SYLLABUS

HISTORY

FOUR YEAR UNDER GRADUATE PROGRAMME

Course Structure for Under-Graduate Programme

 Course Structure for Under-Graduate Programme in History

Year Semester Course Type Courses Credit

1 1st Major HISC1- HISTORY OF INDIA-I 4

(Prehistory to c.300 BCE)
Minor MINHIS1-History of Ancient India 4

MDC-1 3

AEC-1 4

VAC-1 2
SEC-1 3
Total Credit 20

2nd Major HISC2- Social Formations and Cultural 4

Patterns of Ancient and Medieval
World
Minor MINHIS2- History of Medieval India 4

AEC-II 4

MDC-II 3

VAC-II 2
SEC-II 3

Total Credit 20

2 3rd Major HISC3-History of India II (c.300 4

BCE-500 CE)
 HISC4- History of India –III (post-Gupta 4
to 1206 CE)

Minor MINHIS3- History of Modern India 4

(From 1757- 1947 A.D.)
MDC-III 3

VAC-III 2
SEC-III 3
Total Credit 20

4th Major HISC5- History of India-IV (1206 AD- 4

1526 AD)
HISC6- History of India-V (1526 4
AD-1750AD)
HISC7- History of India-VI (1750 AD- 4
1857AD)
HISC8- Rise of Modern West 4

Minor MINHIS4-Early and Medieval Assam 4

Community 2
Engagement
Total Credit 22

3 5th Major HISC9-History of Modern Europe 4

(1789- 1945)

HISC10-History of India-VII (1857- 4

1964)

HISC11-History of Early and Medieval 4

Assam

HISC12-Historiography 4
Minor MINHIS5-Modern Assam 4
Internship 2
Total Credit 22
6th Major HISC13-Social and Economic History of 4
Assam
HISC14-Contemporary World 4
HISC15-History of Modern Assam 4
HISC16-History of China and Japan 4
Or
History of Modern South East Asia
Minor MINHIS5-Rise of Modern West 4
&
History of Modern Europe (1789-1945
AD)
Project 2
Total Credit 22
 Semester I
Course Code: HISC1

Course Title: HISTORY OF INDIA-I (Prehistory to c.300BCE)

Nature of the Course: Major Core

Credit: 4
Objective: The objective of the paper is to have a thorough understanding of the
history of India. The paper deals with the early history of the Indian subcontinent
starting from the age of prehistory to the post-Vedic Civilization. The paper will help
the students in understanding the history of our earliest hominid ancestors along with
the cultural transitions that happened in due course of time.
Course Contents

Topic Credit
Unit-1: Introduction to Indian Lecture Tutorial
Prehistory

Marks Distribution: 20
1.1 Defining Prehistory and 3 1
Proto- history
1.2 Environmental factors 3
and human evolution in
Indian prehistory
1.3 Sources of Indian 3 1
prehistory- Stone tools,
bones, potsherds, artefacts
1.4 Introduction to dating 3 1
techniques (Radiocarbon
dating, TL dating, K-AR
dating, Paleomagnetic dating)
Unit- 2: Prehistoric India- Marks Distribution: 20
Hunter- gatherers to Food
producers
2.1 Paleolithic cultures- 3 1
distribution of sites- tools,
techniques and subsistence
pattern
 2.2 Mesolithic cultures- 3
distribution of sites-tools,
technique and subsistence
pattern 3 1
2.3 Neolithic cultures in India-
distribution of sites-tools,
techniques and subsistence
pattern
3 1
2.4 Chalcolithic cultures in
India (Non-Harappan)-
Megalithic cultures-
distribution of sites
Unit- 3: TheHarappan civilization Marks Distribution: 20
3.1 Phases of Harappan 3 1
Civilization-Geography
and 3 1
Chronology
3.2 Urban features of Harappan
civilization
3 1
3.3 Harappan art and architecture
3
3.4 Urban decline and the
late/post- Harappan traditions.

Unit-4: Cultures in transition Marks Distribution: 20

4.1 Northern India (c.1500- 3 1
600 BCE)- Vedic and
post-Vedic period- society,
religion, polity and
economy 3
4.2 Early Territorial states (c.
600- 300 BCE)-Trade and
Urban centers
4.3 Philosophical traditions- 3 1
Buddhism and Jainism,
Ajivika, Carvakas
3 1
4.4 South India (c. 300 BCE -CE
300)
Learning outcome:
• To have an understanding on prehistory and sources of Indian prehistory.
• To acquaint with the prehistoric period and prehistoric cultures, distribution of
sites, tools and technologies, economic, and socio-cultural developments of the
period concerned.
• To acquaint the students with The Indus valley civilization
• To acquaint the students with the Vedic period and the state formation in Early India

Suggested Reading List:

• V.K. Jain, Prehistory and Protohistory of India-An Appraisal, DK Printwood, 2006
• R.S. Sharma, India’s Ancient Past, NewDelhi, OUP,2007
• R.S. Sharma, Material Culture and Social FormationsinAncientIndia,1983
• R.S. Sharma, Looking for the Aryans, Delhi,Orient Longman Publishers,1995
• Bridget &F. Raymond Allchin,The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan,1983.
• A.L. Basham,The Wonder that Was India,1971.
• D.K. Chakrabarti, The Archaeology of Ancient Indian Cities, 1997, Paperback.
• D.K. Chakrabarti, The Oxford Companion to Indian Archaeology, New Delhi,2006.
• H.C. Raychaudhuri, ed. Political History of Ancient India, Rev.
• K.A. N. Sastri, ed. History of South India, OUP, 1966.
• Upinder Singh, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India, 2008.Romila
Thapar, Early India from the Beginnings to 1300, Penguin, 2002
• Irfan Habib, A People’s History of India -Vol. -1, Prehistory
• R. Chakrabarti, Exploring Early India, Macmillan,2013
• Uma Chakravarti, The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism.
1997.RajanGurukkal, Social Formations of Early South India, 2010.
• R. Champakalakshmi, Trade, Ideology and urbanization: South India300 BC-
AD 1300,1996
 Semester: I
Course Code: MINHIS1
Course Title: History of Ancient India

Nature of Course: Minor

Credit: 4

Objectives: The objective to the paper is to have a thorough understanding of the

Ancient Indian History. The paper deals with the various sources that helps to
reconstruct the Ancient Indian History, along with the histories starting from the
Harappan Civilization to the Turkish and the Arab invasion of India.
Course contents:

Topic Credit

Unit-1: Lecture Tutorial

Marks Distribution: 20
1.1 Sources –Literary, 3 1
archaeological and
numismatics
1.2 Harappan Civilization –Origin 3
and Extent, Major sites,
Salient features, decline and
transformation
3 1
1.3 Vedic Civilization- Society,
Economy and Polity
3 1
1.4 Rise of the Territorial States
– Janapadas and
Mahajanapadas
Unit:2 Marks Distribution: 20
2.1 Ascendancy of Magadha- 3 1
Haryanka and Nandas
2.2 Alexander’s Invasion of India.
2.3 Rise of the Mauryan Empire
under Asoka, Asoka’s 3 1
Dhamma 3 1
 2.4 Mauryan System of 3
Administration and decline

Unit- 3: Marks Distribution: 20

3.1 Political and economic 3 1

Developments in the Post-
Mauryan period - the Sungas,
Kanvas, Kushanas and
Satavahanas 3 1
3.2 The Tamils and Sangam Age.
3.3 The Sakas, Parthians and 3 1
the Indo-Greeks in India
3
3.4 The Guptas and the Vakatakas

Unit-4: Marks Distribution: 20

4.1 Developments in the post- 3 1

Gupta period- Vardhanas,
Palas and Pratiharas
4.2 The Pallavas, the 3
Rashtrakutas and the
Chalukyas
4.3 The Imperial Cholas 3 1
4.4 The Arabs and the Turks 3 1
in Indian politics –
Ghaznivids and the
Ghorid Invasions

Learning outcome:

• To understand the history of ancient and early medieval India.

