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Stable isotope, elemental geochemistry and pollen analysis of a sediment profile from Sanai lake, Central Ganga Plain, were used to document climatic oscillations during the last similar to15,000 yr in Indian subcontinent. Micaceous sandy sediments at the base of the profile indicate an active channel and humid conditions before similar to15,000 C-14 yr BP. The channel was abandoned during comparatively and conditions (15,000-13,000 C-14 yr BP) and converted into a swamp. Enhanced humidity around 13,000 C-14 yr BP led to submergence of marshes and establishment of a large lake. A dry phase is also identified around an estimated age of 11,50010,500 14C yr BP which might correspond to the Younger Dryas event witnessed globally. The Early to Mid-Holocene climatic optimum (similar to10,000-5800 C-14 yr BP) is characterised by a lake environment. Occurence of warmth loving aquatic plants, lower 6180 values of gastropod aragonite, heavier delta(13)C(org) values indicate a sensitive response of the lake ecology to the climatic warming and increased rainfall. This is followed by an and event during 5000-2000 C-14 yr BP and from similar to1700 C-14 yr BP there is evidence of. climatic amelioration. The sequence and magnitude of the millenium-scale climatic oscillations documented along the lake profile correlate well with records from other parts of the Indian subcontinent indicating that the recorded changes are an expression of broad scale, probably global and climatic change. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.