INDIA THROUGH THE AGES

What are the objects, sacred and secular, that have defined us?

QUARTZITE HAND AXE

Estimated to be 1.7 million years old, stone tools unearthed in Tamil Nadu, mark our transition from sentient beings to creators.

HUMPED BULL WITH GOLD HORNS

This tiny sculpture was found at a Harappan-era site in Haryana and is believed to date to 1800 BCE. The horns are made of gold; the beautiful stone likely came from far-off Gujarat or Maharashtra.

DANCING GIRL

Her confident stance frozen for all time, this bronze figurine from about 2500 BCE was found in a Mohenjodaro site and is an icon of our ancient civilisation.

EDICT OF EMPEROR ASHOKA

Found in Nallasopara near Mumbai, issued around 250 BCE, the inscription calls for peace and ethical conduct among citizens.

GOLD DINAR OF SAMUDRAGUPTA

Dated to CE 335–380, it bears a horse about to be sacrificed, on one face, symbolic of a Vedic ritual of coronation.

KALAMKARI TEXTILE

A piece of cloth found in Golconda and said to be from CE 1640 shows the multicultural nature of India at this time. A prince sits in a garden in Persian attire, a Persian chats with a Chinese man, a sadhu holds up a pineapple, imported from overseas.

THE KOH-I-NOOR

The Mughal emperor Babur first wrote of a diamond of over 187 carats, in the 16th century. The Koh-i-noor was part of Shah Jahan’s legendary Peacock Throne. It was taken by the British and remains among their crown jewels.

THE TRICOLOR

Adopted by the INC in 1931 as a symbol of the freedom movement, it remains the icon of an independent India.

THE AIR INDIA MAHARAJA

This logo from the 1940s linked a modernising India with an ancient reputation for hospitality.

THE CONSTITUTION

Who did we want to be; how did we want to deal with our diversity. A Constituent Assembly headed by the Dalit icon BR Ambedkar spent nearly three years thinking up almost every eventuality, and putting down in writing how the new republic would deal with it. The result was the heftiest Constitution in the world!