's integrity. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested, and the movement was suppressed, but the desire for self-rule only intensified among the Bengali population.

The breaking point came with the general election of 1970. The Awami League won a landslide victory, securing an absolute majority in the national assembly. This gave Sheikh Mujibur Rahman the constitutional right to form a government. However, the political and military establishment in West Pakistan refused to accept the election results and hand over power. Instead, they opted for a brutal military crackdown.

On the night of March 25, 1971, the Pakistani army launched "Operation Searchlight," a systematic campaign of violence aimed at crushing the Bengali nationalist movement. What followed was a genocide. The army targeted intellectuals, students, political activists, and the Hindu minority, killing indiscriminately. In response, on March 26, Bengalis declared their independence, and the Bangladesh Liberation War began.

The war lasted for nine months and was one of the most brutal conflicts of the 20th century. The Bengali resistance, known as the Mukti Bahini (Freedom Fighters), engaged in guerrilla warfare against the technologically superior Pakistani army. The rivers and waterways of the delta became both a battleground and a strategic advantage for the local fighters. The conflict resulted in the deaths of up to three million people and caused a massive humanitarian crisis, with ten million refugees fleeing into neighboring India. Finally, with the intervention of the Indian military in December 1971, the Pakistani forces were defeated. On December 16, 1971, Bangladesh emerged as an independent, sovereign nation.

The newly independent nation faced immense challenges. The war had shattered its economy and infrastructure. The first years were marked by political instability, famine, and the difficult task of nation-building. The country's founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was assassinated in a military coup in 1975, ushering in a long period of military rule and political upheaval. Democracy was eventually restored in the 1990s, but the political landscape has remained turbulent, often characterized by a bitter rivalry between the two main political parties, the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Despite these challenges, the story of Bangladesh in the 21st century has also been one of remarkable progress. The country has achieved significant economic growth, driven in large part by its ready-made garment industry, and has made impressive strides in social development, particularly in areas like poverty reduction, education, and public health. It continues to grapple with issues such as political instability, human rights concerns, and its extreme vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.

This book aims to narrate this long and complex history. It is a story of a land defined by its rivers, a culture enriched by centuries of synthesis, and a people whose identity has been forged in the crucible of language, art, rebellion, and a relentless struggle for self-determination. From the ancient kingdoms of the Gangaridai to the vibrant and striving nation of the 21st century, it is a history of resilience, of a golden delta that has weathered empires, exploitation, and war to finally claim its own place in the world.

The story of the Bengali people begins not with a king or a conqueror, but with the land itself. Ancient Bengal was, and largely remains, a gift of the rivers. For millions of years, the silt-laden waters of the Ganges and Brahmaputra, descending from the Himalayas, have built up a vast, fertile delta. This process, a slow and patient act of geological creation, formed a landscape that is almost entirely flat, a sprawling plain crisscrossed by a bewildering network of rivers, streams, and creeks. The very ground beneath one's feet is composed of this rich alluvium, a foundation that is both life-giving and notoriously unstable.

Geographically, ancient Bengal was never a single, uniform entity. The land naturally divided itself into several distinct regions, each with its own character, shaped by the flow of water and the quality of the soil. To the north lay Pundravardhana, or Pundra, centered in what is now the Bogra region of Bangladesh. This was an area of older, more stable land, less prone to the wild shifts of the river systems. To the west, on the other side of the Bhagirathi-Hooghly river, was the region known as Rarh, a land of reddish laterite soil, drier and more elevated than the delta proper. The south and southeast comprised the active delta, the heartlands of the kingdoms known as Vanga and Samatata. This was the "new" land, constantly being reshaped by floods and deposition, a watery world of marshlands and low-lying islands.

Human presence in this region stretches back into the Stone Age. Evidence of human habitation dating back over 20,000 years has been found, particularly in the more elevated and stable areas of Rarh and the lands adjacent to the Chota Nagpur plateau. Archaeologists have unearthed stone tools—hand axes, scrapers, and blades—that point to the existence of Paleolithic hunter-gatherer communities. These earliest inhabitants lived a nomadic life, following herds of animals and gathering food from the primeval forests that covered much of the land.

The transition to settled life came much later, during the Chalcolithic or Copper-Stone Age, around the second millennium BCE. Archaeological sites like Pandu Rajar Dhibi in West Bengal have revealed communities that cultivated rice, domesticated animals, and lived in systematically planned houses. They produced distinctive black-and-red pottery and had begun to master the use of copper for tools and ornaments. These were the first farmers of Bengal, the pioneers who began the long process of taming the delta and turning its fertility to human purpose. Archaeological evidence confirms that by this time, communities were cultivating rice, a crop that would become the central pillar of Bengali life and culture.

The identity of these earliest settlers is a subject of ongoing scholarly investigation, but a broad consensus points to several waves of migration. The very first inhabitants were likely people speaking languages of the Austroasiatic family, related to the Munda peoples who still live in eastern India. They are credited with introducing wet-rice agriculture to the region. They were followed by Dravidian-speaking groups, who also played a role in the early development of agricultural society. Later still, Tibeto-Burman peoples moved in from the north and east, and finally, Indo-Aryan speakers began to arrive from the west, probably between 1000 and 500 BCE. This gradual layering of different peoples created a complex ethnic and linguistic mosaic. Unlike in the plains of northern India, the influence of the Indo-Aryans and their Vedic culture was initially limited. The people of Bengal were seen by the Vedic Aryans as outsiders, a different people with a distinct culture, a perception that would contribute to the region's unique historical trajectory.

