The
history of India up to (and including) the times of the
Buddha, with his life generally placed into the
6th or
5th century BCE, is a subject of a major scholarly debate. The vast majority of historians in
the Western world accept the theory of
Aryan Migration with dates for the displacement of
Indus civilization by
Aryans and the earliest texts of the
Rigveda. The Indian scholars, on the other hand, are mostly supporters of the
Indigenous Aryanism that declares the indigenous nature of the
Indian civilization and the date for the earliest Rigvedas. Early Indian history does not have an equivalent of
chronicles like the ones established in the West by
Herodotus in the 5th century BC or
Kojiki /
Nihongi in Japan. "With the single exception of
Rajatarangini (History of Kashmir), there is no historical text in
Sanskrit dealing with the whole or even parts of India" (
R. C. Majumdar). While there are texts in Sanskrit, the
Puranas, that profess to include the early Indian history, the Western scholars assume them to be compiled by
brahmins in the
1st millennium CE, thus only being contemporary with the described facts from the time of the
Guptas (
3rd century CE). These texts are considered by Western scholars to be legendary, corresponding kingdoms are listed separately in the
Puranic kings section. == Ancient dynasties ==