Ju History

Jadavpur University
Faculty of Arts
Department of History
SYLLABUS
Preface
The Department of History, Jadavpur University, was born in August 1956 because of the Special
Importance Attached to History by the National Council of Education. The necessity for
reconstructing the history of humankind with special reference to Indias glorious past was
highlighted by the National Council in keeping with the traditions of this organization. The
subsequent history of the Department shows that this centre of historical studies has played an
important role in many areas of historical knowledge and fundamental research.
As one of the best centres of historical studies in the country, the Department updates and revises
its syllabi at regular intervals. It was revised last in 2008 and is again being revised in 2011.The
syllabi that feature in this booklet have been updated recently in keeping with the guidelines
mentioned in the booklet circulated by the UGC on Model Curriculum. The course contents of a
number of papers at both the Undergraduate and Postgraduate levels have been restructured to
incorporate recent developments - political and economic - of many regions or countries as well as
the trends in recent historiography. To cite just a single instance, as part of this endeavour, the
Department now offers new special papers like Social History of Modern India and History of
Science and Technology at the Postgraduate level. The Department is the first in Eastern India and
among the few in the country, to introduce a full-scale specialization on the Social History of
Science and Technology. The Department recently qualified for SAP. The first phase, DRS is
based on research projects and publications on Environmental History of India. This programme is
the first of its kind in the country, and the Department has already published books and articles on
the subject. The Faculty has undertaken numerous projects under the DRS programme. It has
earned recognition by holding international conferences. The most recent conference was on
History of Water. The engagement with the History of Environment and the History of Science
and Technology is reflected in many of the courses taught at both the Undergraduate and the
Postgraduate levels. We have consciously introduced a gender component in most of our courses.
The overall versatility of the curriculum is visible in the courses offered to UG and PG students.
This year, we have introduced an entirely new course on the History of Colonialisms at the UG
level. This is the first of its kind in West Bengal, if not also in the country. The courses on the
Economic History of Modern India have been substantially revised to meet the needs of the time.
We have also included Medieval Indian History as optional general course at the PG level. In the
optional general courses on South-East Asia at the PG level, we have included Thailand and
Malaysia. This year we have also introduced two other new courses at the PG level one on
Military History as a special course and the second general course on the 20th century world, has
been remodelled as the Twentieth Century: The Age of Extremes?. The special course on Military
History too is a first of its kind.
The History Faculty has introduced various teaching innovations to generate enthusiasm among
the students. Holding of extension lectures and occasional lectures is an integral part of the
academic culture of the Department. On these occasions eminent scholars from different
Universities and Centres, are invited to address the students on various subjects. In the recent past,
the Department has invited scholars not only from India but also from the U. K., the Netherlands,
France, USA, Germany, Bangladesh, Australia and a host of other countries to deliver extension
lectures to our students. Other noteworthy teaching innovations include presentations by the
students in the class, field trips or educational tours, visits to museums and archives, gallery classes,
use of visual aids like slide and video shows. Students of postgraduate classes are encouraged to
write short dissertations and projects as well as book reviews. Students have produced excellent
project works fit for display to visiting teams of specialists and teachers. The students are equipped
not only to teach in schools and colleges, carry on research, join the administration but also shift
tracks to pursue careers in new age professions like media and management.
The Department is engaged in various research activities, many of them being interdisciplinary or
trans-disciplinary in nature. There is an ongoing collaboration with the School of Womens Studies
Department of History, Jadavpur University 2

(JU), School of Environmental Radiation and Archaeological Studies (JU), Centre for Refugee
Studies (JU) and a host of other Centres of advanced research located in India and different parts of
the world. Many members of the faculty have won prestigious awards like the Fulbright
Fellowship, the Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellowship, the Charles Wallace Fellowship etc. It
may be noted that a senior Professor of the Department has also been awarded the D.Litt. degree of
this University. Many Postgraduate students were recipients of Felix Scholarship for Postgraduate
and Doctoral studies in the U.K. The Department has been regularly publishing the Journal of
History, a refereed publication, which is now acclaimed as one of the standard publications by the
practitioners of our discipline. The Faculty is in constant touch with the students, who form the
nerve-centre of the departmental life. They make their presence felt in all academic and extra-
curricular activities of the Department and the campus. Teacher student contact is a specialty of
the Department. Most teachers are available for curricular and career consultations. Many of our
former students currently constitute the top brass in various professions including the civil service,
the media, politics, the academia, the civil rights movement, as well as the corporate world. The
Department has already initiated plans for preparing a contact base with the alumni, as they prove
to be valuable resource persons. Reunions are encouraged for this purpose.

Faculty Members
Professors
Field(s) of Specialization and Areas of

Names
Interest
Modern Indian Economic History/China
Amit Bhattacharyya Studies/ Social History of Science and
M.A., Ph. D. (J.U.), D.Litt. (J.U.) Technology/ Civil Rights and Peoples
Movements
Modern Indian Social and Political History/
Mahua Sarkar
Social History of Science and Technology/
M.A., Ph. D. (J.U.)
History of Environment/ American History
Modern Indian Social and Political History/
Ranjan Chakrabarti
Crime Studies/ Environmental History/
M.A., Ph. D. (J.U.)
American Studies
Anuradha Roy Intellectual and Cultural History of Modern

M.A. (Delhi University), Ph. D. (C.U.) India
Ancient Indian History and Archaeology/

Nupur Dasgupta
History of Science and Technology/South-East
M.A., Ph. D. (J.U.)
Asian Studies
Associate Professors/ Readers
Names Field(s) of Specialization and Areas of

Interest
Gender studies/ Urban studies/
Environmental studies/ Studies in Science and
Sudeshna Banerjee
Society/ Notions of Nationhood/ Cultural
M.A. (C.U.), Ph. D. (SOAS, London)
Politics of Globalization/ Cultural Politics of
Sports/ Social and Cultural History
Rup Kumar Barman Social History of Modern India/ Tribal
M.A., Ph. D. (N.B.U.) History/ Refugee Studies/ Human Rights
Subhasis Biswas
Environmental History/ History of USA
M.A., Ph. D. (J.U.)
Kaushik Roy Military History/ Insurgencies/ State
M.A., M. Phil., Ph. D. (J.N.U.) Building

Assistant Professors
Field(s) of Specialization and Areas of

Names
Interest
Communist Movement in India/ Political
Suchetana Chattopadhyay
History of Modern India/ Colonial
M.A. (J.U.), Ph. D. (SOAS, London)
Surveillance/ Urban History
Gender Studies in Bengal in the 19th and
Maroona Murmu
20th centuries/ Socio-cultural History of
M.A, M. Phil. (J.N.U.)
Bengal
18th century Bengal/ Medieval and Early
Tilottama Mukherjee
Modern India/ Early Modern Economic
M.A., M. Phil.(J.N.U.), Ph. D. (Cambridge)
History
Samir Das Caste, Gender and Subaltern Studies/
M.A. (N.B.U.) Politics of Colonial Bengal
Chandrani Banerjee (Mukherjee) Ancient Indian Social History/ Womens
M.A, Ph. D. (B.H.U.) History in Ancient India

B.A (Honours) Courses
Semester I
(1) Course 1 (Hist/UG/1.1): History of Early India (1500 BC. to 2nd Century AD.).
1. The Aryan question Recent perspectives. Debate on original homeland and Mother language.
2. Towards Chiefdoms and Kingdoms: The Rig Vedic and the later Vedic periods Society,
Economy, Culture, Polity transition from a pastoral to an agricultural society.
3. States and Cities of the Indo-Gangetic Plain: Second urbanisation, Sixteen Mahajanapadas and
the rise of Magadha.
4. Ganarajyas Lichhavis: Licchavi vs. Vajji, Origin, Government and Organization, Political
history, war with Magadha: different theories.
5. New religious sects: Buddhism, Jainism, Ajivikas and others: their historical background,
Buddha, his principles, class basis and nature of Buddhism. Comparison with Jainism.
6. Invasion of Alexander and the coming of the Mauryas.
7. Mauryan India military exploits of Chandragupta Maurya and Bindusara. Arthasastra State
and Maurya administration, Ashokan reforms. His Dhamma was Ashoka a pacifist. Decline of the
Mauryan Empire.
8. Slavery in ancient India.
9. Women in ancient India.
10. The period of the Sakas, Kushanas and the Satavahanas.
Suggested Readings:
1. D. D. Kosambi, The Culture and Civilization of Ancient India.

2. D. D. Kosambi, An introduction to the study of Indian history.
3. R. S. Sharma, Material Culture and social formation in Ancient India.
4. Romila Thapar, Early India from the origins to 1300.
5. R. S. Sharma, The Advent of the Aryans.
6. B. N. Mukherjee, The Kushanas.
7. J. P. Sharma, Republics in Ancient India.
8. D.N. Jha, Ancient India in historical outline.
9. R.S. Sharma, Looking for the Aryans.
10. Rajesh Kochhar, The Vedic people, their history and geography.
11. A Peoples History of India Series, a) Prehistory, b) The Vedic Age, c) The Age of Iron and
the Religious Revolution c.700-c.350 BC, d) Mauryan India.
12. Uma Chakraborty, Beyond the Kings and Brahmins of Ancient India.
13. Uma Chakraborty, Prachin Bharater Itihas Bratyajaner Chokhe.
14. Sukumari Bhattacharya, Ancient Indian Society.
15. Ranabir Chakraborty, Prachin Bharater Orthonoitik Itihaser Sandhane.
16. Rhys Davids, Buddhist India.
17. A.L. Basham, The Wonder that was India.
18. Sunil Chattopadhyay, Prachin Bharater Itihas (2 vols.).
19. H.C. Roy Choudhury, Political History of Ancient India.
20. Kumkum Roy, ed., Women in Early Indian Societies.
21. D.L. Chanana, Slavery in Ancient India.
22. Romila Thapar, Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas.
23. R. S. Sharma, Sudras in Ancient India.

(2) Course 2 (Hist/UG/1.2): Medieval India (1206-1526).
1. The Asiatic WorldIslamic World.

2. The Rise of the Turks and Their Advance towards India.
3. Foundation, Growth and Consolidation of the Delhi Sultanate.
4. Expansion and Internal Restructuring of the Delhi Sultanate Problems of a Centralized all-
India Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad bin Tughluq.
5. Despotism, Benevolence and the Problem of Disintegration with special reference to Firuz
Tughluq.
6. The Frontier: The Mongol Threat during the 13th/14th Centuries.
7. The Political Structure of the Delhi Sultanate: Legal, Political, and Social Character of the
State with reference to religion and politics Sultanate and Khilafat Ruling Class.
8. Social and Economic Life in North India between the 13th and 16th Centuries.
9. Rise of Regional States and a system of Balance of Power (a) The Deccan and the South
The Emergence of the Bahamani Kingdom and the Vijayanagar Empire State, Politics, Society,
Economy. (b) Bengal Politics, Economy, Demography, Society, and Culture.
10. Portuguese Control in the Indian Seas Its Economic and Political Impact.
11. Expansion of Islam and the Making of the Indo-Islamic World social and cultural
Interaction.
12. Religious syncretism (a) The Sufi Movement (b) The Bhakti Movement.
Suggested Readings:
1. A. C. Banerjee, New History of Medieval India.

2. Ramakanta Chakravarty, Vaishnavism in Bengal.
3. Satish Chandra, Medieval India from Sultanat to the Mughal.
4. Irfan Habib, Medieval India.
5. Muhammad Habib and K. A. Nizami, Comprehensive History of India, Vol. 5, Delhi
Sultanate.
6. Richard M. Eaton, Essays on Islam and Indian History.
7. Richard M. Eaton, The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier 1204-1760.
8. New Cambridge History Series Vijayanagar.

Semester II
(3) Course 3 (Hist/UG/2.1): Early History of India up to the Thirteenth Century A.D.
1. Looking at early India: Sources of Early Indian History. Writings on Early Indian History.
2. Civilisation and Natural Environment Genesis of Civilisation in South Asia. Copper
Bronze Age in India: Pre Harappan Cultures, Rise, and Decline of Mature Harappan Culture, Other
Chalcolithic Cultures.
3. Beginnings of the Iron Age: Painted Grey ware and Northern Black Polished Ware Cultures.
4. The Classical Age Patterns of polity, society, economy, and culture. The myth and the
reality of the Classical Age.
5. Early Medieval India Changed patterns of polity, society, economy, and culture.
6. The World of Thought and Ideas: Scientific and Rational Pursuits, Literature, Philosophy, Art
and Architecture, Concept and a Philosophy of Nature.
7. Early Medieval Phase and the trends in regional history Aspects of economy, society, and
culture.
8. Patterns in history and issues in historiography: State, Polity, Ownership, Legal prerogative,
Caste, Gender, Religious and Cultural expressions.
Books:
1. Bridget and Raymond Allchin, The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan, CUP, 1993.
2. D. K. Chakrabarti, India an Archaeological History, OUP, New Delhi, 1999.
3. Romila Thapar, A History of India, Penguin, vol. I., first pubd., 1966.
4. Romila Thapar, ed. Recent Perspectives of Early Indian History, Popular Prakashan, Bombay,
1995.
5. R. C. Majumdar, Ancient India, first ed. Varanasi, 1952.
6. B.N. Mukherjee, The Rise and Fall of the Kushana Empire, Calcutta, 1988.
7. ______., Economic Factors in Kushana History, Calcutta, 1970.
8. D. N. Jha, Ancient India an Introductory Outline, New Delhi, first Pubd., 1977.
9. R.C. Majumdar and A.S. Altekar, The Gupta Vakataka Age, First pubd., Lahore, 1946.
10. B.D. Chattopadhyaya, The Making of Early Medieval India, OUP, Calcutta, 1997.
11. D. Devahuti, Harsha: A Political Study, OUP, 1999.
12. E.H. Warmington, The Commerce between the Roman Empire and India, Cambridge, 1928.
13. K.A. Nilkanta Sastri, A History of South India, OUP, Oxford, 1975.
14. ______., The Colas, Madras, 1975.
15. Kenneth R. Hall, Trade and Statecraft in the Age of the Colas, New Delhi, 1980.
16. R. Champakalakshmi, Trade, Ideology, and Urbanization, OUP, New Delhi, first pubd.,
1996.
17. B.Stein, Peasant State, and Society in Medieval South India, OUP, Delhi, 1980.
18. R.C. Majumdar, ed., History of Bengal, vol, I., Ist ed., Dacca, 1943.
19. Nihar Ranjan Ray, Bangalir Itihas, Adiparba, Calcutta, 3rd ed., 2001.
20. Rakhaldas Majumdar, Banglar Itihas, Calcutta, 2nd ed., Calcutta, 1330 B.S.
21. Percy Brown, Indian Architecture, Bombay, 1956.
22. C. Sivaramamurti, Indian Painting, New Delhi, 1970.
23. R.S. Sharma, Indian Feudalism, Calcutta, 1965.
24. R.S. Sharma, Urban Decay, New Delhi, 1987.
25. A.S. Altekar, The Position of Women in Hindu Civilization: From Prehistoric Times to the
Present Day, Delhi, Paperback reprint, 1978.
26. Sukumari Bhattacharji, Women and Society in Ancient India, Basumati Corporation Limited,
1994.
27. D.P. Chattopadhyaya, ed., Studies in the history of Indian Philosophy, Calcutta, 1978.

(4) Course 4 (Hist/UG/2.2): Medieval India (16th to 18th Centuries).
1. The Formation of the Mughal Empire Struggle for empire in north India State, Polity and
changed patterns of Centralisation Babur to Sher Shah.
2. The Consolidation of the Mughal Empire State, Polity and diplomacy the early and later
phases Akbar and his nobles Mansabdari system and the army Towards integration The
Philosophy of Sulh-i-Kul political changes in the early 17th century Jahangir Shah Jahan: The
Deccan and South India.
3. Economy, Society and Culture Standard of living Pattern of Village life Peasants, Private
property and the Asiatic mode of production Agrarian economy Growth of Towns and non-
agricultural production Economy and society of the ruling classes the Zamindars, Jagirdars,
Mansabdars and the rural gentry organisation of trade and commerce Foreign trade and
European traders, Cultural and religious developments Architecture, painting, language, literature
and music religious ideas and beliefs problems of integration growth of regional identities
(Bengal).
4. Climax, disintegration, regional-identities and popular movements Problems of succession
and court politics in the reign of Aurangzeb religion as a factor of disintegration Problems of
the core and the peripheries the Afghans, Sikhs Rajputs, Marathas and Eastern India (in detail)
Debates and historiography of the decline of the Central order.
Books:
A. C. Banerjee, New History of Medieval India.

Tapan Raychaudhuri and Irfan Habib, ed., The Cambridge Economic History of India, vol. I
Gautam Bhadra, Mughal Juge Krishi Arthaniti O Krishak Bidroha.
Irfan Habib, ed., Akbar and his India.
Muzaffar Alam, ed., The Mughal State.
R. Eaton, Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier.
(5) Course 5 (Hist/UG/2.3): Medieval Europe: Institutions.
Empire
Papacy
Monasticism
Crusades
Pirenne Thesis
Feudalism
Rise of Cities
Rise of Universities and 12th Century Renaissance
Bibliography:
R. Bartlett, The Making of Europe. Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change 950-1350,
(London, 1993).
Marc Bloch, Feudal Society, 2nd edn, Vol. I & II, (London & Henley, 1962).
R.H.C. Davis, History of Medieval Europe, (London, 1968).
Georges Duby, The Three Orders Feudal Society Imagined (University of Chicago Press,
1980).
Steven A. Epstein, An Economic and Social History of Later Medieval Europe, 1000-1500,
(Cambridge, 2009).

J. Le Goff, ed., The Medieval World, (London, 1990).
John Hatcher, and Mark Bailey, Modelling the Middle Ages. The History and Theory of
Englands Economic Development, (Oxford, 2001).
David Herlihy, Medieval Households, (Oxford, 1985).
Edwin S. Hunt, and James M. Murray, A History of Business in Medieval Europe, 1200-1550,
(Cambridge, 1999).
M. Keen, Chivalry (New Haven & London, 1984).
Maurice Keen, The History of Medieval Europe (Penguin History, 1991).
H. Lawrence, Medieval Monasticism (London, 1984).
Angus Mackay, and David Ditchburn, eds., Atlas of Medieval Europe, (New York, 1997).
H. Pirenne, Mahommed and Charlemagne, (London, 1939).
H. Pirenne, Medieval Cities. Their Origins and the Revival of Trade, (Princeton, 1925).
Julia Smith, Europe After Rome. A New Cultural History, 500-1000 (Oxford, 2005).
The Cambridge Economic History of Europe, Vols. I, II, III (Cambridge).
The New Cambridge Medieval History, Vol. I-VII, (Cambridge).
Christopher Tyerman, The Crusades. A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2004).

Semester III
(6) Course 6 (Hist/UG/3.1): History of Modern India (1757-1885).
1. Bengal, 1757-1765.
2. British Relations with Oudh, Hyderabad, Mysore, Marathas and the Sikhs.
3. British Relations with Burma.
4. Changes in British colonial administration.
5. a) English Education; b) The Bengal Renaissance: Characteristics and Debate.
6. Revolt of 1857.
7. Construction of Railways and Roads.
8. Changes in the agrarian structure and peasant revolts.
9. The drain theory Dadabhai Naoroji, Ranade, R.C.Dutt; rise of national consciousness.
Suggested Readings:
Ambirajan, S., Classical Political Economy and British Policy in India.

Banerjee A.C., The Agrarian System of Bengal, Vols. I and II.
_______, The Constitutional History of India, Vol. I.
Banerjee A.C., and D.K. Ghosh, (eds.), A Comprehensive History of India, Vol. IX.
Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar, A History of Modern India.
Bayly, C.A., Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire.
Bhattacharyya, D., A Concise History of Indian Economy.
Bhattacharyya, S., (ed.), Essays in Modern Indian Economic History.
Chatterjee, A., Representations of India:1740-1840.
Kumar, Dharma and Meghnad Desai, (eds.), Cambridge Economic History India, Vol. II.
Sinha, N. K., (ed.), The History of Bengal, Vol. III.
Jones, Kenneth, New Cambridge History of India: Social and Religious Reforms Movement.
(7) Course 7 (Hist/UG/3.2): Europe Transformed 1350 onwards to the 17th century.
1. Background to the 14th century: Crusades, Commercial Revolution, HansaChannelBaltic

Trade, Debate on primacy of agriculture on trade.
2. 14th century crisis.
3. Changes in Agriculture: Manorial system, 3field system, urban changes, Black Death,
Break-up of the manor, Discovery of America and the rise in prices, Development in trade,
Enclosure and Rack-renting, 4-course system.
4. Changes in Industry: Guild System, Towns, Markets, Effect of the Plague, Wool vs. Silk,
Change in the industrial map of Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries, Debate on 17th century
crisis, Putting-out System.
5. Changes in the pattern of Trade: Trade before the advent of Mercantilism, mercantilism:
English, French, Trade zones in Europe; Mediterranean, Central Europe, Baltic, Atlantic and
Transoceanic.
6. The Renaissance: Italy as the home of Renaissance, Florence and Republican politics, Italian
Humanism, Retrieval of the past and history, Concept of Man, Concept of Time, Visual Arts,
Music, Assessment of the Renaissance, Diffusion outside Italy.
7. Early Modern State.
8. Civil War in England and its significance: Was it a bourgeois revolution?
9. Discoveries and the Rise of Colonial Empire: Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, England, France.
10. Europe and its Others: Role of geography in discoveries of the non-European world.

Books:
1. Leo Huberman, Mans Worldly Goods.

2. C. M. Cipolla, (ed.), The Fontana Economic History of Europe, Vols. I & II.
3. H.A. Miskimin, The Economy of Early Renaissance Europe 1300-1460.
4. H.A. Miskimin, The Economy of Later Renaissance Europe 1460-1600.
5. A.L. Morton, A Peoples History of England.
6. F. Braudel, Capitalism and Material Life.
7. F. Braudel, Capitalism and Civilisation. 3 vols.
8. D. Nicholas, The Transformation of Europe 1400-1700.
9. R. Mukherjee, Europe Transformed 1350-1789.
10. Marc Bloch, The Feudal Society, 2 vols.
11. L. Jardine, Worldly Goods: A New History of the Renaissance.
12. Christopher Hill, The Century of Revolution.
13. Minakshi Phookan, Transformation of Europe.
(8) Course 8 (Hist/UG/3.3): History of Modern India (1885-1950).
1. British Policy in India Administrative and Constitutional Changes the administrative and
political structures.
2. Economic impact colonialism Agriculture Industry Trade Railways Finance
Peasantry Bourgeoisie Zamindars Working Class.
3. Growth of National Consciousness Politics of Association The Birth of Congress the
Extremists the Swadeshi Movement.
4. Gandhi and the National Movement.
5. Politics of Communalism The Birth of India and Pakistan.
Suggested Readings:
1. Sumit Sarkar, Modern India.