• The students will have knowledge on the sources of ancient India as well
as the political history and dynastic chronology of the sub-continent up to
1200 C.E.

Suggested Readings Lists:

• Upinder Singh, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India, Pearson
• RanabirChakravarti, Exploring Early India, Macmillan
• R.S.Sharma, India’s Ancient India, OxforD
 Semester: II
Course Code: HISC2
Course Title: Social Formations and Cultural Patterns of Ancient and Medieval World
Nature of the Course: Major Core

Credit: 4

Objective: To understand the historical development of human civilization around the

world. This course will make student understand various socio-cultural and economic
developments of early human societies. The students will also learn about the challenges
and crisis faced by these early civilizations and their responses to these crises.
Course Contents

Topic Credi
t
Unit-1 Lecture Tutorial
Marks Distribution: 20
1.1 Origin and growth Human 6 1
culture and Civilization-
Prehistoric culture:
Characteristic features of
Palaeolithic, Mesolithic,
Neolithic

1.2 Bronze and Iron age: Iron

Debate, Characteristic 6 1
features, important sites

Unit- 2 Marks Distribution: 20

2.1 Mesopotamian Civilization: 4 1
upto Akkadian: Temple
economy, Law Codes.

2.2 Egyptian Civilization:

Political Developments, Art & 4 1
Architecture, Religion.

2.3 Chinese Civilization:

Polity, Society, Science &
Technological
Developments 4 1

Unit- 3 Marks Distribution: 20

 3.1 Greek Civilization: Athenian 4 1
Democracy, Society and
Culture. Slavery
3.2 Roman Civilization: 4 1
Establishment of Republic,
Society and Cultures, trade
and urbanization
3.3 Europe in medieval age: 4 1
feudalism, Expansion of
Christianity.

Unit-4 Marks Distribution: 20

4.1 The Aztec and the Maya- The 4 1
Origin, Society,
Religion,
Economy and Decline
4.2 The Incas: Origin, Polity, 4 1
Religion, Society and
Economy, Art and
Architecture, Decline. 4 1
4.3 Central Islamic civilization
(Arab and Persia): Rise of
Islam,
Ummah, Caliphate, Crusades

Learning Outcome:
• Learners will be acquainting with the historical developments of various
civilizations of ancient and medieval world.
• They will have a comprehensive view about various political, economic and
cultural developments of different human societies.
• The students will also learn the changes and crisis faced by early and
medieval societies.

Suggested Reading List:

• Burns and Ralph, World Civilizations
• Gordon Childe, What Happened in History
• UNESCO series, History of Mankind
• Amar Farooqui, Early Social Formations
• Rakesh Kumar, Ancient and Medieval World: From Evolution of Humans
to the Crisis of Feudalism
• Perry Anderson, Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism
• Charles Phillips, et al, Aztec and Maya: The Complete Illustrated History.
 Semester: II

Name of the Course: History of Medieval India

Code: MINHIS2

Nature of the Course: Minor

Credit: 4

Objective: To have a comprehensive knowledge about the polity-society- economy of

India in medieval period. The course will help the students to understand the
chronological historyof India from the Turkish invasion to the advent of the British rule.
This paper will also see the developments in the major religious trends of the time and
also give an idea of the art- architecture and culture of medieval India.
Course Contents

Topic Credi
t
Unit-1 Lecture Tutorial
Marks Distribution: 20
1.1 Indian polity during11th and 3 1
12th
century: Background
1.2 Advent the Arabs and the 3
Turks in Indian politics–
Ghaznivids
and the Ghorid Invasions
1.3 Establishment of The 3 1
Delhi Sultanate-
(a) The Slave dynasty
(b) The Khalijis
AlauddinKhaliji
’s
Administration
(c) The Tughlaqs –
Experiments of Muhammad
Bin Tughlaq.
1.4 Disintegration of the Delhi 3 1
Sultanate and Rise of
Provincial Kingdoms:
Vijayanagar and Bahmani
kingdom
Unit- 2 Marks Distribution: 20
2.1 Establishment of Mughal rule: 4 1
(a) India on the eve of Babur’s
invasion and establishment of
the Mughal rule under Babur;
Military technology and
warfare (use of firearms)
(b) Humayun’s struggle for
empire 4 1
(c) Sher Shah, his
administrative
and revenue reforms
2.2 Consolidation of Mughal rule
under Akbar:
(a) Campaigns and
conquests: Mughal- Rajput
diplomacy, annexations in
North-West frontier,
4 1
Conquest of Bengal, sulh-i-
kul; Din-iIlahi
2.3 Evolution of administrative
institutions and apparatus: zabt,
mansab, jagir, madad-i-maash
grants, Zamindars and peasants
(Khudkasht and pahikasht)
Unit- 3 Marks Distribution: 20
3.1 Mughal empire under 3 1
Jahangir and Shahjahan:
Important campaigns and
conquests, peasant rebellions,
wars of 3 1
succession
3.2 Mughal empire during the
reign
of Aurangzeb: Military and 3 1
Religious policies.
3.3 Decline and disintegration of
the 3
Mughal Empire: Various issues
3.4 Emergence of the regional
powers: Marathas, Nawabs of
Bengal
Unit-4 Marks Distribution: 20
 4.1 Bhakti Movement: Saguna and 3 1
Nirguna Trends (Tulsi, Kabir,
Meerabai); Growth and
Development of Vernacular
literature
4.2 Sufism in India: Basic 3
characteristics and important
Silsilahs (Chistis and
Suhrawardis) 3 1
4.3 Guru Nanak and emergence of
the Sikhs 3 1
4.4 Developments in art and
architecture: Important
features of Indo-Islamic style,
characteristics of miniature
paintings

Learning Outcome:
• The student will have an understanding of the history of medieval India.
• The students will have knowledge on the sources of medieval India as well
as the political history and dynastic chronology of the sub-continent from 1200
C.E.
• This paper will also give an understanding of socio-religious developments
of medieval period.

Suggested Reading List:

• Satish Chandra: Medieval India.

• Salma Ahmed Farooqui: A Comprehensive History of Medieval India
• Vipul Singh, Interpreting Medieval India: Early Medieval, Delhi
Sultanate and regions
• Meena Bhargava: Understanding Mughal India: 16th to 18th centuries
 Semester: III
Name of the Course: History of India II (c.300 BCE-500 CE)

Code: HISC3

Nature of the Course: Major

Core Credit: 4

Objective: The goal of the paper is to comprehend the political development of India
from the Mauryan to the Gupta dynasties, the two most important dynasties in the early
history of the Indian subcontinent. It will cover the period from 300 BCE to 500 CE,
during which various native and foreign dynasties ruled the nation along with their
socio-economic development.
Course Contents

Topic Credi
t
Unit-1 Lecture Tutorial
Changing political formations-I: Marks Distribution: 20

1.1 The Mauryan Empire-Extent 3 1

and
sources, Inscriptions
1.2 Asoka and His 3
Dhamma, 3 1
Administration, Decline
1.3 Post-Mauryan politics- Sunga,
Kanva 3 1
1.4 Satavahanas

Unit- 2 Marks Distribution: 20

Changing political formations -II:
2.1 Indo-Greeks, Sakas, Pahlavas 3 1
2.2 Kushanas 3 1
2.3 Gupta Empire: Extent, sources, 3
administration, decline
2.4 Contemporaries of the Guptas 3

Unit- 3 Marks Distribution: 20

Economy and Society
3.1 Expansion of agrarian 3 1
economy
 3.2 Urban centres and Craft 3 1
pro du ction,

3 1
3.3 Trade-internal and
external, metallic coinage.
3
3.4 Social Stratification: Varna,
Jati,
Untouchability
Unit-4 Marks Distribution: 20
Cultural developments
(circa300BCE- CE750
4.1 Transformations in Buddhism 3 1
and Jainism, Puranic tradition
4.2 A brief survey of 3
Sanskrit,Pali,PrakritandTamil
literature,
Scientific and technical
treatises 3 1
4.3 Art and architecture-
Mauryan and post-Mauryan
(pillars, sculptures, stupa,
3 1
chaitya)
4.4 Art and architecture-Gupta
and Vakataka (temple, cave,
sculptures), Ajanta paintings

Learning Outcome:
• After the completion of the course, the students will have a very good
understanding about the rich part of Indian history specifically from the
Mauryan to the Gupta period.
• The students will be acquainted with the changing political formations,
trade, urbanism, coinage, religious and socio-cultural developments of the
period concerned.

