B.A. History(Hons.

)
School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
SRM University
Andhra Pradesh

Curriculum and Syllabi

(For Students admitted in the academic year 2020)
Semester I
Syllabus
 Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit
HIS 101 History of C 4+0+0 4
India, Part I ,
From
Prehistory to
c.500 C.E.

Course Objectives:
This course will deal with the history of Indian subcontinent from the very early times till c.500
C.E. We begin this course by discussing the evolution of Stone Age culture and early Indian
notions of history. We will examine the Indus valley Civilisation, early social formations of the
Indian Subcontinent, Iron Age Civilisation, Indo-Aryan Culture and the emergence of Mauryan
empire in the Gangetic valley. The course also traces major political, economic, social and
cultural development during this period.

Course Outcomes:
After completion of this course, students will be able to understand and comprehend the
the key aspects of the early history of the Indian sub- continent, the historiographical debates
concerning early Indian history, identify the issues with in utilizing early literature and
archaeological sources as a source of history, address and analyse some of the issues of the
present using fact based history from Early Indian history.
Unit 1- From the Paleolithic to the Chalcolithic
Geographical setting of the Indian subcontinent, Sources (Literary, non- literary and
Archaeological), Paleolithic to Neolithic Age in India, Distribution of sites and settlements, Pre-
Historic Art, Pre- Historic social organization and environment, mobility and migration in the
early times, Origin and evidence of food production, Chalcolithic Cultures.
Unit II- Exploring Social Formations in Early India
Origin, development and settlement patterns of Indus Valley Civilisation, Debates on the state
situation in Harappa, Trade, Technology, town Planning, industries and craft in the Harappan
Civilisation, Theories on the decline of IVC and the late/post Harappan traditions, Early Veic
Era- Locating the Indo Aryan Speakers, Aryan Migration(s); The Aryan Debate- spread of
settlements, Political Structures- Subsistence Patterns and Material Culture, Social and Cultural
Life in the Mid Gangetic Valley, Later Vedic Period- Polity, Material Culture and Social
Stratification, Gender and Kinship patterns in the Vedic Age, Life beyond the Vedic Milieu.
Unit III- From the Janapadas to the Mahajanapadas
Questions about the impact of Iron Technology, Expansion of Agriculture, Economic Growth
and Trade- Towards the Mahajanapadas, Evolution of Heterodox/Sramanic Religions, ‘Second
Urbanisation’, Social Structure and issue related to social stratification- Varna and Jati, Gender,
Marriage and property relations.
Unit IV- From Hunter Gatherers to Chiefdoms
Paleolithic and Neolithic Age in the South, Megalithic Cultures, Tamilkam and beyond and
‘Sangam’ and ‘Post Sangam’ literature, Early Historic polities, Social Organisation and
Economy- Tinais and development of a chiefly society, Trade- Roman trade and trade with
Southeast Asia
Unit V- Kingdoms and Empires
The emergence of empire on the Indian Subcontinent, The Mauryan Empire, Asoka’s Dhamma,
Indo-Greeks, Sakas, Pahlavas, and the Kushanas, The rise of Mercantile Communities.

Learning Resources:
Ratnagar, Shereen. Understanding Harappa: Civilization in the Greater Indus Valley. New Delhi:
Tulika, 2001
Thapar, R. Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. New Delhi: Penguin, 2003.
Chakrabarthy, Ranbir, Exploring Early India, Upto 1300 AD, Primus Books, 3rd Edition, 2017.
Karashima, N, A Concise History of South India; Issues and Interpretations, Oxford University
Press, 2014.
Upinder Singh, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th
Century, Pearson Longman, 2009.
S.N. Dube, Cross Currents in Early Buddhism, Manohar, 1980
Kenoyer, J.M. Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation. Karachi: Oxford University Press
and American Institute of Pakistan Studies, 1998.
Allchin, B., and R. Allchin. Origins of a Civilization: The Prehistory and Early Archaeology of
South Asia. New Delhi: Viking, 1997
 Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit
HIS 102 Human C 4+0+0 4
Civilisations

Course Objective:
This course will engage students with the story of Human evolution, origin and development of
civilisation in a broad archaeological and historical context. We will analyse geographical,
political, economic, religious and social structures of ancient civilisation with focused attention
on Mesopotamia, India, Egypt, China and Europe. The course is designed to create an
understanding about the earliest cities, states, kingdoms and empires that developed in different
parts of the world.

Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
Identify the key concepts and terminologies in Ancient History, Understand the origins of Homo
Sapiens and associated theories, understand the development of civilizations and the significance
of human migration, explore the evolution of key phenomena in human history such as state,
gender and religion.

UNIT I – Early Human Evolution

What is Civilisation?, Stages of Human evolution, African Origins of Humanity, Sexual
Dimorphism, Development of Language, Patterns of Lithic Technological Development, Hunter
–Gathering Society; its social and economic structure.
UNIT II – Towards the Neolithic
Climate change and end of Ice Age, Towards the Mesolithic period and extension of settlement
in new ecological zones, Changes in subsistence strategies based on the case studies from West
Asia, Europe or Meso America, Shifts in tool manufacture and social organization from the
Mesolithic to the Neolithic, Neolithic Period: Origins of food production, Gender Division of
Labour; Case studies of early farming settlements at Catal Hoyuk, Abu Hureya, Jericho, Syria or
Jordan, Early farming societies in Europe, Asia and the Nile Valley, Art and Architecture at
Neolithic Sites; A study of cave paintings, Neolithic religious formations – burial customs and
beliefs.
UNIT III – Bronze Age Social Formations
Discovery of metals and its impact, Development of writing systems, Tigris and Euphrates river
valley: Emergence of Cities, Urban Revolution: Ancient Egyptian Civilisation, Private life in
ancient Egypt, Minoan Civilisation of Crete, Eastern Mediterranean World in the Ancient Period,
Harappan Civilisation, Origin of Chinese Civilisation
UNIT IV: Other Ways of Living
Nomadic Pastoralism, Pastoral People of the Middle East, Pastoralism in Central Asia, Socio-
political interaction of pastoral tribes with the urban centres, The advent of Iron - its origin and
implications.
UNIT V: The Hellenic World
Ancient Greece; the emergence of polis, Athens and Sparta, the Myth of Arcadia, The Slave
Mode of Production: Emergence of Slavery in ancient Greece, Organization of production in
Ancient Greece, The Nature of classical urbanism, Private life in ancient Greece, Hellenistic
Phase: Characteristic features of Hellenism, Art and Culture in the Hellenic World

Learning Resources:
1 Bogucki, P. The Origins of Human Society. Massachusets and Oxford: Wiley Blackwell
Publishers,1999
2 Amar Farooqui. Early Social Formations. Delhi: Manak Publications, 2001.
3 Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean in the Ancient World, Penguin, 2007.
4 R.J Wenke Pattern in Prehistory: Humankind’s First Three Million Years, Oxford
University Press, 2006.
5 Redman, C.L. The Rise of Civilisations. From Early Farmers to Urban Society in the
Ancient Near East. San Fransisco: W.H. Freeeman 1978.
6 V. Gordon Childe, What Happened in History, 1942.
Semester II
Syllabus
 Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit
HIS 201 Early and Early C 3+1+0 4
Medieval India

Course Objectives:
This course will examine the main themes that shaped the history of Indian subcontinent from
500 to 1300 C.E. The focus here will be on the various features of the early medieval society;
formation of regional and local states, shaping of regional identities in different regions of the
subcontinent. We will identify and describe the institutions which were crucial in bringing the
transformation from Ancient to early medieval society and the multiplicity of power in the
subcontinent region.
Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
understand the key debates of the early history of the Indian sub- continent, comprehend the
historiographical debates concerning early and early medieval Indian history, address and
analyse some of the significant issues of the present using fact based history from Early Indian
history.

UNIT I - Power, Legitimacy and Empire

Satavahanas –Administration and Land grant systems, political organization and economy, The
Gupta empire: nature of polity, Administration and Social Organization, Art and architecture,
Religion and Culture: spread of Agamaic traditions, Literature and the Sanskrit cosmopolis

Unit-II Debates on Early Medieval India-Major Historiographical Shifts

Sources -texts, epigraphs and numismatic data, Changes in Society, Polity, Economy and
Culture; decline of trade, Debates on Indian feudalism, Changing production relations; graded
land rights and peasantry, Acculturation And Amalgamation into Puranic fold, Expansion of
varna-jati order and Brahmanization, Bhakti: Alvars and Nayanars, Puranic Hinduism; Tantra;
Sanskrit and regional languages: interactions

UNIT III - Emergence of New States

Statecraft and agrarian expansion, Regional state formation: Pallavas, Colas, Chalukyas and
Pandyas, Palas, Pratiharas and Rashtrakutas, Gangas, Kadambas and Hoysalas; Temple centered
growth; Trade and commerce; Maritime contacts; Changes in political divisions and state
administration, society and culture; Early Medieval Economy and technology; The Ghaznavid
incursions-extent and impact-historiographical debates.

