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The Indians were a civilization introduced in 2013 by a free expansion to Age of Empires II called: The Forgotten (empires), which included them along with 4 other civilizations, giving each a campaign, with the Indians getting that of Prithviraj Chauhan. This new game eventually coalesced into an official microsoft endorsed, purchasable game called Age of Empires II HD Edition and received two more DLC expansions, one of which was called Rise of the Rajas, but which was about south east Asia and not about any Indian ruler, but rather the hindu and buddhist rulers of Majapahit, Khmer, Pagan (Burma) and Dai Viet.
When Age of Empires II HD Edition got remastered again in 2019, this time not just to bring widescreen compatibility and new civs, but a complete redesign of all graphics while staying faithful to the original artstyle but now introducing dynamic zoom, destructable buildings and a new sound design, branded as Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, the Indians civilization was split into a hindu branch (Gurjaras) and a muslim/mughal branch (Hindustanis), but for owners of the base AoE2: DE game, only the Hindustanis were playable in skirmish mode and had no campaign of their own, while the Gurjaras were only playable in the Prithviraj campaign that owners of the base game still had, as it came bundled with the campaigns of Forgotten Empires, where Prithviraj had been introduced.
But India needed more representation, especially for the southern and eastern parts of the subcontinent not under Rajput or Muslim rule (yet). Cue, Dynasties of India, which not only made the Gurjara faction playable in skirmishes, but added the new Dravidian and Bengali factions to the game as well.
And each faction plays differently. The Bengalis have ships that heal over time and use chariots, the only unit in the game that can switch between melee and ranged mode on the spot and thus has few hard counters, and also rely on elephants that are more resistant to hard counters like camels, pikemen and monks.
In the Devapala campaign, you play as the Palas, a Bengali civilization from the 9th century a.d. but not as Devapala himself, the ambitious Buddhist ruler, but as Jayapala, his general, first consolidating power over the northern Kamarupas and breaking the resistance of the defiant queen of Utkala in the Kalinga region (modern day Orissa) to the south, to then battle for control over the Indian heartland (ganges plain) after the fall of the Gupta empire in a three way struggle between the Palas, the cavalry reliant (Gurjara) Pratiharas hailing from Gujarat and Rajasthan commanded by Mihira Bhoja, and the infantry heavy (Dravidian) Rashtrakutas, successors of the Chalukyas, expanding northward from their seat of power in Maharashtra and Karnataka, by laying claim to the hindu holy city of Kannauj before them, known to historians as the “Tripartite Struggle” or the “Kannauj triangle” (which historically the Pratiharas ended up winning by defeating both Devapala’s father Dharmapala and his grandson). Devapala’s exploits take him further west, where he battles the (Alchon) Huna tribes, who had pillaged their way across north India and contributed to the fall of the preceding Gupta Empire. This is fictionalized in that his westward drive takes him past the lands of the attritioned Pratiharas, with whom he brokers an alliance of necessity to the western fringe of India, from where he invades into modern day Pakistan to capture Multan and bring the Huna Khans to heel, by faith or by sword. Enraptured by his string of victories, Devapala then sets his sights on the south, to subjugate the deccan hindu Pandya kingdom, much to the chagrin of the fellow hindu Rashtrakutas led by Amoghavarsha, who reminds him that his mother (Rannadevi) had been a Rashtrakuta princess hailing from the south, and yet her son is bringing war and death to it.
In the Babur campaign, you play as an initially unlucky prince, whose father, a descendant of Tamerlane ruling over Ferghana Valley in Transoxania, dies in an accident, thus making you its ruler. Mentored by your mother Qutlugh, you conquer Samarkand, only to lose Ferghana Valley after leaving it, and Samarkand as well, when you make your way back to the valley and try to recapture it, as the Uzbeks led by Shaybani Khan relentlessly drive you out of central asia. Forced southward into Afghanistan, your eye falls on Herat who begs for your military protection from the very same Uzbek armies, and you then oust a warlord in Kabul to take control of this trade hub that controls the flow of goods into and out of India. Drawn ever more towards India, you then have to not only face the Delhi Sultanate led by Ibrahim Lodi, but also the Rajput strongholds of Amber and Mewar before you can lay the foundation for the Mughal Empire.
The Hindustanis (representing dynasties of the upper gangetic plain) are a difficult civilization to master, as you don’t have access to the bread & butter cavalry line or Ram line to load up your champions into; you lack fast fire ships, you don’t get Halberdiers and even the archer line stops at Crossbowmen. Defensively, you also don’t get to build Keeps, nor do you get Architecture. However, Hindustanis are the only civ to be able to upgrade their Heavy Camels to Imperial Camels, and the 20% faster attack for the camelry line makes them your mainstay cavalry, which you can also assist by building Heavy Cavalry Archers (although they don’t have access to Parthian tactics) and, surprisingly, fully upgraded Hussars. Shatagni allows you to field Hand Cannoneers with an impressive 9 range, while the civ’s actual unique unit is the Ghulam, a spear wielding infantry that runs at the speed of Eagle Warriors while stabbing through enemy ranks like a scorpion, but not very far. And their Caravanserai is a building that heals your trade carts while they move past it, an interesting mechanic although I don’t think anyone actually bothers with it, since trade carts are cheap to make more of, if needed.
And finally, the Dravidians. A collective term trying to represent various south & southwestern indian civilizations (tamil, keralite/malabar, karnatic/deccan, telugu/andra and sinhalese/lankan peoples represented by chola, pandya, chalukkya, rashtrakuta and vengi dynasties in India as well as rajarata and ruhuna in Sri Lanka) it draws inspiration from both chola naval power in form of the massive Thirisadai warship, karnatic woodworking (100 wood rewarded for every age up), keralite martial arts (urumi swordsmen wielding the coiled and extendable metallic whips going by the same name as a sword) and lankan high carbon ironsmithing (wootz steel that cuts right through armor and which eventually found its way via arab trade to Damascus and reached Europe as damascus steel) while slashing the price of barracks technologies by half. With a weak stables attributable to the lack of horsemanship in the hot and humid climate of south india, the Dravidians seek strength mainly from the barracks and docks.
In the Rajendra campaign, you take on the role of the most famous Chola empire ruler who remains to this day one of the few Indian kings to expand his territory beyond the subcontinent, and Rajendra Chola's empire spanned an ocean! Initially you and your father Rajaraja I team up with the Vengis to push back the influence of the Western Chalukkyas and Bengali Palas encroaching from the north, and then have to wrest south India from the rivaling Pandyas of Madurai before setting your sights on Anuradhapura's remnants led by King Mahinda in Sri Lanka and finally, the Srivijaya empire controlling the large island of Sumatra. To accomplish the last feat, an old friend from one of the Rise of the Rajas campaigns comes to your aid. I wonder who it could be?
Overall, a must have DLC if you want to explore the history of India.