2. Sumit Sarkar, Popular movements and middle class leadership in late Colonial India.
3. Judith Brown, Modern India.
4. Amales Tripathi, Barun De, Bipan Chandra, Freedom Struggle.
5. Percival Spear, Penguin History of India.
6. A. C. Banerjee, New History of Modern India.
7. Bipan Chandra, India after Independence.
8. S. Bose and A. Jalal, Modern South Asia.
9. Peter Robb, A History of Modern India.
10. Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, From Plassey to Partition.

Semester IV
(9) Course 9 (Hist/UG/4.1): The Transformation of Europe: Mind, Body and Society 1350-
1650.
The Problem of identifying the site of the transformation:

a) Agricultural production/petty commodity production/exchange relations?
b) The cities/countryside?
c) The free peasants/free burghers world?
d) The urban commune/village community?
The problem of characterising the emerging state formation of the period of transformation: a
derivative/extension of the feudal polity or reflective of bourgeois class interests?
The problem of ascertaining the relation between the transformation and the military revolution.
e) Military revolution as a product of declining feudalism or of factors exogenous to
feudalism?
f) The validity of the Gunpowder thesis.
The Advent of Printing A Revolution?
a) Strong continuities with pre-print culture or a clean sweep of pre-existing traditions of
information and dissemination?
b) Print Capitalism? an empirical verification in the context of early modern Europe.
Women and gender: Survival of some of the pre-existing structures of subordination despite the
transformation?
a) Continuity and change in the status and condition of women and womens work.
b) Continuity and change in the politics of gender, what happens to pre-existing notions of
masculinity classical of feudal notions of the hero?
The Reformation: Why so much preoccupation with faith and piety at the time of transformation
to capitalism?
a) genesis of the Reformation and socio-economic transformation.
b) The various Reformations: why so many Reformations in transforming Europe?
c) bridge-period: paradoxical emergence of modern science through magic, alchemy.
d) The Counter-Reformation: Does transformation imply a total conversion to the
Protestant Ethic? The survival of Catholicism.
In the recesses of the transformation to capitalism and modernity:
a) the 15th 16th century witch-hunt.
b) aspects of popular culture that defy classification as bourgeois.
The Transformation and Political Thought:
a) The complex interrelationship between the derivatives of feudal concepts, medieval
Christian thought and a nascent bourgeois consciousness.
A review of the transition debates(s).
a) the debate within Marxist historiography up to the 1970s.
b) the debate between Marxist and Weberian perspectives.
c) towards more eclectic Marxist interpretations.
d) the questioning of either/or positions.
The complex history of the emergence of modern Western Science.
a) The Scientific Revolution: A clean sweep of pre-existing knowledge and investigative
practices?
On the Margins of the Transformation: The lingering presence the pre-existing marginal groups
but in a transformed condition? the lepers, the poor, the prostitutes, the vagabonds.
Popular Resistance during Transformation:
a) the German Peasant War.
b) the Radical Reformations.

Suggested Readings:
1. E. Le Roy Ladurie, The French Peasantry 1450-1660.

2. Jan De Vries, European Urbanization, 1500-1800.
3. B. Gottlieb, The Family in the Western World from the Black Death to the Industrial Age.
4. Christopher R. Friedrichs, The Early Modern City 1450-1750.
5. Robert Jutte, Poverty and Deviance in Early Modern Europe.
6. Thomas Robisheux, Rural Society and the Search or Order in Early Modern Europe.
7. Natalie Zemon Davis, Society and Culture in Early Modern France.
8. Merry E. Wiesner, Women and Gender in Early Modern Europe.
9. Euan Cameron, The European Reformation.
10. Elizabeth Eisenstein, The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe.
11. Andrew Pettegree, (ed.), The Early Reformation in Europe.
12. J.R. Hale, War and Society in Renaissance Europe.
13. Brian P. Levak, The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe.
14. R. Briggs, Witches and Neighbours: The Social and Cultural Context of European
Witchcraft.
15. J. Henry, The Scientific Revolution and the Origins of Modern Science.
16. Maurice Dobb, Studies in the Development of Capitalism.
17. Rodney Hilton, (ed.), The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism.
18. R. J. Hilton, The Transition from Feudalism To Capitalism.
19. G. Parker, The Military Revolution.
(10) Course 10 (Hist/UG/4.2): Comparative Colonialisms in Latin America, Sub-Saharan

Africa, North Africa, and West Asia.
The aim of this course is to treat the entangled histories of colonialism and imperialism in Latin
America, Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, and West Asia from regional as well as comparative
perspectives.
A. Sub-Saharan Africa: colonialism, imperialism, liberation struggles, pan-Africanism, and

neo-colonialism.
This course-segment offers a survey of the political, social, and economic changes in Sub-
Saharan Africa under the aegis of colonialism and imperialism.
Topics
1. A Brief Survey of Pre-Colonial Africa
2. Colonial Exploration and the Conquest of Africa
3. Colonial Empires in Africa: Portugal, Holland, Britain, France, Belgium
4. Neo-colonialism and its Discontents
Bibliography:
Christopher Ehret, The Civilizations of Africa: A History to 1800, James Currey Publishers, 2002.
Adam Hochschild, King Leopolds Ghost, Mariner Books, 1999.
Thomas Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa, Avon Books, 1992.
Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Howard University Press, 1982.
James Walvin, Black Ivory: Slavery in the British Empire, Blackwell, 2001.
Marcus Rediker, The Slave Ship: A Human History, John Murray, 2008.
Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Mask, Grove Press, 2008.
Frantz Fanon, Wretched of the Earth, Grove Press, 2004.
Frantz Fanon, Studies in a Dying Colonialism, Monthly Review Press, 1965.
John Iliffe, Africans: The History of a Continent, Cambridge University Press, 2007.

P. D. Curtin, S. Feierman, L. Thompson and J. Vansina, African History, Longman, 1978.
R. Oliver and A. Atmore, Africa since 1800, Cambridge University Press, 1986.
Ralph Austen, African Economic History, Heinemann, 1987.
A. G. Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa, Longman, 1977.
Leroy Vail, (ed.), The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa, University of California Press,
1991.
John Springhall, Decolonization since 1945: The Collapse of European overseas empires,
Palgrave Macmillan, 2001.
Frederick Cooper, Africa since 1940: the past of the present, Cambridge University Press, 2002.
David Anderson, Histories of the Hanged: The Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire, W.W.
Norton, 2005.
Wilfred G. Burchett, Southern Africa stands up: The revolutions in Angola, Mozambique,
Rhodesia, Namibia, and South Africa, Urizen Books, 1978.
John Saul and Giovanni Arrighi, Essays on the Political Economy of Africa, Monthly Review
Press, 1973.
John Saul, The State and Revolution in Eastern Africa: Essays, Monthly Review Press, 1979.
B. Latin America: Five Centuries of Plunder and Resistance.
This course-segment deals with the history of Latin America from the Spanish conquests to the
present.
Topics
1. A brief survey of Pre-Colonial Latin American History
2. Spanish and Portuguese Conquest of Central and South America
3. The genocide of the indigenous population and creation of a colonial slavery-based society
4. Transformation into an informal US colonial zone in the Nineteenth Century
Bibliography:
Eduardo Galeano, Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent,
Scribe Publications, 2009.
Lyle N. McAlister, Spain and Portugal in the New World, 1492-1700, Volume 3, University of
Minnesota Press, 1984.
James Lockhart, Stuart B. Schwartz, Early Latin America: a history of colonial Spanish America
and Brazil, Volume 46 of Cambridge Latin American studies, Cambridge University Press, 1983.
Leslie Bethel, (ed.), The Cambridge history of Latin America, Volumes 1-12, Cambridge
University Press.
Teresa A. Meade, A History of Modern Latin America: 1800 to the Present, Wiley-Blackwell,
2007.
Tzvetan Todorov, The conquest of America: the question of the Other, University of Oklahoma
Press, 1999.
Amiya Kumar Bagchi, The political economy of underdevelopment, Cambridge University Press,
1988.
Amiya Kumar Bagchi, Perilous passage: mankind and the global ascendancy of capital,
Rowman & Littlefield/Oxford University Press, 2005.
Mike Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nio famines and the making of the third world,
Verso, 2001.
Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman, Political economy of human rights, Volume 1, South
End Press, 1979.
Noam Chomsky, Turning the Tide: US and Latin America, Black Rose Books, 1987.
Noam Chomsky, Year 501: the Conquest Continues, South End Press, 1993.
C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins, Allison and Busby Limited, 1980.
Robert Ryal Miller, Mexico: A History, University of Oklahoma Press, 1989.
Adolfo Gilly, The Mexican Revolution, Verso, 1983.

Leslie Bethel, Cuba: a short history, Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Colin M. MacLachlan, A history of modern Brazil: the past against the future, Rowman &
Littlefield, 2003.
Daniel K. Lewis, The history of Argentina, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.
Christopher M. White, The History of El Salvador, Greenwood Press, 2008.
Irene Marsha Silverblatt, Modern Inquisitions: Peru and the colonial origins of the civilized
world, Duke University Press, 2004.
Lesley Gill, The School of the Americas: military training and political violence in the Americas,
Duke University Press, 2004.
Tariq Ali, Pirates of the Caribbean: Axis of Hope, Leftword, 2008.
Teo Balve and Vijay Prashad, Dispatches from Latin America Experimenting Against
Neoliberalism, LeftWord Books, 2008.
C. Colonialism and Imperialism in West Asia and North Africa.
This course-segment deals with the formal and informal colonisation of West Asia and North
Africa by the Western powers, namely Britain and France, and later, the United States of America.
The focus will be on the nineteenth and the twentieth centuries, and cover the period of
decolonisation and beyond.
Topics
1. A brief survey of the Arab World and Persia before Western interventions: the decline of the
Ottoman Empire and its implications
2. Western Powers in West Asia and North Africa during the Nineteenth Century
3. British Imperialism in the inter-war years
4. French Imperialism in the inter-war years
5. Oil Resources and the United States
6. The Re-colonization of Iraq
Select Bibliography:
General:
Rashid Khalidi, Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the
Middle East, Beacon Press, 2005.
John Newsinger, The Blood Never Dried: A People's History of the British Empire, Bookmarks,
2006.
Andrew Porter, (ed.), The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume III: The Nineteenth
Century, OUP , 2001.
Judith Brown, (ed.), The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume IV: The Twentieth
Century, OUP, 2001.
Noam Chomsky, Interventions, City Lights Books, 2007.
Ilan Pappe, The Modern Middle East, Routledge, 2005.
Vijay Prashad, The darker nations: a biography of the short-lived Third World, LeftWord Books,
2007.
Leo Panitch and Colin Leys, (eds.) Global Flashpoints: Reactions to Imperialism and
Neoliberalism, Socialist Register, 2008.
Mike Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nio famines and the making of the third world,
Verso, 2001.
Gilbert Achcar, Eastern cauldron: Islam, Afghanistan and Palestine in the mirror of Marxism,
Pluto Press, 2004.
Zachary Lockman, Contending Visions of the Middle East: The History and Politics of
Orientalism, Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Rashid Khalidi, The origins of Arab nationalism, Columbia University Press, 1993.

James Jankowski and Israel Gershoni, Rethinking Nationalism in the Arab Middle East, Columbia
University Press, 1997.
Joel Beinin, Workers and Peasants in the Modern Middle East, Cambridge University Press,
2001.
Joel Beinin and Joe Stork, Political Islam: essays from Middle East Report, I.B.Tauris, 1997.
Youssef M. Choueiri, Arab nationalism: a history: nation and state in the Arab world, Blackwell,
2000.
K. Jeffery, The British Army and the Crisis of Empire 1918-1939, Manchester University Press,
1984.
Martin Thomas, The French Empire Between The Wars: Imperialism, Politics And Society,
Manchester University Press, 2005.
Martin Thomas, Empires of intelligence: security services and colonial disorder after 1914,
University of California Press, 2008.
Martin Thomas, Bob Moore, L. J. Butler, Crises of Empire: Decolonization and Europe's
Imperial Nation States, 1918-1975, Oxford University Press, 2008.
Edward Said, Orientalism, Penguin, 2003.
Edward Said, Culture and Imperialism, Vintage, 2005.
Edward Said, Covering Islam: how the media and the experts determine how we see the rest of
the world, Vintage Books, 1997.
Aijaz Ahmad, Orientalism and After, in, In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures, OUP India,
1994.
Aijaz Ahmad, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Imperialism of our times, LeftWord Books, 2004.
Country-based Studies:
Zachary Lockman and Joel Beinin, Workers on the Nile: Nationalism, Communism, Islam, and
the Egyptian Working Class, 1882-1954, Princeton University Press, 1987.
Zachary Lockman, Comrades and Enemies: Arab and Jewish Workers in Palestine, 1906-1948,
University of California Press, 1996.
Joel Beinin and Rebecca L. Stein, The Struggle for Sovereignty: Palestine and Israel, 1993-2005,
Stanford University Press, 2006.
Edward Said, The Question of Palestine, Taylor & Francis, 1980.
Rashid Khalidi, The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood, Oneworld
Publications, 2008.
Ilan Pappe, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Oneworld, 2006.
Ilan Pappe, A History of Modern Palestine, One Land, Two Peoples, Cambridge University Press,
2003.
Nur Masalha, A land without a people: Israel, transfer and the Palestinians, 1949-96, Faber and
Faber, 1997.
Mary C. Wilson, A History of Modern Syria, Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Fawwaz Tarabulsi, A history of modern Lebanon, Pluto, 2007.
John Douglas Ruedy, Modern Algeria: the origins and development of a nation, Indiana
Charles Robert Ageron, Modern Algeria: a history from 1830 to the present, C. Hurst & Co.
Publishers, 1991.
Nikshoy C. Chatterji, Muddle of the Middle East, Vol. 1, Abhinav Publications, 1973.
Albert Habib Hourani, A History of the Arab peoples, Harvard University Press, 2002.
Charles Andr Julien, History of North Africa: Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, London, 1970.
C. R. Pennel, Morocco since 1830: A history, New York University Press, 2000.
Lisa Anderson, The state and social transformation in Tunisia and Libya, Princeton University
Press, 1986.
Kenneth J. Perkins, A History of modern Tunisia, Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Ervand Abrahamian, A History of modern Iran, Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Ervand Abrahamian, Iran between Two Revolutions, Princeton University Press, 1982.
Charles Tripp, A History of Iraq, Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Paul Dresch, A History of modern Yemen, Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Semester V
(11) Course 11 (Hist/UG/5.1): Pillars of Civilizations: Egypt and Mesopotamia.
1. Sources problems of writing a non-traditional history of ancient civilizations

2. Egypt in its geographical and historical setting
3. Different peoples and different phases of Mesopotamian civilization state-formation
kingship, bureaucracy, law
4. Economy and society
5. Farming and Farmers in Egypt
6. Urbanization in Mesopotamia
7. Foreign relations through trade contacts, diplomacy and war
8. Invention of writing
9. Religions and myths
10. Major achievements in arts and sciences
Reading List:
Egypt
1. Lionel Casson, Ancient Egypt (In the series titled Great Ages of Man), Time Life
International (Nederland), N. V., 1969.
2. Ian Shaw, (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, 2000.
3. B. G. Trigger, B. J. Kemp, D. OConnor and A. B. Lloyd, Ancient Egypt: A social History,
Cambridge University Press, 1983.
4. Barry J. Kemp, Ancient Egypt: anatomy of a Civilization, Routledge, 1989.
5. Seragio Donadoni, (ed.), The Egyptians, University of Chicago Press, London, 1997.
Mesopotamia
1. Samuel Noah Kramer, Cradle of Civilization (In the series titled Great Ages of Man), Time-
Life International (Nederland), N. V., 1969.
2. Georges Roux, Ancient Iraq, Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1964.
3. Gwendolyn Leick, Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City, London, 2001.
4. Karen Armstrong, A Short History of Myth, Penguin Books, 2005.
(12) Course 12 (Hist/UG/5.2): Modern Europe (1776-1848).
1. The Absolutist state versus the Military-Fiscal State

2. Balance of Power in Europe
3. The Enlightenment
4. The American War of Independence
5. The Industrial Revolution
6. The French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte
7. The impact of the Industrial Revolution class, gender, politics, environment.
8. Liberalism and Nationalism 1815-1848
9. 1848 the Year of Revolutions
References:
1. Perry Anderson, Lineages of the Absolutist State.

2. Robert Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre.
3. ______., The Literary underground of the Old Regime.

4. William Doyle, The Oxford history of the French Revolution.
5. David Andress, French Society in Revolution.
6. H.B. Parkes, United States.
7. George Lefebvre, The Coming of the French Revolution.
8. George Lefebvre, The French Revolution, 2 vols.
9. Francois Furet, The French Revolution.
10. P. M. Jones, The Peasantry in the French Revolution.
11. G. Rude, Revolutionary Europe 1783-1815.
12. G. Rude, The Crowd in the French Revolution.
13. Lynn Hunt, Politics, Culture and Class in the French Revolution.
14. Daniel Guerin, Class Struggles in the First Republic.
15. Albert Soboul, The Parisian Sans-culottes.
16. Dominique Godineau, The Women of Paris and their French Revolution.
17. Eric Hobsbawm, Industry and Empire.
18. Phyllis Deane, The First Industrial Revolution.
19. C.M. Cipolla, The Industrial Revolution.
20. F.W. Carr, A History of the USA.
21. John Bellamy Foster, The Vulnerable Planet.
22. Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution.
23. Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Capital.
24. P. B. Nye, J. E Morpurgo, The Birth of the U. S.
(13) Course 13 (Hist/UG/5.3): Modern Europe 1871-1919.
This course surveys the realignment of Europe after the emergence of the new nation states of
Germany and Italy. It examines domestic political developments of the major European states,
international diplomacy, various facets of European imperialism, national self-determination
movements in central and eastern Europe, and major cultural and intellectual developments. It ends
with a detailed discussion of the First World War and its impact on European society and politics.
This course offers a perspective on the political, economic, social and cultural changes, which
swept over Europe between 1871 and 1919. From German Unification to the Treaty of Versailles,
from the Paris Commune to the Bolshevik Revolution, from late absolutist monarchies to the
devastations of the First World War to fragile liberal democracies, the period encases momentous
changes, which changed the face of Europe. How and why did these developments take place? How
can these changes be related to international history and the colonial world? What were the many
other micro-level changes taking place in the realm of society and culture? How did all these
changes, taken together, mark a departure from the past? What were their implications for the
future? These are some of issues that will be explored in this course as we study this extraordinarily
absorbing period of European history.
Topics
The Paris Commune of 1871
The Early Third Republic in France 1871-1919
The Problems of Italian and German Unification
State, Society and Political Culture in Germany 1871-1919
Culture and Society in Europe 1871-1914
Origins of the First World War and Europe during the War Years
Imperial Cities: London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Prague and St. Petersburg
Revolutions and Peace Treaties: from the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 to the Versailles
Settlements of 1919
Bibliography:

Philippe Bernard and Henri Dubief, The Decline of the Third Republic, 1914-1938.
Volker Berghahn, Modern Germany: Society, Economy and Politics in the 20th Century.
Christopher Butler, Early Modernism: Literature, Music and Painting in Europe, 1900-1916.
E. H. Carr, The Bolshevik Revolution, Vols. I and II.
Arjun Dev and Indira Arjun Dev, History of the World.
Felix Driver and David Gilbert, (eds.), Imperial Cities.
Terry Eagleton, The Ideology of the Aesthetic.
Geoff Eley and David Blackbourn, The Peculiarities of German History.
William Fortescue, The Third Republic in France, 1870-1940: conflicts and continuities.
Peter Gay, Freud, Jews and Other Germans.
Arnold Hauser, The Social History of Art, Vol. 4.
Christopher Hill, Lenin and the Russian Revolution.
E. J. Hobsbawm, The Age of Capital, 1848-1875.
E. J. Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire, 1875-1914.
E. J. Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes, 1914-1991.
V. I. Lenin, Imperialism the Highest Stage of Capitalism.
Lissagaray, History of the Commune of 1871.
Karl Marx, The Civil War in France.
Jean-Marie Mayeur, Madeleine Rebrioux, The Third Republic from its Origins to the Great War,
1871-1914.
A.L. Morton, A Peoples History of England.
Joachim Scholar, Night in the Big City.
Karl E. Schorske, Fin de Siecle Vienna, Politics and Culture.
Gerhard Schulz, Revolutions and peace treaties, 1917-1920.
Hew Strachan, The Oxford illustrated history of the First World War.
(14) Course 14 (Hist/UG/5.4): Medieval Bengal from the 13th to the 18th Centuries: Politics,
Economy, Society and Culture.
Bengal under the Sultans and Nawabs: Rise of a regional political identity.
Economy Rural Economy, Trade, Industry and Urban Economy.
Society: Caste, Customs, Religion, Ethnicity.
Culture: Cultural synthesis, Art, Literature and Architecture.
Piracy and Social Banditry.
Slavery.
Coming of the Europeans: Mercantilism and the World of Bengal Sailors.
Suggested Readings:
Muhammad Mohar Ali, History of the Muslims in Bengal.

H. Blochman, Contribution to the Geography and History of Bengal.
Bhaskar Chattopadhyay, (ed.), Culture of Bengal through the Ages: Some Aspects.
S. K. Dey, History of Bengali Literature.
Richard M. Eaton, The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760.
R. C. Majumdar, History of Medieval Bengal.
Rila Mukherjee, Strange Riches: Bengal in the Mercantile Map of South Asia.
Jadunath Sarkar, History of Bengal.
Jagadish Narayan Sarkar, Islam in Bengal.
M. R. Tarafdar, Husain Shahi Bengal, 1494-1538 AD: A Socio-Political Study.
Ratnabali Chattapadhyay and Aniruddha Roy, Madhyajugar Bangla: Samaj O Sanskriti.
Nihar Ranjan Roy, Bangalir Itihas, Vols. 2.
Dinesh Chandra Sen, Brihath Banga.
Sushil Chaudhury, From Prosperity to Decline.