Suggested Reading List

• Upinder Singh, The History of the Ancient and Early Medieval India, Pearson, 2008
• R.S. Sharma, India’s Ancient Past, OUP, 2007
• D.P.Chattopadhyaya, History of Science and Technology in Ancient India
• D.D. Kosambi, An Introduction to the Study of Indian History,
• S.K.Maity, Economic Life in Northern India in the Gupta Period,
• B.P. Sahu(ed), Land System and Rural Society in Early India,
• K.A. N. Sastri, A History of South India.
• Romila Thapar, Asoka and the Decline of the Maurya’s, 1997.
• Susan Huntington, The Art of Ancient India: Buddhist , Hindu ,and Jain
• R. Chakrabarti, Exploring Early India, Macmillan, 2013
• N.N.Bhattacharya, Ancient Indian Rituals and Their Social Contents
• J.C. Harle, The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent
• P. L.Gupta, Coins.
• KesavanVeluthat, The Early Medieval in South India
 Semester: III
Course Code: HISC4

Course Title: History of India –III (post-Gupta to 1206 CE)

Nature of Course: Major Core

Credit: 4
Objectives: To have a comprehensive and a thorough understanding of the History of
India right from the Post Gupta period to the year 1206. The students will get an
understanding of the society, polity and economy in the ancient and in the early medieval
period. The paper deals with mainly the Political Structures, Agrarian Structure, Trade,
Social Change as well as religious and cultural developments in the period of study.

Course Contents:

Topic Credit

Unit-1: Political Structures Lecture Tutorial

Marks Distribution: 20
1.1 Sources: literary texts and 3 1
others
1.2 Post-Gupta Polities: Vardhanas, 3
Palas,
1.3 Pratiharas 3 1
1.4 Rastrakuta 3 1
Unit- 2: Political Structures Marks Distribution: 20

2.1 Chalukya, Pallava 3 1

2.2 Cholas 3 1
2.3 Arab conquest of Sindh
3 1
2.4 Early Turkish invasions

Unit- 3: Agrarian Structure, Trade and Marks Distribution: 20

Social Change:
 3.1 Land grant and Agricultural 3 1
Expansion
3.2 Feudal economy and polity in 3 1
early medieval India, Feudal
debate
3 1
3.3 Internal and External Trade,
Urban centers
3
3.4 Coinage and money economy,
Merchant guilds of South India

Unit-4: Religious and Cultural Marks Distribution: 20

Developments:

4.1 Growth of Bhakti philosophy- 3 1

Alvars and Nayanars
(d) Art and Architecture:
Nagara, Dravida and
Vesara
4.2 Islamic intellectual 3
traditions: Al-Biruni;Al-
Hujwiri 3 1
4.3 A survey of Literature (royal
biographies- charitas,
technical treatises, historical
texts- Rajatarangini) 3 1
4.4 Art and Architecture:
Nagara, Dravida and Vesara

Learning Outcome:
• This gives an idea about the political as well as religious structure of the post-
Gupta period of Indian history.
• The students will be acquainted with the changing political structures, agrarian
structures, social change, trade, urbanism, religious and cultural developments during
the period concerned.
Suggested Reading List:
• Upinder Singh, The History of the Ancient and Early Medieval India, Pearson, 2008
• R.S. Sharma, India’s Ancient Past, OUP, 2007
• Romila Thapar, Early India from origins upto 1300 AD, Penguin, 2002
• R. Chakrabarti,Exploring EarlyIndia,Macmillan,2013
• R.S. Sharma, Indian Feudalism(circa300-1200).
• B.D. Chattopadhyaya,TheMakingofEarlyMedievalIndia.
• R.S.Sharma and K.M. Shrimali,eds, Comprehensive History of India, Vol. IV(A&B).
• Mohammad Habib and K.A. Nizami, eds, Comprehensive History of India,
Vol.V, The Delhi Sultanate
• Hermann Kulke, ed.,The State in India(AD1000-AD1700).
• N. Karashima, South Indian History and Society (Studies from Inscriptions,
AD 850- 1800 Derry lN. Maclean, Religion and Society in Arab Sindh
• Richard Davis Lives of Indian Images.
• Romila Thapar, Somanatha: The Many Voices of History.
• John S. Deyell, Living Without Silver: The Monetary History of Early
Medieval North India.Vijaya Ramaswamy, Walking Naked: Women,
Society, and Spirituality in South India.
• Burton Stein, Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India.
• R. Champakalakshmi, Trade, Ideology and Urbanization: SouthIndia, 300
BCto1300 AD. A l. Beruni’s India, NBT edition.
• Ali Hujwiri, Kashful Mahjoob, tr. R. Nicholson.
• SC Mishra, Rise of Muslim Communities in Gujarat.
 Semester: III
Name of the Course: History of Modern India (From 1757- 1947 A.D.)

Course Code: MINHIS3

Nature of the Course:

Minor Credit: 4

Objective: Understanding what transpired after the Mughal Empire's ages of decline led
to the development of local dynasties and the establishment of British rule in India is the
paper's main goal. Additionally, it will incorporate various expansionist measures taken
by the British government and the East India Company to maintain their superiority over
the Indian states. The revolts of various communities against British policies will also be
made known to the students.
Course Contents

Topic Credi
t
Unit-1 Lecture Tutorial
Marks Distribution: 20
1.1 Decline and the 3
Disintegration of the Mughal
Empire and the Growth of
Regional powers
1.2 The establishment of the
British Rule in India: The 3 2
Battle of Plassey and the
battle of Buxar
1.3 Robert Clive and his Dual 3 1
administration in Bengal,
Anglo- French Rivalry 3
1.4 Expansion and Consolidation
of the British Rule under
Warren Hastings and Lord
Cornwallis
Unit- 2 Marks Distribution: 20
2.1 British Relations with the 3 1
Marathas and Mysore, Lard
Wellesley and the Policy of
Subsidiary Alliance, Lord
Hastings and the Relations
with the Indian States.
2.2 Lord Bentinck and his 3 1
Reforms; Raja Ram Mohan
Roy and the Growth of
Western Education in India 3
2.3 The Growth and Expansion of
Sikh Power under Ranjit
Singh; Lord Dalhousie and his 3 1
Policy of Expansion- The
Doctrine of Lapse
2.4 The Revolt of 1857- Causes
and Consequences, The
government of India Act of
1858
Unit- 3 Marks Distribution: 20
3.1 The British Economic Policies 3 1
in India- Land Revenue, Trade,
Commercialization of
Agriculture, The Drain Theory
3
3.2 Socio-Religious Reform
Movements in the 19th
century 2 1
3.3 Tribal Movements, Growth of
Nationalism and the
Establishment of the Indian
National Congress, Moderates
2
and Extremist Phase
3.4 Lord Curzon and the Partition
of Bengal- The Swadeshi
Movement in India, Home
Rule Movement- Growth of 2 1
Revolutionary Movement
3.5 Constitutional Reforms Acts
of 1861, Act of 1891, Act of
1909 and Act of 1919

Unit 4 Marks Distribution: 20

4.1 Gandhi in Indian Politics- 3 1
Kheda and Champaran, The
Khilafat and the Non-
Cooperation Movement, the
Civil
Disobedience Movement
 4.2 Peasants Movements, Labour 3
Movements and Depressed
Class Movements
3 1
4.3 The Growth of the Left,
Muslim League and
Communal Politics in India
government of India Act 1935,
Provincial Election in 3 1
1937 and the Congress Politics
4.4 The Quit India Movement,
INA, RIN Movement,
Cabinet Mission Plan and
Partition of
India

Learning Outcome:
• The students will understand the major factors that led to the establishment and
consolidation of the British rule in India. The student will also acquaint with the
socio- economic impact of the policies introduced by the British.

