With the death of Açoka, in 237 av. J. - C. (after being itself converted with Buddhism, it sent missions of converting Ceylon into 240), the Empire is parcelled out. Its destiny appears parallel to that of the Empire gréco-Iranian of Séleucides. When the Maurya last disappears, the sub-continent is divided again between gangetic India with the hands of Çunga, India of the North-West, where Greek adventurers come from Bactriane cut kingdoms, and India of the Center and South, where the local principalities (Andhra, Kalinga, Pandya) affirm their young personality.  

Çunga are reversed in their turn by Kanva (of 73 with 25 av. J. - C.), while the Greeks are eliminated by Sakas de Transoxiane (of other Indo-Europeans of the steppe), which, driven out by turbulences of the Central Asia, are established in their turn in India of the North-West during I er front century J. - C.

In parallel, Andhra of central India try to reconstitute an empire. Definitively released, the principalities of the maritime frontage of the Bay of Bengal radiate on the Southeast Asia where, at the dawn of the Christian era, the first indianized chefferies appear. At this point in time a new wave of Indo-European invaders from Central Asia, Kushanas, can benefit from the expansion of the “international” big business, supported by the development of the Empires Roman and Chinese, to settle in articulatory position, of the master keys of the Central Asia to the valley of Indus and with that of Gange, and thus gives again an imperial cohesion in the Indian world. This new Empire knows its apogee with I er century apr. J. - C., with the Kanishka emperor.

Of Ier in Ve century

However, hunnic agitation in Central Asia calls into question this balance: the pole of the world exchanges moves more in the west, for the benefit of Iran of Sassanides, which demolish Kushanas into 242. The dynasty of Satavahana, or Andhra, in the south, declines in parallel and is replaced by powers located more at the east, in relation to the trade of the South-East Asia: Pallava de Kanchipuram (250) and Vakataka de Nandivardhana (270).

But the success even of these companies allows a new power panindien to constitute itself, in the traditional center of India, on the old kingdom of Magadha, from where a new imperial dynasty emerges, that of Gupta, which acquires its power with Chandragupta at the beginning of the IV E century. With this new Empire, India knows an economic advancement and cultural of very first plan; more especially as, for a long time, it is the only kingdom saved by the invasions of the people of the steppes. The rebirth hindouist results in a rise of the literature, encouraged by king Chandragupta, like illustrates it the tragic poet Kalidasa, who perfectly knew to translate the ideal of the Brahmanic company.  

The empire of Gupta ends up being victim of the invasions of the people of the steppes (which are not any more of the Indo-Europeans). Skandagupta (455-467) yields under the pressure of Huns white, or Huns Hephthalites. The Indian company enters then a political phase of crumbling and economic depression. The maritime companies, in particular the companies of India of the South, such as those of Pallava, definitively insert the Tamil countries in the history. If they escape the depression initially, they cannot avoid being touched in the second time, because of reduction in the maritime trade between India and China.  

Huns white, taken with reverse by the Turks of Central Asia, are finally defeated in India of North in the middle of the VI E century. India does not remain less fragmented about it during the VII E century, and the attempts at restoration of the unit fail: that of Calukya in central India or that of king Harsha (606-647) in India of North. From now on, India will not find any more in it the means of an imperial order.