🕉 Religions & philosophies

How India’s faiths and schools of thought arose and grew — the events and the thinkers, on one timeline. Pick a tradition to follow it through time.

1. c. 1,500 BCE
   🔥 Vedic & Upanishadic thought Composition of the Rigveda begins · Sapta Sindhu

   Oldest layer of the Vedic corpus.
2. c. 599 BCE
   🤲 Jainism Birth of Vardhamana Mahavira · Kundagrama, Vaishali

   Traditional date; many scholars prefer c. 540 BCE.
3. c. 599 BCE
   🤲 Jainism 👤 Vardhamana Mahavira · c. 599–527 BCE

   24th Tirthankara of Jainism
4. c. 563 BCE
   ☸ Buddhism Birth of Siddhartha Gautama at Lumbini · Lumbini

   Traditional date; debated (c. 563 or c. 480 BCE).
5. c. 563 BCE
   ☸ Buddhism 👤 Gautama Buddha · c. 563–483 BCE

   Founder of Buddhism
6. c. 528 BCE
   ☸ Buddhism The Buddha's enlightenment at Bodh Gaya · Bodh Gaya
7. c. 527 BCE
   🤲 Jainism Mahavira's nirvana at Pavapuri · Pavapuri

   Traditional date.
8. c. 483 BCE
   ☸ Buddhism Mahaparinirvana of the Buddha · Kushinagar

   Date debated (c. 483 or c. 400 BCE).
9. c. 483 BCE
   ☸ Buddhism First Buddhist Council at Rajagriha · Rajgir
10. c. 383 BCE
    ☸ Buddhism Second Buddhist Council at Vaishali · Vaishali
11. c. 250 BCE
    ☸ Buddhism Third Buddhist Council at Pataliputra · Pataliputra
12. c. 180 BCE
    ☸ Buddhism 👤 Nagasena · active c. 150 BCE

    Buddhist monk whose dialogue with King Menander forms the Milindapanha
13. c. 150 BCE
    ☸ Buddhism Menander's reign; Milindapanha dialogues · Sagala
14. c. 150 BCE
    ☸ Buddhism Bharhut stupa railings carved · Bharhut
15. c. 50 BCE
    ☸ Buddhism Sanchi gateways carved · Sanchi
16. c. 170 CE
    ☸ Buddhism 👤 Nagarjuna · active c. 200 CE

    Founder of the Madhyamaka school of Buddhist philosophy
17. c. 337 CE
    ☸ Buddhism 👤 Faxian · c. 337 CE – c. 422 CE

    Chinese Buddhist pilgrim who travelled through Gupta India
18. c. 427 CE
    ☸ Buddhism Nalanda Mahavihara founded · Nalanda
19. c. 590 CE
    🪔 Bhakti 👤 Appar (Tirunavukkarasar) · active c. 620 CE

    Nayanar saint who converted Mahendravarman I to Shaivism
20. c. 602 CE
    ☸ Buddhism 👤 Xuanzang · c. 602 CE – c. 664 CE

    Chinese pilgrim who studied at Nalanda and visited Harsha's court
21. 635 CE
    ☸ Buddhism 👤 Yijing (I-tsing) · 635 CE – 713 CE

    Chinese monk who studied at Nalanda in the 670s-680s
22. c. 636 CE
    ☸ Buddhism Xuanzang studies at Nalanda · Nalanda

    Chinese pilgrim travelled in India c. 630-645.
23. c. 788 CE
    🔥 Vedic & Upanishadic thought 👤 Adi Shankaracharya · c. 788 CE – c. 820 CE

    Exponent of Advaita Vedanta who founded four mathas
24. c. 1017
    🔥 Vedic & Upanishadic thought 👤 Ramanujacharya · c. 1017 – c. 1137

    Exponent of Vishishtadvaita Vedanta
25. c. 1088
    🤲 Jainism 👤 Hemachandra · c. 1088 – c. 1173

    Jain polymath at the court of Kumarapala
26. c. 1105
    🪔 Bhakti 👤 Sekkizhar · active c. 1135

    Author of the Periya Puranam on the Nayanar saints
27. c. 1134
    🪔 Bhakti📜 Reform movements 👤 Basavanna · c. 1134 – c. 1196

    Lingayat reformer who founded the Anubhava Mantapa
28. c. 1141
    🌙 Sufism 👤 Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti · c. 1141 – c. 1236

    Sufi saint who established the Chishti order in India at Ajmer
29. c. 1200
    ☸ Buddhism Destruction of Nalanda · Nalanda

    Attributed to Bakhtiyar Khalji's campaigns (c. 1193-1200).
30. 1238
    🌙 Sufism 👤 Nizamuddin Auliya · 1238 – 1325

