Indian food and Indian cricket

Much to my embarrassment, I do not know much about India apart from Indian food and Indian cricket. Well, apart from the fact that all my interactions with the people I have met have been positive. 

With just over a billion inhabitants and a long history, India is the dominant culture in central Asia. I admit to not knowing much about Indian history, that is even post-British colonisation. Since Indian independence in 1948, I know more about this period of Indian history than the rest combined.

As a cricketing nation, Australia and India have a very fierce rivalry on the field. Hopefully the shared values that occurred through sport can transcend the sporting field to business and cultural interests. What I am going to do is a little research of Indian history, I do have an interest and would like to know more about pre-British colonisation.