29
/es/
es
AIzaSyAYiBZKx7MnpbEhh9jyipgxe19OcubqV5w
April 1, 2024
Crear
Public Timelines
Biblioteca
FAQ
For education
Cabinet
For educational institutions
For teachers
For students/pupils
Descargar
Export
Crear una copia
Insertar en el Sitio Web
editar
Vistas 893
0
0
Hindu Timeline
Major Contributions
Creado
Liz
⟶ Actualizado 13 feb 2018 ⟶
List of edits
Comentarios
Eventos
Stone hand axes and other tools are used in N. India.
Lifetime of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, Indian nationalist and Hindu political activist who develops the strategy of nonviolent disobedience that forces Christian Great Britain to grant independence to India (1947).
Life of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, Bengali Indian nationalist and renaissance yoga philosopher. His 30-volume work discusses the "superman," the Divinely transformed individual soul. Withdraws from the world in 1910 and founds international ashram in Pondicherry.
Madame Blavatsky founds Theosophical Society in New York, where Annie Besant, president (1907 - 1933), helps revitalize Hinduism with metaphysical defense of its principles.
British Queen Victoria (1819 - 1901), head of Church of England, is proclaimed Empress of India (1876-1901).
Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone.
The Leonidas, first emigrant ship to Fiji, adds 498 Indian indentured laborers to the nearly 340,000 already working in other British Empire colonies. Lifetime of Sadhu T.L. Vaswani, altruistic Sindhi poet and servant of God, founds several Hindu missions in India and seven Mira Educational Institutions.
Lifetime of Swami Ramdas, known as Papa, Indian saint and devotee of Lord Rama.
A group of middle-class intellectuals in India, some of them British, found the Indian National Congress to be a voice of Indian opinion to the British government. This is the origin of the later Congress Party.
Lifetime of Swami Sivananda, Hindu universalist renaissance guru, author of 200 books, founder of Divine Life Society, with 400 branches worldwide in present day
Swami Vivekananda represents Hinduism at Chicago's Parliament of the World's Religions, first ever interfaith gathering, dramatically enlightening Western opinion as to the profundity of Hindu philosophy and culture. Life of Paramahamsa Yogananda, universalist Hindu, author of famed Autobiography of a Yogi (1946), popular book globalizing India's spiritual traditions.
Gandhi drafts first petition protesting the indentured servant system. Less than six months later, the British announce the halt of indentured emigration from India.
Lifetime of Meher Baba of Poona, silent sage whose mystical teachings stress love, self-inquiry and God consciousness.
Nationalist leader and Marathi scholar Bal Gangadhar Tilak initiates Ganesha Visarjana and Sivaji festivals to fan Indian nationalism. He is first to demand complete independence, Purna Svaraj, from Britain.
Lifetime of Swami Muktananda founds Siddha Yoga Dham to promulgate Indian mysticism, kundalini yoga and philosophy. Lifetime of Dada Lekhraj forming an international social reform movement stressing meditation and world peace.
Anti-Indian racial riots on the US West Coast expel large Hindu immigrant population.
US government excludes Indian citizens from immigration. Restriction stands until 1965. Swami Satchidananda is born, founder of Integral Yoga Institute and Light of Truth Universal Shrine in the US.
Sirdi Sai Baba, saint to Hindus and Muslims, dies at approximately age 70.
System of Indian indentured servitude is abolished following grassroots agitation by Gandhi. Ravi Shankar is born in Varanasi. Sitar master, composer and founder of National Orchestra of India, he inspires Western appreciation of Indian music.
US law excludes Indian nationals from naturalization.
Maharashtra bars tradition of dedicating girls to temples as Devadasis, ritual dancers. Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa soon follow suit. Twenty years later, Tamil Nadu bans devotional dancing and singing by women in its thousands of temples and in all Hindu ceremonies.
Dr. Karan Singh is born, son and heir apparent of last maharaja of Kashmir; becomes parliamentarian, Indian ambassador to the US and global Hindu spokesman.
World War II begins September 1 as Germany invades Poland.
US drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, ending World War II. Total war dead is 60 million.
India gains independence from Britain.
Mahatma Gandhi is assassinated in retaliation for Gandhi's concessions to Muslim demands and agreeing to partition 27 percent of India to create the new Islamic nation of Pakistan.
India's new Constitution, authored chiefly by B.R. Ambedkar, declares there shall be no "discrimination" against any citizen on the grounds of caste, jati, and that the practice of "untouchability" is abolished.