Sushil Chaudhury and Michel Morineau, (eds.), Merchants, Companies and Trade: Europe and
Asia in the Early Modern Era.
Irfan Habib, Agrarian System of Mughal India: 1556-1701.
Abdul Karim, Medieval Bengal.
Abdul Karim, Murshid Quli Khan and His Times.
R. C. Majumdar, History of Medieval Bengal.
Aniruddha Ray, Adventurers, Landowners and Rebels: Bengal c.1575-c.1715.
Jadunath Sarkar, History of Bengal: Muslim Period.
J. N. Sarkar, Bengal Nawabs.
N. K. Sinha, Economic History of Bengal.

Semester VI
Note: There are two courses under course 15. One is on the Chinese civilisation and the
other is on Colonial Africa. Only one of the two courses will be offered.
(15) Course 15 (Hist/UG/6.1.1): The Chinese Civilisation.
1. China at a glance.
2. Occupation of the Chinese earth by farming folk spread from the cradle area in the
middle reaches of the Yellow River Valley southwards, westwards and northwards.
3. Sources.
4. Hsia dynasty: Origin of the state, culture, fiscal system.
5. Shang (Yin) dynasty (Around 17th century to 11th century AD) Sources, Political History,
Society and Economy, Science and Culture, Beginning of Chinese language Oracle-bones, Shang
state.
6. Chou dynasty (about 11th century B. C.-256 B. C.) Traditional periodisation Western
Chou, Eastern Chou, Spring and Autumn period, Warring States period; Sources, Origin, Political
history, Society and Economy, Administration of the land, Science and culture, Chou state and
Military science, Comparison between The Book of Shang Yang and Kautilyas Arthasastra.
7. Hundred Schools of Thought (Confucianism, Taoism, Legalism, Mohism).
8. Slavery in Ancient China.
9. Chin (Chhin) dynasty (221 BC-206 BC) (First Feudal empire), Sources, Political history,
Chin Shi huang ti, Administrative system.
10. Han dynasty: Political and Economic developments in the Former (Western) Han, Political
history of the Later (Eastern) Han, Structure of the Han Govt., Intellectual and Cultural life, History
writing, arrival of Buddhism.
11. A broad overview of the Sui, Thang, Sung, Yuan and Ming dynasties.
12. Peasant rebellions.
13. Development of Science and Technology.
14. Literature in Ancient China.
15. Warfare in China.
Books:
1. Joseph Needham, Science and Society in Ancient China.

2. Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China. (Some Volumes)
3. Marcel Granet, Chinese Civilisation.
4. P. Fitz Gerald, Ancient China.
5. William Watson, Early Civilisation in China.
6. Bai Shouyi, An Outline history of China.
7. Dirk Bidde, (ed.), Essays on Chinese Civilisation.
8. L. C. Goodrich, A Short History of the Chinese people.
9. Dun J. Lee, The Ageless Chinese.
10. Sun Tzu, The Art of War and The Book of Lord Shang with an introduction by Robert
Wilkinson.
11. F. A. Kierman, Jr., and J. K. Fairbank, (eds.), Chinese Ways in Warfare.
12. Amit Bhattacharyya, The Chinese Civilization: Hsia to the Chin Dynasty 2207 B. C. to 206
B.C.
13. Keith Buchanon, The Transformation of the Chinese Earth Perspectives on Modern China.
14. Cambridge History of China several volumes.

15. Xinru Liu, Ancient India and Ancient China Trade and Religious Exchanges AD 1-600.
OR
(15) Course 15 (Hist/UG/6.1.2): An Historical Outline of Colonial Africa.
This module offers a survey of the social, economic and cultural changes in the second largest
continent under the aegis of colonialism and imperialism.
A Brief Survey of Pre-Colonial Africa

The Atlantic Slave Trade
Colonial Exploration and Conquest in Africa
The Practice and Legacy of Colonialism
Resistance, Nationalism and Conquest in Africa
Resistance, Nationalism and Independence
Thomas Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa.

Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.
James Walvin, Black Ivory: Slavery in the British Empire.
Marcus Rediker, The Slave Ship: A Human History.
James Walvin, Black Ivory: The Slave in the British Empire.
Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Mask.
Frantz Fanon, Wretched of the Earth.
Frantz Fanon, Studies in a Dying Colonialism.
John Iliffe, Africans, The History of a Continent.
P. D. Curtin, S. Feierman, L. Thompson and J. Vansina, African History.
R. Oliver and A. Atmore, Africa since 1800.
Ralph Austen, African Economic History.
A. G. Hopkins, An Economic History of West Africa.
Leroy Vail, The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa.
Frederick Cooper, Africa since 1945.
(16) Course 16 (Hist/UG/6.2): The Ancient Mediterranean II/ The Ancient World II
Greece and Rome.
1. The tributary states of Crete and Mycenae.

2. The downfall of Mycenaean civilization and the emergence of the Polis.
3. Class conflicts and divergent evolutions within the Polis.
(a) Sparta and Laconia, (b) Athens, (c) Corinth, Thebes, etc.
4. Political History from the Rise of Persia to the Peloponnesian War selected issues.
5. The Cultural achievements of Athens.
6. The Athenian Democracy Institutions, Practice, Political leadership.
7. The Political deadlock in 4th Century and the rise of Macedon. Rise and Fall of Hellenic
Imperialism.
8. History writing in Greece.
9. Early Rome myth, archaeology, history, The Monarchical period.
10. The Reforms of Servius Tullius.
11. The Republican Revolution.
12. The Class Struggles and the rise of the Plebeians.

13. The Expansion of Rome from the Gaulish Invasian to the 3 rd Punic War.
14. History writing in Rome.
15. Slavery and the mode of production in Greece and Rome.
Reading List:
1. J. P. T. Bury, (ed.), Cambridge Ancient History, relevant volumes.

2. Will Durant, Relevant volumes in the Civilisation Series.
3. A. R. Burn, Penguin History of Greece.
4. A. R. Burn, Periclean Athens.
5. Martin Bernal, Black Athena.
6. George Thomson, Aeschylus and Athens.
7. J. Thorley, The Athenian Democracy.
8. P. Cartledge, Sparta and Laconia.
9. C. G. Starr, Ancient Greece.
10. M. T. W. Arnhem, Aristocracy in Greece.
11. A. Andrewes, The Greek Tyrants.
12. G. E. M. de SteCroix, Class Struggles in the Ancient Greek World.
13. G. E. M. de SteCroix, The origins of the Peloponnesian War.
14. E. M. Wood, Peasant Citizen and Slave.
15. M. I. Finley, Economy and society in Ancient Greece.
16. A. Kamm, The Romans.
17. T. J. Cornell, The Beginnings of Rome.
18. Edith Hamilton, The Roman Way.
19. V.D. Hanson, A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the
Peloponnesian War.
20. J.F. Lazenby, The Peloponnesian War.
21. George Cawkwell, The Greek Wars.
22. M.I. Finley, Politics in the Ancient World.
(17) Course 17 (Hist/UG/6.3): Modern Europe: 19191945.
Post War Europe: The Versailles Settlement and the roots of future crisis, the League of
Nations, social discontent and strikes, economic crisis and stabilization.
The Golden Twenties, Economy, 1929 Wall Street crash. New Deal. Implications for high
capitalism.
The Illusion of Peace: Culture, Society, Politics.
Rise of Fascism in Italy, Fascist takeover of Power, Fascist Domestic Policy, Fascist Imperialism,
Modernism and Fascism. Fascism in Europe: Spain, Portugal, Austria, Hungary and other countries.
Rise of Nazism in Germany, 1933, Post-1933, Domestic and Foreign Policy, Fascist conceptions
of Kultur.
The Soviet Union in the 1920s and 30s: Political transitions, cultural changes, economic policies,
foreign policy.
The Spanish Civil War 1936-1938.
The Origins of the World War II. The War Crimes.
Books:
1. David Thomson, Europe since Napoleon.

2. W. C. Langsam, The World since 1919.
3. E. H. Carr, International Relations between the Two World Wars.
4. William R. Keylor, The Twentieth-Century World: An International History.
5. E. J. Hobsbawm, Age of Extremes: The Short Twentieth Century 1914-1991.

(18) Course 18 (Hist/UG/6.4): International Relations 1945-1991.
1. Foundation and organization of the UNO: its role in World Politics.

2. Cold War: Ideological conflict or Power struggle.
3. Foreign policy of the USSR vis-a-vis Western Powers, Eastern Europe, China and the Third
World countries.
4. US foreign policy: Marshall Plan, European Economic Cooperation Programme, Military
Alliances, Attitude towards international terrorism, Economic cooperation or Imperialism?
5. Indian foreign policy since 1947: Non-alignment, relations with China, Pakistan and the Third
World countries.
6. Chinese foreign policy towards the USA, USSR and the Third World countries.
7. Collapse of Socialism in the USSR and East Europe.
8. Unification of Germany.
9. Storm centres of world politics: Korea, Arab-Israel conflict and the Suez crisis, Cuba, Indo-
China, Tibet, Iran-Iraq War (1980-89), turmoil in Afghanistan, the Gulf War (1991).
Books:
1. P. Calvocoressi, World Politics since 1945.

2. C. Brown and P.J. Mooney, Cold War to Detente.
3. W. Laqueur, Europe in our time.
4. P. Mansfield, The USSR 1905-1963.
5. G. Barraclough, The contemporary history of the world.
6. S. Preston, Twentieth century US history.
7. J.M. Brown, Modern India: The origins of an Asian democracy.
8. A. Parsons, From Cold War to hot peace: UN interventions.
9. L.Thompson, A history of South Africa.
10. J.D. Hargreaves, Decolonisation in Africa.
11. W. Ashworth, A short history of the international economy.
12. M. Borthwick, Pacific century: The emergence of modern Pacific Asia.
13. W. Brandt, World armament and world hunger.
14. R. Doig, Cooperation and conflict: International affairs.
15. J. Pinder, European Community: The building of a Union.
16. Noam Chomsky, Peace in the Middle-East?

M.A. Courses
Semester I
Course 1 (Hist/PG/1.1): Indian Historiography: Highlights.
Emergence of historical consciousness in nineteenth century India early British writings on the
Indian Past the Indian encounter with the Past History the Indian search for a Golden Past the
economic critique of British rule writings in the regional languages different debates on Indian
History Indian feudalism, eighteenth century India, writings on Mutiny and Partition recent
trends in the writings of Indian History.
Books Recommended:
C. H. Philips, (ed.), Historians of India, Pakistan and Ceylon, OUP.

R. Inden, Imagining India, Indiana University Press.
R. Thapar, H. Mukhia and B. Chandra, (eds.), Problems of Historical writing in India, PPH.
S. Alavi, (ed.), Debates on the History of Eighteenth Century India, OUP.
B. Chandra, The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism: Economic Policies of Indian
National Leadership, PPH.
S. Sarkar, Writings on Social History, OUP.
S. Bandyopadhyay, Rethinking of Bengal History, Manohar.
S. Bandyopadhyay, (ed.), 1857: Writings from Economic and Political Weekly, EPW.
P. Chatterjee, Claim on the Past: The Genealogy of Modern Historiography in Bengal, in
Subaltern Studies, Vol. VI, OUP.
M. Hassan, (ed.), Introduction, in The Legacy of a Divided Nation, OUP.
Course 2 (Hist/PG/1.2): Modern India, 1885-1947.
1. British Imperialism, 1885-1947 India in the British Empire: Changing perceptions and
Changing Strategic Imperatives.
2. (a) Evolution of Indian Nationalism and the making of the Nation State, 1885-1947.
(b) Nationalism and the Peasant movements nationalism and working class movements.
3. Indian constitutional developments, 1885-1947.
4. The politics of the transfer of power in India.
5. Communalism and the politics of Partition.
6. Merger of Princely States in the Indian Union, and the politics of national integration.
7. Youth and students in Indian politics, 1885-1947.
8. Women in Indian Politics 1935-1947.
Reading List:
1. Aziz, K. K., A History of the Idea of Pakistan, Vols. I-III.

2. Banerjee, A. C., Constitutional History of India, Vols. II-III.
3. Bhatt, S., Women Politicians of India.
4. Brown, J. M., Modern India: the origins of an Asian Democracy.
5. Brown, J. M., Gandhis Rise to power.

6. Chandra, B., Gandhi and Civil Disobedience.
7. Chanbe, S. K., The Constituent Assembly of India.
8. Das, M. N., Partition and Independence of India.
9. Desai, A. R., (ed.), Peasant struggles in India.
10. Dhanagare, D.N., Peasant Movement in India.
11. Hamid, A., Muslim Separatism in India.
12. Hasan, M., Nationalism and Communal Politics in India.
13. Hasan, M., Indias partition.
14. Jalal, A., The Sole spokesman.
15. Kashyap, S. C., History of the Parliament of India, Vol. I.
16. Kriplani, J. B., Gandhi: His Life and Thought.
17. Kumar, K., (ed.), Congress and Classes: Nationalism, Workers and Peasants.
18. Majumdar, B. B., Indian Political Associations and Reform of Legislature.
19. Majumdar, B. B., and B. P. Majumdar, Congress and Congressmen in Pre-Gandhian
Era.
20. Majumdar, R. C., British Paramountcy and Indian Renaissance Part: I.
21. Mehrotra, S. R. , The Emergence of the Indian National Congress.
22. Mehrotra, S. R., History of the Indian National Congress, Vol. I.
23. Menon, V. P. , The Story of the Integration of the Indian States.
24. Menon, V. P., The Transfer of power in India.
25. Metcalf, T. R., Ideologies of the Raj.
26. Misra, B. B., The Indian Political parties.
27. Moon, P., Divide and Quit.
28. Nanda, B. R., Gandhi and His Critics.
29. Nanda, B. R., Socialism in India.
30. Narayan, S., (ed.), The Selected works of Mahatma Gandhi, Vols. I-VI.
31. Philips, C. H., The Evolution of India and Pakistan.
Course 3 (Hist/PG/1.3): Life and Thought in Bengal 19th and 20th centuries.
1) Impact and Historical Process: Reconsidering the Transformation.

2) Transformation: Components elements of tradition and modernity. Debates and analysis,
interpreting trends and understanding transformations.
3) Reading the new city the colonial city: dual space and dual culture Urban planning Rise
of new social groups Reaching out to rural and urban poor.
4) Impact of Western Ideas and the new Intelligentsia.
Education : Traditional system Orientalism Impact of western education and the response of
the Young Bengal Technical Education, Medical Education and Public Health Science
History and Historiography Accommodating the traditional Literati Vidyasagar.
Colonial discourse and social reforms Western modes and professional expertise From Sati to
Widow re-marriage.
5) Social compositions and cultural patterns resonances and changes theoretical formations of
cultural perceptions metaphors of an urban space in the audio-visual identities of culture The
culture of the city in imagination and physical forms Different ideologies Political and social
changes The windmills of an entrenched culture The mirage of permanent boundaries unseen
sources and unknown history.
Reading List:
Sumit Sarkar, Writing Social History.

Tapan Raychaudhury, Europe Reconsidered.
Sumanta Banerjee, The Parlour and The Street.
Rajat Ray, (ed.), Mind, Body and Society Life and Mentality in Colonial Bengal.

Deepak Kumar, Science and the Raj 1857-1905.
Sukanta Chaudhuri, (ed.), Calcutta, a Living City.
Sumit Sarkar, Beyond the Nation State.
Sushil Kumar Mukherjee, The Story of the Calcutta Theatres.
Sivaji Bandyopadhyay, Gopal Rakhal Dandasamas.
Amales Tripathi, Vidyasagar, the Traditional Moderniser.
Course 4 (Hist/PG/1.4): The Twentieth-Century World: Global Capitalism and Its

Contestations.
1. Domination of finance capital and the resultant imperialism: material and discursive
dimensions.
2. The cultural politics of imperialism.
3. The crisis of the first phase of finance-capitalist domination: the Great Depression of the 1930s
and its social impact.
4. Capitalism and the rise of the Far Right: a complex interlinkage.
5. Liberalism: Challenged and reconstituted.
6. The Communist challenge to the capitalist order; the extent of success and the resilience of
capitalism.
7. Decolonization: political, economic and cultural.
8. The radical and the new social movements.
9. Capitalism, radical politics, critical theories, postmodernism: probing the interrelationship(s).
10. Globalisation: economic, social and cultural dimensions, including the new information
world order.
11. Global financial managers: the IMF World Bank combine and the resultant politics and
social response.
Reading List:
Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes.

M.N. Dobkowski and I. Wallimann, Radical Perspectives on the Rise of Fascism in Germany.
Z. Sternhell, The Revolutionary Right.
S.G. Payne, Fascism.
Daniel Guerin, Fascism and Big Business.
Martin Blinkhorn, Fascists and Conservatives.
David Horrowitz, Imperialism and Revolution.
Susan George, A Fate Worse than Debt.
Eric Toussaint, Your Money or Your Life.
Joseph Stiglitz, Globalisation and its Discontents.
Teresa Hayter, Aid as Imperialism.
Cheryl Payer, The Debt Trap.
Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt, Empire.
Frederick Jameson, Postmodernism, Ideology of Late Capitalism.
Steven Seidman, The Postmodern Turn.

Semester II
Course 5 (Hist/PG/2.1): History and Historiography.
A twofold problem Knowledge and patterns of the past

Nature of the Knowledge: (1) History and Sciences affinity or contrast? (2) Explanation in
History principal theories. (3) Is there any law in history? (4) Causation in History Debate on
determinism. (5) Truth, Fact, Evidence (6) Objectivity in History (7) Certain methods to
comprehend the objective truth the Positivist dream Structuralism and Post-Structuralism.
Patterns of the Past: (1) the speculative approach (2) systems of some great thinkers Vico
KantHerderHegelComteMarxSpenglerToynbee The Annales School Michel Foucault
Reception of Foucault Among the historians After Derrida The recent trends in history and
historiography.
Reference:
W.H. Walsh, An Introduction to Philosophy of History.

Patrick Gardiner, The Nature of Historical Explanation.
R.G. Collingwood, The Idea of History.
E.H. Carr, What is History.
Allan Sheridan, Michel Foucault: The Will to Truth.
Jacques Le Goff and Pierre Nora (eds.), Constructing the Past: Essays in Historical Methodology.
Nicholas Royle, After Derrida.
Harjeet Singh Gill and Bernard Pottier, (eds.), Ideas, Words and Things: French Writings in
Semiology.
Course 6 (Hist/PG/2.2): Postcolonial India, 1947-1977.
1. The Indian Constitution and its Review.

2. Planning and Development.
3. Evolution of a Congress system of one-party dominance and challenges to this dominance
in state politics case studies the breakdown of the Congress system the Emergency and the
elections of 1977.
4. The integration of princely states in the Indian Union princes in electoral politics, Swatantra
Party and the politics of Indian conservatism.
5. Language and political identity in post-1947 India linguistic reorganization of Indian states
the question of national language and the controversy between Hindi and English.
6. Caste and other ethnic movements in India after 1947 the ethnic dimension of regionalism.
Dalit politics.
7. State, Territoriality and Integration: Areas in the north-east, Kashmir and Sikkim.
8. Religion and politics in post-1947 India Nehruvian secularism and its limits the Jan Sangh
rise of majoritarian fundamentalism.
9. Peasant movements of India, 1947-77.
10. Indian economic development and political change land reform, agrarian change, the Green
Revolution and its political consequences the politics of planning and rural reconstruction.
11. The Naxalbari Movement 1967-72.
Preliminary readings:

Bipan Chandra, Aditya Mukherjee, Mridula Mukherjee and Sucheta Mahajan, India After
Independence.
Paul R. Brass, The Politics of Indian After Independence.
Rajni Kothari, Politics in India.
Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal, Modern South Asia: Economy, Social Structure, Politics.
Thomas R. Metcalf and Barbara D. Metcalf, A concise history of India.
Ayesha Jalal, Democracy and Authoritarianism in South Asia.
Myron Weiner, Party Building in a New Nation.
Stanley Kochanek, Congress Party of India: the dynamics of one-party democracy.
Partha Chatterjee, ed., State and Politics in India.
Partha Chatterjee, ed., Wages of Freedom: Fifty Years of the Nation-State.
Sunil Khilnani, The Idea of India.
Francine Frankel, Indias Political Economy, 1947-1977.
Lloyd Rudolph and Susan Rudolph, In Pursuit of Lakshmi: the political economy of the Indian
state.
Rajni Kothari, ed., Caste in Indian Politics.
Thomas Blom Hansen, The Saffron Wave: democracy and Hindu nationalism in modern India.
Achin Vanaik, The Painful Transition: Bourgeois Democracy in India.
Sumanta Banerjee, In the wake of Naxalbari.
Suniti Kumar Ghosh, The Indian Constitution and its Review.
Pat Roy Mooney, The Seeds of the Earth.
Chester Bowles, Ambassadors Journal.
Course 7 (Hist/PG/2.3): Life and Thought in Bengal 19th and 20th Centuries.
Topics
1. The making of the early colonial order in Bengal
2. The emergence of a colonial intelligentsia
3. Rammohan Roy and the origins of reform
4. Derozio and the Young Bengal
5. Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and the decline of reform
6. From reformism to revivalism
7. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and the Hindu revivalist movement
8. Vivekananda and the rise of Hindu bhadralok activism
9. The Nineteenth Century and Bengals later history
Bibliography:
Himani Banerjee, The Mirror of Class.

Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, Caste, Politics and the Raj: Bengal 1872-1937.
Sibaji Bandopadhyay, Gopal-Rakhal Dandoshamash: Uponibeshbad o Bangla Shishushatiyo.
Sibaji Bandopadhyay, Producing and Re-Producing the New Women: A Note on the Prefix 'Re,
Social Scientist, Vol. 22, No. 1/2 (Jan. - Feb., 1994), pp. 19-39.
Sibaji Bandopadhyay, Punar bishaye punarbibechana.
Amiya Kumar Bagchi, The Political-Economy of Under-development.
Anisuzzaman, Muslim Manash O Bangla Sahitya.
Rajnarayan Basu, Shekal O Ekal.
Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Bande Mataram: The Biography of a Song.
Sourin Bhattacharya, Adhunikatar Swad-Ahlad.
Tithi Bhattacharya, The sentinels of culture: Class, Education and the Colonial Intellectual in
Bengal.
Dilipkumar Biswas, Rammohan Shamikhya.
Dipesh Chakraborty, Provincialising Europe.