• The students will understand the process of the growth of nationalist movement,
its different phases leading to Independence and partition.

Suggested Reading List:

• Bandyopadhya, Sekhar, From Plassey to Partition A History of Modern India,

Orient Longman Ltd. Hyderabad, 2004.
• Chandra, B, Mukherjee, M and et, al, India’s Struggle for Independence,
Penguin Books, New Delhi, 2003.
• Chandra, B, The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism in India,
Peoples Publication House, New Delhi, 1990.
• Dodewell, W (ed) The Cambridge History of India, Vol.V. S. Chand &
Company, New Delhi, 1990.
• Desai, A. R: Social Background of Indian Nationalism, Popular Publication,
New Delhi, 1990.
• Fisher, Micheal: The Politics of the British Annexation of India, 1757 – 1857,
Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1999.

• Gopal, S: The British Policy in India, 1858-1905, Mc. Millan, New Delhi, 1992.
• Grewal, J. S: The Sikhs of the Punjab, Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, 1999.
 SEMESTER IV

Course Code: HISC 5

Course Title: HISTORY OF INDIA-IV (1206 CE-1526 AD)
Nature of the Course: MAJOR CORE
Credit: 4
Course Objective: The learners will gather information regarding the sources, vernacular histories
and epigraphy; the various dynasties ruling Delhi; emergence of Bahmani kingdom and Vijaynagara
Empire; the social and economic developments, the religion, society and culture during the late
medieval India.
Unit-I Survey of Sources:
(a) Persian tarikh traditions: Barani and Mushtaqi
(b) Malfuzat andPremakhyans; Persian, Sanskrit and Vernacular interactions
(c) Inscriptions and regional identity: Kakatiyas
(d) Architecture: the study of Hampi
Unit-II Sultanate Political Structures:
(a) Foundation, expansion and consolidation of the Sultanates of Delhi:The Khaljis and the
Tughluqs; Mongol threat and Timur’s invasion; The Lodis: Conquest of Bahlul and
Sikandar; Ibrahim Lodi and the battle of Panipat
(b) Theories of kingship: Ruling elites; Sufis, ulema and the political authority; imperial
monuments and coinage
Unit-III Emergence of provincial dynasties:
(a) Vijaynagar and Bahmani kingdoms, Gujarat, Malwa, Jaunpur and Bengal
(b) Consolidation of regional identities through art, architecture and literature
Unit-IV Society and Economy:
(a) Ecological context; agricultural production
(b) Technology and changes in society
(c) Monetization; market regulations; urban centers; trade and creaft
Unit-V Religion, Society and Culture:
(a) Sufi silsilas: Chishtis and Suhrawardis; doctrines and practices; social roles
(b) Bhakti; Sant tradition: Kabir and Nanak; cults: Jagannath and Warkari
(c) Gender roles: women bhaktas and rulers
(d) ‘Hindu-Muslim’ relations reconsidered
Learning Outcome:
• The students will understand the major factors that led to the establishment and
consolidation of the Sultanate rule in India. The student will also acquaint with the socio-
economic impact of the policies introduced by the Sultans and rise of provincial dynasties
like Bahmani and Vijaynagar.
• The students will understand the process of the growth of Sufism and Bhakti
movements in India.

ESSENTIAL READINGS:
Asher, C.B. and C. Talbot, eds. India before Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2006.
Eaton, R.M.,ed.India’s Islamic Traditions, 711-1750. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Eaton, R.M. Essayson Islam and Indian History. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Habib, I. and T. Raychaudhuri, eds.Cambridge Economic History of India, vol. 1.
Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1982.
Hardy, P. Historians of Medieval India: Studies in Indo-Muslim Historical
Writing.London:Luzac and Company Ltd., 1966.
Juneja, M., ed. Architecture in MedievalIndia: Forms, Contexts, Histories. Delhi:
PermanentBlack, 2001.
Kumar, S., ed. Demolishing Myths or Mosques and Temples? Readings on History and
TempleDesecration in Medieval India.Delhi: Three Essays Collective, 2007.
Kumar, S. The Emergence of the Delhi Sultanate, 1192-1286. Ranikhet: Permanent Black, 2007.
Lorenzen, D.N.Religious Movementsin South Asia 600-1800. New Delhi: Oxford
UniversityPress, 2004. [Paperback edition, 2005]
Michell, G and J.M.Fritz. New Light on Hampi: Recent Research at Vijayanagar.
Mumabi: Marg, 2001.
Prasad, Ishwari. History of Medieval India. Allahabad: Indian Press Ltd., 1976.
Schomer, K. and W.H. McLeod, eds.The Sants: Studies in a Devotional Tradition ofIndia. Delhi:
Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1987.
Stein, B. Peasant, State and Society in MedievalSouth India. New Delhi: Oxford University
Press, 1980.
Subrahmanyam, S., ed. Money and the Market in India: 1100-1700. New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 1994.
 SEMESTER IV

Course Code: HISC 6

Course Title: HISTORY OF INDIA-V (1526-1750 CE)
Nature of the Course: MAJOR CORE
Credit: 4

Course Objective: The learners will have an idea about the various sources an historiography of the
Mughal period; expansion of the Mughal rule, the Sufi orders; Aurangzeb’s religious policy, religious
institutions, Decline of the Mughal Empire, growth of regional polities and state formation under the
Rajputs and the Marathas; 18th Century Debate; Trade, craft, monetary and market system, urban
centers and Indian Ocean trade networks.
Unit-I Sources and Historiography:
(a) Persian literary traditions: Tawarikh; Insha and translations
(b) Vernacular literature: Braj bhasha and Telugu/ Tamil
(c) Histories, Memoirs and Travelogues, Paintings and Architecture
Unit-II Establishment of Mughal Political authority:
(a) India on the eve of Babur’s invasion
(b) Campaigns and conquest: tactics and technology
(c) Humayun’s struggle for empire
(d) Sher Shah and his administrative and revenue reforms
Unit-III Consolidation of Mughal rule under Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan:
(a) Campaigns and conquests: tactics and technology
(b) Evolution of the administrative institutions: zabt, mansab, jagir, madad-i-ma’ash
(c) Agrarian and revenue relations: Zamindars and peasants
(d) Incorporation of Rajputs and other indigenous groups in Mughal nobility
(e) Orthodoxy and Syncretism – Naqshbandi Sufis, Miyan Mir, Dara Shikoh, Sarmad
Unit-IV Mughal Empire under Aurangzeb:
(a) State and Religion under Aurangzeb; issues in the war of succession; policies regarding
religious groups and institutions
(b) Conquests and limits of Expansion
(c) Beginning of the crisis: Contemporary perceptions; Agrarian and Jagir crises; Revolts
Unit-V Rural Society and Economy:
(a) Land rights and revenue system; Zamindars and peasants; rural tensions
(b) Extension of agriculture; agricultural production; crop patterns
(c) Trade routes and patterns of internal commerce; overseas
(d) Trade; rise of Surat
Unit-VI Political and religious ideas
(a) Akhlaqi traditions; Sulh-i-Kul
(b) Sufi interventions; Shattaris and Chishtis
(c) Revivalist trends in Indian Islam: Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi
(d) Deccan Sultanates, trans-regional links and Shiat Ideology
Learning Outcome:
• The students will understand the major factors that led to the establishment and consolidation
of the Mughal rule in India. The student will also acquaint with the socio- economic impact of the
policies introduced by the Mughals and introduction of new economic structures such as Zamindari,
Mansabdari etc.
• The students will understand the process of the growth of new political and religious ideas.