By the early Iron Age, around the 7th century BCE, Bengal was a patchwork of distinct territories or janapadas, each with its own nascent political identity. Ancient Indian texts, including the epic Mahabharata, mention several of these kingdoms. The most prominent among them were Vanga, located in the southern and central parts of the modern delta; Pundra, in the north; and Suhma and Rarh in the west. These were not yet great empires, but rather regional chiefdoms, likely centered around fortified towns and controlling the agricultural surplus of the surrounding countryside.

The most significant urban center to emerge in this early period was Pundranagara, the capital of the Pundra kingdom. Its extensive ruins, now known as Mahasthangarh in Bogra, Bangladesh, reveal a well-planned and fortified city that was a hub of administration, culture, and religion for over a thousand years, from the 3rd century BCE to the 12th century CE. Excavations have uncovered a massive citadel, surrounded by a moat and rampart walls, enclosing an area filled with the remains of palaces, temples, and ordinary dwellings. The discovery of a limestone inscription in the Brahmi script, dating to the Mauryan period in the 3rd century BCE, confirms its status as an important provincial capital and demonstrates that a sophisticated, literate society thrived there.

While Pundranagara flourished in the north, the southern coastal regions of Bengal were making a name for themselves in a different sphere: maritime trade. The geography of the delta, with its countless navigable rivers providing access to the Bay of Bengal, made it a natural gateway for commerce. This maritime orientation gave rise to a thalassocracy, a state whose power was based on the sea. The ancient kingdom of Vanga, in particular, was known as a seafaring power with colonies in Southeast Asia, a tradition echoed in the Sri Lankan chronicles that tell of Prince Vijaya, the island's legendary first king, sailing from Bengal.

The wealth and power of Bengal in this period did not escape the notice of the wider world. By the time of Alexander the Great's invasion of India in 327 BCE, Greek and Roman writers were reporting on a formidable kingdom located in the delta of the Ganges. They called this kingdom the Gangaridai, a name that likely derives from "Ganga-hrid" or "land with the Ganges at its heart." These classical accounts, from historians like Diodorus Siculus and Plutarch, describe the Gangaridai as a prosperous and powerful nation.

According to these foreign chroniclers, the Gangaridai possessed a massive and fearsome army. The most terrifying component of this force was its corps of war elephants. Diodorus Siculus stated that the king of the Gangaridai commanded a force of four thousand elephants, trained and equipped for war. Plutarch, combining the forces of the Gangaridai with their allies, the Prasii of the Magadhan kingdom, gave an even larger number: six thousand fighting elephants, alongside 80,000 cavalry, 200,000 infantry, and 8,000 war chariots.

This formidable military reputation had a direct and world-altering consequence. After his hard-won victory against King Porus in the Punjab, Alexander's army was exhausted and demoralized. When they learned of the vast armies and elephant forces waiting for them across the Ganges, they refused to go any further. Their mutiny at the Hyphasis River forced Alexander to abandon his eastward conquest and turn back. The Gangaridai, a kingdom whose soldiers Alexander's men never even fought, had halted the advance of the greatest conqueror of the ancient world through reputation alone.

The exact location and capital of the Gangaridai kingdom remain a matter of archaeological debate. However, many scholars identify it with the civilization that flourished at sites like Chandraketugarh in West Bengal and Wari-Bateshwar in Bangladesh. These sites have yielded a wealth of artifacts, including pottery, beads, silver punch-marked coins, and terracotta art, that point to a sophisticated urban culture. The discoveries also indicate extensive trade links, with the presence of rouletted ware and other items suggesting contact with the Roman Empire.

The economic foundation of these early Bengali kingdoms was a combination of fertile agriculture and brisk trade. The delta's soil was exceptionally suited for rice cultivation, and archaeological evidence from sites like Wari-Bateshwar points to a diverse agricultural system that also included winter cereals and various summer millets. This agricultural abundance provided the surplus necessary to support large urban populations and powerful armies.

This surplus was also channeled into a thriving network of trade. Bengal's most famous export was its fine cotton textiles, particularly the delicate muslin cloth that was prized in markets across the ancient world. In addition to textiles, goods like rice, spices, and even horses were exported. This trade was conducted through a series of bustling port cities located along the coast and river estuaries. The most significant of these was the port of Tamralipti, near the mouth of the Rupnarayan river, which is identified with the modern town of Tamluk in West Bengal. From Tamralipti, ships sailed to Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, and even to the Mediterranean, making it a crucial hub in the maritime trade routes that connected East and West. This port served as a vital corridor for international commerce, bringing immense wealth and prestige to the region for centuries. The wealth generated by this trade, combined with the region's agricultural productivity and military strength, established ancient Bengal as a land of consequence, a vibrant and powerful civilization that stood ready to engage with the great empires that were beginning to rise on the subcontinent.