India is declared a secular republic. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru is determined to abolish caste and industrialize the nation. Constitution makes Hindi official national language; English to continue for 15 years; 14 major state languages are recognized.
6 Indian government enacts social reforms on Hindu marriage, inheritance, guardianship, adoption, etc
Albert Einstein dies. He declared Lord Siva Nataraja the best metaphor for the workings of the universe.
Sivaya Subramuniyaswami founds Himalayan Academy in San Francisco opens there the United State's first Hindu temple.
Dalai Lama flees Tibet and finds refuge in North India as China invades his Buddhist nation.
US immigration law cancels racial qualifications and restores naturalization rights. Admits 170,000 Asians yearly.
US civil rights leader Martin Luther King is assassinated.
Rebellion in East Pakistan (formerly Bengal). Ten million Bengalis, mainly Hindus, flee to India. Indo-Pak border clashes escalate to war. India defeats West Pakistan. East Pakistan becomes independent Bangladesh.
Delhi's World Religious Parliament bestows title Jagadacharya, "World Teacher," on five spiritual leaders for their efforts in promoting Hinduism outside India: Swami Chinmayananda (Mumbai); Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (Hawaii); Yogiraj Amrit Desai (Pennsylvania); Pandit Tej Ramji Sharma (Kathmandu); Swami Jagpurnadas Maharaj (Mauritius).
First Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival is held at Oxford University, England. Hindus discuss international cooperation with 100 religious leaders and 100 parliamentarians.
Christians spend US $165 million yearly to convert Hindus.
India's hominids are active in Tamil Nadu and Punjab.
Fire is first controlled by homo erectus in China.
Taittiriya Samhita 6.5.3 places Pleiades asterism at winter solstice, suggesting the antiquity of this Veda.
Taittiriya Brahmana is the earliest known dating of the sacred Veda.
Vedic culture, the essence of humanity's eternal wisdom, Sanatana Dharma, lives in the Himalayas at end of Ice Age
Start of Hindu lists of kings according to ancient Greek references that give Hindus 150 kings and a history of 6,400 years before 300bce
Excavations from this period at Sumerian sites of Kish and Susa reveal existence of Indian trade products. India's population is 1 million.
The earliest eclipse mentioned in the Rig Veda (according to Indian researcher Dr. Shri P.C. Sengupta)
Hindu astronomers record observations of full moon and new moon at the winter and summer solstices and spring and fall equinoxes with reference to 27 fixed stars (nakshatras) spaced nearly equally on the moon's ecliptic path. From these observations historians are able to calculate backwards and determine the date when the indicated position of moon, sun and nakshatra (stars) occurred.
First Egyptian pyramid is under construction.
Indo-Europeans (Celts, Slavs, Lithuanians, Ukranians) follow cosmology, theology, astronomy, ritual, society and marriage that parallel early Vedic patterns. Probable date of first written Saiva Agamas.
Egyptians bury their royalty in the Valley of the Kings
Early Brahmi script, India's ancient alphabet, is used.
Panini composes Ashtadhyayi, systematizing Sanskrit grammar in 4,000 terse rules. (Date according to Roy.)
Moses leads 600,000 Jews out of Egypt.
Probable time of the legendary Greek Trojan War celebrated in Homer's epic poems, Iliad and Odyssey.
Jewish people arrive in India in King Solomon's merchant fleet. Later Jewish colonies find India a tolerant home. Gradual breakdown of Sanskrit as a spoken language occurs over thenext 200 years.
The Chinese are using the 28-nakshatra zodiac called Shiu, adapted from the Hindu jyotisha system.
First Olympic Games are held in Greece.
Life of Zoroaster of Persia, founder of Zoroastrianism. His holy book, Zend Avesta, contains many verses from the Rig and Atharva Veda. His strong distinctions between good and evil set the dualistic tone of God and devil which distinguishes all later Western religions.
Life of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, born in Uttar Pradesh in a princely Shakya Saivite family. (Date by Sri Lankan Buddhists. Indian scholars say -563-483. Mahayanists of China and Japan prefer -566-486 or later.)
Life of Sushruta, of Varanasi, the father of surgery. His ayurvedic treatises cover pulse diagnosis, hernia, cataract, cosmetic surgery, medical ethics, 121 surgical implements, antiseptics, use of drugs to control bleeding, toxicology, psychiatry, classification of burns, midwifery, surgical anesthesia and therapeutics of garlic.
