Aryavarta in the context of "Brahmanism"

The historical Vedic religion, also called Vedism or Brahmanism, and sometimes ancient Hinduism or Vedic Hinduism, constituted the religious ideas and practices prevalent amongst some of the Indo-Aryan peoples of the northwest Indian subcontinent (Punjab and the western Ganges plain) during the Vedic period (c. 1500–500 BCE). These ideas and practices are found in the Vedic texts, and some Vedic rituals are still practised today. The Vedic religion is one of the major traditions which shaped modern Hinduism, though present-day Hinduism is significantly different from the historical Vedic religion.

The Vedic religion has roots in the Indo-Iranian culture and religion of the Sintashta (c. 2200–1750 BCE) and Andronovo (c. 2000–1150 BCE) cultures of Eurasian Steppe. This Indo-Iranian religion borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices" from the non-Indo-Aryan Bactria–Margiana culture (BMAC; 2250–1700 BCE) of south of Central Asia, when pastoral Indo-Aryan tribes stayed there as a separate people in the early 2nd millennium BCE. From the BMAC Indo-Aryan tribes migrated to the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, and the Vedic religion developed there during the early Vedic period (c. 1500–1100 BCE) as a variant of Indo-Aryan religion, influenced by the remnants of the late Indus Valley Civilisation (2600–1900 BCE).

Greater Magadha is a theory in the studies of the ancient history of India, introduced by Johannes Bronkhorst. It refers to the non-Vedic political and cultural sphere that developed in the lower Gangetic plains (modern day Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal), east of the Vedic heartland and roughly corresponding to the region of the later Magadha empire.

According to Bronkhorst, out of the ideological opposition between these two cultural spheres – the Vedic realms of Kuru and Panchala in the west, and Śramaṇa of Greater Magadha in the east – developed the two main religious & spiritual ideologies of Ancient India. Critics have questioneded Bronkhorst's assertion of a stark cultural division between East and West, as well as his claim that early Magadha was less influenced by Brahmanization.

The Nara Canal is a delta channel of the Indus River in Sindh province, Pakistan that was built as an excavated channel stemming off the left bank of the Indus River to join the course of the old Nara River, a tributary c.q. paleochannel of the Indus which received water from the Ghaggar-Hakra until the Hakra dried-up, early 2nd millennium BCE.

Thanesar (IAST: Sthāṇvīśvara) is a historic city and Hindu pilgrimage centre in the Kurukshetra district of Haryana, India. It is located approximately 160 km northwest of Delhi. The city Kurukshetra's area merges with Thanesar.

Thanesar was the capital of the Pushyabhuti dynasty, whose rulers conquered most of Aryavarta following the fall of the Gupta Empire. The Pushyabhuti emperor Prabhakarvardhana was a ruler of Thanesar in the early seventh century CE. He was succeeded by his sons, Rajyavardhana and Harsha. Harsha, also known as Harshavardhana, consolidated a vast empire over much of North India by defeating independent kings that fragmented from the Later Guptas.