Joya Chatterjee, Bengal Divided.
Partha Chatterjee, Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World: A Derivative Discourse?
Kanailal Chattopadhyay, Brahmo Reform Movement.
Indira Chaudhuri, Frail Hero and Virile History: Gender and the Politics of Culture in Colonial
Bengal.
Biplab Dasgupta, European Trade and Colonial Conquest.
Geraldine H. Forbes, Positivism in Bengal.
Benoy Ghosh, Banglar Nabajagriti.
Bepin Behari Gupta, Puratan Proshongo.
Atul Chandra Gupta, (ed.), Studies in the Bengal Renaissance.
Irfan Habib, Essays in Indian History: Towards a Marxist Perception.
Narahari Kabiraj, Unish Shataker Banglar Jagaran: Tarko o Bitarko.
David Kopf, The Brahmo Samaj and the shaping of the modern Indian mind.
Sudipta Kaviraj, Unhappy consciousness: Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay and the formation of
nationalist discourse in India.
John MacGuire, Making of the Colonial Mind.
Max Mueller, Babu Keshab Chunder Sen.
Bepin Pal, Brahmo Samaj and the struggle for Swaraj in India.
K. M. Panikkar, Asia and Western Dominance.
Arabinda Poddar, Renaissance in Bengal.
William Radice, (eds.), Swami Vivekananda and Modernization of Hinduism.
Alok Ray, (ed.), Nineteenth Century Studies, Vols. I-III.
Rajat Kanta Ray, (ed.), Mind, Body and Society: Life and Mentality in Colonial Bengal.
Subir Raychaudhuri, Derozio.
Tapan Raychaudhri, Europe Reconsidered.
Sumit Sarkar, A Critique of Colonial India.
Sumit Sarkar, An Exploration of the Ramkrishna-Vivekananda Tradition.
Sumit Sarkar, The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal.
Tanika Sarkar, Hindu Wife, Hindu Nation.
Ashok Sen, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and his Elusive Milestones.
Amiya Prasad Sen, Hindu Revivalism in Bengal.
Shibnath Shastri, Atmacharito.
Shibnath Shastri, Ramtanu Lahiri o Tatkalin Bangoshamaj.
N.K. Sinha, The Economic History of Bengal.
Eric Stokes, English Utilitarians in India.
Eric Wolfe, Europe and the People without History.
Course 8 (Hist/PG/2.4) The Twentieth-Century World: An Age of Extremes?
This paper seeks to explore the historical significance of the 20th century as a social, cultural and
political conjuncture. However, this course treats the century dialectically considering it as a
temporal unit, at one level, and bringing out its multiple fractures along lines of space, class,
gender, community, ethnicity and even temporality (the short duration), at another. A very
renowned contemporary historian has characterised this century as an age of extremes. This
course identifies and historically studies the different sets of such extremes. For example, the
century witnessed widespread praxis of democracy whether in the form of the spread of universal
franchise, or in the emergence of economic systems based on social ownership of the means of
production, or in the emergence of peoples movements and the concept of peoples democracy. It
also witnessed the end of old-style imperialism and the experiments with decolonisation which
marked the short-lived, yet politically significant project, known as Third Worldism in the
erstwhile colonial and semi-colonial world. However, on the other hand, it also saw glaring
instances of dictatorship made all the more ruthless by the use of 20th century science and

technology. Again, for example, the same century saw the emergence of the system of total war, on
the one hand, and very vibrant peace movement(s), on the other. Again, having produced
movements like modernism in art and architecture which were underlined by ideas of fragments
and alienation from classical forms, the century also produced a very critical interrogation of
modernism manifesting in the emergence of postmodernism in linguistics, architecture and critical
theory, which some have seen as the cultural logic of late capitalism.
Granting the historical incidence of such extremes in the relevant century, this course, however,
also interrogates the concept of age of extremes by highlighting the history of political systems,
movements, ideologies and cultural trends which belonged to none of the extremes but rather
occupied intermediary positions in terms of their historically specific characteristics.
Topics
1. Europes inheritance of a liberal legal and constitutional structure the Fall of Liberalism
Rise of Fascist and Communist parties and their regimes collapse of the Soviet Union Chinas
conversion to market socialism emergence of neo-Nazis Liberalism lingers and transmutes
end of the socialist alternative? North Korea and Cuba considered.
2. Imperialism and the denial of agency to the racialised subjects Assertions of subjecthood by
the people of the Orient and other colonised peoples; the national liberation movements
Imperialism in retreat political decolonisation the question of cultural decolonisation the
decline of Europe critical historical engagement with the post-colonial emergence of diasporas
the oil wars and predatory politics over new resources Empire striking back? Algeria,
Vietnam, Chile, Congo and Palestine considered.
3. Emergence of the phenomenon of total war, theory and praxis, case studies social and
economic consequences of total war total war and propaganda weapons of mass destruction:
myth and reality Cold War as proxy war the Star Wars programme, emergence of peace and
anti-nuclear movements emergence of people-to-people contacts and civil-society peace
initiatives.
4. The modernist (dis-)organisations of aesthetics; art, architecture and literature disturbing and
creative eruptions like expressionism the cultural consequences of the Second World War, the
Holocaust and Hiroshima-Nagasaki; the crumbling confidence in Western dominance the
divisions within Western and imperialised societies the wave of radical and protest movements of
the 1960s-70s the counter-culture movements.
5. Dominance of discipline-bound knowledge lingering dominance of scientific rationality and
positivism the concept of social sciences questioning of disciplinary boundaries initiation of
interdisciplinary, multi-disciplinary and trans-disciplinary studies questioning of the scientism
and positivism of the social sciences structuralism the emergence of post-structuralism and the
rise of cultural studies the re-assertion of neo-idealist thinking in the social sciences.
6. Majoritarian Secularisation of the public space in the West and subordinate countries
erasure of Islamic contributions to European culture and science divide and rule in the colonies
and its post-colonial legacy Western essentialization of Islam rise of religious
fundamentalism(s) Christian, Hindu, Islamic, Jewish identity-politics and their use of terror for
ethnic cleansing the US-led war on terror the paradox of state terror and retail terror.
Reading List:
Tim Armstrong, Modernism: A Cultural History, Polity, 2005.

Giovanni Arrighi, The long twentieth century: money, power, and the origins of our times, Verso,
2010.
Manuel Castells, The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-Cultural Theory of Urban Social
Movements, University of California Press, 1985.
Mike Davis, Dead Cities: A Natural History, The New Press, 2003.
Peter Gay, Modernism: the lure of heresy, W. W. Norton & Company, 2008.
Eric Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes: A History of the World, 1914-1991, Pantheon Books,
1995.

Rashid Khalidi, Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the
Middle East, Beacon Press, 2005.
Seigfried Kracauer, From Caligari to Hitler, Princeton University Press, 2004.
Henri Lefebvre, Writings on Cities, and translated and edited by Eleonore Kofman and Elizabeth
Lebas, Blackwell Publishing, 1996.
Vijay Prashad, The Darker Nations: a peoples history of the Third World, New Press, 2008.
Martin Gilbert, History of the 20th Century, 3 volumes, Harper Collins, 1997, 1999.
Geoffrey Blainey, A Short History of the 20th Century, Penguin, 2005.
Martin Gilbert, The First World War: A Complete History, Routledge, 2002.
David Paul Crook, Darwinism, War and History, Cambridge University Press, 1994.
Hew Strachan, The First World War, New York, 2005.
Lawrence S. Rainey, Modernism, Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Trudi Tate, Modernism, History and the First World War, Manchester University Press ND,
1998.
Louise Blakeney Williams, Modernism and the Ideology of History: Literature, Politics and the
Past, Cambridge University Press, 2002.
A.J.P. Taylor, Origins of the Second World War, Simon & Schuster, 1996.
Basil H. Liddell Hart, History of the Second World War, London, 1998.
Amir Weiner, Making Sense of War: The Second World War and the Fate of the Bolshevik
Revolution, Princeton University Press, 1991.
Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millett, A War to be Won: Fighting the Second World War,
Belknap Press, 2001.
Melvyn P. Leffler and Odd Arne Westad, (eds.), The Cambridge History of the Cold War, vol. I.,
Wilfried Loth, Overcoming Cold War: A History of Detente, 1950-1991, Palgrave, 2001.
Prasenjit Duara, (ed.), Decolonization: Perspectives from Now and Then, Routledge, 2003.
James D. Le Sueur, (ed.), The Decolonization Reader, Routledge, 2003.
Albert Memmi, Decolonization and the Decolonized (tr. Robert Bononno), University of
Minnesota Press, 2006.
David R. Marple, The Collapse of the Soviet Union, 1985-1991, Longman, 2004.
Bonnie English, A Cultural History of Fashion in the 20th Century: From Catwalk to Sidewalk,
Berg Publishers, 2007.
Kenneth Krusmer and Joe Trotter, African American Urban History since World War II,
University of Chicago Press, 2009.
Frederick Copleston, A History of Philosophy: Utilitarianism to Early Analytic Philosophy,
Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd., 2003.
Course 9 (Hist/PG/2.5.1): Economic Development and the Growth of World Capitalism.
1. Industrialization and development theoretical considerations from Adam Smith to

contemporary writings.
2. The development of industrial capitalism:
(a) The Transition Debate (b) Proto-industrialization (c) The Brenner Debate.
3. Agriculture, Agricultural revolution, and the agrarian roots of the Industrial revolution.
4. Labour emergence of wage-labour labour power as commodity supply of labour
migration (Case studies of England, France, Germany, and Russia) the thesis of the labour
aristocracy.
5. Gender Womens labour in proto-industrialisation wage-labour and the household child
labour factory system and women workers womens work in comparative framework (case
studies).
6. The debate over gentlemanly capitalism.
7. Science and Technology case study of major industries (cotton textile, iron and steel,
electricity, chemical industries).

8. Case Study of countries (England, USA, France, Germany, Russia, Japan).
References:
Only a preliminary bibliography is provided here. Further material will be intimated and at times
distributed in class.
Boyd Hilton, The Age of Atonement: The Influence of Evangelicalism on Social and Economic
Thought 1795-1865.
Carlo M. Cipolla, ed., The Fontana Economic History of Europe, Vols. 3 and 4.
Clive Trebilcock, The Industrialisation of the Continental Powers 1780-1914.
E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class.
Gareth Stedman Jones, Languages of Class: Studies in English Working Class History, 1832-
1982.
Eric J. Hobsbawm, Industry and Empire: From 1750 to the Present Day.
John Breuilly, Labour and Liberalism in Nineteen-Century Europe. Essays in Comparative
History.
Judith Lowder Newton, Mary P. Ryan, Judith R. Walkowitz, Sex and Class in Womens History.
Louise Tilly and Joan Scott, Women, Work, and Family.
Maxime Berg, The Age of Manufactures, 1700-1820.
Maxime Berg, The Machinery Question and the Making of Political Economy, 1815-1848.
Pat Hudson, The Genesis of Industrial Capital.
Pat Hudson and W. R. Lee, (eds.), Womens work and the family economy in historical
perspective.
Pat Hudson, The Industrial Revolution.
Patrick Joyce, Work, Society and Politics: the Culture of the Factory in Later 19 th Century
England.
_______., The Oxford Reader on Class.
Peter Kriedte, Hans Medick, and Jurgen Schlumbohm, Industrialization before Industrialization.
R. L. Glickman, Russian Factory Women: Workplace and Society, 1880-1914.
Rodney Hilton, ed., The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism.
Sidney Pollard, Peaceful Conquest: The Industrialisation of Europe, 1760-1970.
T. H. Aston and C. H. E. Philpin, The Brenner Debate.
The Cambridge Economic History of Europe, Vol. 6: The Industrial Revolutions and After.
Tom Kemp, Historical Patterns of Industrialization.
W. D. Rubinstein, Britains Century: A Social and Political History, 1815-1905.
OR
Course 9 (Hist/PG/2.5.2): Nature, Culture and Imperialism: Global and Comparative

Environmental History.
Welcome to the course on Global Environmental History and to the World of Nature. The course
focuses on the emergence of global Environmental History. The synoptic note of the course is as
follows:
1. Environmentalism, desiccationalism and environmental history.
2. Global environmental history from Edmund Halley to John F. Richards.
3. Global environmental thinking in the 1920s and 1930s.
4. From Glacken to Crosby global climate anomalies and environmental history The
Americas, the Africanists and the Asianists.
5. The idea of Tropics and Climate change.
Books:

1. Alfred Crosby, Ecological Imperialism.
2. Richard Grove, Green Imperialism.
3. Rachel Carson, Silent Spring.
4. William Cronon, Natures Metropolis.
5. Donald Worster, The Ends of the Earth.
6. Roderick Nash, Wilderness and the American mind.
7. Jacklyn Cock and E. Koch, (eds.), Going Green.
8. Nancy Jacobs, Power and Injustice.
9. Clarence Glacken, Traces on the Rhodein shore.
10. J.D. Hughes, An Environmental history of the world.
11. Donald Worster, Natures economy.
12. Ranjan Chakrabarti, Does Environmental history matter?
13. Ranjan Chakrabarti, Situating environmental history.

Semester III
Course 10 (Hist/PG/3.1.1): The Social and Political Impact of the Industrial Revolutions.
1. Urbanisation
2. Class and class Consciousness: (a) The bourgeoisie (b) The working class
3. Gender family wage housewife-isation middle class women.
4. The standards of living.
5. The new state.
6. Liberal and democratic politics local self-government liberalism in power liberalism in
opposition democratic radicalism working class struggles womens suffrage struggles.
7. Ideologies liberalism, socialism, feminisms.
8. The construction of leisure.
Books:
1. A. J Taylor, ed., The Standard of Living debate.

2. Boyd Hilton, The Age of Atonement: The Influence of Evangelicalism on Social and
Economic Thought 1795-1865.
3. Carlo M. Cipolla, ed., The Fontana Economic History of Europe, Vol. 3 and 4.
4. Clive Trebilcock, The Industrialisation of the Continental Powers 1780-1914.
5. E.P. Thomson, The Making of the English Working Class.
6. David Blackbourne and Geoff Eley, The Peculiarities of German History.
7. Gareth Stedman Jones, Languages of Class: Studies in English Working Class History, 1832-
1982.
8. _____., Outcast London.
9. Graeme Duncan, Marx and Mill: Two Views of Social Conflict and Social Harmony.
10. Eric J. Hobsbawm, Industry and Empire: From 1750 to the Present Day.
11. Jane Lewis, Labour and Love in England.
12. John Breuilly, Labour and Liberalism in Nineteenth-Century Europe. Essays in Comparative
History.
13. Judith Lowder Newton, Mary P. Ryan, Judith R. Walkowitz, Sex and Class in Women's
History.
14. Louise Tilly and Joan Scott, Women, Work, and Family.
15. Maxime Berg, The Machinery Question and the Making of Political Economy, 1815-1848.
16. Pat Hudson and W. R. Lee, (eds.), Womens work and the family economy in historical
perspective.
17. Pat Hudson, The genesis of industrial capital.
18. Pat Hudson, The industrial revolution.
19. Patrick Joyce, Work, Society and Politics: the Culture of the Factory in Later 19th-century
England.
20. Peter Kriedte, Hans Medick, and Jrgen Schlumbohm, Industrialization before
Industrialization.
21. R.J. Evans, The Feminist Movement in Germany.
22. R.L. Glickman, Russian Factory Women: Workplace and Society, 1880-1914.
23. Sidney Pollard, Peaceful Conquest: The Industrialisation of Europe, 1760-1970.
24. The Cambridge Economic History of Europe, vol. 6: The Industrial Revolutions and After.
25. _____., The Oxford Reader on Class.
26. Tom Kemp, Historical Patterns of industrialization.
27. W.D. Rubinstein, Britain's Century: A Social and Political History, 1815-1905.
OR

Course 10 (Hist/PG/3.1.2): Environmental History of South Asia.
This course will examine the various issues relating to the environmental history of the region
stretching from Afghanistan in the north-west to Indonesia in the east. An immensely variable
region in terms of climate, topography and culture, the area constitutes a meaningful whole in terms
of the collective history of its resource management over the last two centuries. This course will
deal with the development of colonial discourses about nature, risk and the control of natural
resources. It also gives the multiple pictures of the indigenous response to the changing patterns of
environmental control, both under colonialism and in the post-colonial period. Case studies will be
taken especially from India.
1. Ecology in the pre-colonial period a brief survey Early Man and Environment in South
Asia.
2. The colonial state and constructions of Nature: Debates over Environmental Degradation.
3. The colonial scientific community its environmental agenda: Expansion of the Railways and
its impact on Indian forests History of the British Forest policy, a critical analysis of early Forest
Acts Imperial Environmentalism or Environmental Imperialism?
4. Early environmentalism role of the British naturalists, colonial management of forests, and
its impact on the indigenous people, rights, and collective resistance.
5. Colonial scientists and the mechanisms of a global climate case studies.
6. History of the water resources, including rivers, canals, and dams in India.
7. The flora and fauna desiccation and changes in the 19 th and 20th centuries.
8. Forest knowledge a case study of the Sundarbans in Bengal.
9. Historiography of the environmental history of South Asia.
10. India and the North-South politics of global environmental issues.
Books:
1. M. Gadgil and Ramchandra Guha, (eds.), This Fissured Land: an ecological history of India.
2. Richard Grove, Green Imperialism.
3. R. Sivaramakrishnan, State Making and Indian Forestry.
4. David Arnold, (ed.), Nature, Culture, Imperialism.
5. Mahesh Rangarajan, Fencing the Forest.
6. R. Grove, B. Damodaran, and Satpal Sangam, (eds.), Nature and the Orient: An Ecological
history of India.
Note: It is mandatory for PG History students to decide between the two sets of courses: (i)
(Hist/PG/3.2.1) and (Hist/PG/4.1.1) and (ii) (Hist/PG/3.2.2) and (Hist/PG/4.1.2). The group
(Hist/PG/3.2.2) and (Hist/PG/4.1.2) has been designed to enable the students to acquire some
expertise in the History of Modern China and Japan while the group (Hist/PG/3.2.2) and
(Hist/PG/4.1.2) has been designed to train the students in the History of Modern South-East
Asia
Course 11 (Hist/PG/3.2.1): East Asia: A History of Modern Japan.
a. Traditional Japan.
b. Feudalism in Japan.
c. Peasant revolts in Japan.
d. Intellectual world in Tokugawa Japan

e. Western aggression and the opening of Japan.
f. Meiji Restoration (1868).
g. End of feudalism, development of capitalism and the modernization of Japan.
h. New Constitution (1889-90).
i. Militarisation of Japan and the Twenty-one Demands (1894-1915).
j. Japan as an imperialist power and her aggression into China (1915-31).
k. Manchuria to Pearl Harbour (1931-41).
l. Pearl Harbour to Nagasaki (1941-45).
References:
1. Perry Anderson, Lineages of the Absolutist State.

2. Stephen Vlastos, Peasant Revolution in Japan.
3. Chitoshi Yanaga, Japan since Perry.
4. Richard Storry, A History of Modern Japan.
5. K. Takahashi, Capitalist Development in Modern Japan.
6. P. Akamatsu, Meiji 1868.
7. J.K. Fairbank, A History of Japan.
8. E.O. Reischauer, Japan: Tradition and Transformation.
9. G. C. Allen, A Short Economic History of Japan.
10. K. Takahashi, Rise and Development of Japans Modern Economy.
11. J. I. Nakamura, Agricultural Production and Economic Development of Japan.
12. W. W. Lockwood, The Economic Development of Japan.
13. George Akita, Foundations of the Constitutional Government in Modern Japan.
14. W. B. Beasley, The Modern History of Japan.
15. M. George Beckmann, The Making of the Meiji Constitution.
16. Misiko Hane, Modern Japan.
17. M. B. Jansen, (ed.), The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. V and VI.
18. Kenneth B. Pyle, The Making of Modern Japan.
19. Robert Scalapino, Democracy and the Party Movement in Pre-war Japan.
20. Parks M. Coble, Facing Japan: Chinese Politics and Japanese Imperialism, 1931-1937.
21. Donald A. Jordan, Chinese Boycotts versus Japanese Bombs: The Failure of Chinas
Revolutionary Diplomacy, 1931-32.
22. Louise Young, Japans Total Empire: Manchuria and the Culture of Wartime imperialism.
23. Michael Barnhart, Japan Prepares for Total War: The search for Economic society, 1919-
1941.
24. Ian Nish, Japans Struggles with Internationalism: Japan, China and League of Nations
1931-33.
25. Earl Kinmonth, The Self made Man in Meiji Japanese Thought.
26. Tetsuo Najita, Japan: The Intellectual Foundation of Modern Japanese Politics.
27. Fumiko Fujita, American Pioneers and the Japanese Frontier.
28. Amit Bhattacharyya, Japan-er Rupantarer Itihas, 1600-1945.
29. Amit Bhattacharyya, Transformation of Japan 1600-1945.
OR
Course 11 (Hist/PG/3.2.2): History of Colonial and Post-Colonial Burma, Malaysia and the
Philippines.
Burma:
1. Colonization of Burma: Resistance and Response: British entry into Burma: the Anglo-
Burmese Wars. Phases of Political and Economic developments.
2. Economic policies of the colonial government and its effects on the economy of Burma.

3. Economy and environmental issues.
4. Social and cultural confrontations under colonial rule.
5. Resistance to British rule: Genesis of protest in early phase and Progress of nationalist
movements.
6. Buddhist interventions in politics.
7. Elite Nationalism.
8. Peasant protests.
9. Student politics.
10. Workers movements.
11. Budding of Socialism.
12. Towards self-rule: a chequered path post-colonial experiments: success and failure.
Malaysia:
1. British penetration into Malaya and administrative pattern: Straits Settlement, Federal Structure
of Malaya.
2. Unfederated States and amalgamation of political, administrative, and cultural fabric under
colonial rule.
3. Colonial government: Policies and Effects a) economic developments links with world
economy; b) Social developments new communities and issues of ethnicity.
4. Education and urbanism.
5. Multi-culturalism.
6. Political movements: forms of resistance to colonial presence.
7. Emergence of Malaysia and Singapore.
Colonialism and the History of the Philippines:
1. Spanish and British occupations, Cultural and socio-economic impact: brief review.
2. Spanish rule in the 19th century and Revolutions.
3. Battle of Manila and US occupation 1898-1946: Administration, Reforms and Social
ambience; Commonwealth and Great Depression, Japanese occupation.
4. Independent Philippines 1946-1965.
Books:
D.G. E. Hall, A History of South East Asia, London, 1981.

