and india was a subcontinent at that time, it wasn't india as "present india".
NO India has always been a set of semi sovereign states with a super sovereign king before arrival of islamic invaders.. check maryan empire check gupta empire check nanda empire all along.. you can go as back as mahabharata period.. even then there was tradition of ashvamedh yagya whihc used to decide which king dom will be super sovereing and which one will be semi sovereign..