Recommended readings:
M. Athar Ali, The Mughal Nobility under Aurangzeb.
Muzaffar Alam and Sanjay Subramanian, eds, The Mughal State, 1526-1750.
J.F. Richards, The Mughal Empire.
Satish Chandra, Essays on Medieval Indian History.
Irfan Habib, Agrarian System of Mughal India, 1526-1707.
Ashin Dasgupta, Indian Merchants and the Decline of Surat, 1700-1750.
Stewart Gordon, The Marathas 1600-1818.
Ebba Koch, Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology.
S.A.A Rizvi, Muslim Revivalist Movements in Northern India.
K.R. Qanungo, Dara Shikoh.
S. Nurul Hasan, Religion, State, and Society in Medieval India.
S. Arsaratnam, Maritime India in the Seventeenth Century.
Muzaffar Alam, The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India.
Caherine Asher, Architecture of Mughal India.
Milo Beach, Mughal and Rajput Paintings.
Satish Chandra, Parties and Politics at the Mughal Court.
Andre Wink, Land and Sovereignty in India.
Harbans Mukhia, The Mughals of India.
J.F. Richards, Mughal Administration of Golconda.
Z.U. Malik, The Reign of Muhammad Shah.
 SEMESTER IV

Course Code: HISC 7

Course Title: HISTORY OF INDIA-VI (c.1750-1857)
Nature of the Course: MAJOR CORE
Credit: 4

Course Objective:The Paper tries to examine the transition of India into a Colonial
domain of the British and also show that this transition was not unilinear as the colonial
state had to face resistance from the natives.

Unit I. India in the mid-18th Century: society, economy, polity and culture
(a) Society, Economy, Polity, Debates
(b) Mercantilism, Foreign Trade and Early Forms of Exactions from
Bengal.
(c) Dynamics of Expansion, with special reference to Bengal, Mysore,
Western India, Awadh, Punjab, and Sindh.

Unit II. Colonial State and Ideology: emergence of the Company State
(a) Imperial ideologies: Orientalism, Utilitarianism, Evangelicalism and the question
of Race
(b) The colonial army: military culture and recruitment
(c) Law and education
(d) Evolution of law and colonial courts
(e) Indigenous and colonial education: institutions and medium of instruction

Unit III. Economy and society

(a) Land revenue systems and agrarian relations

(b) Commercialization, indebtedness and famines
(c) Forests and pastoral economy
(d)Rural society: Change and Continuity

Unit IV. Trade and Industry

(a) Deindustrialization
(b) Trade and Fiscal policy
(c) Drain of Wealth
(d) Growth of Modern Industry

Unit V. Popular resistance:

(a) The Uprising of 1857
(b) Peasant resistance to colonial rule: Santhal Uprising (1856); Indigo Rebellion (1860);
PabnaAgrarian Leagues (1873); Deccan Riots (1875)

Learning Outcome:
• The students will understand the transition of India into a Colonial domain of the
British
• The student will also learn that this transition was not unilinear as the colonial
state had to face resistance from the natives

ESSENTIAL READINGS:
Bandhopadhyay, Shekhar. From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India.
Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2004
Bayly, C. A. Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire. The New
CambridgeHistory of India. Volume II.1.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Habib, Irfan. Indian Economy UnderEarly British Rule 1757-1857: A People's
Historyof India 25.Delhi: Tulika, 2013.
Roy, Tirthankar. An Economic History of Early Modern India. London and New York:
Routledge, 2013.
Subramanian, Lakshmi. History of India, 1707-1857. Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2010.
SUGGESTED READINGS:
Alavi, Seema, ed. The Eighteenth Century in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press,
2007.
Alavi, Seema. The Sepoys and the Company: Tradition and Transition in Northern
India, 1770–1830. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Bayly, Susan. Caste Politics and Indian Society from the Eighteenth Century to the
Modern Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1999.
Bhattacharya, Sabyasachi, ed. Rethinking 1857. Delhi: Orient Longman, 2007.
Choudhary, Sushil. Prelude to Empire: Plassey Revolution of 1757. Delhi: Manohar,
2000.
Cohn, B. Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton
University Press, 1996.
Dirks, Nicholas B. Castes of Mind. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press,
2001.
Guha, Ranajit. Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India. New
Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1983.
Hardiman, David.Peasant Resistance in India, 1858-1914. New Delhi: Oxford
UniversityPress, 1993.
Jones, Kenneth. Socio-Religious Reform Movements in British India, New Cambridge
History of India, Vol.3.1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Kapila, Shruti, ed. An Intellectual History for India. Delhi:Cambridge University Press,
2010.
Ludden, David, ed. Agricultural Production and South Asian History.New Delhi:
Oxford University Press, 2005.
Metcalfe,Thomas. Ideologies of the Raj. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995
Mukherjee, Mithi. India in the Shadows of Empire: A Legal and Political History 1774-
1950. NewDelhi: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Mukherjee, Rudrangshu. Awadh in Revolt 1857-1858. New Delhi: Oxford
UniversityPress, 1984.
Parthasarathi,Prasannan.The Transition to a Colonial Economy:Weavers, Merchants
and Kings in South India, 1720-1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Parthasarthy,Prasannan.Why Europe Grew Rich and Asia Did Not: Global Economic
Divergence, 1600-1850. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Raj,K N.et. al, ed. Essays on the Commercializationof Indian Agriculture. New Delhi:
Oxford University Press, 1985.
Robb, Peter, ed. Dalit movements and themeanings of labour in India.New Delhi:
Oxford University Press, 1993.
Sarkar, Sumit, and Tanika Sarkar, eds. Women and Social Reform in India,Vol
I&II.Delhi: Permanent Black, 2007.
 Singha, Radhika. A Despotism of Law:Crime and Justice in Early Colonial India.New
Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998.
Stein, Burton, ed. The Making of Agrarian Policy in British India, 1770-1900. Delhi:
Oxford University Press, 1992.
Stern, Phillip. The Company-State: Corporate Sovereignty and the Early Modern
Foundations of the British Empire in India.New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Stokes, Eric. The Peasant Armed: The Indian Rebellion of 1857, edited by C.A. Bayly.
New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1986.
Vishwanathan, Gauri. Masks of Conquest: Literary Study and British Rule in India. New
York: Columbia University Press, 2015 reprint.
 SEMESTER IV

Course Code: HISC 8

Course Title: RISE OF THE MODERN WEST

Nature of the Course: MAJOR CORE

Credit: 4

Course Objective: This course aims to acquaint the students with the transition of Modern

Europe from feudalism to capitalism; the voyages to the new world, the Renaissance; the Religious
Reformation; the 16th century Economic Developments; the emergence of European state system.

