Although a tiny minority in modern India, Jews have a long history on the subcontinent, and in fact, it is home to several distinct Jewish communities.

The first to arrive, possibly in the last centuries BCE, were the Jews who settled in Cochin (now called Kochi), in south India. They remain a small but important presence in Kochi, a trading hub on the Kerala coast since ancient times. Also existent are the Bene Israel, believed to have arrived some 2,100 years ago; they settled in and around Mumbai and in present day Pakistan. More recent arrivals were the Baghdadi Jews, so called because they are chiefly descended from Iraqi Jews who migrated to India during the British Raj, between 150 - 250 years ago.

India's most prominent Jewish community—considered one of the oldest in the world east of Iran—remains the one in Kochi. Although very few members of the community remain, most having long since emigrated to Israel, the Kochin Jews were and are an important part of the Kerala coast's spice trade, with huge warehouses containing mountains of turmeric, chillies, and pepper located directly below their family living quarters.

India's largest Jewish community, however, is the Bene Israel in Mumbai. Although their arrival in India is something of a mystery (some claim to have arrived in India in the 2nd century BCE), members of this community adopted the occupation of oil pressing and became known as "shanwar telis" or "Sabbath-observing oilmen" because they didn't work on the Sabbath. They were physically and linguistically indistinguishable to outsiders from the local population but had their own traditions, observed the Sabbath, circumcised their sons, and performed other rituals associated with Judaism.

Without exception, all Jewish communities have been accepted and assimilated into Indian society. In fact, Indians tend to take pride in the fact that Jews in India have rarely had to deal with anti-Semitism from either Hindus or Muslims. When anti-Semitism did raise its head, it was perpetrated by Dutch colonialists. The recent attack (November 2008) on the Mumbai Chabad House Jewish Centre is believed to have been perpetrated by Islamic extremists from outside India. India is also the only place in the world where Jews are comfortable with using Swastikas in their signs—because it's an ancient Hindu symbol and has none of the negative connotations that is found in the West.

The Periplus, a Greek merchant's guide to the Indian trade from the 1st century CE notes twenty major ports on India's west coast. Muziris, the Graeco-Roman pronounciation of Muchiripattanam, was apparently the most important. It is mentioned in papyrus contracts dating back to the 2nd century CE in the West, and is recorded in Tamil poetry of that time. It was the first stop for ships on the direct route from the Red Sea and became a home away from home for many traders. Muziris is where trade began and flourished between India and the Mediterranean, primarily in spices. The trade lasted until the 4th century when it was taken over first by the Persians, and then by Arabs and Arabic-speaking Jews in the 7th century.

However, despite all written evidence, the exact location of Muziris remained unclear until recently, because rivers alter courses over time, and in Kerala the coastline is particularly changeable. In 2005, an archaeologist from Cochin University, Dr.Shajan and his team found Muziris exactly where it was supposed to be—4 miles inland, behind a double line of backwaters near the modern town of Cranganore (Kodungallar). Coins of Roman emperors Nero and Tiberius have been found, along with Roman amphorae and Mediterranean glass ornaments. In fact, Roman coins have long been a common sight at local antique dealers' shops. And even today it is the custom in southern Indian weddings to give the bride a necklace of small coins.

Ruins dating back to Kushans and beyond at Ghor Khuttree, Peshawar, Pakistan

After the death of Ashoka the Great in 232 BCE, his successors slowly lost their grip on the territories of the Mauryan Empire, and northern India broke up into a number of smaller states ruled by local dynasties. In central India though, a major power continued for over four hundred years: the Satavahana Empire (c. 230BCE-220CE). In the north after a period of internecine warfare, and further incursions and invasions from Central Asia the next great Indian power was created by the Yueh-chi, or Kushans. One of the groups who migrated from what is now Chinese Central Asia into what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India, the Kushans formed one of the great empires of the classical epoch, ruling at their height from the Aral Sea to the Bay of Bengal.

The Kushans built an empire supported by trade on the Silk Road, and lavished their wealth on the arts and on Buddhist monasteries, importing Greek artisans to carve elaborate sculptures depicting the life of the Buddha. This synthesis of western artisans carving eastern subjects became known as Gandharan art. During this era, the first Buddhist missionaries travelled to China, with two Indian monks founding the first Chinese monastery and spreading the teachings of Buddhism by translating its sacred texts into the local languages.

The Kushans practiced an ecumenical rule, supporting many deities of different religions in their multi-racial empire. The greatest Kushan ruler, King Kanishka, closely affiliated himself to Buddhism, choosing the Mahayana tradition, and thereby influencing the direction of Buddhism in China and Tibet. His enormous stupa, erected in Peshawar was regarded as one of the greatest wonders of the Asian world: it was still standing 500 years later, as described by a Chinese pilgrim in the 7th century CE, though only its foundations survived into modern times.

The Kushans also developed a highly ornate and sophisticated system of coinage, with beautiful gold coins depicting rulers and gods in superb detail. Along with new inscriptional finds the coinage has allowed modern scholars to date the Kushan ulers more precisely, and is providing new insight into the events of the era which the great 18th century historian Edward Gibbon called "the happiest time in the history of humanity".