Lifetime of Lao-tzu, founder of Taoism in China, author of Tao-te Ching. Its esoteric teachings of simplicity and selflessness shape Chinese life for 2,000 years and permeate the religions of Vietnam, Japan and Korea.
In Greece, Pythagoras teaches math, music, vegetarianism and yoga-drawing from India's wisdom ways.
Lifetime of Confucius, founder of Confucianist faith. His teachings on social ethics are the basis of Chinese education, ruling-classideology and religion.
Lifetime of Kapila, founder of Sankhya Darshana, one of six classical systems of Hindu philosophy.
Dams to store water are constructed in India.
World population is 100 million. India population is 25 million.
Over the next 300 years (according to the later dating of Muller) numerous secondary Hindu scriptures (smriti) are composed: Shrauta Sutras, Grihya Sutras, Dharma Sutras, Mahabharata, Ramayana and Puranas, etc.
Sage Agastya writes first known Tamil grammar. Tolkappiyar writes Tolkappiyam Purananuru, also on grammar, stating that he is recording thoughts on poetry, pointing to high development of Tamil language prior to his day. He gives rules for absorbing Sanskrit words into Tamil. Some refer to worship of Vishnu, Indra, Murugan and Supreme Siva.
Ajita, a nastika (atheist) who teaches a purely material explanation of life and that death is final, dies.
Athenian philosopher Socrates flourishes (ca -470-400).
Lifetime of Plato, Athenian disciple of Socrates. This great philosopher founds Athens Academy in -387.
Lifetime of Hippocrates, Greek physician and "father of medicine," formulates Hippocratic oath, code of medical ethics still pledged by present-day Western doctors.
Rainfall is measured by Indian scientists.
Alexander the Great of Greece invades, but fails to conquer, Northern India. His soldiers mutiny. He leaves India the same year. Greeks who remain in India intermarry with Indians. Interchanges of philosophy influence both civilizations. Greek sculpture impacts Hindu styles. Bactria kingdoms later enhance Greek influence.
Chandragupta Maurya, founder of first pan-Indian empire (-324-184), defeats Greek garrisons of Seleucus. At its height under Emperor Ashoka (reign -273-232), the Mauryan Empire includes all India except the far South.
Emperor Chandragupta abdicates to become a Jain monk.
Ashoka (-273-232 reign), greatest Mauryan Emperor, grandson of Chandragupta, is coronated. Repudiating conquest through violence after his brutal invasion of Kalinga, 260 bce, he converts to Buddhism. Excels at public works and sends diplomatic peace missions to Persia, Syria, Egypt, North Africa and Crete, and Buddhist missions to Sri Lanka, China and other Southeast Asian countries. Under his influence, Buddhism becomes a world power.
Emperor Ashoka sends his son Mahendra (-270-204) to spread Buddhism in Sri Lanka, where he is to this day revered as the national faith's founding missionary.
Lifetime of Maharishi Nandinatha, first known satguru in the Kailasa Parampara of the Nandinatha Sampradaya. His eight disciples are Sanatkumar, Shanakar, Sanadanar, Sananthanar, Sivayogamuni, Patanjali, Vyaghrapada and Tirumular (Sundaranatha).
Great Wall of China is built, ultimately 2,600 miles long, the only man-made object visible from the moon.
Lifetime of Rishi Tirumular, author of the 3,047-verse Tirumantiram, a summation of Saiva Agamas and Vedas. Lifetime of Patanjali who writes the Yoga Sutras at Chidambaram. Lifetime of Bhogar Rishi, one of eighteen Tamil siddhas. Lifetime of Sage Tiruvalluvar, poet-weaver and, author of Tirukural, "Holy Couplets," the classic Tamil work on ethics and statecraft (sworn on in today's South Indian law courts). Jaimini writes the Mimamsa Sutras.
Ajanta Buddhist Caves are begun near present-day Hyderabad. Construction of the 29 monasteries and galleries continues until approximately 650 ce. The famous murals are painted between 600 bce and 650 ce.
Jesus of Nazareth (-4-30 ce), founder of Christianity, is born in Bethlehem (current Biblical scholarship).
World population is 170 million. India population is 35 million: 20.5% of world.
South Indians occupy Funan, Indochina. Kaundinya, an Indian brahmin, is first king. Shaivism is the state religion.
Buddhism is introduced in China by Emperor Ming Di (reign: 58-76) after he converts to the faith.
Lifetime of Charaka. Court physician of the Kushan king, he formulates a code of conduct for doctors of ayurveda and writes Charaka Samhita, a manual of medicine.