Unit-I Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism:

a) Problems and Theories

b) Early colonial expansion: motives, voyages and explorations

c) Beginning of the era of colonization: mining and plantation, African slaves

Unit-II Renaissance:

a) Origin and its’ social roots

b) Humanism and its spread in Europe

c) Arts

Unit-III Origins, course and results of the European Reformation in the 16th Century

Unit-IV Economic developments of the sixteenth century:

a) Shift of economic balance from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic

b) Commercial Revolution

c) Price Revolution

Unit-V Emergence of European State System:

(a) Spain

(b) France

(c) England

(d) Russia
Learning Outcome:

• The students will understand the transition of Modern Europe from feudalism to capitalism; the

voyages to the new world, the Renaissance; the Religious Reformation; the 16th century Economic

Developments; the emergence of European state system.

ESSENTIAL READINGS:

Anderson, Perry, Lineages of the Absolutist State. London: Verso Edition, 1979.

Aston, T.H. and C.H.E Philpin, ed. The Brenner Debate, Agrarian Class Structure

and Economic Development in Pre-Industrial Europe. Cambridge/ Delhi:

Cambridge University Press, Ist South Asian Edition, 2005.

Cipolla, Carlo M., ed. Before the Industrial Revolution: European Society and Economy 1000-1700.
New York: WW Norton & Co., 1994.

Davis, Ralph. The Rise of the Atlantic Economies. London: Weidenfield and Nicholson, 1973.

Elton, G.R. Reformation Europe, 1517-1559. London: Fontana Press, 1990.

Elliot, J.H., Europe Divided, 1559-1598. London: Fontana Press, 1990.

 SEMESTER IV

Course Code: MINHS 4

Course Title: EARLY AND MEDIEVAL ASSAM

Nature of the Course: MINOR

Credit: 4

Course Objective: The objective of this paper is to give a general outline of the history of Assam

from the 13thcentury to the occupation of Assam by the English East India Company in the first quarter

of the 19thcentury. It aims to acquaint the students with major stages of developments in the political,

social and cultural history of the state during the most important formative period

Unit-I

(a) Sources: Archaeological, Numismatic, Epigraphy, Literary Sources

(b) State Formation in Early Assam

(c) Varmana, Salastambha and Pala dynasty

Unit-II

(a) Foundation of the Ahom State and its Consolidation

(b) State Formation in the Brahmaputra Valley-the Chutiya, Kachari,

the Koch States and Bara-Bhuyans

(c) Expansion of the Ahom Kingdom in the 16thcentury

(d) Political Developments in the 17thcentury, Ahom-Mughal Conflict

Unit-III

(a) Tribal Kingdoms and Chiefdoms in Lower Assam region-their relations with

the Ahom State

(b) Post-Saraighat Assam, the Court crisis and Political Developments

(c) Ascendancy of the Tungkhungia Dynasty: Ahom Rule at its zenith

Unit-IV

(a) Decline and Fall of the Ahom Kingdom, the Moamariya Rebellion

(b) The Burmese Invasions

(c) The English East India Company in Assam Politics- the Treaty of

Yandaboo 1826

Unit-V

(a) The Ahom System of Administration-the Paikand theKhel system,

(b) Ahom Policy towards the Neighbouring Tribes- the systems of Duar,

Posa, Khat and Pam

(c) Ahom Relations with the States of Manipur and Tripura

Learning Outcome:

• The students will understand the general outline of the history of Assam from the 13thcentury

to the occupation of Assam by the English East India Company in the first quarter of the

19thcentury.

• The students will learn the major stages of developments in the political, social and cultural

history of the state during the most important formative period.

ESSENTIAL READINGS:

Barpujari, H.K.: Assam in the Days of the Company

Baruah,S.L.: A Comprehensive History of Assam

Boruah, Nirode and Surajit Baruah: Asomar Itihas

Dutta, A.K. :Maniram Dewan and the Contemporary Assamese Society

Gait E.A. :A History of Assam

Nath. D.: Asam Buranji

SUGGESTED READINGS:

Acharyya, N.N.: The History of Medieval Assam

Baruah, S.L. :Last Days of Ahom Monarchy(1769-1826)

Baruah, S.L. and D. Nath :Chutiya Jatir Buranji

Bhuyan, N.C. :Baro Bhuyanr Chamu Buranji

Basu, N.K. :Assam in the Ahom Age(1228-1826)

Bhuyan, S.K. :Anglo-Assamese Relations(1771-1826)

Bhuyan, S.K.(ed.) :Asam Buranji

Bhuyan, S.K. :Tungkhungia Buranji, by Srinath Duara Barbarua

Devi,L. : Ahom-Tribal Relations

Dutta, A.K.: Maniram Dewan and the Contemporary Assamese Society

Gogoi, L. :A History of the System of Ahom Administration

Gohain, U.N.: Assam under the Ahoms.

 SEMESTER V

Course Code: HISC 9

Course Title: History of Modern Europe-(1789-1945)

Nature of the Course: MAJOR CORE

Credit: 4

Course Objective:

The objective of this Course is to acquaint the students with Liberal Democracy, Working Class

Movements and Socialism in the 19th and 20th Centuries; Crisis of Feudalism in Russia and

Experiments in Socialism; War and Crisis: c.1880-1939 and Post 1919 Political Development, Cultural

and Intellectual Developments since c. 1850.

Unit-I Liberal Democracy, Working Class Movements and Socialism in the

19th and 20th Centuries:

(a) The Struggle for Parliamentary Democracy and Civil Liberties in Britain.
(b) Forms of Protest during early Capitalism: Food Riots in France and England:
Luddites and Chartism.
(c) Early Socialist thought; Marxian Socialism in the First and the Second
International.
(d) German Social Democracy, Politics and Culture.
(e) Christian Democracy as a Political and Ideological Force in Western and
Central Europe

Unit-II The Crisis of Feudalism in Russia and Experiments in Socialism:

(a) Emancipation of Serfs.
(b) Russian Populism and Social Democracy.
(c) Revolutions of 1905; the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.
(d) Programme of Socialist Construction.
Unit-III Imperialism, War, and Crisis: c. 1880-1945:
(a) Theories and Mechanisms of Imperialism; Growth of Militarism; Power
Blocs and Alliances: Expansion of European Empires - War of 1914 - 1918
(b) The Post-1919 World Order: Economic Crises, the Great Depression and
Recovery.

Unit-IV Post 1919 Political Development:

(a) Fascism and Nazism.
(b) The Spanish Civil War.
(c) Origins and course of the Second World War.

Unit-V Cultural and Intellectual Developments since c. 1850:

(a) Changing Contexts: [i] Notions of Culture [ii] Creation of a New Public
Sphere and Mass Media [iii] Mass Education and Extension of Literacy.
(b) Creation of New Cultural Forms: from Romanticism to Abstract Art.
(c) Major Intellectual Trends: Darwin and Freud.
(d) Culture and the making of Ideologies: Constructions of Race, Class and
Gender, Ideologies of Empire.