    Chishti Sufi saint of Delhi
31. c. 1238
    🔥 Vedic & Upanishadic thought 👤 Madhvacharya · c. 1238 – c. 1317

    Founder of the Dvaita school of Vedanta
32. c. 1270
    🪔 Bhakti 👤 Namdev · c. 1270 – c. 1350

    Marathi saint of the Varkari tradition
33. 1377
    🌙 Sufism 👤 Nund Rishi (Sheikh Nooruddin) · 1377 – 1438

    Kashmiri Sufi saint of the Rishi order
34. c. 1440
    🪔 Bhakti 👤 Kabir · c. 1440 – c. 1518

    Bhakti poet-saint of Varanasi known for his dohas
35. c. 1450
    🪔 Bhakti Kabir's poetry in Varanasi · Varanasi
36. 1469
    🪯 Sikhism Birth of Guru Nanak · Nankana Sahib

    Founder of Sikhism.
37. 1469
    🪯 Sikhism 👤 Guru Nanak · 1469 – 1539

    Founder of Sikhism and the first Sikh Guru
38. c. 1470
    🪔 Bhakti 👤 Guru Ravidas · active c. 1500

    Bhakti saint whose hymns appear in the Guru Granth Sahib
39. c. 1478
    🪔 Bhakti 👤 Surdas · c. 1478 – c. 1583

    Blind Bhakti poet of the Sursagar
40. 1486
    🪔 Bhakti 👤 Chaitanya Mahaprabhu · 1486 – 1534

    Bhakti saint of Bengal who inspired Gaudiya Vaishnavism
41. c. 1498
    🪔 Bhakti 👤 Mirabai · c. 1498 – c. 1547

    Rajput princess and Bhakti poet devoted to Krishna
42. 1504
    🪯 Sikhism 👤 Guru Angad · 1504 – 1552

    Second Sikh Guru who standardised the Gurmukhi script
43. c. 1532
    🪔 Bhakti 👤 Tulsidas · c. 1532 – c. 1623

    Author of the Ramcharitmanas
44. 1563
    🪯 Sikhism 👤 Guru Arjan Dev · 1563 – 1606

    Fifth Sikh Guru who compiled the Adi Granth
45. 1604
    🪯 Sikhism Adi Granth installed at Harmandir Sahib · Amritsar
46. 1606
    🪯 Sikhism Execution of Guru Arjan Dev · Lahore
47. c. 1608
    🪔 Bhakti 👤 Sant Tukaram · c. 1608 – c. 1650

    Marathi Varkari saint-poet of the abhangas
48. 1621
    🪯 Sikhism 👤 Guru Tegh Bahadur · 1621 – 1675

    Ninth Sikh Guru executed in Delhi in 1675
49. 1666
    🪯 Sikhism 👤 Guru Gobind Singh · 1666 – 1708

    Tenth Sikh Guru who founded the Khalsa
50. 1675
    🪯 Sikhism Execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur · Delhi
51. 1699
    🪯 Sikhism Guru Gobind Singh founds the Khalsa · Anandpur Sahib
52. 1708
    🪯 Sikhism Death of Guru Gobind Singh · Nanded
53. 1772
    📜 Reform movements 👤 Raja Ram Mohan Roy · 1772 – 1833

    Founder of the Brahmo Samaj who campaigned against sati
54. 1817
    📜 Reform movements 👤 Sir Syed Ahmad Khan · 1817 – 1898

    Founder of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh
55. 1824
    📜 Reform movements 👤 Swami Dayananda Saraswati · 1824 – 1883

    Founder of the Arya Samaj
56. 1827
    📜 Reform movements 👤 Jyotirao Phule · 1827 – 1890

    Founder of the Satyashodhak Samaj
57. 1828
    📜 Reform movements Brahmo Samaj founded · Kolkata
58. 1829
    📜 Reform movements Sati abolished · Kolkata
59. 1836
    📜 Reform movements 👤 Ramakrishna Paramahamsa · 1836 – 1886

    Mystic of Dakshineswar and guru of Vivekananda
60. 1856
    📜 Reform movements Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act · Kolkata
61. 1856
    📜 Reform movements 👤 Sree Narayana Guru · 1856 – 1928

    Kerala reformer who preached 'One caste, one religion, one God'
62. 1863
    📜 Reform movements 👤 Swami Vivekananda · 1863 – 1902

    Addressed the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893
63. 1875
    📜 Reform movements Arya Samaj and Aligarh (MAO) College founded · Aligarh

📘 NCERT study guide

Items are grouped by tradition from their names and descriptions; some belong to more than one. Dates follow the sources on each page; many early dates are traditional or approximate.