Lifetime of Shandilya, first systematic promulgator of the ancient Pancharatra doctrines, whose Bhakti Sutras, devotional aphorisms on Vishnu, inspire a Vaishnava renaissance. The Samhita of Shandilya and his followers, the Pancharatra Agama, embody the chief doctrines of present-day Vaishnavas. By the 10th century the popular sect leaves permanent mark on many Hindu schools.
Paper is invented in China.
Greek astronomer Ptolemy, known as Asura Maya in India, explains solar astronomy, Surya Siddhanta, to Indian students of the science of the stars.
Lifetime of Plotinus, Egyptian-born Greek philosopher and religious genius who transforms a revival of Platonism in the Roman Empire into what present-day scholars call Neoplatonism, which greatly influences Islamic and European thought. He teaches ahimsa, vegetarianism, karma, reincarnation and belief in a Supreme Being, both immanent and transcendent.
Laws of Manu (Manu Dharma Shastras) written. Its 2,685 verses codify cosmogony, four ashramas, government, domestic affairs, caste and morality. Polynesians sailing in open outrigger canoes reach as far as Hawaii and Easter Island.
Shaturanga, Indian forerunner of chess, has evolved from Ashtapada, a board-based race game, into a four-handed war game played with a die. Later, in deference to the Laws of Manu, which forbid gambling, players discard the die and create Shatranj, a two-sided strategy game. Vatsyayana writes Kamasutra, famous text on erotics.
Life of Bodhidharma of South India, 28th patriarch of India's Dhyana Buddhist sect, founder of Ch'an Buddhism in China (520), known as Zen in Japan.
Aryabhata I (476-ca 550), Indian astronomer and mathematician, using Hindu (aka Arabic) numerals accurately calculates pi () to 3.1416, and the solar year to 365.3586805 days. A thousand years before Copernicus, Aryabhata propounds a heliocentric universe with elliptically orbiting planets and a spherical Earth spinning on its axis, explaining the apparent rotation of the heavens. Writes Aryabhatiya, history's first exposition on plane and spherical trigonometry, algebra and arithmetic.
Sectarian folk traditions are revised, elaborated and reduced to writing as the Puranas, Hinduism's encyclopedic compendium of culture and mythology. World population is 190 million. India population is 50 million: 26.3% of world.
Council of Constantinople II denies doctrine of soul's existence before conception, implying that reincarnation is incompatible with Christian belief.
Lifetime of Mohammed of the Quraysh Bedouin tribe, founder of Islam. Begins to preach in Mecca, calling for an end to the "demons and idols" of Arab religion and conversion to the ways of the one God, Allah.
Lifetime of Saiva saint Nayanar Tirunavukkarasu, born into a farmer family at Amur, now in South Arcot, Tamil Nadu. He writes 312 songs, totalling 3,066 Tirumurai verses. Cleaning the grounds of every temple he visits, he exemplifies truly humble service to Lord Siva. His contemporary, the child-saint Nayanar Sambandar, addresses him affectionately as Appar, "Father."
Lifetime of Brahmagupta, pre-eminent Indian astronomer, who writes on gravity and sets forth the Hindu astronomical system in his Brahma Sphuta Siddhanta. Two of 25 chapters are on sophisticated mathematics.
Lifetime of Nayanar Saiva saint Tirujnana Sambandar. Born a brahmin in Tanjavur, he writes 384 songs totalling 4,158 verses that make up the first three books of Tirumurai. ca 650 More than 60 Chinese monks have traveled to India and her colonies. Four hundred Sanskrit works have been translated into Chinese; 380 survive to the present day.
A Hindu astronomer and mathematician in Baghdad translates into Arabic Brahmagupta's Brahma Sphuta Siddhanta (treatise on astronomy), transmitting decimal notation and use of zero to the Arab world.
Adi Sankara (788 - 820) the famous Smarta monk-philosopher writes mystic poems and scriptural commentaries, including Viveka Chudamani, and regularizes ten monastic orders called Dashanami.
Bhakti revival curtails Buddhism in South India. In the North, Buddha is revered as Vishnu's 9th incarnation.
Nayanar Tamil saint Sundarar is born into a family of Adishaiva temple priests in Tirunavalur. His 100 songs in praise of Siva (the only ones surviving of his 38,000 songs) make up Tirumurai book 7. His Tiru Tondattohai poem, naming the Saiva saints, is the basis for Saint Sekkilar's Periyapuranam.