_______., Burma, London, 1950.
G.E. Harvey, History of Burma, London, 1974.
J.F. Cady, A History of Modern Burma, Ithaca, 1958.
U. Maung Maung, Burmese Nationalist Movements, University of Hawaii Press, 1991.
_______., From Sangha to Laity: Nationalist Movements of Burma 1920-40, Manohar, 1980.
Parimal Ghosh, Brave Men of the Hills, Manohar, 2000.
M. Htin Aung, A History of Burma, New York, 1967.
W. Andaya and L.Y. Andaya, A History of Malaysia, London, 1982.
J.S. Bastin and R. W. Winks, eds., Malaysia: Selected Historical Readings, Nendlen, 1979.
J.M. Gullick, Malaysia, London, 1969.
David Bernstein, The Philippine Story, New York, 1947.
Leodivico Cruz Lacsamana, Philippine History and Government, Phoenix Publishing House,
1990.
Daniel B. Schirmer and Stephen Rosskamm Shalom, The Philippine Reader: A History of
Colonialism, Neocolonialism, Dictatorship and Resistance, Cambridge, MA, 1987.
Eric Tyrone Lowery Love, Race over Empire: Racism and US Imperialism 1865-1900,
University of North Carolina Press, USA, 2004.
Julian Go, Anne L. Foster, The American Colonial State in the Philippines: Global Perspectives,
Duke University Press, USA 2003.

Note: Students who will opt for (Hist/PG/3.3.1) have to opt for (Hist/PG/4.2.1). Similarly,
those opting for (Hist/PG/3.3.2) have to opt for (Hist/PG/4.2.2). Those opting for
(His/PG/3.3.3) have to opt for (Hist/PG/4.2.3). The group (Hist/PG/3.3.1) and (Hist/PG/4.2.1)
has been designed to enable the students to acquire some expertise in Modern Indian Political
Thought while the group (Hist/PG/3.3.2) and (Hist/PG/4.2.2) has been designed to impart
training in Modern Western Political Thought and group (Hist/PG/3.3.3) and (Hist/PG/4.2.3)
has been designed to acquaint the students with some of the trends in Medieval Indian
history.
Course 12 (Hist/PG/3.3.1): Modern Indian Political Thought: Liberalism and Idealism.
1. Raja Rammohan Roy (1772 1833).

2. Dayanand Saraswati (1824 1883).
3. Mahadeo Govind Ranade (1842 1901).
4. Swami Vivekananda (1863 1902).
5. Gopal Krishna Gokhale (1866 1915)
6. Dadabhai Naoroji (1825 1917)
7. Balgangadhar Tilak (1856 1920)
8. Lala Lajpat Rai (1865 1928)
9. Bipin Chandra Pal (1858 1932)
10. Rabindranath Tagore (1861 1941)
11. Mahatma Gandhi (1869 1948)
12. Aurobindo Ghosh (1872 1950)
Suggested Readings:
Arjun Appadorai, Indian Political Thinking through Ages.

D. R. Bali, Modern Indian Thought.
D. H. Bishop, Thinkers of Indian Renaissance.
Bipan Chandra, Nationalism and Colonialism in Modern India.
Partha Chatterjee, Nationalist Thought and the Colonial World, A Derivative Discourse?
Thomas Pantham and Kenneth Deustch, (eds.), Political Thought in Modern India.
O. P. Goyal, Studies in Modern Indian Political Thought: The Moderates and the Extremists.
M. N. Jha, Modern Indian Political Thought: Rammohan Roy to Present.
Kenneth W. Jones, Socio-religious Reform Movements in British India.
Bimanbihari Majumdar, Social and Political ideas from Rammohan to Dayananda.
V. R. Mehta, Foundations of Indian Political Thought.
Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay, The Intellectual Tradition: From Rammohan Roy to
Dhirendranath Sen.
Tapan Raychaudhuri, Europe Reconsidered: Perceptions of the West in Nineteenth Century
Bengal.
Vishwanath Prasad Varma, Modern Indian Political Thought.
Satyabrata Chakraborty, Rashtrabhabna: Bharatbarsha.
Saurendramohan Gangopadhyay, Bangalir Rashtrachinta: Rammohan Theke Manbendranath.
OR
Course 12 (Hist/PG/3.3.2): Modern Western Political Thought: The World of Liberalism

and its Critiques.

The conceptual foundations of the liberal universe and their historical emergence and evolution,
especially the concept of civil society and the ideological separation between state and civil society
Liberalism in Britain: Its emergence and transformation
The Enlightenment in relation to the world of Liberalism: Mapping and historically analyzing the
intellectual terrain
The gendered world of Liberalism: a critical, historical analysis
The gendered underpinnings of (some of) the critiques of Liberalism
Critique of the Enlightenment: Nietzsche Heidegger Foucault Derrida
Liberalism in the 20th century: Challenged and reconstituted
Reading and historically situating the Feminist critiques of Liberalism and the Enlightenment
Postmodernism and its critique(s) of Liberalism and the Enlightenment
Feminism and Postmodernism: A complex interface
Civil liberties and human rights: Their complex, historical interrelationship with Liberalism
Suggested Readings:
C.B. Macpherson, Political Theory of Possessive Individualism.

A. Gutmann, Liberal Equality.
D.J. Manning, Liberalism.
David Harvey, The Condition of Post-Modernity.
Mark Poster, Critical Theory and Poststructuralism.
F. Jameson, Postmodernism, Ideology of State Capitalism.
OR
Course 12 (Hist/PG/3.3.3): Medieval Indian History, 1300-1800: Political Culture.
Sharia and Governance: Adab and Akhlaq

Religion and Politics
Language and Statecraft
Symbols of Sovereignty
Influence of the Sultanate and Mughals in contemporaneous regional kingdoms
Violence and Warfare
Additional Readings would be recommended for each theme separately in class.
Muzaffar Alam, Languages of Political Islam.

Muzaffar Alam, Francoise 'Nalini' Delvoye and Marc Gaborieau, eds., The Making of Indo-
Persian Culture: Indian and French Studies.
Muzaffar Alam and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, eds., The Mughal State, 1526-1750.
Raziuddin Aquil, In the Name of Allah, Understanding Islam in Indian History.
Lisa Balabanlilar, Lords of the Auspicious Conjunction: Turco-Mongol Imperial Identity on the
Subcontinent, Journal of World History, March 2007, 18.1, pp. 1-39.
Katherine Brown, Did Aurangzeb ban music? Questions for the historiography of his
reign, Modern Asian Studies 41/1, 2007, pp. 77-121.
Allison Busch, Hidden in Plain View: Brajbhasha Poets at the Mughal Court, Modern Asian
Studies, 44, 2010, pp. 267-309.
Richard M. Eaton, The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier 1204-1760.
______., ed., Indias Islamic Tradition.
Carl W. Ernst, Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History, and Politics at a South Asian Sufi Center.

Jorge Flores, and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, The Shadow Sultan: Succession and Imposture in the
Mughal Empire, 1628-1640, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 47/1, 2004,
pp. 80-121.
David Gilmartin and B. Lawrence, eds., Beyond Turk and Hindu: Rethinking Religious Identities
in Islamicate South Asia.
Jos Gommans and Dirk Kolff, Warfare and Weaponry in South Asia, 1000-1800.
Irfan Habib, ed., Akbar and his India.
Muhammad Habib and K. A. Nizami, Comprehensive History of India, Vol. 5, Delhi Sultanate.
Nurul Hasan, Religion, State and Society in Medieval India.
Peter Jackson, The Delhi Sultanate. A Political and Military History. an essay in interpretation.
Dirk H.A. Kolff, Naukar, Rajput and Sepoy: The Ethnohistory of the Military Labour Market of
Hindustan, 1450-1850.
Hermann Kulke, The State in India, 1000-1700.
Sunil Kumar, The Emergence of the Delhi Sultanate.
Corinne Lefevre, Recovering a Missing Voice from Mughal India: The Imperial Discourse of
Jahangir (R. 1605-1627) in his Memoirs, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the
Orient, 50/4, 2007, pp. 452-489.
Louise Marlow, Hierarchy and Egalitarianism in Islamic Thought.
Harbans Mukhia, The Mughals of India.
K.A. Nizami, Some Aspects of Religion and Politics in India in the Thirteenth Century.
Sheldon Pollock, ed., Literary Cultures in South Asia.
Douglas E. Streusand, The Formation of the Mughal Empire.
NOTE: Between course number 13, 14, 17, and 18 there are 32 optional courses in all. The
students have to opt for any 4 out of those 28 courses. The option is between 8 sets of courses,
i.e., A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The students have to opt for any one of these 8 sets. For example,
students opting for (Hist/PG/3.4.A) have to opt also for (Hist/PG/3.5.A), (Hist/PG/4.3.A), and
(Hist/PG/4.4.A). Each group will enable the students to develop some expertise in a particular
area. For example, Group A will focus on Ancient Indian History.
Course 13 (Hist/PG/3.4.A): Themes on Early Indian Society and Religion: (upto the
Thirteenth Century).
1. Kula, Jati, Varna: Patterning of Society in Vedic Brahmanism.

2. Status of Women: Changing paradigms.
3. Civic society and Urbanity: A Social experience and the rural-urban binary.
4. System of education and its dissemination: the Sastric format and Beyond the Sastric format.
5. Yavanas and cross-cultural influences.
6. Early Medieval developments in Society and expansions of Varna society and emergence of
new regional cultures.
7. Essence of Vedic Brahmanism in the early days.
8. Rise of Protestant religions: early Jainism, Buddhism, Ajivika Lokayata philosophy.
9. New Developments in Religion: Transition to Early Medieval phase Saivism, Vaishnavism,
Mahayana Buddhism, Svetambara Jainism, Neo-Brahmanism.
10. Cult of Mother Goddess and Female Consorts of Devas: Classical and popular formats.
11. New Trends and Institutions in religion: Early Medieval Phase Bhaktivada, Tantricism,
Temple Movement, Esoteric Cults. Emergence of Regional Cults and fusions. With Popular Belief
Systems.
Books:

1. N. K. Dutta, Origin and Growth of Castes in India, Reprint Calcutta, 1986.
2. J. H. Hutton, Caste in India, Oxford, 1951.
3. G. S. Ghurye, Caste and Race in India, Bombay, 1969.
4. S. V. Ketkar, History of Caste in India, Delhi, 1995.
5. Suvira Jaiswal, Caste: Origin, Function and dimensions of Change, New Delhi, 2000.
6. V. S. Agrawal, India as Described by Manu, Delhi, 1963.
7. Chitra Tiwari, Sudras in Manu, Delhi, 1963.
8. Prabhati Mukherjee, Beyond the Four Varnas: The Untouchables in India, Simla, 2002.
9. Heramba Chatterjee, Studies in the Social Background of the Forms of Marriage in Ancient
India, Calcutta, 1972.
10. A. S. Altekar, Position of Women in Hindu Civilization, Patna, 1956.
11. I. B. Horner, Women in Primitive Buddhism, Delhi, 1975.
12. Sukumari Bhattacharji, Women and Society in Ancient India, Calcutta, 1994.
13. Kumkum Roy, ed., Women in Early Indian Society, Delhi, 1999.
14. Vijay Kumar Thakur, Urbanisation in Ancient India, New Delhi, 1981.
15. Jaimal Rai, The Rural Urban Economy and Social Changes in Ancient India, Delhi 1979.
16. R. S. Sharma, Light on Early Indian Society and Economy, Bombay, 1966.
17. Romila Thapar, Recent Perspectives of Early Indian History, Bombay, 1995.
18. R. K. Mookherji, Ancient Indian Education, Delhi, 1960.
19. A. S. Altekar, Education in Ancient India, Varanasi, 1965.
20. D. R. Chanana, Slavery in Ancient India, New Delhi, 1990.
21. Sarojini Chaturvedi, Foreign Influx and Interaction with Indian Culture, Delhi, 1985.
22. K. C. Sagar, Foreign Influence in Ancient India, New Delhi, 1992.
23. S.R. Goyal, A. Religious History of Ancient India, 2 Vols., Meerut, 1986.
24. Haripada Chakraborty, Asceticism in Ancient India, Brahmanical, Buddhist, Jaina and
Ajivika Societies, Calcutta, 1973.
25. P. S. Jaini, Gender and Salvation: Jaina Debates on the Spiritual Liberation of Women,
Delhi, 1991.
26. V. P. Varma, Early Buddhism and Its Origins, New Delhi, 1973.
27. Uma Chakraborty, The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism, New Delhi, 1996.
28. B. G. Gokhale, New Lights on Buddhism, Bombay, 1997.
29. A. L. Basham, History and Doctrine of the Ajivikas, New Delhi, 1951.
30. D. P. Chattopadhyay, Lokayata: A Study of Indian Materialism, New Delhi, 1959.
31. Pranabananda Jash, History of Saivism, Calcutta, 1974.
32. Suvira Jaiswal, The Origin and Development of Vaisnavism, Delhi, 1967.
33. Sukumar Sen, The Great Goddess in Indian Tradition, Calcutta, 1983.
34. Bratindranath Mukhopadhyay, Saktir Rup: Bharat O Madhya Asiay, Kolkata, 1990.
35. Narendra Nath Bhattacharyya, Ancient Indian History and Civilization: Trends and
Perspectives, New Delhi, 1988.
36. Vijay Nath, Puranas and Acculturation: A Historico-Anthropological Perspective, New
Delhi, 2001.
37. Kunal Chakrabarti, Religious Process: The Puranas and Making of a Regional Tradition,
New Delhi, 2001.
38. J. N. Banerjee, Puranic and Tantrik Religion, University of Calcutta, 1966.
39. Nihar Ranjan Ray, Bangalir Itihas, (Adi Parva), Calcutta, 1980.
40. R. S. Sharma, Social changes in Early Medieval India, Delhi, 1969.
41. R. S. Sharma, Sudras in Ancient India, Delhi, 1958.
42. Upinder Singh, Kings, Brahmanas and Temples in Orissa, New Delhi, 1994.
43. D. C. Sircar, Studies in the Religious Life of Ancient and Medieval India, Delhi, 1971.
44. Suvira Jaiswal, Varna Ideology and Social Change, Social Scientist, Vol. 19, Nos. 3-4
(1991), pp. 41-8.
45. R. S. Sharma and V. Jha, eds., Indian Society: Historical Probings, Delhi, 1974.
46. Niharranjan Ray, The Medieval Factor in Indian History, Indian History Congress, 29th
Session, Patiala, 1967, pp. 1-29.
47. N. N. Bhattacharyya, Buddhism in the History of Indian Ideas, New Delhi, 2000.

48. Uma Chakravarti, Beyond the Kings and Brahmanas of Ancient India, New Delhi, 2006.
Course 13 (Hist/PG/3.4.B): Politics in Bengal, 1911-1947.
This course offers a social interpretation of Bengal politics during the first half of the twentieth
century. It investigates the material forces that shaped Bengal politics during the tumultuous years
stretching from 1911, when the colonial partition of 1905 was repealed and Bengal was reunified,
to 1947, the year of national independence, communal violence and a definite and final re-partition
of the province. The emphasis will be on tracing the main political trends encompassing the 1910s,
the1920s, the 1930s and the 1940s. Apart from analysing the dominant political features, which
characterised undivided Bengals political culture during these decades, the emergence of non-
dominant resistance movements and opinions from below will also be treated. These were
marginalised yet powerful articulations of the desire for social equality and emancipation from the
rule of colonial capital as well as private property structures that had emerged under such a rule.
The role of workers, peasants and a minority segment of the Bengal intelligentsia will be discussed
in this context.
Topics
1. The colonial re-unification of Bengal and its impact
2. Bengal during and after the First World War
3. Non Cooperation and Swarajist Politics
4. Workers and Peasants Movements
5. The growth of communal politics
6. The origins and development of the Left
7. The Namasudra Movement
8. Women and Politics
9. Strategies of Colonial Capital
10. Bengal during and after the Second World War
11. The moment of Independence and Partition
Bibliography:
Abul Mansoor Ahmad, Amar Dakha Rajnitir Panchash Bachar (Fifty Years of Politics As I Saw
It).
Muzaffar Ahmad, Amar Jiban o Bharater Communist Party (My Life and the Communist Party
of India).
Muzaffar Ahmad, Kaji Najrul Islam: Smritikatha (Kaji Najrul Islam: Reminiscences).
Abul Kalam Azad, India Wins Freedom.
Aijaz Ahmad, Azads Careers in Lineages of the Present.
Amiya Kumar Bagchi, Private Investment in India, 1900-1939.
Amiya Kumar Bagchi, Workers and the Historians Burden in K. N. Panikkar, Terence J. Byres
and Utsa Patnaik, (eds.), The Making of History: Essays Presented to Irfan Habib.
S. R. Bakshi, C. R. Das, Congress and Swaraj.
Rakesh Batabyal, Communalism in Bengal: from famine to Noakhali, 1943-47.
Sekhar Bandopadhyay, Caste, Protest and Identity in Colonial India: The Namasudras of Bengal
1872-1947.
Sekhar Bandopadhyay, Caste, Politics and the Raj: Bengal 1872-1937.
Sanat Basu, Essays on Indian Labour.
Subho Basu, Does Class Matter? Colonial Capital and Workers' Resistance in Bengal, 1890
1937.
J. H Broomfield, Elite Conflict in a Plural Society.
Amitabha Chandra, Abibhakta Banglay Communist Andolan: Suchana Parbo (Communist
Movement in Undivided Bengal: The First Phase).

Dipesh Chakrabarty, Rethinking Working-Class History, Bengal 1890 to 1940.
Gautam Chattopadhyay, Communism and Bengals Freedom Movement.
Upendra Narayan Chakravorty, Indian Nationalism and the First World War (1914-1918).
D. K. Chatterjee, C. R. Das and the Indian National Movement.
Joya Chatterjee, Bengal Divided.
Partha Chatterjee, Bengal: The Land Question.
Sukanta Chaudhuri, (ed.), Calcutta: The Living City, Vol. 2.
Suranjan Das, Communal Riots in Bengal 1905-1947.
Atis Dasgupta, Groundswell in Bengal in the 1940s.
Pradip Kumar Datta, Carving Blocs.
Bhupendrakumar Datta, Biplaber Padachinha (Footprints of Revolution).
Kali Charan Ghosh, Famines in Bengal, 1770-1943.
Parimal Ghosh, History of the Calcutta Jute Millhands.
Leonard A. Gordon, Bengal: The Nationalist Movement.
Leonard A. Gordon, Brothers Against the Raj: A Biography of Sarat and Subhash Chandra Bose.
Patricia A. Gossman, Riots and Victims.
Paul R. Greenough, Prosperity and Misery in Modern Bengal: The Famine of 1943-44.
Irfan Habib, The Left and the National Movement, Social Scientist, Vol. 27, Nos. 5-6, May-
June, 1998.
Mushirul Hasan, Islam in the Subcontinent.
Taj ul-Islam Hashmi, Pakistan as a Peasant Utopia: The Communalization of Class Politics in
East Bengal, 1920-1947.
D. M Laushey, Bengal Terrorism and the Marxist Left, Aspects of Regional Nationalism in India,
1905-1942.
Kenneth McPherson, The Muslim Microcosm: Calcutta 1918 to 1935.
Radharaman Mitra, Kolkata Darpan (A Portrait of Calcutta).
K.M. Panikkar, Asia and Western Dominance.
Rajat Ray, Revolutionaries, Pan-Islamists, Bolsheviks: Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and the
Political Underground of Calcutta in Mushirul Hasan, (ed.), Communal and Pan-Islamic Trends in
Colonial India.
Rajat Ray, Urban Roots of Indian Nationalism, Pressure Groups and Conflict of Interests in
Calcutta City Politics, 1875-1939.
Rajat Ray, Social Conflict and Political Unrest in Bengal, 1875-1927.
Chandiprasad Sarkar, The Bengali Muslims, A Study in their Politicization (1912-1929).
Panchanan Saha, History of the Working Class Movement in Bengal.
Sumit Sarkar, Modern India.
Tanika Sarkar, Bengal 1928-1934: The Politics of Protest.
Sukomal Sen, Working Class of India, History of Emergence and Movement, 1830-1970.
Mohammad Shah, In Search of an Identity: Bengali Muslims 1880-1940.
Course 13 (Hist/PG/3.4.C): Social History of Modern India: A Society in Transition.
Decline of the old social order and reorganization of society on the coming of the British with
reference to regional variations colonial impact on the agrarian society mainstreaming of tribal
people emergence of the working class protest movements of peasants, tribals and workers the
colonial middle-class and its response to the pressure of modernity caste, religion and gender in a
modernizing society.
Preliminary Reading List:
Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, Caste, Culture and Hegemony: Social Domain in Colonial Bengal, Sage,
2004.

