This is going to be a long discussion. Perhaps it would be a good idea to focus on certain parts of India or certain dynasties, else it may go all over the place. We could begin with Delhi itself. Here I would recommend a book on ‘Ancient Delhi’ by Upinder Singh. The book traces the history of the region now called Delhi from the Stone Age to the time of the Rajputs, which was just before the Islamic invasions began.
Another approach, if you want to get an overview of various eras that form Indian History, is to get a set of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan books on Indian History, which begin with the Vedic Age and go on till the Freedom Struggle. But they are slightly dated, and don’t have a granular view on people or events. They could form a starting point.
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