Popular history
Incarnations: A History of India in 50 Lives
Indian history told through fifty remarkable lives, from the Buddha to Ambedkar.
Their world
Move along the chart to see their age in any year, who ruled and what happened; click anything to open it.
The map shows Shakya around their lifetime and where the events of their lifetime took place.
Hover a dot for the event; click it to open the full map in that year.
Events in their lifetime
| c. 563 BCE | Birth of Siddhartha Gautama at Lumbini |
| c. 540 BCE | Bimbisara annexes Anga |
| c. 528 BCE | The Buddha's enlightenment at Bodh Gaya |
| c. 527 BCE | Mahavira's nirvana at Pavapuri |
| c. 518 BCE | Achaemenid Persia annexes Gandhara |
| c. 492 BCE | Ajatashatru becomes king of Magadha |
| c. 483 BCE | Mahaparinirvana of the Buddha |
| c. 483 BCE | First Buddhist Council at Rajagriha |
Contemporaries
Sorted by how long their lives overlapped. The bar shows when, within Gautama Buddha’s life.
Makkhali Gosala
Philosopher · active c. 500 BCE
Founder of the Ajivika sect
Overlap: 47 years
Vardhamana Mahavira
Saint / religious leader · c. 599–527 BCE
24th Tirthankara of Jainism
Overlap: 36 years
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Our Pasts I, II & III (Classes 6–8)
The simplest possible start: short, illustrated and the base of countless exam questions.
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Themes in Indian History, Parts I–III (Class 12)
Source-based chapters on Harappa, Vijayanagara, the Mughal court and 1857 — essential for UPSC.
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