Susan Bayly, Caste, Society and Politics in India: From the 18th Century to the Modern Age,
Dipesh Chakrabarty, Rethinking Working Class History: Bengal, 1890-1940, Princeton
Dipesh Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference,
Princeton University Press, 2000.
Sisir Kumar Das, A History of Indian Literature, 2 volumes covering periods 1800-1910 and
1911-1956, Sahitya Akademi, 1991 and 1995.
Thomas R, Metcalf, Ideologies of the Raj, Cambridge University Press, 1st paperback edn. 1998.
Felix Padel, The Sacrifice of Human Beings: British Rule and the Konds of Orissa, OUP, New
Delhi, 1995.
Peter Robb, Peasants, Political Economy and the Law, OUP, New Delhi, 2007.
Rajen Saikia, Social and Economic History of Assam (1853-1921), Manohar, New Delhi, 2001.
Samita Sen, Women and Labour in Late Colonial India: The Bengal Jute Industry, Cambridge
Nandini Sundar, Subalterns and Sovereigns: An Anthropological History of Bastar, 1854-1996,
OUP, New Delhi, 1999.
Course 13 (Hist/PG/3.4.D): History of the United States, 1775-1850.
Discovery of America the Exodus the colonial society the American Revolution
Economic origins of the Revolution the ideological roots of the Revolution the character of the
Revolution the making of the Constitution (1787) George Washington Alexander Hamilton
Thomas Jefferson the Hamilton Jefferson debate Beginning of the Party system Jefferson as
the President of the United States the War of 1812 John Marshall the Monroe Doctrine
Andrew Jackson Westward Expansion Manifest Destiny and Sectionalism the American
Indians the Turner thesis the African Americans From the Missouri Compromise to the
Compromise of 1850 Recent trends in historiography.
References:
F. Freidel, T.H. Williams and R.N. Current, American History: A Survey, Vols. 2.
Henry Bamford Parkes, The American Experience.
Samuel Eliot Morrison and Henry Steele Commager, The Growth of the American Republic.
S. E. Morrison, The Oxford History of the American People, Vols. 3.
Richard Hofstadter, American Political Tradition.
Thomas Bailey, The Diplomatic History of the American People.
H. Zinn, A History of the American People.
George Taylor, Problems in American Civilization Series.
Course 13 (Hist/PG/3.4.E): European History: Russia, Socialism and the Russian

Revolution.
The Russian State: Its nature and the administrative structure.

The Great Reforms: Social and political impact.
Growth of Revolutionary Ideas and Movements: Revolutionary Movements of 1880s.
Conservative Nationalism and Reaction.
Political Oppositions: The Zemstva opposition, Russian Liberalism and constitutionalism.
Socialism and Revolutionary Movement Revolution of 1905.
Economic Development from 1881-1914.
The Autocracy form Revolution to War.

The Russian Social Democratic Labour party.
The Impart of World War I, The February Revolution and the end of autocracy.
The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.
Books:
a) H. Seton-Watson, The Russian Empire.

b) N. V. Riasanovsky, A History of Russia.
c) Madhavan K. Palat, (ed.), Social Identities of Revolutionary Russia.
d) S. Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution.
e) M. Ferro, The February Revolution.
f) _______., The Bolshevik Revolution.
g) Edith W. Clowes, et. al, Between Tsar and People: Educated Society and the Quest for Public
Identity in Late Imperial Russia.
(Further references will be given in class)
Course 13 (Hist/PG/3.4.F): Pre-colonial and Colonial Economy: Business Communities,

Markets and Maritime Empires, 15th to 18th century.
This paper would look into both theoretical frameworks and at case studies.
Commercialization
Markets, Money, Credit and Banking
Business communities, Portfolio capitalists
Portuguese Sea-borne empire
Dutch Sea-borne empire
Comparison with contemporary Asian and European economies
Abu-Lughod, Janet, Before European Hegemony: The World System, A.D. 1250-1350.
Appadurai, Arjun, ed., The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective.
Braudel, F., The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II.
Chaudhuri, Binay Bhushan, The Process of Agricultural Commercialisation in Eastern India
During British Rule: A Reconsideration of the Nations of 'Forced Commercialisation' and
'Dependent Peasantry, in Peter Robb, ed., Meanings in Agriculture: Essays in South Asian History
and Economics: 71-91.
Chaudhuri, K. N., Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean: An Economic History from the
Rise of Islam to 1750.
Chaudhury, Sushil, and Michel Morineau, eds., Merchants, Companies and Trade: Europe and
Asia in the Early Modern Era.
Curtin, Philip, Cross-Cultural Trade in World History.
Dale, Stephen, Indian Merchants and Eurasian Trade, 1600-1750.
Dalton, George, ed., Primitive, Archaic, and Modern Economies: Essays of Karl Polanyi.
Das Gupta, Ashin, and Michael Pearson, eds., India and the Indian Ocean, 1500-1800.
Das Gupta, Ashin, The World of the Indian Ocean Merchant, 1500-1800.
Datta, Rajat, Society, Economy, and the Market: Commercialisation in Rural Bengal, c.1760-
1800.
Frank, Andre Gunder, Reorient: Global Economy in the Asian Age.
Habib, Irfan, Interpreting Indian History.
Kumar, Dharma, ed., The Cambridge Economic History of India, Volume 2: c.1750-c.1970.
Lewis, Martin, Dividing the Ocean Sea, Geographical Review, 89, no. 2, April 1999: 188214.
Ludden, David, ed., Agricultural Production and Indian History.

______., Agrarian Commercialism in Eighteenth Century South India: Evidence from the 1823
Tirunelveli Census, Indian Economic and Social History Review, 25, no. 4, 1988: 493-520.
Maddison, Angus, A Comparison of Levels of GDP Per Capita in Developed and Developing
Countries, 1700-1980, Journal of Economic History, 43, 1983: 27-41.
Malekandathil, Pius, Portuguese Cochin and the Maritime Trade of India, 1500-1663.
Mukherjee, Rudrangshu, and Lakshmi Subramanian, eds., Politics and Trade in the Indian Ocean
World: Essays in Honour of Ashin Das Gupta.
Parthasarathi, Prasannan, Rethinking Backwardness in the Eighteenth Century: Wages and
Competitiveness in Britain and South India before the Industrial Revolution, Past and Present, no.
158, 1998: 79-109.
Pearson, M.N., The Portuguese in India.
Perlin, Frank, Invisible City: Monetary, Administrative, and Popular Infrastructures in Asia and
Europe, 1500-1900.
Polanyi, Karl, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time.
Pomeranz, Kenneth, The Great Divergence: Europe, China, and the Making of the Modern World
Economy.
Prakash, Om, European Commercial Enterprise in Pre-Colonial India.
______., The Dutch East India Company and the Economy of Bengal, 1630-1720.
Ray, Rajat Kanta, The Bazaar: Changing Structural Characteristics in the Indigenous Section of
the Indian Economy Before and After the Great Depression, The Indian Economic and Social
History Review, 25, no. 3, 1988: pp. 263-318.
Raychaudhuri, Tapan, and Irfan Habib, eds., The Cambridge Economic History of India, Vol. I.
Richards, John R., ed., Precious Metals in the Later Medieval and Early Modern Worlds.
Subrahmanyam, Sanjay, and C. A. Bayly, Portfolio Capitalists and the Political Economy of
Early Modern India, The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 25, no. 4, 1988: 401-24.
Subrahmanyam, Sanjay, ed., Merchants, Markets and the State in Early Modern India.
______., The Political Economy of Commerce: Southern India 1500-1650.
Vink, Markus, Indian Ocean Studies and the New Thalassology, Journal of Global History,
Vol. 2, no. 1, 2007: 41-62.
Wallerstein, Immanuel, The Capitalist World-Economy.
Williamson, Jeffrey and Kevin O'Rourke, After Columbus: Explaining Europe's Overseas Trade
Boom, 1500-1800, Journal of Economic History, 62, 2002: 417-456.
Winius, G. D., and Vink, M., The Merchant-Warrior Pacified the VOC and its Changing
Political Economy in India.
Course 13 (Hist/PG/3.4.G): Social History of Science and Technology in India: Pre-colonial

Phase.
1. The Beginnings: From Technique to Technology Stone tools, Rock Art, Food Production,
Ceramics Production, Metal Works.
2. Structural techniques and mathematics.
3. State of Questioning and Speculations on Nature and Universe in Vedic Literature.
4. Creationism: Speculations, rationalization and metaphysics.
5. Evolution of Physical Theories.
6. Human Body and Health: Magico-religious approaches to physiological and clinical
enquiries. Development within Ayurveda: Concept of Human Body, Diseases, Pharmacopeia,
Hygiene Rasayana up to the medieval period.
7. Ancient Indian engagements with Nature: Natural and Human Environment, Concept,
Practices, Awareness and Philosophy, Agriculture and Plant Care.
8. Developments in Ganita Sastra upto 12th Century. Medieval Mathematics.
9. a) Astronomy: Vedanga Jyotisa to Surya Siddhanta b) Astronomy in Medieval India.
10. Aspects of Technology upto the Medieval Time, Alchemy Rasayana, Architecture,
Metallurgy, Textiles, Armoury and other production techniques.

11. Science and Society: Pre-colonial Indian Paradigm.
12. Historiography of Science and Technology: A Social History Approach.
1. D. M. Basu, S. N. Sen and B. V. Subbarayappa, eds. A Concise History of Science in India,

New Delhi, 1971.
2. Satya Prakash, Founders of Science in Ancient India, New Delhi, 1965.
3. B. M. Barua, A History of Pre-Buddhistic Indian Philosophy, Calcutta, 1921.
4. Arun Biswas, Science in India, Calcutta, 1969.
5. D. P. Chattopadhyay, History of Science and Technology in Ancient India, 2 vols., Kolkata,
1986.
6. D. P. Chattopadhyay, Studies in the History of Sciences, New Delhi, 1982.
7. D. P. Chattopadhyay, Science and Society in Ancient India, Calcutta, 1977.
8. P. C. Ray, ed., History of Chemistry in Ancient and Mediaeval India, Calcutta, 1956.
9. B. V. Subbarayappa, ed., Chemistry and Chemical Techniques in India, New Delhi, 1999.
10. S. N. Sen and K. S. Shukla, eds., History of Astronomy India, New Delhi, 1985.
11. D. S. Hooda and J. N. Kapur, Aryabhata, Life and Contributions, New Delhi, 1996.
12. V. N. Sharma, Sawai Jai Singh II and History Astronomy, Delhi, 1995.
13. P. Kutumbia, Ancient Indian Medicine, Madras, 1962.
14. K. G. Zysk, Asceticism and Healing Art in Ancient India: Medicine in the Buddhist
Monasteries, Delhi, 1991.
15. Charles Leslie, ed., Asian Medical System: A Comparative Study, London, 1976.
16. Ashok Kumar Bagchi, Medicine in Medieval India, Delhi, 1997.
17. Marta Vannucci, Ecological Readings in the Veda, New Delhi, 1993.
18. Geeti Sen, ed., Indigenous Vision, Peoples of India: Attitude to the Environment, New Delhi,
1992.
19. Vijay Kumar Thakur, Urbanisation in Ancient India, New Delhi, 1981.
20. H. D. Sankalia, Some Aspects of Pre-historic Technology in India, New Delhi, 1970.
21. Nupur Dasgupta, Dawn of Technology, Calcutta, 1997.
22. Sukla Das, Fabric Art: Heritage of India, New Delhi, 1992.
23. Moti Chandra, Costumes, Textiles in Ancient and Medieval India, Delhi, 1973.
24. S. A. K. Ghori and A. Rahman, Paper Technology in Medieval India, New Delhi, 1966.
25. P. K. Acharya, Indian Architecture, Reprint New Delhi, 1981.
26. Zaheer Babar, Scientific Knowledge, Civilization and Colonial Rule in India, New Delhi,
1998.
27. C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar, Town Planning in Ancient Dekkan, Madras, 1916.
28. P. K. Acharya, An Encyclopedia of Hindu Architecture, Calcutta, 1927.
29. B. B. Dutta, The Science of the Sulba, University of Calcutta, 1991.
30. Girindranath Mukhopadhyay, History of Indian Medicine, Calcutta, 2003 reprint, 3 vols.
31. G. Thibaut, Mathematics in the Making in Ancient India, ed., by D. P. Chattopadhyay, New
Delhi, 1984 reprint.
32. A. Rahaman, ed., History of Indian Science, Technology and Culture, AD 1000-1800, History
of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization, PHISPC, New Delhi, 2000.
33. B. V. Subbarayappa, ed., Chemistry and Chemical Techniques in India, PHISPC, New Delhi.
34. P. C. Ray, A History of Hindu Chemistry, Vol. I & Vol. II, Centenary edition, Kolkata, 2002.
Course 13 (Hist/PG/3.4.H): Technology and Warfare till 1700 CE: A Global Perspective.
Technology has been one of the crucial integers of world military history in general and South
Asian military history in particular. Technology has been defined in this course broadly. Rather
than merely hardware used for combat on land and sea, the techniques associated with maintaining,
feeding and moving the combat forces are also included within the rubric of technology. Further,

the social and cultural effects on the use or non-use of the hardware have been emphasised. The
relation between technology and the socio-cultural matrix has been dialectical. Hence, the effects of
introduction of new technologies on societal fabric and cultural ethos have been emphasised upon.
Further, the development of military technology within South Asia has been put into a global
context. The technology flow from Central Asia during medieval era and from the West during the
early modern era has been focused on. Both the war chariots and the mounted archers came to India
from Central Asia and gunpowder technologies came from both Central Asia and the West. Within
India, equal attention is given both to north and south India. Overemphasis on the British period at
the cost of ancient and medieval eras is avoided. The first part of the course would see how the
chariot technology moved into India and China from Middle East through Central Asia and the
failure of chariot technology against heavy infantry warfare as developed in Classical Greece. The
second part of the course elucidates how mounted archery of the steppe nomads allowed them to
ride roughshod over the agrarian bureaucratic polities of India, China and Middle East during the
early medieval era. The third and final section of this course would analyse the Gunpowder
Revolution in West Europe and the rise of the West vis--vis the rest.
Themes
1. Historiography of Technology and Warfare
2. Chariot Revolution and the Emergence of Empires in Eurasia
3. The Steppe Nomads in History
(a) From Crossbow to Composite Bows
(b) Attila and Chingiz Khan: A Comparative Analysis
4. Technology of Siege Warfare in Eurasia
5. The Gunpowder Revolution
(a) Infantry and Artillery Revolutions in Early Modern Europe
(b) Stagnation of Gunpowder Revolution in China
(c) Gunpowder Revolution in Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal Empires
Reading List:
Gupta, S.P., Arrowheads Its Technology and History, Journal of the Bihar Research Society,
vol. XLVII (1961), pp. 129-42.
Hall, Bert S. and Kelly R. DeVries, Essay Review the Military Revolution Revisited,
Technology and Culture, vol. 31, no. 3 (1990), pp. 500-7.
Hanson, Victor Davis, Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power
(New York: Doubleday, 2001).
Hooper, Nicholas and Matthew Bennett, Cambridge Illustrated Atlas of Warfare: The Middle
Ages, 768-1487 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).
Lee, Captain F.R. An Ancient Weapon of India, Journal of the United Service Institution of
India, vol. XLI, no. 187 (1912), pp. 189-94.
Pant, G.N., The Saga of Indian Arms, Journal of the Indian History, Golden Jubilee Volume
(1973), pp. 245-59.
Parker, Geoffrey, The Military Revolution: Military innovation and the rise of the West, 1500-
1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988).
Raaflaub, Kurt and Nathan Rosenstein, (eds.), War and Society in the Ancient and Medieval
Worlds: Asia, the Mediterranean, Europe, and Mesoamerica (Centre for Hellenic Studies,
Washington DC., Cambridge, Massachusetts, distributed by Harvard University Press, 1999).
Roy, Kaushik, Indias Historic Battles: From Alexander the Great to Kargil (New Delhi:
Permanent Black, 2004).
Roy, Kaushik, (ed.), Warfare, State and Society in South Asia: 500 BCE-2005 CE (New Delhi:
Viva, 2010).
Course 14 (Hist/PG/3.5.A): Early Indian Political Ideas and Institutions.

1. Genesis of Political Concepts and Institutions the Evidence of the First Literature of the
World:
Formation of Socio-Political Identities.
Emergence of Socio-Political Identities.
Emerging Systems of Political Authority in the Vedic and Post Vedic Milieu: Chariots and
Dices, Household Chiefs, Priests and Kingmakers Monarchical form of Polity the Theories of
Contract, Divine Origin and other concepts.
2. Government of Multitude/Aristocracy: Analysis of the Vedic and Post Vedic Gana Rastras.
People in Politics Sabha, Samiti, Vidatha and Parisad.
Development of the Concepts and Institutions of Sovereignty and Rastra in the Context of the
Growing Urbanization in Northern India:
3. Towards Imperialist Structures: Mauryas to Guptas.
Ingredients from other Cultures: Indo-Greeks, Sakas and Kushanas.
Changing face of Monarchy: Concepts of Saptanga Rastra and Rajadharma.
Trans-Vindhyan Patterns of Polity.
4. The World of Concepts and Political Thought:
Kautilyan Arthasastra A Landmark in Political and Legal Thought.
The Epics: A Critical Reading on the issues of Identity, Authority, Moral Dilemma, Legal and
Ethical Sanctions in a contextualized History.
The World of Brahmanical Jurists Political, Social and Legal concepts in the Dharmasastras and
Smritis.
Peoples Role in Politics A Different Dimension in some Buddhist and Brahmanical Texts.
5. Administrative Institutions:
Bureaucracy, Financial Administration, Revenue System, Military, Diplomacy, Interstate Policy
and Judicial Organisations, Provincial Administration Decentralization, genesis of Local self
Government and Regional Identity.
6. Evidence and Theory Historiography Researches on the Concepts and Systems of Polity,
State, Political Authority and Legal Prerogative in Early India.
Suggested Reading:
G.L. Possehl, ed., Harappan Civilization: Contemporary Perspective, New Delhi, 1982.
R. C. Majumdar, Corporate Life in Ancient India, Calcutta, First Pubd., 1919.
Beni Prasad, Theory of Government in Ancient India, Allahabad, 1974.
N.N. Law, Aspects of Ancient Indian Polity, Oxford, 1st Pubd, 1921.
U. Ghoshal, A History of Indian Political Theories, Madras, 1966.
N.C. Bandopadhyaya, Development of Hindu Polity and Political Theories, New Delhi, 1980.
J. C. Heesterman, The Ancient Indian Royal Consecration, The Hague, 1957.
R.S. Sharma, Aspects of Political Ideas and Institutions in Ancient India, Delhi, 1991.
_______., Origin of the State in India, Bombay, 1989.
Romila Thapar, From Lineage to State, Bombay, 1984.
Kumkum Roy, The Emergence of Monarchy in North India, Delhi, 1994.
U. Chakrabarti, The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism, Delhi, 1987.
B. H. Baden-Powell, The Indian Village Community, London, 1896.
Romila Thapar, Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas, Delhi, 1963.
Romila Thapar, The Mauryas Revisited, Calcutta, 1987.
Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya, The Making of Early Medieval India, Delhi, 1997.
D.D. Kosambi, An Introduction to the Study of Indian History, Bombay, 1956.
J. Gonda, Ancient Indian Kingship from Religious point of View, Leiden, 1966.
P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, Poona, 1930-62.
J.P. Sharma, Republics in Ancient India, Leiden, 1968.
Haripada Chakrabarti, Vedic India Political and Legal Institutions in Vedic Literature, Calcutta,
1981.
K.P. Jayaswal, Hindu Polity, Bangalore, 1943.

Romila Thapar, Interpreting Early India, Delhi, 1992.
H. Philips, Historians of India, Pakistan and Ceylon, Oxford, 1961.
Course 14 (Hist/PG/3.5.B): Regional History The Functioning of the State in Eastern

India in the Late Medieval/ Early Modern Period.
This module will focus on 1) how new state forms evolved in eastern India, with particular
reference to Bengal, following the collapse of the Mughals and goes on to study specifically 2) the
integration between state, market, politics and religion. Our points of entry will be producing
classes, trade (inland/riverine, overland, seaborne) urban growth, and the market itself. Gradations
of the marketinto bazaar, mandi, ganj and hatwill be emphasised. Production areas will be
studied and attention will be focused on the various classes participating in commercial agricultural
production and their links with government. We would also consider whether the term successor
state could be applied to the region of Bengal.
1. The new State in the eighteenth century
2. The Economyparticipants and intermediaries
3. Trade and Production
4. Markets
5. Towns
6. Village
7. Court
8. Religion
Bibliography:
Akhtar, S., The Role of the Zamindars in Bengal, 1707-1772, Dacca, 1982.
Ballhatchet, K., and J. Harrison, eds., The City in South Asia: Pre-Modern and Modern, London,
1980.
Bhadra, G., Social Groups and Relations in the Town of Murshidabad 1765-1793, Indian
Historical Review, Vol. II, No. 2, 1976.
Bhattacharya, Sukumar, The East India Company and the Economy of Bengal from 1704 to 1740,
2nd ed. Calcutta, 1969.
Calkins, Philip B., The Formation of a Regionally Oriented Ruling Group in Bengal, 1700-
1740, Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 29, No. 4, 1970.
Chakrabarti, Shubhra, Collaboration and Resistance: Bengal Merchants and the English East
India Company, 1757-1833, Studies in History, Vol. 10, No. 1, 1994.
_____., Intransigent Shroffs and the English East India Companys Currency Reforms, Indian
Economic and Social History Review, Vol. 34, No. 1, 1997.
Chakravarty, R., Vaishnavism in Bengal, Calcutta, 1985.
Chatterjee, Anjali, Bengal in the Reign of Aurangzeb 1658-1707, Calcutta, 1967.
Chatterjee, Kumkum, Merchants, Politics and Society in Early Modern India, Bihar: 1733-1820,
Leiden, 1996.
_____., The Cultures of History in Early Modern India. Persianization and Mughal Culture in
Bengal, New Delhi, 2009.
Chaudhuri, B.B., Characterising the Polity and Economy of late Pre-colonial India: The
Revisionist Position in the Debate over The Eighteenth Century in Indian History, The Calcutta
Historical Journal, Vols. XIX and XX, combined special issue, 1997-98.
_____., Peasant History of Late Pre-Colonial and Colonial India, Project of History of Science,
Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilisation, Vol. VIII, Part 2, Centre for Studies in Civilisations
and Pearson Longman, New Delhi, 2008.
Chaudhury, Sushil, From Prosperity to Decline, Eighteenth-Century Bengal, Delhi, 1995.
Curley, David, Poetry and History. Bengali Mangal-kabya and Social Change in Precolonial
Bengal, New Delhi, 2008.