Under the Hindu Malla dynasty (ca 900 - 1700) of Nepal, legal and social codes influenced by Hinduism are introduced. Nepal is broken into several principalities.
Lifetime of Sembiyan Ma Devi, queen of Maharaja Gandaraditta Chola from 950 to 957. A loyal patron of Saivism, she builds ten temples and inspires and influences her grand-nephew, son of Sundara Chola, who as King Rajaraja I becomes a great temple-builder.
World population is 265 million. India's is 79 million, 29.8 percent of world. Polynesians arrive in New Zealand, in the last stage in the greatest migration and navigational feat in history, making them the most widely spread race on the planet.
Chinese invent the compass and moveable type and perfect the use of gunpowder, first invented and used in India as an explosive mixture of saltpetre, sulfur and charcoal to power guns, cannons and artillery.
Life of Nammalvar, greatest of Alvar saints. His poems shape beliefs to present day. Lifetime of Vasugupta, modern founder of a monistic, meditative school. Lifetime of Karaikkalammaiyar creates mystical, yogic hymns. Lifetime of Andal, girl saint of Tamil Nadu. Writes devotional poetry. (copy)
Life of Basavanna stressing free will, equality, service to humanity and worship of the Sivalinga worn around the neck.
All of North India is now under Muslim domination. India population reaches 80 million. An unknown author writes Yoga Yajnavalkya.
King John is forced to grant the Magna Carta, giving greater rights to the people of England.
Lifetime of Meykandar, Saiva saint who founds the Meykandar school of pluralistic Saiva Siddhanta. His 12-sutra Sivajnanabodham becomes the core scripture.
Lifetime of Namadeva, foremost poet-saint of Maharashtra's Varkari ("pilgrim") Vaishnava school, disciple of Jnanadeva. He and his family compose a million verses in praise of Lord Vithoba (Vishnu).
Marco Polo visits India en route to China.
Council of Lyons II declares that souls go immediately to heaven, purgatory or hell; interpreted by Catholic fathers as condemning the doctrine of reincarnation.
Lifetime of Janabai, woman saint who writes a portion of Namadeva's million verses to Vithoba (Vishna). The Ananda Samucchhaya is written, 277 stanzas on hatha yoga.
Life of Lalla of Kashmir. She contributes significantly to the Kashmiri language.
Aztecs establish advanced civilization in Mexico.
Lifetime of Guru Nanak, founder of Sikhism, originally a reformist Hindu sect stressing devotion, faith in the guru, repetition of God's name and rejection of renunciation and caste. (Most present-day Sikhs consider themselves members of a separate religion.)
Spanish Inquisition begins. Over the next 20 years, Christians burn several thousand persons at the stake.
Lifetime of Vallabhacharya, a married Telugu brahmin saint who teaches pushtimarga, "path of love," and a lofty nondual philosophy, in which souls are eternally one with Brahman. Vallabhacharya's Vaishnavism worships Krishna in the form of Shri Nathji.
Looking for India, Christopher Columbus lands on San Salvador island in the Caribbean, thus "discovering" the Americas and proving the Earth is round, not flat.
Portugal's Vasco da Gama sails around Cape of Good Hope to Calcutta, first European to find sea route to India. Portuguese Catholics soon capture Goa (1510) and other places, beginning conquest and exploitation of India by Europeans.
Life of Arunagirinathar emphasizes feeding the hungry during a time of Muslim oppression and disrupted family life. Buddhist and Saiva Hindu princes are forced off Java by invading Muslims. Within 100 years they construct what many call a fairytale kingdom. World population 425 million; 105 million live in India.
Lifetime of Nostradamus, French physician and astrologer who wrote Centuries (1555), a book of prophecies.
Portuguese Catholics conquer Goa which begins conquest and exploitation of India by Europeans.
Luther begins Protestant Reformation in Europe.
Spanish Jesuit priest Francis Xavier (1506 - 1552), most successful Catholic missionary, lands in Goa. First to train and employ native clergy in conversion efforts, he brings Catholicism to India, Malay Archipelago and Japan.
Akbar (1542 - 1605), grandson of Babur, becomes third Mughal Emperor at age 13. Disestablishes Islam as state religion and declares himself impartial ruler of Hindus and Muslims; encourages art, culture, religious tolerance.
Polish astronomer Copernicus' (1473 - 1543) heliocentric system, in which Earth orbits the sun, gains popularity in Europe among astronomers and mathematicians.
Akbar rules half of India, shows tolerance for all faiths.
"Persian wheel" to lift water by oxen is adopted, one of few farming innovations since Indus Valley civilization.
