DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
COURSES OFFERED BY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
CategorvI
(UG Programme for Bachelor in History (Honous) degree in three years]
DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC CORE COURSE -1 (DSC-1) -: History of India ll: 750- 1200
CREDIT DISTRIBUTION, ELIGIBILITY AND PRE-REQUISITES OF THE COURSE
Course title &CodeCredits Credit distribution of thecourse Eligibility Pre-requisite
criteria of the course
Lecture Tutorial Practical/ (if any)
Practice
History of India - Ill: 4 3 1 0 12 th Pass Should bave
750-1200 studied
History of
India- II
Fourth century
to 750
Learning Objectives
This course is designed to make students trace the patterns of change and continuities
in the economic, political, social and cultural aspects of life during the 'early medieval
period' (c. 750-1200 CE) of Indian history. With its focus on multiple historiographical
approaches to various issues of historical significance during this period, the course
willalso apprise students of the divergent ways in which historians approach, read and
interpret their sources.
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of this course the student shall be able to:
" Critically assess the major debates among scholars about various changes that
took place with the onset of early medieval period in India.
" Explain, in an interconnected manner, the processes of state formation,
agrarian expansion, proliferation of caste and urban as well as commercial
processes.
Discuss the major currents of developments in the cultural sphere, namely
Bhakti movement, Puranic Hinduism, Tantricism, architecture and art.
SYLLABUS OF DsC-1
medieval India
Unit I: Studying early inscriptions; coins
1. Sources: texts; medieval
2. Perspectives on the early
and processes
Unit lI: Political structures polities; Chola state; Odisha
1. Evolution of political structures: Rajput cultures
political power: Brahmanas and temples; courtlynorth-west, Cholas
2. Symbols of Arabs and Ghazanavids in
the
of 'Foreign and Indian':
3. Issue
in Southeast Asia
processes
Unit llI: Social and economic
and social changes
1. Agricultural expansion
2. Trade and urbanization
cultures
Unit IV: Religious and visual
Tantra; Buddhism and Jainism
1. Bhakti, Puranic Hinduism;
-regional styles
2. Art and architecture: temples
Practical component (if any) - NIL
Essential/recommended readings
Unit I. This unit seeks to familiarise
students with the range of sources available for
Most importantly, students will
the early medieval period of Indian history. nature of early
views on the
engage with the debates and varied scholarly important aspects and factors
medieval Indian social formation and the most
of change therein. (Teaching Time: 12 hrs. approx.)
the Study of Inscriptions
Salomon, Richard. 1998. Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to York: Oxford
in Sanskrit, Prakrit and, the Other Indo-Aryan Languages. New
l: 'The Scope and
University Press. (The relevant portions are: Chapter
Chapter VIl:
Significance of Epigraphy in Indological StudStudiesies', pp. 3-6;
226-51.)
'Epigraphy as a Source for the Study of Indian Culture,' pp.
Oxford
Schwartzberg. J. 1993. Historical Atlas of South Asia. New York:
University Press. (To be used mostly as a reference book)
Jha, D.N. 2000. 'Introduction'. In The Feudal Order: State, Society and ldeology
in Early Medieval India. Delhi: Manohar, pp. 1-60. [Also available in Hindi)
Sharma, RS 1958. 'Origins of Feudalism in India (c. A.D. 400-650)'. Journal of the
Economic and Social History of the Orient, vol. 1: 297-328.
Mukhia, H. 1981. Was there Feudalism in Indian History?' The Journal of
Peasant Studies vol. 8(3): 273-310. Also reproduced in Kulke, Hermann. (ed).
1995. The State in india, 1000-1700. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, pp. 86
133.
Sharma, R.s. 1982. The Kali Age: APeriod of Social Crisis'. In D.N. Jha (ed). The
Feudal Order: State, Society and ldeology in Early Medieval India, Delhi:
Manohar, pp. 61-77. (Originally published in S.N. Mukherjea, (ed). India: History
and Thought. Essays in Honour of Professor A.L. Basham.)