UNIT IV – Towards a Centralized State: The Colas

Debates on nature of polity (Segmentary, Centralized or Feudal?); Changes in statecraft and land
ownership; Symbols of political power: courtly cultures; Cholas and Maritime Activities in
South and Southeast Asia; Chola Art

UNIT V: Religion and Society in Early Medieval India

Buddhism, Jainism, Virasaivism, Tantricism, Saivasiddhanta and the network of Viharas,
Mathas etc.; Development of art and architecture; Bhakti in South India; Women in Early
Medieval Society; The transition to Medieval.

Learning Resources:
1. B.D. Chattopadhyaya, The Making of Early Medieval India, Oxford University
Press, 2012.
2. Noboru Karashima, (ed.), A Concise History of South India; Issues and
Interpretations, Oxford University Press, 2014
3. Harbans Mukhia, (ed), The Feudalism Debate, Manohar, 1999.
4. Upinder Singh, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone
Age to the 12th Century, Pearson Longman, 2009.
5. Upinder Singh, (ed.), Rethinking Early Medieval India, Oxford University Press,
2012.
6. Thapar, R. Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. New Delhi: Penguin, 2003
7. Kenneth Hall,(ed.) Structure and Society of Early South India: Essays in Honor of
Noboru Karashima, Oxford University Press,2001
8. Veluthat, K.The Political Structure of Early Medieval South India. New Delhi:
Orient Longman, 1993.
9. Y. Subbarayalu, South India under the Cholas, Oxford University Press, 2012.
 Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit
HIS 202 The Middle C 4+0+0 4
Ages in Europe

Course Objective:
The one thousand years between the collapse of antiquity and the emergence of modernity was
certainly not the dark ages as historians had called it until some years ago. This, indeed, was the
ground on which the Renaissance blossomed and the Catholic Church was challenged and was
eventually re-invented. The economy was characterized by men who controlled large manors and
lorded over serfs; roads and other communication means had broken down. This was the status
of Europe at a time when the East had reached high levels of culture and developed long distance
trade in goods. Feudalism, as we understand in History was the socio-economic system that
marked Europe in the Middle ages. This course will survey the ma.

Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
analyse the transition of Europe from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, comprehend and critique the
process of feudalism, explore the complexities in the role played by the Catholic church and its
influence on European History, comprehend the key debates on the decline of Roman Empire.

UNIT I – Transition from Late Antiquity to Early Medieval

Structural weakness of Roman Empire, Slave and Peasant Rebellion; Origin of Medieval
Christianity; Crisis of 3rd. century and reforms; The Christianization of the Roman Empire; The
Founding of Constantinople; The Invasion by the Germanic tribes and migrations; The
emergence of new agrarian relations; The collapse of the central authority and the economy;
Survival in the East; Debate on the decline of roman Empire- Cataclysmic or Transformative?
UNIT-II- Post- Roman Polities
Rule of Justinian: Continuity and Change; Kingdoms of Mediterranean West; Frankish Society;
England and Ireland; Charlemagne and the Carolingian Empire; Carolingian Renaissance;
Emergence of the Vikings
UNIT II – The Structure of Medieval Society
Nobility and Monarchy; Social Stratification: Serfdom, Feudal Lords and Peasants; Roles and
Obligations of Feudal Lords and Peasants; Manorialism; Feudal Law; Monasticism and
Medieval Churches; Experiences of Medieval Women
UNIT IV – The Growth of Material Culture
Agricultural Revolution; Technological Changes; Growth of Commercial Economy; Origin of
Towns in Low Countries; Trading World of North Sea; Rise of Population; Urbanization of High
Middle Ages
UNIT V: The Spread of Islam and Europe
The coming of Islam; Transformation of polity and the spread of Islam; Internal Division;
Collapse of Abbasid Caliphate; Revisiting Pirenne Thesis; Crusades; Mediterranean: Syncretism
or Synthesis

Learning Resources:
1. Braudel, Fernand, Civilization and Capitalism: 15th-18th Century: The Structures of
Everyday Life: The Limits of the Possible.Vol. I. London: William Collins Sons & Co Ltd, 1985.
2. Bloch, March, Feudal Society I. Vol. I-II, London: Routledge, 2004.
3. Duby, Georges, The Three Orders: Feudal Society Imagined. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press, 1980.
4. Bernard Lewis, Islam: From the Prophet Muhammad to the Capture of Constantinople,
Volume 1: Politics and War, Oxford University Press, 1987.
5. Le Goff, Jacques, Medieval Civilization 400-1500, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1992.
6. Pirenne, Henri, Economic and Social History of Medieval Europe, New York: Harcourt,
Brace and Company, 1937.
7. Chris Wickham, The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the Dark Ages 400-1000,
Pengiun Books, 2010.
8. Richards, Julian, The Vikings: A Very Short History. Oxford University Press, 2005
9. Pirenne, Henri, Medieval Cities: Their Origins and the Revival of Trade, Princeton
University, 2014.
10. Michael McCormick, Origins of the European Economy: Communications and
Commerce, A.D. 300-900, Cambridge University Press, 2003.
11. Berkey Jonathan, The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600–
1800, Cambridge University Press, 2002.
12. Brown, Peter, The World of Late Antiquity: AD 150-750. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,
1971.
Semester III
Syllabus
 Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit
HIS 301 European C 4+0+0 4
Social
Formation

Course Objective:
The transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, as it happened in Western Europe was
accompanied by such thinking and led to discoveries as well as inventions that turned the world
upside down. Rather, as Christopher Hill presented it, the world began to be seen upside down
by the people and that is what the changes in Western Europe induced into civilizations across
the world. This course, which is compulsory to those opting for a Major in History will also be
offered as an Elective to those in other Liberal Arts Majors and seek to expose them to the
historical roots of the contemporary globalized world.

Course Outcome:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
explore the complex phenomena which shaped European modernity, analyse and understand the
theories of the decline of feudalism, address the issue of religious reformation and its impact in
Europe, identify the causes for the emergence of capitalism as a world system

UNIT I – Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism

Empires in the East; The Ottomans, and The Mings; Political Economy - Revenue
Administration and Governance; Geographical expansion of the world through voyages and
discoveries; Networks of trade; Mercantilism and its impact on Europe; The Dobb-Sweezy
debate on Transition; Death, Disease and Life during the Bubonic Plague
UNIT II – The Churning of the Catholic Church
Renaissance and Reformation in Europe; Martin Luther and Reformation; Spread of
Lutheranism; John Calvin and the doctrine of predestination; Spread of Calvinist thought; The
advent of the Printing Press; The coming of book in history; The emergence of the Public Sphere
in Europe
UNIT III – The Scientific Revolution
Reshaping Cosmology; Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Galileo, Newton; The age
of Discoveries; Columbus, Vasco da Gama et.al.; Technological Inventions and their Impact -
the Spinning jenny, the Flying Shuttle et.al.; Steam engine and the railroad ‘revolution’
UNIT IV: The Rise of England as an Industrial Economy
Primitive Accumulation of Capital; The Enclosure Movement; The Putting Out System to the
Factories; The Triangular Trade and the Empire of Cotton
UNIT V: Industrial Capitalism to Finance Capitalism
Capitalism and Colonialism: Economic Divergence; European and Asian economies before
divergence; The divergence of Britain, causes for the great economic divergence; Emergence of
France and Germany as colonial powers

Learning Resources:
1. Fernand Braudel, Afterthoughts on Material Civilization and Capitalism, The John
Hopkins University Press, 1977
2. Fernand Braudel, Civilization and Capitalism, 15th to 18th Century, 3 Volumes, Harper
& Row, New York, 1982-84.
3. Immanuel Wallerstein, The Modern World System: Capitalist Agriculture and the
Origins of the European World Economy in the Sixteenth Century, Volume 1, 1974.
4. Prasannan Parthasarathi, Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not: Global Economic
Divergence, 1600-1850, 2011.
5. Quentin Skinner, The Foundations of Modern Political Thought: The Age of
Reformation, Volume II, 1978.
6. Robert B. Marks, The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Ecological Narrative,
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2002.
7. Thomas Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of
Western Thought, 1957.
8. Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Explorations in Connected History: Mughals and Franks, Oxford
University Press, 2005
9. Brotton, Jerry, The Renaissance: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press,
2006.
10. Hilton, Rodeny, The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, Aakar Books, 2006.
 Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit
HIS 302 Colonialism to C 4+0+0 4
Liberation:
Introduction to
Latin America,
Africa and the
Caribbean

Course Objective:
The focus of this course is on the early expansion of Europe, process of colonization and its
consequences on the colonized societies, national liberation movements in Latin America, Africa
and Caribbean. The course will also examine the motives for European exploration, the process
of conquest and colonialism; understand how colonization led to the practice of slavery; impact
of slave trading on societies in Africa and Latin America. This course, which is compulsory to
those opting for a Major in History will also be offered as an Elective to those in other Liberal
Arts Majors and seek to expose them to the European imperialism and resistance movements
from Africa and Latin America.

Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
introduce students to non-Eurocentric strands of history-writing, comprehend the relevance of
non-conventional sources in the reconstruction of history, utilize literature as a source of history,
identify the relevance of colonial resistance and issues of systemic inequalities

UNIT I -Foundation of the Colonial Empire in Latin America and Caribbean

Maritime Expansion of Europe; Latin America and Caribbean Before the conquest; Spanish
Conquest of Caribbean, Mexico and Peru; The Catholic Church and Missionisation of Americas;
Rise of Plantation Economy and the Slave Trade: Trade in gold and slaves between Europe and
Sub-Saharan Africa; Slaves, slave-ships, piracy and slave rebellions; Africa’s contribution to the
development of European capitalism
UNIT II: Colonial Latin America
The Demographic Collapse; Agrarian transformation- gold and silver mining; Early Resistance
and Rebellion; Institutions of state; the advent of Christianity and evangelization; Women and
Family in colonial Latin America; Creole Nationalism -- resistance, collaboration, survival; new
and old hierarchies; The breakdown of the colonial order and the movements for independence
Unit III The Neo-Colonial Regimes and Liberation
Class and state formation; Industrialization, immigration, and popular culture in Latin America;
1830’s to the 1930’s: Case studies of Mexico, Argentina and Brazil; Haitian Revolution;
Authoritarian regimes and harkening of Revolution; The politics of literature, music and sports -
1930s to the 1960s; Tango- Reflection on Gender, Race and Class; Negotiating Latinidad
UNIT IV- Imperialism and ‘The Scramble for Africa’
Invention of Africa- Theories of colonial expansion and discourses on African primitiveness;
Africa’s Past: An overview of Africa before 19th century; Colonial Conquest and the making of
colonial economies in Sub-Saharan Africa; Late 19th Century to 1939 -- cash crops, mining,
forced labour; World War II and Decolonisation until 1960’s; Everyday response to colonialism;
African Diaspora and Negritude Movement; Post- colonial Borders
UNIT V – Settler Colonialism and Liberation: Case Study of South Africa and Algeria
Colonial Conquest and resistance in 19th century; Afrikaner nationalism; Apartheid: The
historical roots and meaning and South Africa’s struggle against Apartheid; The Political
Economy of Apartheid; The colonial experience of Algeria under the French; The National
Liberation Movement of Algeria

Learning Resources:
1. Eric Williams, Capitalism and Slavery, Facsimile Publisher, 2013.
2. Henry Kamen, Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, HarperCollins, 2002.
3. Joshep. E. Inikori, Africans and the Industrial Revolution in England: A Study in
International Trade and Economic Development, Cambridge University Press, 2002.
4. Marcus Rediker, Slave Ship: A Human History, Penguin, 2008.
5. Robin Blackburn, The Making of New World Slavery: from the Baroque to the
Modern, 1492-1800, Verso, 1997.
6. Loewen. W. James, Lies My Teacher Told Me About Christopher Columbus: What Your
History Books Got Wrong, The New Press, 2014.
7. Burkhart Louise, The Slippery Earth: Nahua-Christian Moral Dialogue in Sixteenth-
century Mexico, University of Arizona Press, 1989.
8. Parker, John, African History: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2007.
9. Mathew Restall and Kris Lane, Latin America in Colonial Times, Cambridge University
Press, 2011.
10. Mudimbe, V.Y, The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of
Knowledge, 1988.
11. Mazrui, A. “The Re-invention of Africa: Edward Said, V. Y. Mudimbe, and Beyond.
Research in African Literatures 36 (2005): 68-82.”
12. Burkhart. M. Louise, The Slippery Earth: Nahua- Christian Moral Dialogue in Sixteenth
Century Mexico, University of Arizona, 1989.
13. Mingolo. D. Walter, The Idea of Latin America, Blackwell Publishing, 2005.
14. Trouillot Michel-Rolph, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History, Tantor
Media, 2015.
15. Gopal, Priyamvada, Insurgent Empire: Anti-colonial Resistance and British Dissent,
Verso, 2019
16. Reddy, Thiven, South Africa, Settler Colonialism and the Failures of Liberal Democracy
(Africa Now), 2015.
Semester IV
Syllabus
 Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit
HIS 401 Entangled C 4+0+0 4
Histories

Course Objective:
The course intends to introduce the learners to new trends in history and would attempt to enable
them to identify linkages, patterns and shifts across regions and chronological periods.

Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
Address issues of utilization of sources of the late medieval and early modern period,
comprehend the process of proto globalization and early modern knowledge networks, explore
the complexities of the development of early imperialism and proto-colonialism, identify the
cosmopolitan structure of the early modern period

UNIT I – Perceptions of the Past

The frames of the past – Time as a narrator; Defining the region (physical, imagined and other
geographies); Stories from the sea, land and elsewhere (sources and methods); From global
histories to connected histories; Entangled histories and integrative histories
UNIT II – Towards a History of Exploration and Travel
Migrations and human movements in history; Early Explorers and settlers; Travel, Religion and
Knowledge; Travellers and travel accounts (Marco Polo, Ibn Batuta, Linschoten); Maps, globes
and Telescopes (Renaissance); Enlightenment and the broadening of reason; Re-visiting the
Empire (The Mings and the Mughals); The Indian Ocean and its many histories
UNIT III – Early Modernities
Ports, traders and trade routes(Mercantilism); States, Courts and markets; The possibilities of
maritime trade; Imagining the ‘Other’; Bioprospecting’-Medicine, Botany and empire; Scientific
Revolution and its impact; Asia and the making of Early modern Europe
UNIT IV: Early Modern Networks
Shaping the Empire; The Portuguese, the Dutch, the French and the British Trade and Early
Empire building enterprises; Memoirs, reports and Administrative Accounts; Census and Survey;
Life in the early settlements; Addressing the ‘native’ question- Issues of religion and caste;
Gender and the Empire
UNIT V: Addressing the Margins
Representing the marginalized; A case of ‘thugs’ and ‘anti-socials’; Morality and the Empire;
‘Proselytising’(and) the world; Biomedicine and colonial world; Nature and the empire; Colonial
Forestry and Green Imperialism

Learning Resources:
1. Andre Gunder Frank, Re Orient; Global Economy in the Asian Age, University of
California Press, 1998.
2. Bernard S Cohen, Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India,
Princeton University Press, 1996.
3. Donald F Lach, Asia in the Making of Europe, Volume I: The Century of Discovery,
Book 1, University of Chicago Press, 2008.
4. Edward Said, Orientalism; Western Conceptions of the Orient, Penguin, 2006.
5. Harold J Cook, Matters of Exchange, Commerce, Medicine and Science in the Dutch
Golden Age, Yale University Press, 2007.
6. Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra, Nature, Empire, and Nation: Explorations of the History of
Science in the Iberian World, Stanford University Press,2006
7. Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Explorations in Connected History; From the Tagus to the
Ganges, Oxford University Press,2005.

Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit

HIS 402 Age of C 4+0+0 4
Revolution and
national
Liberation

Course Objective:
Late 18th century saw revolution as a powerful dynamic to transform society in parts of Europe,
USA and Russia, resulting in both progress and conflict. The course will examine the
tremendous era of change which had worldwide implications. In this course students will cover
American War of Independence, French Revolution, and Russian Revolution and examine the
factors which caused the outbreak of revolution and rebellion, followed by interwar Europe,
important political and ideological development in Europe. The course will also explore the
political violence in interwar Europe, rise of Fascism, Nazism and the power dynamics that grew
at global level. The course terminates will terminate with a discussion on some of the important
20th century national liberation movements.
Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
introduce students to non-Eurocentric strands of history-writing, comprehend the relevance of
non-conventional sources in the reconstruction of history, utilize literature as a source of history,
identify the relevance of colonial resistance and issues of systemic inequalities

UNIT I - American War of Independence

The Industrial Revolution in England and the civil conflict with British; Social causes of
American Revolution; Role of Women and African-American in the War of Independence; The
Philadelphia Convention and the Constitution
UNIT II - French Revolution
Social and Political origins; Cultural and Intellectual origin; State of France on the eve of
Revolution; The crisis of Old regime; Radicalization of revolution; Fall of monarchy; The
struggle in national convention; The role of san-culottes; Emergence of counter- revolution;
Collapse of Jacobian dictatorship; Age of Romanticism; Enlightenment, revolutionary; writers,
art and poetry
UNIT III – Russian Revolution
Russia in 19th century, Peasant and workers; Russian intelligentsia and birth of revolutionary
movement; Revolution of 1905; The Duma period; Fall of Romanov dynasty; Lenin and
Bolshevik Party; 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.
UNIT IV: Interwar Europe
Structure of Power and Pattern of Opposition in Europe 1900-1914; Rise of Totalitarianism;
Causes and Character of World War I; Democracy and Dictatorship in Interwar Europe;
Depression and Rise of Fascism; Nazi Germany, Ideology, War and propaganda; Second World
War
UNIT V: Liberation Movements and Decolonisation in 20th Century
Post-War liberation of nations in Asia; India, China, Indonesia; Bipolar World; NATO and
Warsaw Pact; Brettonwoods Institutions; The Bandung Conference; NAM