Royal Charter forms the East India Company, setting in motion a process that ultimately results in the subjugation of India under British rule.
Lifetime of Tukaram, considered greatest Marathi spiritual composer. Lifetime of Ramdas, mystic poet, Sivaji's guru, Marathi saint, who gives Hindus the dhvaja, saffron flag.
Galileo of Italy (1564 - 1642) perfects the telescope and with it confirms the Copernican theory. Catholic Inquisition condemns him a heretic for his assertions.
Jaffna kingdom is annexed and Sri Lanka's ruling dynasty deposed by Portuguese Catholics who, between 1505 and 1658, destroy most of the island's Hindu temples.
First black slaves from Africa are sold in Virginia
English pilgrims land and settle at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts.
Life of Sivaji, valiant general and tolerant founder of Hindu Maratha Empire (1674 - 1818). Emancipates large areas confiscated by Muslims, returning them to Hindu control. First Indian ruler to build a major naval force.
Lifetime of Kumaraguruparar, prolific poet-saint of Tamil Nadu who founds monastery in Varanasi to propound Saiva Siddhanta philosophy.
Shah Jahan completes Taj Mahal in Agra on the Yamuna River. Its construction has taken 20,000 laborers 15 years, at a total cost equivalence of US%25 million.
Robert de Nobili (1577 - 1656), Italian Jesuit missionary noted for fervor and intolerance, arrives in Madurai, declares himself a brahmin, dresses like a Hindu monk. He is credited with composing a Veda-like Sanskrit scripture extolling Jesus. Two yoga classics, Siva Samhita and Gheranda Samhita, are written.
Zealous Muslim Aurangzeb (1618 - 1707) becomes Mughal Emperor. His discriminatory policies toward Hindus, Marathas and the Deccan kingdoms contribute to the dissolution of the Mughal Empire by 1750.
Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb demolishes all temples in Mathura, said to number 1,000. (During their 500-year reign, Muslim rulers destroy roughly 60,000 Hindu temples throughout India, constructing mosques on 3,000 of those sites.)
World population is 610 million. India population is 165 million: 27 percent of world.
British defeat the weak Mughal Emperor and gain full control of Bengal, richest province of India.
Sir William Jones uses the Rig Veda term Aryan ("noble") to name the parent language of Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and Germanic tongues.
India's population estimated at 200 million.
Lifetime of Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet who helps popularize Bhagavad Gita and Upanishads in US.
Lifetime of Bahaullah, Mirza Husayn 'Ali, founder of Baha'i faith (1863), a major off-shoot religion of Islam.
First Indian immigrants arrive in the US.
Life of Arumuga Navalar of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, renaissance activist who writes first Hindu catechism and translates Bible into Tamil to enable Hindus a faithful comparison to the Vedas and Agamas.
Joseph de Gobineau (1816 - 1882), French sociologist, writes The Inequality of Human Races. Proclaims the "Aryan race" superior to other great strains and lays down the aristocratic class-doctrine of Aryanism that later provides the basis for Adolf Hitler's Aryan racism.
First US chair of Sanskrit and Indology established at Yale University; American Oriental Society founded in 1842.
Max Muller (1823 - 1900), German Christian Orientalist in England, advocates the term Aryan to name a hypothetical primitive people of Central Asia, the common ancestors of Hindus, Persians and Greeks. Muller speculates that this "Aryan race" divided and marched West to Europe and East to India and China around 1500 BCE. Their language, Muller avers, developed into Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Germanic, etc., and all ancient civilizations descended primarily from this Aryan race.
Charles Darwin publishes controversial book, The Origin of Species, propounding his "natural selection" theory of evolution and laying the foundations of modern biology
S/S Truro and S/S Belvedere dock in Durban, S. Africa, carrying first indentured servants (from Chennai and Calcutta) to work sugar plantations.
American Civil War begins in Charleston, S. Carolina.
US allows annual influx of 270,000 Asian immigrants.
At Harvard University, Professor Arvind Sharma launches a vanguard course, "Common Misconceptions in the Study of Indic Civilization," to explore misrepresentations held by Western historians and archeologists.
Christian campaigns gain force in India. Hindu resentment erupts in sporadic violence. Paganism experiences a renaissance in Europe as people return to the old Gods, reestablish pre-Christian holy sites and practice the faith openly. Hindu awareness and anti-defamation groups begin speaking out as never before, against insults to Hindu traditions and sensibilities, such as the use of Deity images by shoe manufacturers.