Learning Outcome:

• The students will understand the Liberal Democracy, Working Class Movements and
Socialism in the 19th and 20th Centuries; Crisis of Feudalism in Russia and Experiments in Socialism;
War and Crisis: c.1880-1939 and Post 1919 Political Development, Cultural and Intellectual
Developments since c. 1850.
ESSENTIAL READINGS:
Gerald Brennan: The Spanish Labyrinth: An Account of the Social and Political Background of the
Civil War.
C.M. Cipolla: Fontana Economic History of Europe, Volume III: The Industrial Revolution.
Norman Davies, Europe.
J. Evans: The Foundations of a Modern State in 19th Century Europe.
T.S. Hamerow: Restoration, Revolution and Reaction: Economics and Politics in Germany [1815 -
1871].
E.J. Hobsbawn: The Age of Revolution.
Lynn Hunt: Politics, Culture and Class in the French Revolution.
James Joll, Europe Since 1870.
David Landes: Prometheus Unbound.
George Lefebvre, Coming of the French Revolution.
George Lichtheim : A Short History of Socialism.
Peter Mathias, First Industrial Revolution.
Alec Nove: An Economic History of the USSR.
Andrew Porter, European Imperialism, 18760 û 1914 (1994).
Anthony Wood, History of Europe, 1815 û 1960 (1983).
Stuart Woolf: History of Italy, 1700 û 1860
 SEMESTER V

Course Code: HISC 10

Course Title: HISTORY OF INDIA-VII (c.1857-1964)
Nature of the Course: MAJOR CORE
Credit: 4

Course Objective:

The paper will try to show the growth of Indian Nationalism and the National Movement for Freedom.

In this connection it will highlight the responses of the various sections of the people. It will also

describe the initial transition from the Colonial to the Post-Colonial era.

Unit-I. Cultures Changes and Social and Religious Reform Movements:

[a] The Advent of Printing and its Implications

[b] Reform and Revival: Brahmo Samaj, Prarthna Samaj, and Ramakrishna and
Vivekananda, Arya Samaj, Wahabi, Deoband, Aligarh Movement and Singh Sabha Movements.
[c] Debates around Gender
[d] Making of Religious and Linguistic Identities
[e] Caste: Sanskritising and anti-Brahminical Trends

Unit-II. Nationalism: Trends up to 1919:

[a] Political Ideology and Organizations, Formation of INC

[b] Moderates and Extremists.
[c] Swadeshi Movement
[d] Revolutionaries

Unit-III Gandhian Nationalism after 1919: Ideas and Movements:

[a] Mahatma Gandhi: His Perspectives and Methods

[b] (i) Impact of the First World War
(ii) Rowlett Act: Satyagraha and Jallianwala Bagh
(iii) Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience
(iv) Provincial Autonomy, Quit India and INA
[c] Left Wing Movements
[d] Princely India: States People Movements
[e] Nationalism and Culture: Literature and Art

Unit-IV. Nationalism and Social Groups: Interfaces:

[a] Peasants
[b] Tribal
[c] Labour
[d] Dalits
[e] Women
[f] Business groups

Unit-V Independence and Partition

[a] Communalism: Ideologies and Practices, RSS, Hindu Maha

Sabha,Muslim League.
[b] Negotiations for Independence, Partition and Partition Riots
[c] Making of the Constitution
[d] Integration of Princely States
[e] Land Reform and Beginnings of Planning

Unit-VI Post Independent India

[a] The Constitution: nationality and citizenship

[b] Linguistic re-organization
[c] Foreign policy and the making of non-alignment
[d] Indo-Pak relation
[e] Indo-China relation

Learning Outcome:

•The students will understand the growth of Indian Nationalism and the National Movement for
Freedom. In this connection it will highlight the responses of the various sections of the people. It
will also describe the initial transition from the Colonial to the Post-Colonial era.

ESSENTIAL READINGS:

Judith Brown, Gandhi’s rise to Power, 1915-22.

Paul Brass, The Politics of India Since Independence, OUP, 1990.
Bipan Chandra, Nationalism and Colonialism in Modern India, 1979.
Bipan Chandra, Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism in India.
Mohandas K. Gandhi, An Autobiography or The Story of My
Experiments with Truth.
Ranajit Guha, ed., A Subaltern Studies Reader.
Peter Hardy, Muslims of British India.
Mushirul Hasan, ed., India’s Partition, Oxford in India Readings.
D.A. Low, ed., Congress and the Raj.
John R. McLane, Indian Nationalism and the Early Congress.
Jawaharlal Nehru, An Autobiography.
Gyanendra Pandey, The Construction of Communalism in colonial
north India.
Sumit Sarkar, Modern India, 1885-1947.
Anil Seal, Emergence of Indian Nationalism.
Ram Lakhan Shukla (ed.), Adhunik Bharat ka Itihas.
Eleanor Zelliot, From Untouchable to Dalit: Essays on the Ambedkar
Movement.
SUGGESTED READINGS:

Judith Brown, Gandhi: (et al) A Prisoner of Hope.

Bipan Chandra, Communalism in Modern India, 2nd ed., 1987.
Bipan Chandra, K.N. Panikkar, Mridula Mukherjee, Sucheta Mahajan
and Aditya Mukherjee, India’s, Struggles for Independence.
A.R. Desai, Social Background of Indian Nationalism.
A.R. Desai, Peasant Struggles in India.
Francine Frankel, India’s Political Economy, 1947-77.
Ranajit Guha, and G.C. Spivak, eds. Select Subaltern Studies.
Charles Heimsath, Indian Nationalism and Hindu Social Reform.
F. Hutchins, Illusion of Permanence.
F. Hutchins, Spontaneous Revolution.
V.C. Joshi (ed.), Rammohan Roy and the process of Modernization
in India.
J.Krishnamurti, Women in Colonial India.
Guha, Ramachandra.India after Gandhi.London: Picador, 2007.
Chakrabarty, D., Rochona Majumdar, Andrew Sartori.From the Colonial to the Post-Colonial:
India and Pakistan in Transition. New Delhi:OUP, 2007.
Chaterjee, Partha ed. State and Politics in India. New Delhi: OUP, 1994.
Balakrishnan, P. Economic Growth and its Distribution in India. Hyderabad: Orient Black Swan,
2005.
Vinaik, Achin and Rajeev Bhargava.Understanding Contemporary India, Hyderabad: Orient
Black Swan, 2010.
Bilgrami, A.Democratic Culture, New Delhi: Routledge, 2011.
Kothari, Rajni.Caste in Indian Politics. New Delhi: Orient Longman, 1970.
Beteille, A.Democracy and Its Institutions. New Delhi: OUP, 2012.
Frankel, Francine R. India’s PoliticalEconomy. New Delhi: OUP, 2005.
Frankel, Francine R., ed.Transforming India: Social and Political Dynamics of Democracy.
Oxford: OUP, 2000.
King, Robert D.Nehru and the Language Politics of India. New Delhi: OUP, 1997.
Hasan, Zoya.Parties and Party Politics in India. New Delhi: OUP, 2004.
Dhawan, Rajeev, ed.Law and Society in Modern India. New Delhi: OUP, 1997.
Kochanek, Stanley.The Congress Party of India:the Dynamics of One Party Democracy.
Princeton: PUP, 1968.
Austin, Granville.Working a Democratic Constitution: the Indian Experience. New Delhi: OUP,
1999.
Kohli, Atul.TheState and Poverty in India:the Politics of Reform. Cambridge: CUP, 1987.
Jaffrelot, Christophe.The Hindu Nationalist Movement and Indian Politics 1925 to 1990s. New
Delhi: Penguin, 1999.
Kabir, Nasreen Munni.Bollywood : the Indian Cinema Story Channel 4 London, 2001.

Dreze, Jean and Amartya K. Sen.Indian Development:Selected RegionalPerspectives. New

Delhi: OUP, 1997.
 SEMESTER V

Course Code: HISC 11

Course Title: HISTORY OF EARLY AND MEDIEVAL ASSAM

Nature of the Course: MAJOR CORE

Credit: 4

Course Objective:

The objective of this paper is to give a general outline of the history of Assam from the 13thcentury to
the occupation of Assam by the English East India Company in the first quarter of the 19thcentury. It
aims to acquaint the students with major stages of developments in the political, social and cultural
history of the state during the most important formative period.