Datta, K. K., Studies in the History of the Bengal Subah, Vol. I, Calcutta, 1936.
_____., Alivardi and His Times, Calcutta, 1939.
Datta, Rajat, Society, Economy and the Market. Commercialization in Rural Bengal c. 1760-
1800, Delhi, 2000.
Dimock E., and R. Inden, The City in Pre-British Bengal, in Edward Dimock, ed., The Sound of
Silent Guns and Other Essays, Delhi, 1989.
Eaton, Richard M., The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760, Berkeley and London,
1993.
Karim, Abdul, Murshid Quli Khan and His Times, Dacca, 1963.
_____., Dacca the Mughal Capital, Dacca, 1964.
Marshall, P.J., East Indian Fortunes: The British in Bengal in the Eighteenth Century, Oxford,
1976.
_____., ed., The Eighteenth Century in Indian History, Evolution or Revolution?, Delhi, 2003.
McLane, John R., Land and Local Kingship in Eighteenth-century Bengal, Cambridge, 1993.
Mukherjee, Rila, Merchants and Companies in Bengal: Kasimbazar and Jugdia in the Eighteenth
Century, Delhi, 2006.
Mukherjee, Tilottama, The Co-ordinating State and the Economy: The Nizamat in Eighteenth-
century Bengal, Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 43, No. 2, March 2009.
Prakash, Om, The Dutch East India Company and the Economy of Bengal, 1630-1720, Delhi,
1988.
Ray, Aniruddha, The city of Bengala in the European travel accounts and cartography, in H.
Sreenivasa Murthy et al, eds., Essays on Indian History and Culture: Felicitation Volume in
Honour of Prof. B. Sheik Ali, New Delhi, 1990.
Ray, Ratnalekha, Change in Bengal Agrarian Society, 1760-1850, Delhi, 1979.
Sen, Sudipta, Empire of Free Trade: The East India Company and the Making of the Colonial
Market Place, Philadelphia, 1998.
Sinha, N.K., Zamindari System in Bengal from Murshid Quli to Mir Qasim, Bengal Past and
Present, Vol. LXXVI, No. 142, 1957.
_____., The Economic History of Bengal, from Plassey to the Permanent Settlement, 3 Vols.,
Calcutta, 1956, 1962, and 1970.
Subrahmanyam, Sanjay, ed., Merchants, Markets and the State in Early Modern India, Delhi,
1990.
_____., ed., Money and the Market in India 1100-1700, Delhi, 1994.
Yang, Anand, Bazaar India Markets, Society, and the Colonial State in Gangetic Bihar,
Berkeley and London, 1998.
Course 14 (Hist/PG/3.5.C): Social History of Modern India: Colonialism, Nationalism and

Beyond.
This module on the social history of modern India is distinct from other takes on the history of
modern India, not in terms of the spatial and temporal field that it covers, but in terms of the critical
lenses it provides the student with when the latter seeks to take a fresh interrogating look at what
she/he has conventionally studied as the history of modern India.
Indeed the very project of studying the history of modern India from a specifically social history
perspective constitutes the first critical dimension of our study. Social history, far from being the
dregs that remain after the political and the economic have been taken out of history, is a radical
historiographical agenda in itself. Social history is a critique of the way in which purely political
history is pass while economic history with its frequent econo-centrism precludes an
understanding, let alone a radical critique, of those forms of social inequality and marginalization
which do not derive from the economic organization of production and society but from various
forms of social power and non-political authority or from the hegemony of ideologies. Developing
upon this critical potential of social history as a mode of history-writing, this module will, even
while studying modern India in terms of the conventional but crucial interrelationship of

colonialism and nationalism, open up for the students the exciting ways in which the study of this
interrelationship has been complicated, variegated and nuanced by the input of critical theories.
Thus, this module will try to acquaint the student with the immensely rich dimensions, unexplored
areas, and research possibilities that have recently opened up even within the domain of the familiar
terrain of modern Indian history.
Even while this module draws upon Marxist (including Gramscian) interpretations of the
fundamental social contradictions in modern Indian history, it also acquaints the students with the
more recent historiographical trends inspired by the critical writings of Foucault, Derrida, Said and
the radical feminists. However, instead of giving an uncritical resume of this new critical
scholarship, our course will encourage the student to read this new historical scholarship critically
and in the light of a sound acquaintance with empirical research.
The following are the thematic areas that the module will seek to address. However, the limited
time available under the semester system might not permit the concerned teacher to cover every
topic enumerated within each thematic area.
1. A critical assessment of the new historiographical perspectives on colonialism and
nationalism in India:
(a) Colonialism as power; upper-class, upper-caste anti-colonial nationalism as power.
(b) Orientalism as power
(c) Anti-colonial nationalism as derivative discourse
(d) Colonialism as gender ideology/ies; male-authored anti-colonial nationalism as
gendered ideology.
2. Colonialism and its forms of knowledge: the different kinds of knowledge that were
implicated in colonial power in forms of knowledge the extent to which it was derivative or
counter-discursive; whether and in what ways nationalism derived from or constructed or invented
tradition in the domain of knowledge; how and how far class, caste, gender and ethnicity
variegated the field of knowledge.
3. Race as ideology in the colonial milieu: race as imperialist (and colonial) ideology; race as
nationalist ideology/ies.
4. Colonialism as Body Politics, Nationalism and its body politics: Colonial discourse on the
Indian body; colonial state and the segregation of the white body; the gendered nature of the
colonial body politics; to what extent was the nationalist body politics a derivative discourse;
nationalist discourse and the disciplining of the body (particularly of women, children, youths);
colonialism, nationalism and the medicalisation of the Indian body; colonialism, nationalism and
sexuality.
5. Representation and ordering of space as power: colonial mapping as power; colonial
architecture; colonial interpretation of Indian architecture; spatial implications of nationalisms
delineation of the inner and the outer domains.
6. Colonialism, Nationalism and the Woman Question.
7. Governmentality as Power, Colonial governance: health and education; nationalist paradigms
of development and planning.
8. Examining the hegemony of science: Science as the legitimization of the Raj; nationalist
derivation of the hegemony of science, marginalised knowledge systems.
9. Beyond Nationalist Frames: Stratification and inequality among the colonised, its
postcolonial legacies.
Suggested Readings:
Thomas Metcalf, Ideologies of the Raj.

R. Inden, Imagining India.
L.Wurgaft, The Imperial Imagination: Magic and Myth in Kiplings India.
Edward Said, Orientalism.
Partha Mitter, Much Maligned Monsters: History of European Reactions to Indian Art.
M. Sinha, Colonial Masculinity: The Manly Englishman and the Effeminate Bengali.
Gyan Prakash, Another Reason.

Deepak Kumar, Science and the Raj.
Course 14 (Hist/PG/3.5.D): Twentieth Century US.
A: Industrialisation, Progressivism, Manifest Destiny and Life in the early twenties and
thirties
1. Industrialisation Reconstructing the nation Industrialisation and urbanisation Political,
social, economic and intellectual responses shift from social Darwinism to pragmatism. The
emergence of the new world-view.
2. Progressivism The Progressive movement From Square Deal to New Freedom (T.R.Taft.
Wilson) Progressive journalism Progressivism and labour towards a new historiography.
Progressivism to a new historiography. Progressivism to consensus and multiculturalism.
3. Manifest Destiny Progressivism by the sword The Progressive era and world politics
dollar diplomacy Big Brothership in Latin America The Open Door Far East and South Asia.
4. Life in the twenties The neglected American Indians and the African Americans, American
literature romanticism to realism, the culture of the Jazz age writers, artists and musicians the
cinema change in education science and technology, poverty, cults, and counterculture etc.
5. Big Business and the new America Sports, Science, Cinema and the Automobile Stealing
steps African American Dance, Music and American culture.
6. American Environment in the 20th Century.
Reading List:
1. Frank Freidel, Twentieth Century America.

2. Leon Litwack, The American Labour Movement.
3. Richard Hofstadter, The Age of Reform.
4. Richard Hofstadter, American Political Presidents and the men who made it.
5. A. Link, Age of Reform.
6. H. B. Parkes, History of the United States.
7. Paul Sweezy and Paul Baran, Monopoly Capital.
8. H. Zinn, A Peoples History of the U.S.
9. Kathy Peiss, Cheap Amusements: Working Women and Leisure in Turn of the Century.
10. Linda Dahl, Stormy Weather: The Music and Lives of a Century of Jazzwomen.
11. Noam Chomsky, Deterring Democracy.
Course 14 (Hist/PG/3.5.E): Capitalism, Modernisation and the Instability of Liberal

Hegemony in Western Europe.
The outline of the full course is given below. Select themes will be offered each year. The course
will consist of around 42 lectures together with regular internal assessment in the form of group
discussions, tutorials/ terms papers.
1. The Industrial Revolution and courses of capitalist development.
2. Long Waves and Social and Political developments.
3. The rise of the new liberalism and the socialist challenge.
(a) France from Commune to World War I.
(b) Liberalism in Germany; Relations with the Bismarckian state.
(c) Social Democracy in Germany.
(d) World War I, the crisis of the old order, and the challenge of revolutionary socialism.
4. Nationalism, conservatism and the rise of the far right.
(a) France: From Bonapartism to Boulangism.
(b) France: Royalism, conservatism after Boulanger, and the French Fascist Organisations.

(c) Italy: Nationalism and Fascism.
(d) From Traditional Nationalist Right to the Nazi Revolution: Culture, Economics and Politics
in Germany.
(e) Fascists in power.
5. Liberal regimes, welfare statism and their crises in post World War II Europe.
Basic References:
1) Tom Kemp, Historical Patterns of Industrialisation.

2) C. M. Cipolla, (ed.), The Fontana Economic History of Europe, Vols. III and IV.
3) E. Mandel, Long Waves of Capitalist Development.
4) G. Eley and D. Blackbourn, The peculiarities of German History.
5) W. Mommsen, Imperial Germany.
6) D. W. Brogan, The Development of Modern France.
7) Z. Sternhell, The Revolutionary Right.
8) W. Litdke, The Outlawed Party.
9) R. Hunt, The German Social Democracy.
10) J. Braunthal, A History of the International.
11) C. Harman, Germany The Lost Revolution.
12) D. Gluckstein, The Western Soviets.
13) M. N. Dobkowski and I. Wallimann, Radical perspectives on the Rise of Fascism in
Germany.
14) D. J. K. Peukert, Everyday Life in Nazi Germany.
15) D. Guerin, Fascism and Big Business.
16) S. G. Payne, Fascism.
17) C. Koonz, Mothers in the Fatherland.
18) Robert Black, Fascism in Germany.
Course 14 (Hist/PG/3.5.F): Economic Changes in Colonial India: A case study of Bengal.
1. Penetration of Colonial rule

2. New Land Revenue Systems
3. Commercialization of Agriculture
4. Peasant rebellions
5. Industry
6. Labour movements
7. Changing role of the Colonial State
Select Reading List:
S. Sen, Agrarians Relations in India.

S. Sen, Economic History of India, Vols. 1 & 2.
N.K. Sinha, Economic History of Bengal, Vols. I-III.
B.B. Chaudhuri, Commercialisation of Agriculture in Bengal.
C. Palit, Tensions in Bengal Rural Society.
C. Palit, Perspectives on Agrarian Bengal.
Sugata Bose, Peasant Labour and Colonial Capital: Rural Bengal since 1770.
Dipesh Chakrabarty, Rethinking Working Class History: Bengal 1890-1940.
Ranajit Guha, A Rule of Property for Bengal.

Course 14 (Hist/PG/3.5.G): Social History of Science and Technology: Magic, Science,
Religion and Belief from the Ancient World to the Scientific Revolution.
This course offers a glimpse into how science developed within particular social frameworks and
specific polities. This module offers a continuous narrative of the social history of scientific thought
from the Egyptians and the Greeks until the scientific revolution of the 17 th century. The religious
thought of Augustine is studied at length to understand medieval Christian scientific notions. The
tension between Thomism (Aquinas) and Aristotelianism is a fundamental part of this section. This
section incorporates much of western theology, Islamic scientific thought, and Byzantine science
until the Renaissance. The post Renaissance European world is represented by two key figures:
Galileo and Descartes and is studied in terms of the divergence of scientific thought between central
and western Europe and the emergence of mathematics as an universal scientific language in west
Europe in the 17th century.
The module may be further divided as such:
1. From The Egyptians to the Greeks From Magic to Rationality?
2. The Greeks to western Christendom The Paradox of Science and Religion.
3. West and East Christendom until the Revival of Aristotle in the 12 th century Renaissance
Scientific thought in the Latin West and the Hellenic East.
4. Islamic scientific thought from the 9th-14th centuries an uncertain bridge to the Latin West?
5. The Renaissance in Europe society and science.
6. Papacy and Mathematics Galileo to Descartes.
Bibliography:
For Sections 1 and 2

Sigerist, E.L., A History of Medicine, 3 vols. Egypt/ Mesopotamia, The Greeks and Romans and
the East, New York, Oxford University Press, 1951,1961 etc.
Clagett, M., Greek Science in Antiquity, Books for Library Press, 1955. Read Chaps. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6,
and 13.
Stahl, William Harris, Roman science: origins, development and influence to the later middle
ages, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1962.
Crombie, Alistair Cameron, Augustine to Galileo: the history of science, A. D. 4001650, Falcon
Press, London, 1952. Second edition entitled Medieval and early modern science, 2 vols.,
Doubleday, New York, 1959.
Lindberg, David, The beginnings of Western science: 600 B. C. to 1450 A.D, University of
Chicago Press, Chicago, 1992.
Taton, Rene, La science antique et medieval, Presses University France, 1957. Translated as
Ancient and Medieval science: from the beginning to 1450, by A. J. Pomerans, Basic Books, New
York, 1963.
Crombie, A.C., Medieval and Early Modern Science, 2 vols., Harvard University Press, 1961.
Grant, E., Physical Science in the Middle Ages, Cambridge University Press, 1977. Read Chaps.
I-IV and VI.
Lindberg, D.C., ed., Science in the Middle Ages, University of Chicago Press, 1978.
Butzer, P.L., and D. Lohmann, Science in Western and Eastern civilization in Carolingian times,
Birkhauser, Boston, 1993.
Dales, Richard, The Scientific achievement of the Middle Ages, University Pennsylvania Press,
Philadelphia, 1973.
Nasr, S.H., Science and Civilization in Islam, Harvard University Press, 1968.
Section 5
Toulmin, Stephen, Cosmopolis: the hidden agenda of modernity, University of Chicago Press,
1992.
Section 6
Wallace, W., Mechanics from Bradwardine to Galileo, Journal of the History of Ideas, 32
(1971): 15-28.

Shapin, Steven, and Simon Schaffer, Leviathan and the Air Pump, University of California Press,
1996.
Cambridge Companions to Galileo and also Descartes.
Grant, Edward, and John E. Murdoch, eds., Mathematics and its applications to science and
natural philosophy in the Middle Ages: essays in honour of Marshall Clagett, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 1987.
Dear, Peter, Discipline and Experience. A Study of the Emergence of mathematics, Basel,
Birkhuser, 1996.
Knor, Wilbur Richard, Textual studies in ancient and medieval geometry, Birkhauser, Boston,
1989.
Parkinson, Claire L., Breakthroughs, A chronology of great achievements in science and
mathematics, 1200-1930, G. K. Hall, Boston, 1985.
Rose, Paul, The Italian Renaissance of mathematics, Libraire Droz, Geneva, 1975.
Sarton, George, Six wings: men of science in the Renaissance, Indiana University Press,
Bloomington, 1957.
Sullivan, J.W.N., The history of mathematics in Europe from the fall of Greek science to the rise
of the conception of mathematical rigor, Oxford University Press, New York, 1925.
Yeldham, F.A., The story of reckoning in the Middle Ages, G.G. Harrap, London, 1926.
Course 14 (Hist/PG/3.5.H): The Rise of British Empire in a Global Perspective: Warfare,

Technology and Societies in Transition 1700-1850.
This course attempts to explain the rise of British Empire in the extra-European World between
the seventeenth and the first half of the nineteenth centuries. How Elizabethan England, a minor
power in the periphery of north-west Europe was able to acquire an empire over which the sun
never set is a paradox in global history. The course begins by evaluating Geoffrey Parkers Military
Revolution theory, which is the latest attempt to explain the rise of the West vis--vis the rest. The
course also traces the maritime aspect of British dominance over the worlds oceans. Maritime
dimension of British rise involves long distance trade and commerce supplemented by naval power.
Trade, commerce and superior military technology gave birth to the military-fiscal state in Britain.
Besides superior technology and economic power, in the colonies, British power was also
dependent on collaboration with the colonial subjects. This opens up a host of questions about
indigenous resistance to the colonial penetration. Why did the agrarian bureaucratic empires of Asia
despite possessing enormous demographic and economic assets collapse against the numerically
inferior Western powers? Inferior military hardware and friable state structure to a large extent
explains the rise of Britain in Afro-Asia.
Methodologies: Though bulk of the course would concentrate on South Asia, continuous
comparisons and contrast will be made with the penetration of the West European maritime powers
(French, Dutch and Spain) in South-East Asia, China, Middle East and in North America. A global
perspective would enable us to locate the uniqueness (or lack of it) of the subcontinents historical
developments. In addition, such a macro view throws new light on big questions like why the
French were successful in South-East Asia but not in South Asia. Interconnections between the
colonies and the metropolitan powers as put forward by spatial and interconnected history approach
will be followed. This will also help us to understand European developments, i.e. why Spain failed
but Britain succeeded in retaining its maritime empire. Special emphasis will be given to the
military dimension of colonialism. Military is defined broadly in this context. Instead of
concentrating on battles, the focus would be on the interrelationship between organized violence
and societies. Bulk of the revenues of the colonies as well as the metropolitan powers went to
sustain their armed forces. The armaments of the navies and armies also accelerated technological
innovations and industrialization. Further, military employment of the colonial soldiers monetized
native societies and created new identities for several indigenous communities like the Ambonese
in Indonesia and Purbiyas in South Asia. Despite the overwhelming importance of armies, navies
and warfare in overseas empire building, a fact which has been accepted by the British, Dutch and

American historians; military history remains marginal in India. This course is an attempt to
balance this historiographical slip.
Themes
1. British Imperialism and Warfare in Eighteenth Century North America and India: A
Comparative Analysis
2. Royal Navy, Naval Supremacy and Overseas Empire Building
3. Military Revolutions in India, China and Ottoman Turkey
4. Pre-British Warfare in Asia
5. The East India Company and the Conquest of India: Construction of a Hybrid Army in South
Asia
6. Carnatic Wars and Anglo-French Struggle
7. Bengal, Bihar and the East India Company
8. Anglo-Mysore Wars
9. Anglo-Maratha Warfare
10. Anglo-Sikh Wars
11. Britain, France and the Anglo-Burma Wars
Reading List:
Aberg, Alf, The Swedish Army from Lutzen to Narva, in Michael Roberts, (ed.), Swedens Age
of Greatness: 1632-1718 (London: Macmillan, 1973).
Agoston, Gabor, Guns for the Sultan: Military Power and the Weapons Industry in the Ottoman
Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
Alavi, Seema, The Sepoys and the Company: Tradition and Transition in Northern India, 1770-
1830 (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995).
Barua, Pradeep, Military Developments in India: 1750-1850, Journal of Military History, vol.
58, no. 4 (1994).
Barua, Pradeep P., The State at War in South Asia (Lincoln/London: University of Nebraska
Press, 2005).
Bayly, C.A., The British Military-Fiscal State and Indigenous Resistance: India 1750-1820, in
Bayly (ed.), Origins of Nationality in South Asia: Patriotism and Ethical Government in the making
of Modern India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998).
Black, Jeremy, A Military Revolution? Military Change and European Society, 1550-1800
(Houndmills, Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1991).
Black, Jeremy, (ed.), European Warfare: 1453-1815 (Houndmills, Basingstoke: Macmillan,
1999).
Black, Jeremy, European Warfare in a Global Context: 1600-1815 (New York/Oxon: Routledge,
2007).
Bossenbroek, Martin, The Living Tools of Empire: The Recruitment of European Soldiers for
the Dutch Colonial Army, 1814-1909, Journal of the Imperial and Commonwealth History, vol.
23, no. 1 (1995).
Chandler, David (General Editor) and Ian Beckett (Associate Editor), The Oxford Illustrated
History of the British Army (Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 1994).
Kennedy, Paul, The Rise and Fall of British Naval Mastery (1976, reprint, London: Pimlico,
1983).
Ness, Gayl D., and William Stahl, Western Imperialist Armies in Asia, Comparative Studies in
Society and History, vol. 19, no. 1 (1977).
Parker, Geoffrey, The Military Revolution: Military Innovation and the Rise of the West, 1500-
1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988).
Parker, Geoffrey, (ed.), The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare: The Triumph of the West
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995).
Ralston, David B., Importing the European Army: The Introduction of European Military
Techniques and Institutions into the Extra-European World, 1600-1914 (Chicago and London:
University of Chicago Press, 1990).

Richards, John F., Early Modern India and World History, Journal of World History, vol. 8, no.
2 (1997).
Rogers, Clifford J., (ed.), The Military Revolution Debate: Readings on the Military
Transformation of Early Modern Europe (Colorado, Boulder: Westview Press, 1995).
Rosen, Stephen Peter, Societies and Military Power: India and its Armies (New Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 1996).
Roy, Kaushik, From Hydaspes to Kargil: A History of Indian Warfare from 326 BC to 1999 AD
(New Delhi: Manohar Publishers & Distributors, 2004).
Roy, Kaushik, Indias Historic Battles: From Alexander the Great to Kargil (New Delhi:
Permanent Black, 2004).
Roy, Kaushik, Theories of Warfare and Conventional Warfare, in Jyoti Bhusan Dasgupta,
(ed.), Science, Technology, Imperialism and War (New Delhi: Pearson Longman, 2007).
Roy, Kaushik, The Armed Expansion of the East India Company, in Daniel Marston and
Chandar Sundaram, (eds.), A Military History of India and South Asia: From the East India
Company to the Nuclear Era (Praeger, 2007).
Roy, Kaushik, The Oxford Companion to Modern Warfare in India: From the Eighteenth Century
to Present Times (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2009).
Roy, Kaushik, (ed.), War, Technology and Society in South Asia: 500 BCE-2005 CE (New Delhi:
Viva Books, 2010).
Roy, Kaushik, Warfare, State and Society in South Asia: 1740-1849 (London: Routledge, 2011).
Sen, Surendranath, Studies in Indian History: Historical Records at Goa (1930, reprint, New
Delhi: Asian Educational Services, 1993).
Subrahmanyam, Sanjay, Warfare and State Finance in Wodeyar Mysore, 1724-5: A Missionary
Perspective, Indian Economic and Social History Review, vol. 26, no. 2 (1989).
Thompson, William R., The Military Superiority Thesis and the Ascendancy of Western Eurasia
in the World System, Journal of World History, vol. 10, no. 1 (Spring 1999).
Thornton, John K., The Art of War in Angola, 1575-1680, Comparative Studies in Society and
History, vol. 30 (1988).
Watson, I. Bruce, Fortifications and the Idea of Force in early English East India Company
relations with India, Past and Present, no. 88 (Aug. 1980).
Weigley, Russell F., The Age of Battles: The Quest for Decisive Warfare from Breitenfeld to
Waterloo (1991, reprint, London: Pimlico, 1993).

