| Episode | Title | Cast | Role | Notes |
|---|
| 1 | "Bharat Mata Ki Jai"[7] | Roshan Seth | Jawaharlal Nehru[1] | |
| 2 | "The Beginnings" | Harish Patel, Lalit Mohan Tiwari, Pallavi Joshi | Draha, Shulgi, Atri | A street play based on the Epic of Gilgamesh is also depicted in the episode.[8] |
| 3 | "The Arrival of the Vedic People" | Anang Desai, K K Raina, Ravi Jhankal | Sardar, Suteja, Bajbandha | |
| 4 | "Caste Formation" | Anang Desai, Salim Ghouse, K K Raina, Lalit Mohan Tiwari, Inayatullah Kantroo, Anuradha Tarafdar, Ila Arun | Chandraprabha, Rama, Narada, Arjuna, Dhanpal, Dhanvati, Sheelvati | Story of Shambuka from Ramayana and Ekalavya from Mahabharata were also part of this episode. |
| 5,6 | "Mahabharata" Part 1 | Teejan Bai, Salim Ghouse, Om Puri, Sujata Mehta, Pankaj Berry, Ila Arun, Salim Ghouse, Sulakshana Khatri | Krishna, Duryodhana, Draupadi, Shakuni, Aswatthama, Gandhari | |
| "Mahabharata" Part 2 | |
| 7,8 | "Ramayana" Part 1[1] | Om Puri, Pallavi Joshi, Salim Ghouse[1], Pankaj Berry, Ravi Jhankal | Sita, Rama, Bharata, Lakshmana | |
| "Ramayana" Part 2 | |
| 9 | "Republics and Kingdoms" | Virendra Saxena, K K Raina | Mahaanaman, Virudhaka | |
| 10 | "Negation and Acceptance of Life" | Dhruv Ghanekar, Aanjjan Srivastav, Om Puri, Ashutosh Gowariker | Nachiketa, Yamaraja, Angulimaal, Gautam Buddha | |
| 11, 12 | "Chanakya and Chandragupta" Part 1 | Satyadev Dubey, Ravi Jhankal, Mita Vashisht, Aanjjan Srivastav | Chanakya, Chanragupta, Suhasini | |
| "Chanakya and Chandragupta" Part 2 | |
| 13, 14 | "Ashoka" Part 1 | Om Puri, K.K.Raina, Ila Arun, Lucky Ali (credited as Maqsoom Ali) | Ashoka, Radhagupta, Asandhimitra, Prince Tissa | |
| "Ashoka" Part 2 | |
| 15, 16 | "The Sangam Period: Silapaddikaram" Part 1 | Pallavi Joshi, Sulabha Deshpande, Virendra Saxena Rakesh Dhar | Kannaki, Kovalan, Kavundi, Pandit | |
| "The Sangam Period: Silapaddikaram" Part 2 | |
| 17 | "The Classical Age" | Anjan Srivastav, Harish Patel, Aparjita Krishna | Sansthanaka, Nai, Vasantsena | |
| 18, 19 | "Kalidas and Shakuntala" Part 1 | Ravi Jhankal, Pallavi Joshi, Virendra Saxena | Kalidas, Mallika, Matul | Excerpts from plays Ashadh Ka Ek Din by Mohan Rakesh and Shakuntala (play) by Kalidasa were used in this episode. |
| "Kalidas and Shakuntala" Part 2 |
| 20 | "Harshavardhana" | Pankaj Berry, K Makhija, Aparajita | Harshavardhana, Prabhakar Vardhana, Queen | |
| 21 | "Bhakti" | Vijay Kashyap, Rajesh Vivek, Mita Vashisht, Harish Patel | Mahendravarman I, Kapalin, Devasoma, Buddhist Monk | |
| 22 | "The Chola Empire" Part 1 | Om Puri, Devendre Malhotra, Sunila Pradhan, Shantanu Chaparia | Raja Raja Chola, Ishanashiva, Mahadevi, Tirumala | |
| 23 | "The Chola Empire" Part 2 | Om Puri, Devendre Malhotra, Sunila Pradhan, Shantanu Chaparia | Raja Raja Chola, Ishanashiva, Mahadevi, Tirumala | |
| 24 | "The Delhi Sultanate" Part 1:The Arrival of Turk-Afghans and Prithviraj Raso | K.K. Raina, Vijay Kashyap, Ravi Jhankal, Ahmed Khan, Irrfan Khan, Achyut Potdar, Vijay Kashyap | Muhammad Ghori, Chand Bardai, Prithviraj Chauhan, Mahmud Ghazni, Ferdowsi, Al-Biruni | |
| 25 | "The Delhi Sultanate" Part 2: Prithviraj Raso and Alauddin Khilji | K.K. Raina, Vijay Kashyap, Ravi Jhankal, Achyut Potdar, Om Puri, Rajendra Gupta, Seema Kelkar | Muhammad Ghori, Chand Bardai,Makwana, Alauddin Khilji, Ratan Singh, Padmavati | |
| 26 | "The Delhi Sultanate" Part 3: Padmavat and Tughlaq dynasty[9] | Om Puri, Rajendra Gupta, Seema Kelkar, | Alauddin Khalji, Ratan Singh, Padmavati | |
| 27 | "Synthesis" | Pankaj Berry | Lorik [Lubna salim] chanda[Maina]Aparajita | |
