page_title: Medieval India
section_title: Definitions
hierarchical_section_title: Medieval India / Definitions
caption_attribution_description: English: India 7th century AD
context_page_description: Medieval India refers to a long period of the history of the Indian subcontinent between the "ancient period" and "modern period". It encompasses the 6th to the 18th centuries A.D.
context_section_description: One definition, used in the rest of this article, includes the period from the 6th century, the "first half of the 7th century", or the 8th century up to the 16th century, essentially coinciding with the Middle Ages of Europe. It may be divided into two periods: The 'early medieval period' which lasted from the 6th to the 13th century and the 'late medieval period' which lasted from the 13th to the 16th century, ending with the start of the Mughal Empire in 1526. The Mughal era, from the 16th century to the 18th century, is often referred to as the early modern period, but is sometimes also included in the 'late medieval' period.
  An alternative definition, often seen in those more recent authors who still use the term at all, brings the start of the medieval times forward, either to about 1000 CE, or to the 12th century. The end may be pushed back to the 18th century, making the period in effect that between the start of Muslim domination (at least in northern India) and British India. Or the "early medieval" period as beginning in the 8th century, and ending with the 11th century.
  The use of "medieval" at all as a term for periods in Indian history has often been objected to, and is probably becoming more rare (there is a similar discussion in terms of the history of China). It is argued that neither the start nor the end of the period really mark fundamental changes in Indian history, comparable to the European equivalents. Burton Stein still used the concept in his A History of India (1998, referring to the period from the Guptas to the Mughals), but most recent authors using it are Indian. Understandably, they often specify the period they cover within their titles.
caption: Medieval India during the Harsha Empire of the 7th century A.D.
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