Learning Resources:
1. Alexis de Tocqueville, The Old Regime and the French Revolution, New York:
Anchor Books, 1983.
2. Alfred F. Young, The Shoemaker and the Tea Party: Memory and the American
Revolution, Boston: Beacon Press, 2000
3. Allan Todd, Sally Waller, European States in the Interwar Years (1918-1939),
Cambridge University Press, 2016.
4. Eric Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism Since 1780: programme, myth, reality,
Cambridge University Press, 1991
5. Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire: 1875-1914, Little Brown Book Group, 1989
6. Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes: 1914-1991, Little Brown Book Group, 1995
7. Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution: 1789-1848, Little Brown Book Group, 1998
8. Fred Anderson, The War that Made America: A Short History of the French and
Indian War, New York: Penguin, 2006
9. George Lefebvre, Coming of The French Revolution, Princeton University Press,
1992
10. Jermey Popkin, A Short History of the French Revolution, Boston: Prentice Hall,
2010.
11. Sheila Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution, Oxford University Press, 2017
12. Vasily Grossman, Antony Beevor, A Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with Red Army
1941-45, Pimlico, 2006
Semester V
Syllabus
 Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit
HIS 501 Historian’s C 4+0+0 4
Craft

Course Objective:
The course has a two pronged purpose: To dispel the perception that History is a subject merely
involving dates, names and events that are meant to be memorized, remembered and reproduced;
and thereafter to discuss History as a discipline, the methods of History and the Historian’s craft
wherein the importance of facts are not merely stressed in isolation but in context.

Course Outcome:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
Understand the purview and scope of the discipline of history, Identify the various schools of
historiography, acquire a basic knowledge of historical methods and methodology while being
also made aware of the origins and development of historiography, comprehend the nature of
historical sources and to address the issues of utilization of multiple types of sources

UNIT I: The History of History

Pre History and Proto History and the Definition of History; Concepts of Time; Defining the
region (physical, imagined, global, national and regional history); Written History: The Greco-
Roman tradition (Herodotus, Thucydides, Levy and Tacitus); The Indian tradition (Itihasa,
Purana, Buddhist & Jaina, Kalhana); Medieval European Historiography; Medieval West Asian
Historiography (Al Beruni and Ibn Khaldun); Medieval Indian Historiography (Amir Khusro,
Barani, Ibn Batuta, Isami, Ferishta, Abdul Razak, Babar, Abul Fazal, Badauni)
UNIT II – History and Historiography
Enlightenment historiography; Romanticist historiography; Positivist school & the Critical
method of Neibuhr and Ranke; Marxist School; Indian Historiography –Imperialist and
Nationalist; Indian Historiography – Marxist and Subaltern
UNIT III – Theory in History - Its Nature and Meaning
Facts in History Writing; Objectivity, Causation and Generalization in History; Is History a
Science?; Sources for the Historian; Analysis of Evidence Models in History Writing; Cyclical
(Arnold Toynbee) and Linear (Marxist), History; Post modernism (The Cultural turn)
UNIT IV: The Historians’ Craft
Archaeology & Epigraphy; Numismatics and Inscriptions; Official Chronicles and Imperial
Documents; Archives and Literary Sources; Historian and the Computer: Quantitative history;
Towards ‘Total’ History; History in the Digital Age; Studying digital historical atlas in India
UNIT V: History and other Social Sciences
History and Sociology; History and Archaeology; History and Anthropology; History and
Political Science; History and Linguistics; History and Economics; History and Literature

Learning Resources:
1 E.H. Carr, What is History? Penguin, (Reprint), 2008.
3 Bernard Lewis, History: Remembered, Recovered, Invented, Simon & Schuster, 1987.
4 Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, The Territory of the Historian, University of Chicago Press,
1982.
5 Bhupendra Yadav, Framing History: Context and Perspectives, New Delhi, 2012.
6 Aloka Parasher Sen, ‘The Making of Digital Historical Atlas’, The International Journal
of Technology, Knowledge and Society, Vol. 2, No. 4, 2006.
7 Bertrand Russel, Selected Writings of Bertrand Russel, Routledge, 2008.
8 Shashi Bhushan Upadhyaya, Historiography in the Modern World: Western and Indian
Perspectives, Oxford University Press, 2016.

Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit

HIS 502 Medieval India: C 3+1+0 4
Polity and
Economy

Course Objective:
This course shall familiarise students with the state, and society of late medieval India starting
with the establishment and expansion of Delhi sultanate to the coming of Mughals and the
consolidation of various local identities. We will engage with debate among the historians over
nature of polity under the Sultanate and later under the Mughals. It will also probe causalities of
the decline of Mughal state. The course also provides a critique of social, religious, and
economic condition of the people of medieval India.

Course Outcome:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
discuss at depth the nature of political administration under the Sultanate, address the key
debates on the emergence of regional identities, analyse the emergence and later decline of the
Mughal state, address and analyse some of the significant issues of the present using fact based
history from Early Indian history

UNIT I - Reconfiguring the State

Foundation and consolidation of Delhi Sultanate; Slave dynasty to Tuqhlaks, Sayyid and the
Lodis; Statecraft; Elites, factions and new ideas of kingship; Military reforms; Agricultural
Production and the Revenue System; Iqta System; Monetary system and price; Crafts and
Technology in the Sultanate; Trade, Commerce and Science under the Sultanate; Women,
Customs and Social Life in the Sultanate; Consolidation of identities; Rajput states
Unit-II Vijayanagara
The Vijayanagara Empire; its origin and growth; Questions on the nature of state – Feudal,
Segmentary and Centralized?; Agrarian relations; Revenue Administration and Political
divisions; Maritime and Inland Trade; Decline of Vijayanagara Empire; Bahmani Kingdom; its
growth and disintegration
UNIT III - Mughal: Polity and State
Foundation and expansion of the Mughal Empire; Babar, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah
Jahan, Aurangzeb; Growth of composite ruling elite groups; Nature of Mughal State; Domestic
life in Mughal Empire; Science and technology under the Mughal; Development of cities and
urbanisation

Unit –IV Economy Under the Mughals and Decline

Evolution of administrative institutions: zabt, mansab, zagir; zamindars and peasants; Means of
cultivation and Irrigation; Agricultural and Non- agricultural production- Karkhana and Dadni
system; Trade and Commerce; Decline of Mughal Empire; historiographical debates;
Potentialities of Capitalist Development
UNIT V - Towards New Formations
The Nayaks in the South; The Rise of Marathas, Sikhs, and Jats; Maratha State under Shivaji and
Peshwas; Maritime Trade; State and religion-contradictions and legitimisation, Towards
Pluralism?

Learning Resources:
1. Irfan Habib, Medieval India: The Study of a Civilization, NBT, 2007

2. J.S.Deyell, 1987. Living Without Silver: The Monetary History of Early Medieval North
India. Delhi. Oxford University Press
3. Kulke, H. and B.P. Sahu., eds. Interrogating Political Systems: Integrative Processes and
States in Pre-modern India. New Delhi: Manohar, 2015.
4. Burton Stein, Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India, OUP, New Delhi,1980
5. Satish Chandra, Essays on Medieval Indian History, Oxford India Collection, Oxford
University Press,2006
6. Asher, C. & Tablot, C. 2006. India before Europe. Cambridge University Press.
7. Stein, Burton, 1989. New Cambridge History of India: Vijaynagara. Cambridge
University Press
8. Raychaudhuri, T., & Habib, I. (Eds.), The Cambridge Economic History of India (The
Cambridge Economic History of India). Cambridge University Press, 1982
9. Habib, Irfan, Formation of the Sultnate Ruling Class of the Thirteenth Century. In Irfan
Habib, ed., Medieval India 1: Researches in the History, 1200-1750. Oxford University Press,
1992.
10. Mukhia, Harbans, The Mughals of India, Wiley- Blackwell, 2004.
11. Ali, Daud. “The idea of the medieval in the writing of South Asian history: contexts,
methods and politics.” Social History 39(3), 2014: 382-407.
12. Habib, Irfan, Potentialities of the Capitalistic Development in the Economy of Mughal
India, 'Enquiry' New Series, 111, 3, 1971
13. Morrison, Kathleen D., and Mark T. Lycett. "The “Fall” of Vijayanagara Reconsidered:
Political Destruction and Historical Construction in South Indian History." Journal of the
Economic and Social History of the Orient 56, no. 3 (2013): 433-470.
14. Chekuri, Christopher. “A 'Share' in the 'World Empire': Nayamkara as Sovereignty in
Practice at Vijayanagara, 1480–1580.” Social Scientist, vol. 40, no. 1/2, 2012, pp. 41–67.

Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit

HIS 503 Medieval India: C 3+1+0 4
Society and
Culture
Course Objective:
This course shall familiarise students with the society and culture of late medieval India starting
with the establishment and expansion of Delhi sultanate to the coming of Mughals and the
consolidation of various local identities. It will explore the literary, artistic, aesthetic and cultural
traditions of medieval India.

Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
discuss in depth the society of medieval India, address the key debates on the emergence of
regional medieval traditions, analyse the emergence of regional powers in the Deccan and the
South, address and analyse some of the significant issues of the present using fact based history
from Medieval Indian history.

UNIT I - Life and Society under the Sultanate

The Cultural Traditions of the Delhi Sultanate – New Ways of the Court; Monuments, Rituals
and Social formations during the Sultanate; Capital cities: Mahrauli, Siri fort, Tughalaqabad,
Firoz Shah Kotla and Jahanpanah; Sufi Philosophy and the development of Silsilas
Unit-II Regional Powers: Society and Culture
Art and Architecture under Vijayanagara; Hampi Revisited; Rajputs – Emergence and
Consolidation of regional identities, Gender roles and customs; Bahmani Kingdom – A new
aesthetic in the Deccan?
UNIT III – Aesthetics of the Late Medieval and the Early Modern
Mughal Art and Architecture – Early Phase, Later Phase; Music and Performative Arts in the
Mughal Period; The Universe of Miniature Art; Changed Gender Roles and Patterns, Capital
Cities: Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Shahjahanabad
Unit –IV – Forging New Shapes
Sant Traditions - Guru Nanak and Kabir; Bhakti – Jaganath and Warkaris, Tulsidas and Meera;
Religious Pluralism in Medieval India; Persian literary traditions: Tawarikh; Insha and
translations; Revivalist trends in ‘Indian Islam’: Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi.
UNIT V - Temples, Mosques and Courtly Culture in the South
Temple Architecture in the South; Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates; Courtly
Culture in Nayaka Tamil Nadu; Literature and Texts in the South; Telugu and Tamil Texts
Learning Resources:
1. Irfan Habib, Medieval India: The Study of a Civilization, UBT, Delhi, 2007.
2. Alam M. and S. Subrahmanyam, The Mughal State1526-1750s. New Delhi: OUP, 1998
3. Ali, Athar. Mughal India, Studies in Polity, Ideas, Society & Culture. New Delhi, Oxford
University Press, 2006.
4. Bhargava, M., ed. Exploring Medieval India, vol. I and II. New Delhi: Orient Blackswan,
2010.
5. Satish Candra, Essays on Medieval Indian History, Oxford India Collection, Oxford
University Press,2006
6. Koch, Ebba. Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology: Collected Essays. New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 2001
7. Michell, G. and M. Zebrowski. Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates. Part 1,
vol. 7, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
8. Michell, G and J.M.Fritz. New Light on Hampi: Recent Research at Vijayanagar.
Mumabi: Marg, 2001.
9. (i)Rao, V.N., D. Shulman and S. Subrahmanyam, eds. Symbols of substance: court and
state in Nāyaka Period Tamilnadu. Indian edition, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992.
(ii)Rao, V.N., D. Shulman and S. Subrahmanyam.Textures of Time: Writing History in South
India 1600–1800. Delhi: Permanent Black, 2001.

Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit

HIS 504 Seminar Course on C 3+2+0 5
Caste, Gender,
Environmental/Economi
c History

Course Objective:
Each student, will arrive at a topic/research project in consultation with her/his faculty advisor in
the department and work on an extended seminar paper during the semester on any one of the
aspects listed here or a combination of those. The course will involve regular presentations
before the class and submission of a long term-paper by the end of the semester. The evaluation
will be on the basis of presentations, participation in the discussions while others present and
also on the long term-paper.

Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
identify a core area of research and arrive at a meaningful research problem, Identify resources to
enable in depth research about a topic of interest to the student, effectively utilize sources and to
generate valid research questions, critically use historical tools and methodology to analyse
historical research questions/themes.

Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit

HIS 505 History of C 3+0+0 3
China and
japan

Course Objective:
This course will familiarize students with the modern history of two important East Asian
nations- China and Japan, changes in the political system, economic structures, and social
organisation from the Opium War to the events leading to the World War II. In the case of
China, course deals with the attempts by the Qing state to introduce reforms, communist
movement, rise of Mao Tse tung, Chinese revolution and its consequences; in regards to Japan
the course covers the rise of Meiji state and development of Japanese imperialism.

Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
introduce students to non-Eurocentric strands of history-writing, have a basic understanding of
Far Eastern modern history, understand and analyse the emergence of various ideology based
movements

UNIT I - Imperialism and China

Transformation of China into an informal Colony during 19th Century; Society, Sino-Centricism
and Canton Commercial Trade; Opium Wars; Open Door Policies; Tai’ ping Rebellion; Hundred
Days Reforms.
UNIT II - Emergence of Nationalism in China
Boxer Rebellion and Consequences; Reforms of 1901-1908; Revolution of 1911: causes, nature
and significance; Sun Yat- sen Principles and position; Emergence of Republic and Yuan Shi
Kai.
UNIT III – Nationalism and Communism in China
National Party of KMT and the First United Front; Communism and Communist Movement
1928-1949; Rise of Mao Tse Tung; Making of Red Army,Civil War in China; Chinese
Revolution and its Consequences.
UNIT IV: Japan in Transition
Crisis of Tokugawa Bakuhan system; Meiji Restoration; Popular and Democratic Movements;
Satsuma Rebellion and Popular Rights; Financial reforms and educational development in Meiji
era.
UNIT V: Japan as Imperial Power
Emergence of Japan as imperial power; Sino-Jap relations, Anglo-Japanese relations; Russo-
Japanese War and its significance; World War I and Manchurian Crisis; Militarism/ Fascism in
Japan; Japan and World War II and its consequences; American Occupation and Post War
Changes

Learning Resources:
1. Akita, George, Foundation of the Constitutional Government in Modern Japan. Harvard
University Press, 1967.
2. Benjamin I. Schwatz, Mao and the Rise of Chinese Communism, Harvard, 1951.
3. Bianco, Lucien, Origins of the Chinese Revolution, 1915-1949, London: Oxford
University Press, 1971.
4. Chalmers A Johnson, Peasant Nationalism and Communist Power: The Emergence of
Red China, 1937-1945, Stanford University Press, 1962.
5. E.H Norman, Japan’s Emergence as a Modern State, UBC Press, 2000
6. Hu Sheng, Imperialism and Chinese Politics, Foreign Language Press, 1955
7. Mao Tse Tung’s Selected Writings, National Book trust Agency, 2001

Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit

HIS 506 A Brief History C 3+0+0 3
of South India
Course Objective:
The course seeks to understand South Indian history through a multi-disciplinary perspective,
refracting it through multiple historical and social phenomenon. It will engage the students in
engaging with South Indian history and prepare them for future research. The general intent of
the course is to give a brief but in depth view of the socio-cultural and political processes that
shaped South India in its past.

Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
understand the key themes in South Indian history, comprehend the social and cultural processes
that shaped South Indian history, locate South Indian history within South Asian history

UNIT I – From the Beginnings

The Geographical Settings; From the Paleolithic to the Neolithic; Archaeology and the South
UNIT II – The Early Historic Period in South India
Satavahanas to Andhras; Sangam Literature; Post Sangam period and Tamil polities; Post
Satavahana period in Andhra; Religion and society in South India; Kingship and Power in the
early period; Gender and Kinship
UNIT III – Emergence of the State and the Bhakti Movement
Statecraft and Governance in pre-modern South India; Expansion of Agriculture and Trade;
Temples and Capitals; Synthesis of Northern and Southern Traditions; The Bhakti Movement:
Religion and the State; Women in Pre-modern South India; Gender, marriage and property
relations
UNIT IV: From the Early Medieval to the Medieval
Cholas: Centralised State or Segmentary State?; The Development of Telugu and Kannada
Literature; States in the Deccan and Kerala; Art, Architecture and Temples; Emergence of new
social groups; Mahas, Saivasiddhantism and Virasaivism
UNIT V: – Kingdoms and Empires
Vijayanagara and the sultanates; The Nayaka system; Development of Trade and Industry;
Vijayanagara and Nayaka Architecture; Bahmani and European architecture; Successor states –
Hyderabad, Mysore, Tanjavur and Travancore

Learning Resources:
1. Karashima, N, A Concise History of South India; Issues and Interpretations, Oxford
University Press, 2014.
2. Singh, Upinder, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to
the 12th Century, Pearson Longman, 2009.
3. Veluthat, Kesavan, The Early Medieval in South India, Oxford University Press, 2009.
4. Champakalakshmi,R., Religion, Tradition, and Ideology: Pre-colonial South India.
Oxford University Press, 2011.

Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit

HIS 507 Understanding C 3+0+0 3
Caste

Course Objective:
The course is designed to introduce the students to the concept of caste and its evolution in a
historical setting in the Indian subcontinent. The attempt of this course is to provide a thematic
understanding of caste and how the institution of caste has changed over the time. We will also
examine the intersectionality of caste- class and gender. The course will also provide an
overview of anti- caste movements, reflecting on the ideas of some of the key thinkers and
crusaders of the anti- caste movement in India. We will end the course with a discussion on the
contemporary manifestation of caste.

Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
understand and theorize the institution of caste, examine the relationship between caste, class and
gender, acknowledge the caste inequalities in India, understand importance of resistance against
the caste based inequalities and the necessity for redressing the caste discrimination and
inequality in India

UNIT I – Debate on the Origins of Caste

Defining the institution of Caste, Organising principle of caste structures and hierarchy; Caste as
a category of historical analysis; Origins of Varna and Jati – Multiple Theories; Varna – Jati;
Interplay, Contestations and Overlaps; Consolidation of Caste structures; Caste as a site of
patriarchy and violence; Resistance to caste: Buddhism, bhakti movement in South India and
further developments
Unit II- Transformations and Continuities in Medieval India
Structural developments in Medieval India: Case study of Medieval Andhra Pradesh; Bhakti as a
site of Caste resistance: Kabir, Tukaram, Ramabai, Tarabai; The medieval state and caste- An
overview; Intersectional reading of caste: Class, Gender and Religion; The Praxis of Caste :The
Lived Experience of Caste
UNIT III – Contesting Caste in Modern India
Social Reform Movements and the issues of Caste, class and Gender; Modern conception of Law
and the Caste structure; Contestation and Resistance: Phule, Iyothe Thass, Periyar and
Ambedkar; Caste and its regional trajectories: Non- Brahmin Movement in the South and
Maharashtra; From Untouchable to Dalits; Ambedkar and Gandhi’s views and debate on Caste;
Dalit critique of modernity and caste; The politics of caste, gender and sexuality.
UNIT IV: Caste in Contemporary India
Caste as cultural capital; Caste, Constitution and Judiciary; Reservation: Special Provisions and
Cultural Rights; the issue of Schedule Tribes; Assertion of caste identities against inequality and
exclusion; Politics of plurality, regional political structures and caste; Caste, Race and Beyond;
Does Caste Matter?

Learning Resources:
1. Anandhi,S and Karin Kapadia, 2017, Dalit Women: Vanguard of an Alternative
Politics in India, Taylor and Francis, 2017.
2. Ambedkar, B. R., Annihilation of Caste, Samyak Publication, 2013.
3. Chakravarti, Uma, 2003, Gendering Caste: Through a Feminist Lens, STREE.
4. Champaklakshmi, R., “Caste and Community: Oscillating Identities in Pre
Modern South India” in Religion, Tradition and Ideology: Pre Colonial South India, (ed.) R.
Champaklakshmi, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2011.
5. Deshpande, A, Grammar of Caste: Economic Discrimination in Contemporary
India, OUP, 2011
6. Deshpande, Satish.2004, Contemporary India: a sociological view, Viking, New
Delhi
7. Gupta, Dipankar, Interrogating Caste: Understanding Hierarchy & Difference in
Indian society, Penguin Books, 2000.
8. Habib, Irfan, Essays in Indian History, Anthem Press, Chapter 5, 2002
9. Hanumanthan, K. R., Untouchability: A Historical Study Upto 1500 A.D.,
Koodal Publishers, Michigan, 1979.
10. Jaiswal Suvira, Caste: Origin, Functions and Dimensions of Change, Manohar,
2019.
11. Jodkha. S. Surinder, Caste: Oxford India Short Introductions, OUP, 2012.
12. Karashima, Noboru, Towards a New Formation: South Indian Society Under
Vijaynagar Rule, Oxford University Press, California, 1992.
13. Omvedt Gail,. Understanding Caste: From Buddha to Ambedkar and Beyond,
Orient BlackSwan, 2011.
14. Sharma, Ram Sharan, Sudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower
Order Down to Circa A D 600, Motilal Banarsidass, Third Revised Edition, Delhi, 1990;
Reprint, Delhi, 2002
15. Sharma, Ram Sharan, Rethinking India's Past, Oxford University Press, 2009,
16. Talbot, Cynthia, A revised view of ‘traditional’ India: Caste, status, and social
mobility in medieval Andhra, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies , Volume 15, 1992 -
Issue 1.

17. Jha, D N ,The Myth of the Holy Cow, Verso, 2002.

18. Jha, Vivekananda, Caste, Untouchability and Social Justice: Early North Indian
Perspective, Social Scientist , Nov. - Dec., 1997, Vol. 25, No. 11/12 (Nov. - Dec., 1997).
19. Roy, Kumkum, D. D., Kosambi, Questions of Caste, Economic and Political
Weekly , Jul. 26 - Aug. 1, 2008, Vol. 43, No. 30 (Jul. 26 -Aug. 1, 2008), pp. 78-84.
20. Rao, Anupama. 2009. The Caste Question: Dalits and the Politics of Modern
India. Permanent Black.
21. Rege, Sharmila, Against the Madness of Manu, Navayana, 2013.
22. Chakravarti, Uma, 1993, Conceptualising Brahmanical Patriarchy in Early India,
Economic & Political Weekly.
23. Hassan, Zoya. 2011, Politics of Inclusion; Castes, Minorities and Affirmative
Action, Oxford University Press, 2011.
24. Guru, Gopal and Sundar Sarukkai, Experience, Caste, and the Everyday Social,
Oxford University Press, 2019.
25. ……………….., The Cracked Mirror: An Indian Debate on Experience and
Theory, OUP India, 2018.
26. Guru, Gopal, Humiliation: Claims and Context, Oxford University Press, 2011.
27. Ramakrishna, V., Social Reform in Andhra 1848- 1919, Vikas Publishers, 1983.
28. Moosvi, Shireen. “The Medieval State and Caste.” Social Scientist, vol. 39, no.
7/8, 2011
29. Jha, Vivekanand. “Leather Workers in Ancient and Early Medieval India.”
Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol. 40, 1979, pp. 99–108
30. A Parasher Sen (ed.). Subordinate and Marginal Groups in Early India, Oxford
University Press, 2004.
Semester VI
Syllabus
 Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit
HIS 601 Modern Indian C 3+1+0 4
History (1750-
1947)

Course Objective:
This course will focus on ‘modern Indian history’ that stretches from the British conquest of
India to Indian independence. We will study the characterization of 18th century India by
different schools of historians, the implications of the 18th century Dark Age theory to Indian
history. The course will deal with colonialism, capitalism, imperialism and nationalism in the
context of the period covered in the course. We will study the British revenue policies- origins
and consequences; types of revenue/tenurial systems; three stages of colonialism;
deindustrialization, commercialisation of agriculture and their impact in the rural economy; and
the mode of production debate on India.

Corse Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
understand and analyse the formation of all India community of English educated intellectuals
and the educational policies of the British, assess the 19th century socio- religious reform
movements, comprehend the various historiographical perspectives on the emergence of Indian
nationalism, comprehend the shaping of India as a nation

UNIT I - British Empire in India- Resistance and Reform

Advent of Europeans and Rivalries-Portuguese, Dutch, French, and English; Conquest and
Consolidation; British Revenue Policies and impact; Ideology of British imperialism; Socio-
religious reform movements of 19th century; Early Response and Resistance to Colonialism-
Peasant and Tribal Resistance; Civil Rebellions ( pre-1857 uprisings); Revolt of 1857 - Nature
and character of Revolt
Unit-II – Early Indian nationalism and discontent
Provincial Organizations and articulation of local grievances; Formation of the Indian National
Congress; The Politics of Moderate Nationalism; Hindu Revivalism and Politics; Individual
armed resistance; Partition of Bengal and Swadeshi movement (1905-1911); Rise of Extremism
and Revolutionaries; Foundation of Muslim League; Surat split to Lucknow congress; Annie
Besant and Home Rule Movement; Emergence of Non- Brahmin Movement
Unit –III Changes in the Trajectory of Indian National Movement
Arrival of Gandhi and Experiments in politics; Khilafat Movement and Non Cooperation
Movement, 1919-1922; Simon Commission and responses; INC- From Lahore to Karachi; Civil
Disobedience Movement; Negotiation at the Round Table Conference- Gandhi, Ambedkar and
Jinnah; The Gandhi- Irwin Pact; INC and ministry experiments; Individual Satyagraha;
Gandhian politics and constructive programs; Formation of Communist Party of India and
engagement with nationalist struggle Revolutionaries and the Congress (1928-31); National
movement and minority question
UNIT IV – Making of India
Faizpur session of INC; Organization of left politics – Congress Socialist Party; Peasants and
Workers Movements; Cripp’s Mission, 1942; Quit India Movement, 1942; Cabinet Mission
proposals; Interim Cabinet, 1946; Meerut Session of INC
Unit V: Partition and Independence
Negotiations for independence and Partition; Popular Movements and Pressure from below
Partition riots; The Making of the Partition System; Migration, Rehabilitation and Refugee;
Gender, Women, and Partition.