| 28 | "The Vijayanagar Empire" | Om Puri, Salim Ghouse, Aanjjan Srivastav, Fr. Tasso | Krishna Deva Raya, Aliya Rama Raya, Appaji, Domingo Paes | |
| 29 | "Feudalism"[10] | Salim Ghouse, Ila Arun, Pallavi Joshi, Siraj Khan, Ajay Kumar | Aliya Rama Raya, Heggaditi, Mallige, Saguna, Achyuta Deva Raya | |
| 30 | "The Fall of the Vijayanagar Empire" | Salim Ghouse, Anang Desai, Pankaj Berry, Ahmed Khan, Arjun Raina | Aliya Rama Raya, Effendi Aslam Bain, Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah Wali, Hussain Nizam Shah I, Ali Adil Shah I | |
| 31 | "Rana Sanga, Ibrahim Lodi and Babur" | Ravi Jhankal, Anang Desai, Lalit Mohan Tiwari, Mushtaq Khan, Vishal Singh | Rana Sanga, Ibrahim Lodi, Babur | |
| 32, 33 | "Akbar" Part 1 (Din-e Ilahi) | Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Ila Arun, Aparajita Bhushan, Puneet Issar, Surendra Pal, Harish Patel, Irrfan Khan, Rajesh Vivek, Pankaj Berry, Vijay Arora, Virendra Saxena, Arun Bakshi, Deepraj Rana | Akbar, Jahangir, Jodhabai, Maharana Pratap, Man Singh I | |
| "Akbar" Part 2 | |
| 34 | "Golden Hind" | Sudhir Kulkarni, Vijay Arora, Ajit Vachhani, Mushtaq Khan | Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Thomas Roe | |
| 35,36 | "Aurangzeb" Part 1 | Om Puri, Sudhir Dalvi, Surendra Pal, Surekha Sikri, Navtej Hundal, Dharmesh Tiwari | Aurangzeb, Dara Shikoh, Murad Bakhsh, Shah Shuja, Jahanara Begum, Shah Jahan | |
| "Aurangzeb Part" 2 |
| 37,38 | "Shivaji" Part 1 | Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri, Anang Desai, Achyut Potdar,[11]Ahmed Khan | Shivaji, Jijabai, Dadoji Kondadev, Chandrarao More, Afzal Khan, Aurangzeb, | |
| "Shivaji" Part 2 | |
| 39 | "Company Bahadur" (East India Company) | Amrish Puri, Rajendra, Jalal Agha, Tom Alter, Vishal Singh, John Holyer | Robert Clive, Najimuddin Ali Khan, Shuja-ud-Daula, Maharaja Nandakumar, Shah Alam II, Diwani Rights | |
| 40 | "Tipu Sultan" | Salim Ghouse, Vijay Kashyap, Ravi Jhankal, Shreechand Makhija, Tom Alter, John Holyer | Tipu Sultan, Purnaiah, Mir Sadiq, Mahadji Scindia, Nana Phadnavis | |
| 41 | "The Bengal Renaissance and Raja Ram Mohan Roy" | Anang Desai, Urmila Bhatt, Ravi Jhankal, Tom Alter, John Holyer | Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Lord William Bentinck, Bann on Sati (practice) | |
| 42, 43 | "1857" Part 1 | Om Puri, Ravi Jhankal, Piyush Mishra, Mohan Gokhale, Anang Desai, Ratna Pathak Shah, Aanjjan Srivastav, Pankaj Berry, Virendra Razdan, Tom Alter, John Holyer, Bob Christo | Bahadur Shah Zafar, Nanasaheb Peshwa, Wajid Ali Shah, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Tantia Tope, Rani Lakshmibai, Azimullah Khan, Bakht Khan, Mangal Pandey, Lord Dalhousie | |
| "1857" Part 2 |
| 44 | "Indigo Revolt" | Virendra Saxena, Tom Alter, Vijay Kashyap | Madhav | |
| 45 | "Mahatma Phule" | Sadashiv Amrapurkar, Mohan Gokhale, Shubhangi Gokhale, Achyut Potdar, Ashok Banthia | Mahatma Phule, Savitribai Phule, Satyashodak Samaj | |
| 46 | "Sir Syed Ahmed Khan" | Mohan Maharishi, Irrfan Khan | | |
| 47 | "Vivekananda" | Alok Nath | Swami Vivekananda | |
| 48 | "Extremists and Moderates" | Sudhir Kulkarni, Mohan Gokhale, Tom Alter, Achyut Potdar, Kishor Kadam | Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Chapekar brothers, Murder of Walter Charles Rand | |
| 49 | "And Gandhi Came" Part 1 | Om Puri, Ila Arun, Piyush Mishra, Shabana Azmi, Pallavi Joshi, Akhilendra Mishra | | |
| 50 | "And Gandhi Came" Part 2 | | |
| 51 | "Separatism" | S M Zaheer, K K Raina, Harish Patel, Irrfan Khan | | |
| 52 | "Do or Die" | Pankaj Berry, Om Puri, Lucky Ali | Quit India Movement | |
| 53 | Epilogue | | | |