129
Lecture TutorialPractical/ Eligibility Pre-requisite
Practice criteria of the course
(if any)
Rise of the Modern 4 3 1 12 th Pass NIL
West -I
Learning Objectives
The focus of the course is on transition from feudalism to capitalism in Europe. The
paper familiarizes the student with important transitions and transformations in the
economy, polity, and socio-cultural life from mid fifteenth century to 1600 in various
parts of Europe. The course shall critically examine the dynamics of economic and
political power within Europe, and contacts with the New World. The processes by
which Europe's economy benefited from colonial expansion and exploitation of
indigenous and slave labour will be explained. Students shall also engage with
continuities and changes in intellectual and artistic realms; the social and economic
milieu which influenced developments in religion; trends in state formation; and the
relation-ship between state and religion. Students willbe introduced to the concept
of Eurocentrism in our understanding of the Rise of the Modern West.
Learning outcomes
On completion of this course students will be able to:
" Outline important changes that took place in Europe from the mid fifteenth
century.
Acquire an integrated approach to the study of economic, social, political and
cultural developments in Europe.
Explain the processes by which major transitions unfolded in Europe's
economy, state forms, social structure and cultural life. Examine elements of
early modernity in these spheres.
Critically analyse linkages between Europe's State system and trade and
empire.
SYLLABUS OF DSC- 2
Unit 1: Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism
1. Issues and debates
2. Question of Eurocentricism
Unit ll: Early colonial Expansion
1. Trade and Empire-Mines and Plantations
2. Labour Systems-Indigenous populations and African Slaves
Unit ll: Renaissance
1. Origins
2. Humanism in Italy and its spread in Europe, Art
135
Unit IV: Origins, course and results of the European Reformation
Unit V: Economic development of the sixteenth century
1. Shift of economic balance from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic
2. Price Revolution
Unit VI: European State Systems: with any two case studies-Spain, France, England and
Russia
Practical component (if any) - NIL
Essential/recommended readings
Unit 1: The Unit will give an overview to the paper through issues and debates related
to transition from feudalism to capitalism in Europe. The concept of Eurocentrism will
be introduced. (Teaching Time: 9 hrs. approximately)
" Aston, T.H. and C.H.E. Philpin, (Eds.). (2005). The Brenner Debate, Agrarian
Class Structure and Economic Development in Pre-Industrial Europe.
Cambridge/Delhi: Cambridge University Press, Ist South Asian Edition.
" Blaut, J.M., et.al. (1992). 1492 - The Debate on Colonialism, Eurocentrism, and
History. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, Inc.
" Hilton, Rodney, (Ed.). (1985). The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism.
London: Verso.
" Sinha, Arvind. (2009). Sankrantikaleen Europe. New Delhi: Granth Shilpi. and
English edition].
" Wallerstein, Immanuel. (1974). The Modern World System, Vol. I, Capitalist
Agriculture and the Origins of the European World Economy in the Sixteenth
Century. New York: Academic Press.
Unit ll: The Unit discusses the process of early colonization, inter-linkages, and impact
of trade and empire on Western Europe, the New World, West Africa and parts of Asia.
(Teaching Time: 6 hrs. approximately)
" Braudel, Fernand. (1988). Civilization and Capitalism, 15th to 18th Centuries,
Vols. I, I,
III. London: Collins/Fontana Press.
Burbank, Jane and Frederick Cooper. (2010). Empires in World History - Power
and Politics of Difference. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Crosby, Alfred W. (2004). Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of
Europe, 900-1900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2nd edition).
Davis, Ralph. (1973). The Rise of the Atlantic Economies. London: Weidenfield
and Nicolson.
Waites, Bernard. (1999) Europe and the Third World: From Colonisation to
Decolonisation, c 1500-1998. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Unit ll: The Unit emphasizes social roots of Renaissance, elements of continuity and
change in intellectual and cultural realms, and debates on Renaissance and Humanism.
(Teaching Time: 9 hrs. approximately)
136
SYLLABUS OF DSC-3
Imperialism
Unit I: Late Imperial China and Western
1. Confucian Value System; Society, Economy, Polity
2. Opium Wars and the Unequal Treaty System (9 lectures)
Unit ll: Popular Movements and Reformns in the 19th century
1. Taiping and Boxer Movements - Genesis, ldeology, Nature
2. Self-Strengthening Movement; Hundred Days Reforms of 1898 (13 lectures)
Unit lll: Emergence of Nationalism
. The Revolution of 1911: Nature and Significance
" The May Fourth Movement of 1919 (10 lectures)
Unit IV: Communist Movement in China
1. 1921-1927: Formation of the CCP and the First United Front
139
2. 1928-1949: Evolution of Maoist Strategy and Revolutionary Measures in Kiangsi
and Yenan ; Communist victory (13 lectures)