Learning Resources:
1. Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar, From Plassey to Partition and After: A History of Modern
India, Orient Blackswan, New Delhi, 2015.
2. Chand, Tara. History of freedom Movement in India, Volumes 2,3,4, Publication
Division, Government of India, Delhi, 1967.
3. Chandra, Bipan, India’s Struggle for Independence, Penguin Books, New Delhi, 1989.
4. Chandra, Bipan, Nationalism and Communalism in Modern India, Vikas Publishing
House, New Delhi, 1979.
5. Hasan, Mushirul. Nationalism and Communal Politics in India, 1885-1930, New Delhi,
1991.
6. Mahajan, Sucheta. Independence and Partition: Erosion of Colonial Power in India, Sage
Publications, New Delhi, 2000.
7. Sarkar, Sumit, Modern India, 1885-1947, Laxmi Publication , 2008.
9. K.N. Panikkar. Culture, Ideology, Hegemony: Intellectuals and Social Consciousness in
Colonial India, Tulika Books, 1998
10. Chaterjee, Partha. The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories,
Oxford University Press, 1993.
11. Bhattacharya, Sabyasachi. The Colonial State: Theory and Practice, Primus Books, 2016.
12. Bandyopadhyay Sekhar. Nationalist Movement in India: A Reader, Oxford University
Press, 2008.
13. Amales, Tripathi. Indian National Congress and the Struggle for Freedom, Oxford
University Press, 2014.
14. Gopal, Priyamvada, Insurgent Empire: Anti-colonial Resistance and British Dissent,
Verso, 2019
15. Maclean Kama, A Revolutionary History of Interwar India: Violence, Image, Voice and
Text, Penguin Books, 2015.

Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit

HIS 602 Agrarian C 3+1+0 4
Struggles and
Movements in
India

Course Objective:
The British economic policies in the nineteenth century India were characterized by the
colonization forced on the Indian market, whose nature and structure was determined by the
needs of Britain resulting in massive debt, dismal poverty, recurring famines, and
impoverishment of peasantry. The changing economic relations and the colonial agrarian
economy contributed to the peasant grievances, which found their expression in various rebellion
and other movements. This course will examine the nature and methods of peasant struggle in
colonial India and the colonial policies which contributed towards various movements.

Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
understand and analyse peasant issues and grievances in colonial India, assess the impact of
British rule on rural impoverishment, understand the social relation of production with the
agrarian structures, examine the nature and methods of peasant struggle in colonial India

UNIT I - Defining the Peasant and the Historiography of Peasant Movements

Who are Peasants?; The peasant in History; definitions; A Historiographical Survey-
Nationalist, Marxist and Subaltern Approach; Approach to Colonial Peasantry
Unit-II - Agrarian Policies Land Revenue Regimes
Zamindari, Ryotwari and the various regimes in British India; Commercialization of agriculture,
Money lending and rural indebtedness; Formation of the Indian National Congress; Changing
agrarian relations – Emergence of rich peasantry; Growth of wage labor and agriculture and
depeasantization
Unit –III Peasant Struggles in Ninetieth century India
Farazi- Wahabi Movements; Indigo Uprising; Kol Uprising; Santhal Revolt; Agrarian Unrest of
1875- Deccan Riots
Unit –III Peasants, Tribes and the National Movement Early stirrings
Champaran Satyagraha and the Moplah Revolt; Rampa Rebellion; Bardoli and No-Tax
Campaign in Andhra; Emergence of Organized Peasant Movements – All India Kisan Sabha;
Baba Ramchandra and Swami Sahajanand Saraswati in UP; Left and Peasant Movements: Anti-
Zamindari Struggle; Telengana and Tebhaga Movements; Punnapra Vayalar Revolt
UNIT V - Agrarian Reforms and the Farm Question
Zamindari Abolition Laws in the post-independence India; The Green Revolution and the
transition of the Peasant into the Farmers; Introduction to the Farmers Movements in
independent India; The Bharathiya Kisan Union, The Shetkari Sangatana, The Ryotu Sangha,
etc.

Learning Resources:
1. Alam, Javeed, “Peasantry, Politics and Historiography: Critique of New Trend in
Relation to Marxism”, Social Scientist 117. (February, 1983): 43–54.
2. Bose, Sugata, Agrarian Bengal: Economy, Social Structure and Politics, 1919-1947.
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986.
3. Chatterjee, Partha, Bengal, 1920-1947: The Land Question, K.P.Bagchi and Co.,
Calcutta, 1984.
4. Desai, A.R., Agrarian Unrest under British Rule in India. Oxford University Press, Delhi,
1986.
5. Desai, A.R.,Peasant Struggles in India. Oxford University Press, Bombay, 1979.
6. Guha, Ranajit, Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India, Oxford
University Press, Delhi, 1983
7. Mukherjee, Mridula, Peasants in India’s Non-Violent Revolution: Practice and Theory,
Sage Publication, New Delhi, 2004
8. Pannikar, K.N., Against Lord and State: Religion and Peasant Uprising in Malabar, 1836-
1921, Oxford University Press, Delhi, 1992.
9. Siddiqui, Majjid, Agrarian Unrest in North India, Vikas Publishing House, Delhi, 1978.
10. Chatterjee, Partha. “For an Indian History of Peasant Struggle.” Social Scientist, vol. 16,
no. 11, 1988, pp. 3–17
11. Chaturvedi, Vinayak. Peasant Pasts: History and Memory in Western India. 1st ed.,
University of California Press, 2007
12. Habib, Irfan. “The Peasant in Indian History.” Social Scientist, vol. 11, no. 3, 1983, pp.
21–64
13. Stokes, Eric, The Peasant and the Raj: Studies in Agrarian Society and Peasant Rebellion
in Colonial India, Cambridge University Press, 1980.
14. Bernstein, Henry, Is There Agrarian Question in the 21st Century? Canadian Journal of
Development Studies / Revue canadienne d'études du développement, 27:4, 449-460, 2006.

Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit

HIS 603 Society, Politics C 4+0+0 4
and the
Economy: India
After
Independence

Course Objective:
This course will focus on ‘Contemporary India’ since country’s independence from the British
colonial rule in 1947. It will deal with the features of Indian nationalism, ideology of the Indian
nationalists and their imaginary of independent India, features of Nehruvian politics and
ideology, socialism, the emergence of Indira Gandhi, emergency, Janata Party, Rajiv Gandhi Era
and VP Singh Era. The course will also deal with the language, ethnic, caste and communal
questions of contemporary India. The economic history of independent India will be briefly
discussed in the course.

Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
explore the making of Indian nationalism, address and analyse the issues of language, caste and
communalism in contemporary India, comprehend the impact of globalization on the Indian
economy, understand and theorise on various regional and national socio-economic issues using
historical methodology

UNIT I The Formative Years

Making sense of Indian constitution: Colonial and anti- colonial legacies; The political mosaic in
the decade following Independence; The era of “Nehruvian” socialism (The Nehru-Mahalanobis
Plan Model); The Shastri interlude; The agrarian crisis (1963-64) and the making of the Green
Revolution; The 1967 elections and the emerging consolidation against the Congress
Unit-II The Long 70s
The Congress split in 1969; The socialist phase again (Bank Nationalisation and Abolition of
Privy Purses); The “liberation” of Bangladesh and Indian politics; Indira under siege; the student
movement in Gujarat and Bihar; The Railway general strike; the arrival of Jayaprakash Narayan
on the scene; Growth of wage labor and agriculture and depeasantization
Unit –III The Emergency and After
The Allahabad High Court verdict; The Emergency: June 26, 1975-March 21, 1977; The Janata
experiment: March 1977-July 1979; Indira’s return to power.
Unit –IV Political Churning of 80s
Assam, Punjab and Kashmir; The States against the Centre; the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam,
the Telugu Desam Party – The National Front; Politics of Hindutva and Minorities; The Dalit
Upsurge; Mandal, Mandir and Masjid - The ascendancy of the BJP
UNIT -V Towards Reform
The Uruguay Rounds and India’s Response; The BoP crisis (1991) and the Structural
Adjustments Programme; The Economic Policy Resolution of July 1991

Learning Resources:
1. Brass, Paul R. The Politics of India Since Independence, Cambridge University Press,
1994.
2. Chandra, Bipan. Et al. India after Independence, Penguin Books, New Delhi, 1999.
3. Gopal, S. Ed. Anatomy of a Confrontation: The Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi
Issue. Viking, Delhi, 1991
4. Guha, Ramachandra. India after Gandhi. Penguin, New Delhi, 2009.
5. Gyanesh Kudaisya, A Republic in The Making: India in the 1950s, Oxford University
Press, 2017.
6. Hasan, Mushirul. Nationalism and Communal Politics in India, 1885-1930, New Delhi,
1991.
7. Hasan, Zoya. Ed. Parties and Party Politics in India. Oxford University Press, Delhi,2002.
8. Kanungo, Pralay. RSS’S Tryst with Politics: From Hedgewar to Sudarshan.
Manohar,Delhi, 2002.
9. Krishna Ananth, V. India since Independence: Making Sense of Politics. Pearson
Longman, New Delhi, 2009.
11. Ludden, David. Ed. Making India Hindu: Religion, Community and the Politics of
Democracy in India. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1996.
10. P.N. Dhar, Indira Gandhi, the `Emergency’ and Indian Democracy. Oxford
University Press, Delhi, 2000
12. Selbourne, David. An Eye to India: The Unmasking of the Tyranny, Penguin,
Harmondsworth, 1977.
13. Menon, Nivedita and Nigam, Aditya, Power and Contestation: India Since 1989, Zed
Books, 2007.

Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit

HIS 604 Economic C 4+0+0 4
History of
Modern India
(177- 1947)

Course Objective:
This course intends to introduce major themes and debates in the study of economic history of
modern India. We will study the evolution of Indian economy under the colonial rule with a
focus on land, labour, agriculture, industry, trade, and finance.
Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
1. to understand the key concepts like colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism
2. understand the three stages of colonialism
3. describe the process of de- industrialization and the emergence of modern industries.
4. To comprehend the long term impact of colonialism and imperialism on India
Unit-I
Approaches to economic history of modern India; Great divergence Debate and India in the
Global economy; The 18th Century Debate; Nature of Indian economy on the eve colonization;
Private English Traders; Tribute from Conquest
Unit – II Agriculture and Revenue Systems
Introduction of new Property Rights in land and its impact (Bengal, Madras, and Bombay
Presidencies); Commercialization of Agriculture, Plantation economy; Usury and Indebtedness;
Growth of Wage; Labourers and Rise of Rich Peasantry; Irrigation Systems; Famines and
Famine Policies; Impoverishment of Peasantry
Unit- III Industry
Urbanization and Migration Pattern; Industry Towns and Manufactures during the Colonial
India; De-industrialization and Its Impact; Debate on de-industrialisation; Rise and Growth of
Agro and Manufacturing Industries; Formation of Industrial Working Class and Trade Unions;
Emergence of Capitalist Class
UNIT IV - Trade and Commerce
Disruption of Trade; New Transport and Communication Systems - Roads, Railways, Canals,
Ports, Posts and Telegraph; Articulation of Internal and External Trade; Banking System; Debate
on Three stages of Colonialism; The Nature of Finance Capitalist Stage
Unit V: Debates on Colonial Economy
Indian Nationalists’ Discourse on Colonialism; Drain Theory Debate on Re-interpretation of
Nineteenth Century Indian Economic History; Morris D. Morris and Bipan Chandra- Dharma
Kumar and Tirthankar Roy; Intervention Debates on Colonial Mode of Production (Utsa Patnaik,
Ashok Rudra, Paresh Chattopadhyay, etc.); The Development of Underdevelopment (Hamza
Alavi, A.G. Frank and Jairus Banerji); Indian economy at Independence

Learning Resources:
1. Alice Thorner “Semi-Feudalism or Capitalism? Contemporary Debate on Classes and
Modes of Production in India,” Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 17, No. 49, 50, & 51, Dec.
1982, pp. 1961-68, 1993-99, 2061-66.
2. Bagchi, Amiya Kumar, Private Investment in India: 1900-1939, Routledge, London,
2000.
3. Bhattacharya, Sabayasachi. The Financial Foundations of the British Raj: Ideas and
Interests in the Reconstruction of Indian Public Finance 1858-1872. Orient Blackswan, New
Delhi, 2005.
4. Chandra, Bipan, Essays on Colonialism, Orient Blackswan, New Delhi, 2010.
5. Gadgil, D.R., The Industrial Evolution in India in the Recent Times, Oxford University
Press, Delhi, 1972
6. Guha, Ranajit, A Rule of Property for Bengal: An Essay on the Idea of Permanent
Settlement, Orient Longman, New Delhi, 1982.

7. Morris D. Morris, “Towards a Reinterpretation of Nineteenth Century Indian Economic

History,” IESHR, 5 (1) March 1968.

8. Roy, Tirthankar, The Economic History of India, 1857-1947, Oxford University Press,
Delhi, 2000.
9. Raychaudhari, Tapan and Irfan Habib, The Cambridge Economic History of India, Vol.I,
c.1200-1750, Cambridge University Press,Cambridge, 1982.
10. Habib, Irfan. “Colonialization of the Indian Economy, 1757 - 1900.” Social Scientist, vol.
3, no. 8, 1975, pp. 23–53.
11. Parthasarathi, Parsannan, Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not: Global Economic
Divergence, 1600- 1850, Cambrdige University Press, 2011.
12. Habib, Irfan, Indian Economy Under Early British Rule, 1757-1857, A Peoples History
of India 25, Tulika, 2013
13. B.R. Tomlinson,“The Historical Roots of Indian Poverty: Issues in the
Economic and Social History of Modern South Asia 1880-1960”, Modern
Asian Studies,22(1), 123-40, 1988.

Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit

HIS 605 Minor C 0+0+4 4
Dissertation
Course

Course Objective:
Each student, will arrive at a topic/research project in consultation with her/his faculty advisor in
the department and work on a minor dissertation of about 50 pages during the semester on any
one of the aspects listed here or a combination of those. The course will involve regular
presentations before the class and submission of a BA dissertation by the end of the semester.
The evaluation will be on the basis of presentations, participation in the discussions while others
present and also on the dissertation.
Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
identify a core area of research and arrive at a meaningful research problem, identify resources to
enable in depth research about a topic of interest to the student, effectively utilize sources and to
generate valid research questions, critically use historical tools and methodology to analyse
historical research questions/themes.

Course code Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit

HIS 100 (FC) Idea of India C 3+1+0 4

Course Objective:
The course has a three pronged purpose:

introduce the significance and relevance of Indian history to the students locating it within world
history, enable students to develop broad minded global perspectives, enable the students to use
history as a tool for critical thinking.

Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
Comprehend the historical processes that shaped Indian society, dispel the perception that
History is a subject merely involving dates, names and events that are meant to be memorized,
remembered and reproduced, Understand everyday occurrences in the country and analyse news
from a critical thinking perspective

Unit I: The Nation and Its Many Roots

What is a Nation? –Theories of Nationalism; The many names of India: India, Hindia, Aryavarta
Or Bharat; Mother India: Iconising a Nation
Unit II: Unearthing the Past
The Evolutionary Past: Interbreeding Vs Replacement Theory; Out of Africa Theory; What is a
civilization? Theories of Civilization; Indus Valley Civilization
Unit III: Stories of Gods and People
The Emergence of Myths; Myth Vs Reality; Vedic Age in India; Tribes, Caste and Battles
Unit IV: Polity and Governance
Religion, Economy and the State –Asoka, Chankya and the Buddha; Land the Economy:
Exploring the Arthasastra; Social Order and the State: Through the Epics; Two millennia of
pluralism: Jews, Christians and other religions in India
Unit V: Towards Understanding the Nation
The Mughals in India; Multiple Identities – the same heritage; The Past as a Signifier

Learning Resources:
1. Y. N.Harari, A Brief History of Humankind, Harper, 2015.
2. Upinder Singh, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India, Pearson, 2009.
3. Romila Thapar, Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300, University of California
Press, 2004.
Semester VII
Syllabus
 Course Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit
code
HIS 701 Seminar Course 2( Themes on Social, C 0+2+2 3
Cultural or Economic History or the
History of Science and Technology)

Course Objective:
Each student, will arrive at a topic/research project in consultation with her/his faculty advisor in
the department and work on an extended seminar paper during the semester on any one of the
aspects listed here or a combination of those. The course will involve regular presentations
before the class and submission of a long term-paper by the end of the semester. The evaluation
will be on the basis of presentations, participation in the discussions while others present and
also on the long term-paper.

Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
identify a core area of research and arrive at a meaningful research problem, identify resources to
enable in depth research about a topic of interest to the student, effectively utilize sources and to
generate valid research questions, critically use historical tools and methodology to analyse
historical research questions/themes.

Course Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit

code
HIS 702 Historiography Course (Themes on C 0+3+1 3
Social, Cultural or Economic History
or the History of Science and
Technology)

Course Objective:
Each student, will arrive at a topic/research project in consultation with her/his faculty advisor in
the department and work on an extended historiography paper during the semester on a topic
which the candidate will write his/her thesis on in the following semester. The course will
involve regular presentations before the class and submission of a long term-paper by the end of
the semester. The evaluation will be on the basis of presentations, participation in the discussions
while others present and also on the long term-paper.
Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
identify a core area of research and arrive at a meaningful research problem, identify resources to
enable in depth research about a topic of interest to the student, effectively utilize sources and to
generate valid research questions, critically use historical tools and methodology to analyse
historical research questions/themes.
Semester VIII
Syllabus
 Course Course title Core/Elective L+T+P Credit
code
HIS 801 Thesis Writing (Guided) Course C 0+0+3 3
( Themes on Social, Cultural or
Economic History or the History of
Science and Technology)

Course Objective:
Each student, will arrive at a topic/research project in consultation with her/his faculty advisor in
the department and work on a BA Thesis during the semester on any one of the aspects listed by
the advisor or a combination of those. The course will involve submissions of a 60-80 pages
thesis by the end of the semester. The evaluation will be on the basis of presentations,
participation in the discussions while others present and also on the thesis. An external
evaluation may also be considered.

Course Outcomes:
At the end of the course, student will be able to
identify a core area of research and arrive at a meaningful research problem, identify resources to
enable in depth research about a topic of interest to the student, effectively utilize sources and to
generate valid research questions, critically use historical tools and methodology to analyse
historical research questions/themes.