Iron Age India, the Iron Age in the Indian subcontinent, succeeds the Late Harappan (Cemetery H) culture, also known as the last phase of the Indus Valley Tradition.

The main Iron Age archaeological cultures of India are the Painted Grey Ware culture (1100 to 350 BCE) and the Northern Black Polished Ware (700 to 200 BCE).

During the period 2000–500 BCE, many regions of the subcontinent transition from the Chalcolithic cultures to the Iron Age ones.

The Vedas, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism, are composed during this period, nd historians have analyzed these to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the upper Gangetic Plain.

Most historians also consider this period to have encompassed several waves of Indo-Aryan migration into the subcontinent from the north-west.

The caste system, which creates a hierarchy of priests, warriors, and free peasants, but which excludes indigenous peoples by labeling their occupations impure, arises during this period.

On the Deccan Plateau, archaeological evidence from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organisation.

In South India, a progression to sedentary life is indicated by the large number of megalithic monuments dating from this period, as well as by nearby traces of agriculture, irrigation tanks, and craft traditions.

In the late Vedic period, around the sixth century BCE, the small states and chiefdoms of the Ganges Plain and the north-western regions have consolidated into sixteen major oligarchies and monarchies that are known as the mahajanapadas.

The emerging urbanization gives rise to non-Vedic religious movements, two of which become independent religions.

Jainism comes into prominence during the life of its exemplar, Mahavira.

Buddhism, based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha, attracts followers from all social classes excepting the middle class; chronicling the life of the Buddha is central to the beginnings of recorded history in India.[

In an age of increasing urban wealth, both religions hold up renunciation as an ideal, and both establish long-lasting monastic traditions.

Politically, by the 3rd century BCE, the kingdom of Magadha has annexed or reduced other states to emerge as the Mauryan Empire.

The empire is once thought to have controlled most of the subcontinent except the far south, but its core regions are now thought to have been separated by large autonomous areas.

The Mauryan kings are known as much for their empire-building and determined management of public life as for Ashoka's renunciation of militarism and far-flung advocacy of the Buddhist dharma, generally meaning the teachings of the Buddha.