Unit-I

(a)Sources: Archaeological, Numismatic, Epigraphy, Literary Sources

(b)State Formation in Early Assam
(c)Varmana, Salastambha and Pala dynasty

Unit-II

(a) Foundation of the Ahom State and its Consolidation

(b) State Formation in the Brahmaputra Valley-the Chutiya, Kachari,
the Koch States and Bara-Bhuyans
(c) Expansion of the Ahom Kingdom in the 16thcentury
(d) Political Developments in the 17thcentury, Ahom-Mughal Conflict

Unit-III

(a)Tribal Kingdoms and Chiefdoms in Lower Assam region-their relations with

the Ahom State
(b)Post-Saraighat Assam, the Court crisis and Political Developments
(c)Ascendancy of the Tungkhungia Dynasty: Ahom Rule at its zenith
Unit-IV

(a)Decline and Fall of the Ahom Kingdom, the Moamariya Rebellion

(b)The Burmese Invasions
(c)The English East India Company in Assam Politics- the Treaty of
Yandaboo 1826.

Unit-V

(a)The Ahom System of Administration-the Paik and the Khel system,

(b)Ahom Policy towards the Neighbouring Tribes- the systems of Duar,
Posa, Khat and Pam
(c)Ahom Relations with the States of Manipur and Tripura

Learning Outcome:

•The students will understand the general outline of the history of Assam from the 13thcentury to the
occupation of Assam by the English East India Company in the first quarter of the 19thcentury.
•The students will learn the major stages of developments in the political, social and cultural history
of the state during the most important formative period.

ESSENTIAL READINGS:

Barpujari, H.K.: Assam in the Days of the Company

Baruah,S.L.: A Comprehensive History of Assam
Boruah, Nirode and Surajit Baruah: Asomar Itihas
Dutta, A.K. :Maniram Dewan and the Contemporary Assamese Society
Gait E.A. :A History of Assam
Nath. D.: Asam Buranji
SUGGESTED READINGS:
Acharyya, N.N.: The History of Medieval Assam
Baruah, S.L. :Last Days of Ahom Monarchy(1769-1826)
Baruah, S.L. and D. Nath :Chutiya Jatir Buranji
Bhuyan, N.C. :Baro Bhuyanr Chamu Buranji
Basu, N.K. :Assam in the Ahom Age(1228-1826)
Bhuyan, S.K. :Anglo-Assamese Relations(1771-1826)
Bhuyan, S.K.(ed.) :Asam Buranji
Bhuyan, S.K. :Tungkhungia Buranji, by Srinath Duara Barbarua
Devi,L. : Ahom-Tribal Relations
Dutta, A.K.: Maniram Dewan and the Contemporary Assamese Society
Gogoi, L. :A History of the System of Ahom Administration
Gohain, U.N.: Assam under the Ahoms.
 SEMESTER V

Course Code: HISC12

Course Title: HISTORIOGRAPHY
Nature of the Course: Major Core
Credit: 4

Course Objective: This course aims to introduce the learners to important issues related to historical
method including significant , historical trends and issues related with the historians craft.

Unit-I
(a) Concept: Meaning, Scope and Purpose of History, Varieties of History Causation in
History, Objectivity in History
(b) Primary and Secondary Sources, Internal and External Criticism,
(c) History and Allied Subjects: Archeology, Epigraphy and Numismatics
(d) History and Geography, History and Anthropology, History and Sociology, History and
Literature
Unit-II Evolution of Historiography
(a) Ancient Greece -Herodotus and Thucydides
(b) Ancient Rome -Livy and Tacitus
(c) Chinese Historiography- Summa Chien
(d) Historiography in Arab Countries- Ibn Khaldun and Yagubi
(e) Medieval European Historiography and Christian Chronicles
Unit-III Renaissance to Enlightenment Historiography:
(a) Renaissance Historiography
(b) Scientific Revolution and Impact on History Writing
(c) Enlightenment Historiography
Unit-IV Indian Historiography (Early and Medieval)
(a) Early Indian Notions of History
(b) Development of Historical Consciousness in Early India
(c) Development of History Writing in Sultanate and Mughal Period
(d) Regional Historical Traditions- Assam, Maharashtra, South India
Unit-V Development of History Writing in India in Modern Period
(a) Orientalist- Sir William Jones and Asiatic Society of Bengal
(b) Utilitarians- James Mill and other Colonial Historians
(c) Nationalist Historiography
(d) Marxist and Subaltern Historiography

Learning Outcome:

•The students will understand to important issues related to historical method including significant ,
historical trends and issues related with the historians craft.

ESSENTIAL READINGS:
Bajaj Satish : Recent Trends in Historiography, New Delhi, 1988
Barnes, H.E.: A History of History Writing, Oklahoma, 1937
Black Jeremy and Donald M. : Studying History, Macmillan, 1997
Cannon John (ed): The Historian at Work, London, 1980
Carr E.H.: What is History, Latest edition
Collingwood, R.G : The Idea of History, OUP, latest edition
Evans J. Richard: In Defense of History, London, 1997
Gare, Arran E : Postmodernism and Environmental Crisis, London, 1997
Gooch, G.P.: History and Historians of the Nineteenth Century, Reprint, 1952
Merquior J.G: Foucault, London, Second edition, 1991
Marwick, Arthur: Introduction to History, London, 1977
Sreedharan, E: : A Textbook of Historiography 500 BC to 2000
Stern Fritz : Varieties of History, New York
 SEMESTER V

Course Code: MINHS5

Course Title: MODERN ASSAM
Nature of the Course: MINOR
Credit: 4

Course Objective:
The course aims at acquainting the students with the socio-political and economic developments
in Assam during the Colonial regime. It also deals with the growth of Nationalism and the role of
the Provinces in the National Movement for independence.

Unit-I
(a) Political Condition in Assam on the Eve of the
British rule
(b) Establishment and Consolidation of the British rule: David Scott, Jenkins and Robertson
(c) Ahom Monarchy in Upper Assam (1833-38)
(d) Early phase of Revolts and Resistance to British rule.

Unit-II
(a) Annexation of Cachar
(b) The Khamti and the Singpho Rebellion
(c) The 1857 Revolt in Assam and its Aftermath
(d) Establishment of Chief Commissionership in Assam

Unit-III
th
(a) Land Revenue Measures and Peasant Uprisings in 19 century Assam
(b) Growth of National Consciousness: Assam Association and others
(c) Impact of Partition of Bengal and Swadeshi Movement in Assam
 Unit-IV
(a) Government of India Act, 1919 – Dyarchy on Trial in Assam
(b) Non Co-operation Movement and swarajist politics in Assam
(c) The Civil Disobedience Movement in Assam
(d) Student Movement in Assam
(e) Tribal League and Politics in Assam

Unit-V

(a) Trade Union and Allied Movements

(b) Migration, Line System and its Impact on Politics in Assam
(c) Quit India Movement in Assam and Impact of world war II
(d) Cabinet Mission Plan and the Grouping Controversy – the Sylhet Referendum

Learning Outcome:

•The students will understand the socio-political and economic developments in Assam during the
Colonial regime. It also deals with the growth of Nationalism and the role of the Provinces in the
National Movement for independence.
ESSENTIAL READINGS:

Barpujari, H. K: Assam in the Days of the Company.

Baruah, S. L. :A Comprehensive History of Assam.
Bhuyan, A.C : (ed) Political History of Assam, Vols. II & III.
Bhuyan, A.C : (ed) Nationalist Upsurge in Assam.
Bora .S: Student Revolution in Assam.
Chakravarti, B. C: British Relations with the Hill Tribes of Assam.
Dutta, Anuradha: :Assam in the Freedom Movement.
Guha, Amalendu: :Planters Raj to Swaraj, Freedom Struggle and Electoral
Politics in Assam.
Lahiri, R.M: Annexation of Assam