It was England's second victory inside three days in as many matches after they thrashed India by an innings and 54 runs to win the fourth Test at Old Trafford.
India collapsed to 94 all out, an even worse effort than their meagre first innings 148, after Joe Root's unbeaten 149 had powered England to 486 earlier on Sunday.
Victory completed a remarkable turnaround for England, who had been 1-0 down after the first two Tests of this series.
It was only the second time a team had won the last three Tests after being behind after two.
Australia were 2-0 down to England in 1936/37 before, inspired by batting great Don Bradman, they won the last three.
"It's probably the culmination of putting India under pressure," England captain Alastair Cook told BBC Radio's Test Match Special.
"In the last three games, everyone has stood up. When we had the chance to nail India, we nailed them.
"We are on the road to recovery. We haven't felt like this for a long time. We have to enjoy it and hope it's the start of a long road back," added Cook, whose side suffered a 5-0 thrashing in Australia before losing 1-0 at home to Sri Lanka prior to the India series.
Dejected India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has now led his country to three successive Test series defeats by England, was left to reflect on a run of increasingly low totals culminating with Sunday's worst effort of the series.
"I think today's batting was reflective of a batting order that has lost a lot of confidence over a period of time," he said.
The only disappointment for England was that spearhead paceman James Anderson was left three short of equalling Ian Botham's England record of 383 Test wickets.
He had to make do with being named England's man-of-the-series after taking 25 wickets at 20.6 apiece.
Before rain forced an early lunch on Sunday, India slumped to nine for two, with Murali Vijay lbw to Anderon's inswinger and fellow opener Gautam Gambhir run out by Chris Woakes's direct hit as he went for a non-existent single
When play resumed, India soon saw Cheteshwar Pujara (11) caught behind off Anderson.
Ajinkya Rahane (four) then nicked Stuart Broad and third slip Gary Ballance, diving across Ian Bell at second slip, held a brilliant one-handed catch low to his left.
It was not long before 45 for four became 46 for five.
Dhoni's Duck
Dhoni had played a lone hand in making 82 in the tourists' first innings at The Oval.
But on Sunday he fell for a duck, inside-edging paceman Woakes onto his pad and giving a simple catch to Sam Robson at short leg.
England's cause, if not Anderson's, was helped when Virat Kohli, aiming legside, was caught in the slips by Cook off Chris Jordan for 20.
His exit meant Kohli, an undeniably talented batsman, had scored just 134 runs in the series at an average of 13.4.
Jordan then dismissed Ravichandran Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar with the aid of slip catches during a spell of four wickets for 17 runs in 19 balls that culminated with the dismissal of last man Ishant Sharma that completed England's victory.
Only Kohli and Stuart Binny (25 not out) got to 20 in the innings.
England had gone 10 Tests without a win when they suffered a 95-run defeat by India at Lord's to go 1-0 down in this series.
But from the moment Cook was dropped on 15, before making 95 in what turned out to be a 266-run win in the third Test at Southampton, their luck changed.
Earlier on Sunday, Root completed his second hundred of the series, following his 154 not out in the drawn first Test at Trent Bridge, after resuming on 92 not out.
He led the way as England smashed India's attack for 101 runs in just 10.3 overs before they were all out with a commanding first-innings lead of 338 runs.
Root played on to Sharma on 110, but was called back after replays confirmed a no-ball.
Man-of-the-match Root faced just 165 balls, including 18 fours and a six.
His innings took Root's tally for the series to 518 runs at a huge average of over 103.
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Indian bashing makes you forget your own miseries.. I totally agree with Indian vetren comments. "the first people to get Modi's speech was the Indian team. All runs will be made in India only"