Vedic Civilization

Main article: Vedic period
The geographical horizon of the early Rigvedic Aryans, the extent of their Swat and Cemetery H cultures in the Hindu Kush to Punjab and the upper Gangetic plain regions and Rigvedic river names.

In the early part of the second millennium BCE, the Indian branch of Indo-Iranians migrated into the region,[17] and settled in the between Sapta Sindhu and the Ganges-Yamuna rivers.[18]

During the early Vedic Period (c. 1700-1400 BCE), the hymns of the Rigveda were composed and the foundations of Vedic liturgy were laid. The city of Taxila, now in northern Pakistan, became important to Vedic religion (and later in Buddhism). Hindu traditions believe that the Mahābhārata epic was first recited at Taxila at the snake sacrifice Yagna of King Janamejaya, one of the heroes of the story.[19] Classical Sanskrit was defined in the 4th century BCE by the grammarian Pāṇini in his grammar Ashtadhyayi, who hailed from a place near the ancient city of Pushkalavati in the Gandhara region.