Semester IV
NOTE: Between course number 13, 14, 17 and 18 there are 32 optional courses in all. The
students have to opt for any 4 out of those 32 courses. The option is between 8 sets of courses,
i.e., A, B, C, D, E, F,G and H. The students have to opt for any one of these 8 sets. For
example, students opting for (Hist/PG/3.4.A) have to opt also for (Hist/PG/3.5.A),
(Hist/PG/4.3.A), and (Hist/PG/4.4.A). Each group will enable the students to develop some
expertise in a particular area. For example, Group A will focus on Ancient Indian History.
Course 15 (Hist/PG/4.1.1): History of Modern China: 1840-1980.
1. Looking back to the Confucian past

2. China confronts Western capitalism Opium War, Treaty of Nanking (1842) and
supplementary treaties, Treaty System.
3. Resistance movements of the people against feudalism and foreign capitalism Taiping, Nien,
Boxer rebellions
4. China 1865-1898: Self-strengthening movement Reform movement of 1898 Warlordism
5. Sun Yat-Sen & the bourgeois-democratic revolution
6. The period of great intellectual ferment May 4 Movement of 1919
7. The People of China fight for Liberation: The Communist Party of China, Mao Tse-tung and
the New Democratic Revolution (1921-1949): Formation of the CPC First United Front between
the CPC and KMT Chiang Kai-shek and the breakdown of the United Front Hunan rising and
Maoism controversy, Creation of red zones in the Ching Kang-shan Mountains Japanese
conquest of Manchuria Long March Second United Front and the National Liberation War
against Japan New social experiments in Yenan the scalpel the sword Dr Norman
Bethune and the Indian medical mission to China Maos concept of the New Democratic
Revolution Civil War with Chiang and the KMT Accomplishment of the New Democratic
Revolution of 1949
8. The Socialist Revolution, Mao Tse-tung and after (1949-1976-1980): Cooperatives and
Peoples Commune, intra-Party ideological struggle Soviet path vs. Chinese path Liu Shao-
chi vs. Mao Tse-tung Cultural Revolution Ninth Party Congress (1969) class struggles in
the ideological sphere changes in the quality of life in post-revolutionary China Lin Liao
Tenth Party Congress struggle with Teng Hsiao-ping Mao death(1976) and the end of a
phase beginning of the Great Reversal
9. Women and the Chinese Revolution (1900-1950)
Reading List:
Israel Epstein, From Opium war to Liberation.

Tan Chung, The Triton and the Dragon.
Woofgang Frank, A Century of the Chinese revolution.
Leon Sharman, Sun Yat-sen.
J.K. Fairbank, The United States and China.
Chow Tse-tsung, The May 4th Movement.
Stuart Schram, Mao Tse-tung a political biography.
Stuart Schram, Mao Tse-tung. Unrehearsed Speeches and Writings.
Edgar Snow, Red star over China.
Jack Belden, China shakes the world.
Mark Selden, The Yenan way in revolutionary China.

Chalmers Johnson, Peasant nationalism and Communist power.
Joan Robinson, The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China.
Raymond Lotta, And Mao makes 5.
Julia Kristeva, About Chinese women.
Sheila Rowbotham, Women, resistance and revolution.
Amit Bhattacharyya, Chiner Rupantarer Itihas 1840-1980.
Amit Bhattacharyya, Disha o Dishari Chin Biplab O Mao Tse-tung er ekti Bastunistha
Bishleshan.
Amit Bhattacharyya, Transformation of China 1840-1980.
Amit Bhattacharya, The Chinese Civilization Hsia to the Chin Dynasty 2207-206 BC.
Compilation Group of China, a) The Opium War; b) The Taiping Revolution; c) The Yi Ho Tuan
Movement; d) The Reform Movement of 1898; e) The Revolution of 1911.
Jean Chesneaux, Peasant Revolts in China.
Jean Chesneaux, From the Opium War to the 1911 Revolution.
Jean Chesneaux, From the 1911 Revolution to Liberation.
Jean Chesneaux, Secret Societies in China.
Mao Tse-tung, On New Democracy.
Mao Tse-tung, The Struggle on the Ching Kang Mountains.
Mao Tse-tung, A single spark can start a prairie fire.
Mao Tse-tung, Why is it that Red political power can exist in China?
Ted Allan and Sydney Gordon, The Scalpel, The Sword: The story of Dr Norman Bethune.
William Hinton, Fanshen.
Agnes Smedley, The Great Road. The Life And Times Of Chu Teh.
William Hinton, The Great Leap Backward: Privatization in China.
Jerome Chen, Mao Papers. Anthology and Bibliography.
Joseph Needham and others, Clerks and Craftsmen in China and the West.
Elizabeth Roberts, Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Communist Revolution.
Han Suyin, The Morning Deluge. Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Revolution, 2 volumes.
Han Suyin, The Wind in the Tower. Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Revolution 1949-1975.
Wilfred Burchett, China. The Quality of Life.
Victor Nee, The Cultural Revolution at Peking University.
OR
Course 15 (Hist/PG/4.1.2): History of South East Asia: Indonesia, Indo China and Thailand
in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Land, people and History of Modern Indonesia

Colonial Economy:
1. Culture system 1830-1870
2. Free Trade 1870-1900
3. Ethical Policy 1900-1940
Nationalism and Freedom Struggle:
4. Cultural Nationalism
5. Sarekat Islam and PKI
6. P.N.I.
7. Sukarno, Freedom Struggle, Presidency
Land, People and History of Modern Vietnam
Colonial Economy:
1. Doumer and Direct Rule 1897-1902
2. Post-Doumer Developments 1902-1940
3. Nationalism, Colonialism and Freedom Struggle
4. Non-Communist Movement

5. Communist Movement
6. Ho Chi Minh
Land, People and History of Modern Thailand
1. Thailand in the 18th century
2. Thailand and the West
3. Modernization of Thailand
4. Political modernization in the early 20th century Thailand
5. Military rule and democratic experiments in post-World War II Thailand
Reading List:
1. D. G. E. Hall, A History of South East Asia.

2. J. F. Cady, South East Asia: Its Historical Development.
3. D. R. Sardesai, South East Asia. Past and Present.
4. _______., A Modern History of South East Asia.
5. J. D. Legge, Indonesia.
6. J. Buttinger, Vietnam: a History.
7. Neher Clark, Politics and Culture in Thailand.
8. Fred Riggs, Thailand: The Modernization of Bureaucratic Polity.
9. Prasertkul Seksan, The Transformation of the Thai State and Economic change 1855-1945.
10. M.K. Connors, Democracy and National Identity in Thailand.
Course 16 (Hist/PG/4.2.1): Modern Indian Political Thought Caste, Communalism, and

Socialism.
This course would address some of the conceptual issues and look at some personalities.
1. Caste, B. R. Ambedkar and Dalitology
2. Communalism
Muslim Communalism:
Syed Ahmad Khan
Syed Ameer Ali
Mohammad Iqbal
Muhammad Ali Jinnah
Hindu Communalism:
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar
Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar
Keshab Valiram Hedgewar
Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay
3. Socialism
Manabendra Nath Roy
Subhas Chandra Bose
Narendra Deva
Jayaprakash Narayan
Rammanohar Lohia
Suggested Readings:
Anderson, W.K., The Brotherhood in Saffron.

______, The RSS and Hindu Revivalism.
Appadorai, A., ed., Documents on Political Thought in Modern India.
Bose, S.C., The Indian Struggle.
Jha, M.N., Modern Indian Political Thought.
Ghosh, S., Socialism and Communism in India.

OR
Course 16 (Hist/PG/4.2.2): Modern Western Political Thought: The State, Society and
Democracy.
In this course, the focus will be on attitudes to the state, citizenship, and democracy. Select
modules will be offered each year. The outline of the full course is given below. The course will
consist of around 42 lectures together with regular internal assessment in the form of group
discussions, tutorials/term papers.
The rise of the sovereign state and theories of sovereignty: from the late medieval cities to Bodin.
The Italian city-republics.
Machiavelli.
Protestant ideologies.
Jean Bodin.
Political Idea in the English Civil War:
Ideological currents before the Civil War.
Parliamentarism.
Commonwealth and Protectorate.
Republicanism.
The Levellers.
Thomas Hobbes: A royalist response to parliamentarism and democracy.
Egalitarianism and political ideology; Thomas More, Thomas Winstanley, Rousseau. Utopianism
in the 18th Century.
The French Revolution and its Impact:
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.
English Responses: Burke and Tom Paine.
German Idealism: Kant and Hegel.
Democracy in 19th Century.
Socialism and Democracy:
The formative phases and non-democratic socialism: St. Simon Robert Owen and Charles
Fourier, Stirner, Proudhon.
Democratic socialism and Marxism.
The Anarchism of Mikhail Bakunin anarchism after Bakunin.
Liberalism and Democracy in the 20th Century.
Marxism after Marx and Engels Bernstein and Revisionism Kautsky and Orthodox Marxism
Lenin, Trotsky, Luxemburg: The revolutionary tradition Stalinism and alternatives to Stalinism
Gramsci and the quest for a West European communism.
Feminism and the State.
Liberal feminism and suffragism.
Socialist women in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries: Zetkin, Marx-Aveling, Luxemburg,
Kollontai.
Right-wing critics of Democracy: From Royalism to Conservative politics Conservatives and
Fascists.
Suggested Readings:
Machiavelli, The Prince.

Bodin, The Republic.
Hobbes, The Leviathan (selected portions).
A.S.P. Woodhouse, ed., Puritanism and Liberty.
More, Utopia.
Winstanley, selected texts.

Rousseau, The Social Contract.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.
Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France.
Paine, The Rights of Man.
Kant and Hegel, selected texts.
Mill, selected texts.
Marx and Engels, selected texts.
Bakunin, Statism and Anarchy.
Lenin, The State and Revolution.
Kautsky, Selected Political Writings.
Rosa Luxemburg Speaks.
I. Howe, ed., The Essential Trotsky.
Gramsci, selected texts.
Zetkin, Selected Writings and Speeches.
Kollontai, Autobiography of a Sexually Emancipated Woman, Selected Writings and Speeches.
Stalin, selected texts.
Hitler, Mein Kampf (selections).
K.R. Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies.
J. Rawls, A Theory of Justice.
C.B. MacPherson, The Life and Times of Liberal Democracy.
Basic Secondary Texts:
Q.R.D. Skinner, The Foundations of Modern Political thought, 2 vols.
J.H. Plamenatz, Man and Society.
J.G.A. Pocock, The Machiavellian Moment.
C.B. MacPherson, The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism.
N. Wood and E. Meiksins, Wood: The Trumpet of Sedition.
L. Colletti, From Rousseau to Lenin.
H. Marcuse, Reason and Revolution.
H. Draper, Karl Marxs Theory of Revolution.
R. J. Evans, Comrades and Sisters.
_______., The Feminists.
R. Blackburn, ed., Class Struggle and Revolution.
A. Kelley, Mikhail Bakunin.
R. Tucker, ed., Stalinism.
R. Griffin, ed., Fascism.
N. Geras, The Legacy of Rosa Luxemburg.
E. Mandel, Trotsky as Alternative.
OR
Course 16 (Hist/PG/4.2.3): Medieval Indian History, 1300-1800: Economy and Culture.
India in European travel accounts

Early modern Europe in Asian perspective
Towns, Ports, and Hinterlands
State and Economy
Art and Imperial Ideology
Etiquette, Court Culture, and Royal Household
Janet L. Abu-Lughod, Before European Hegemony. The World System A.D. 1250-1350.

Muzaffar Alam and Seema Alavi, eds., and trans., A European Experience of the Mughal Orient.
Muzaffar Alam and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Indo-Persian Travels in the Age of Discoveries,
1400-1800.
Daud Ali, Courtly Culture and Political Life in Early Medieval India.
Kenneth Ballhatchet and John Harrison, eds., The City in South Asia: Premodern and Modern.
Indu Banga, ed., Ports and their hinterlands in India, 1700-1950.
______., ed., The City in Indian history: urban demography, society, and politics.
Milo C. Beach, The New Cambridge History of India I:3 Mughal and Rajput Painting.
Milo C. Beach, and Ebba Koch, King of the World. The Padshahnama.
K.N. Chaudhuri, Trade and Civilization in the Indian Ocean: An Economic History from the Rise
of Islam until 1750.
______., Asia Before Europe: Economy and Civilisation of the Indian Ocean from the Rise of
Islam to 1750.
Stephen F. Dale, Indian Merchants and Eurasian Trade, 1600-1750.
Ashin Das Gupta and M.N. Pearson, eds., India and the Indian Ocean: 1500-1800.
Finbarr B. Flood, Objects of Translation. Material Culture and Medieval Hindu-Muslim
Encounter.
R.E. Frykenberg, ed., Delhi through the ages: essays in urban history, culture, and society.
Jack Goody, The East in the West.
A.G. Hopkins, ed., Globalization in World History.
Monica Juneja, ed., Architecture in Medieval India: Forms, Contexts, Histories.
Ebba Koch, Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology: Collected Essays.
Ruby Lal, Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World.
Prasannan Parthasarathi, Rethinking Backwardness in the Eighteenth Century: Wages and
Competitiveness in Britain and South India before the Industrial Revolution, Past and Present,
1998, pp. 79-109.
M.N. Pearson, The Portuguese in India.
Frank Perlin, Invisible City: Monetary, Administrative, and Popular Infrastructures in Asia and
Europe, 1500-1900.
Kenneth Pomeranz, The Great Divergence. China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World
Economy.
Om Prakash, The Dutch East India Company and the Economy of Bengal, 1630-1720.
John F. Richards, ed., The Imperial Monetary System of Mughal India.
Ramya Sreenivasan, The Many Lives Of A Rajput Queen: Heroic Pasts in India c.1500-1900.
Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Explorations in Connected Histories. From the Tagus to the Ganges.
______., Explorations in Connected Histories. Mughals and Franks.
Kate Teltscher, India Inscribed European and British Writing on India, 1600-1800.
Course 17 (Hist/PG/4.3.A): History of Indian Culture till 12th century.
1. Development of Indian architecture: Harappan Civilization, Buddhist architecture, Jain

architecture, Classical temple architecture: Nagara and Dravida, Non-religious architecture.
2. Development of Ancient sculptural art: Regional variations. Stone and Terracotta art.
3. Trends in Indian paintings.
4. Patronage to art and religion: A social and historical perspective.
5. Literature: Verse, Prose, Drama writing, Anthology, Prasasti, Survey of scientific and
philosophical literature.
6. Origin and development of Indian drama: The traditional dramaturgy, foreign influence on
Sanskrit plays, plot and character in Sanskrit dramas, problems relating to Indian drama, survey of
Kalidasa and post-Kalidasa dramaturgy.
7. Environment and Ecology in Indian ethos and philosophy.
8. Sources on Cultural history.

Reading List:
Stella Kramrisch, Indian Sculpture, Calcutta, 1933.

S.K.Saraswati, A Survey of Indian Sculpture, Munshiram Manoharlal, 1975.
V.S. Agrawal, Studies in Indian Art, Varanasi, 1965.
Debala Mitra, Buddhist Monuments, Calcutta, 1971.
Moti Chandra, Studies in Early Indian Painting, Bombay, 1975.
M.K. Dhavalikar, Masterpieces of Indian Terracottas, Bombay, 1977.
B. Rowland, Art and Architecture of India, Penguin Books, 1953.
D.R. Das, Temples of Orissa, New Delhi, 1982.
A.K. Narain, ed., Seminar Papers on the Local coins of Northern India, Banaras Hindu
University, 1968.
Joveau-Dubreuil, Iconography of Southern India, Cosmo Publication, 2001.
A. Ghosh, Ajanta Murals, New Delhi, 1987.
A.B. Keith, The Sanskrit Drama, Its origin and development. Theory and Practice, Oxford, 1924.
Kapila Vatsyayan, Bharata: The Natyasastra, New Delhi, 1966.
Kapila Vatsyayan, Prakriti: The Integral Vision, New Delhi. 1995.
R.E. Godwin, The Play world of the Sanskrit Drama, Delhi, 1998.
K.G. Zysk, Asceticism and Healing Art in Ancient India, Delhi, 1991.
M.Vannucci, Ecological Readings in the Veda, New Delhi, 1993.
V.N. Jha, ed., Kautilyas Arthasastra and social welfare, New Delhi, 1995.
Baidyanath Saraswati, ed., Integration and Endogamous Cultural Dimensions into Development,
New Delhi, 1997.
Course 17 (Hist/PG/4.3.B): Regional History: Colonialism, Nationalism and Regionalism:

The Assam Experience 1823-1947.
Topics
The Historical Geography of the region and people.
Colonial political and economic structure The Tea-Industry and life under the planter Raj.
Rise of nationalism and its impact on the region the middle class and politics of association.
Imperialism and ethnicity the Linguistic divide.
Problem of Immigration The Line system and its aftermath.
Political turmoil of the Gandhian epoch the Labour and Peasant movement.
The decade between 1937-1947: The Electoral Politics and the communal divide The Sylhet
Referendum. The Partition.
Selected Readings:
1. H. K. Barpujari, ed., Political history of Assam, 3 volumes.

_____., Assam in the Days of the Company 1826-1858.
2. Amalendu Guha, Planter-Raj to Swaraj. Freedom Struggle and Electoral Politics in Assam
1826-1947.
3. Bipin Chandra Pal, Memories of My Life and Times.
4. Rabi Aditya, Fight for Freedom in Sylhet.
5. J. B. Bhattacharjee, Cachar under the British Rule in N. E. India.
6. Sanat Kumar Bose, Capital and Labour in Indian Tea Industry.
7. R. K. Das, Plantation Labour in India.
8. E. A. Gait, A History of Assam.
9. R. M. Lahiri, The Annexation of Assam 1824-1854.
10. Apurba Kumar Baruah, Social Tensions in Assam, Middle Class Politics.
Other references will be provided in class.

Course 17 (Hist/PG/4.3.C): Social History of Modern India: Colonial and Post-colonial
History of the Margins.
1. Concept of Margins in the context of Social History of Modern India

2. Colonial state, Forms of knowledge and the Marginal communities
3. Self awareness, Social Reforms and Protests against the caste oppression in colonial India
4. Tribes in Modern India: (a) Transformation of tribal society and (b) Colonial and post colonial
Tribal Movements Case Studies
5. Partition of India and the Marginal Communities
6. Post-colonial perceptions about the Dalits
7. Post-colonial Dalit Assertion
8. Caste violence in post-colonial India
9. Ethnicity, Ethnic minorities and Regionalism in Post-colonial India
References:
1. Dumont, L., Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste system and its implication, University of Chicago
Press, 1st English edition, 1974.
2. Ghurye, G.S., Caste and Race in India, Popular Prakashan, 1996.
3. Beteille, A., Caste, Class and Power, University of California Press, 1965.
4. Fuller, C., ed., Caste Today, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1996.
5. Searle-Chatterjee, M., and U. Sharma, eds., Contextualizing caste: Post Dumontian
Approaches, London, Blackwell, 1994.
6. Gupta, D., Social Stratification in India, Oxford University Press, 1998.
7. Giddens, A., The Consequences of Modernity, Cambridge, Polity, 1990.
8. Gould, H.A., Politics and Caste, Chanakya Publications, Delhi.
9. Khare, R., The Untouchables as himself. Identity and pragmatism among Lucknow Chamars,
10. Kothari, R., Caste in Indian Politics, Asia Book Corporation of America, 1973.
11. Moffatt, M., An untouchable community in South India, Princeton University Press, 1979.
12. Ambedkar, B.R., Writing and Speeches, Bombay, 1979.
13. Dalton, E.T., Tribal History of Eastern India, Cosmo Publications, Delhi, 1973.
14. Miri, Mrinal, eds., Continuity and Change in Tribal Society, Shimla, 1973.
15. Satyamurthy, T.V., ed., Region, Religion, Caste, Genders and Culture in India, Delhi, Oxford
16. Agarwal, S.C., and K.S. Mathur, eds., Tribe, Caste and Peasantry, Lucknow, 1974.
17. Roy Burman, B.K., Demographic and Socio-economic profiles of the Hill Areas of NE India,
Delhi, 1961.
18. Barman, Rup Kumar, Contested Regionalism: A New Look on History, Cultural Change and
Regionalism of North Bengal and Lower Assam, Delhi, Abhijeet Publication, 2007.
19. Barman, Rup Kumar, Partition of Bengal and Struggle for Existence of the Scheduled
Castes: Impact of the Partition (1947) on the Rajbanshis of North Bengal, Voice of Dalit, Vol. 2,
Issue 2 (July-Dec 2009), pp. 141-163.
20. Barman, Rup Kumar, Caste and Class Awareness among the Fishermen of Bengal, Voice of
Dalit, Vol. 1, No.1 (Jan-July 2008), 67-90.
21. Basu, Sajal, Regional Movements: Politics and Language, Ethnicity-Identity, New Delhi,
Manohar, 1992.
22. Bose, N.K., Structure of the Hindu Society, revised ed., New Delhi, Orient Longman, 1994.
23. Brahma, Kameswar, A Study of the Socio-Religious Beliefs of the Bodos with Special
References to the Bodos of Kokrajhar District, Calcutta, Puthi Pustak, 1992.
24. Brass, Paul R., The politics of India since Independence, Cambridge University Press, 1992.

25. Dirks, Nicholas B., Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India, New
Delhi, Permanent Black, 2001.
26. Dutta, Nripendra Kumar, Origin and Growth of Castes in India (Volumes I & II Combined),
Calcutta, Firma KLM Pvt. Ltd, 1986.
27. Ghosh, G.K. and Sukla Ghosh, Legends of Origin of the Castes and Tribes of Eastern India,
Calcutta, Firm KLM, Pvt. Ltd., 2000.
28. Hunter, W.W., A History of British India, (2vols.), London, Longman Green and Co., 1899.
29. Jaffrelot, Christophe, Indias Silent Revolution: Rise of the Low Castes in North India
Politics, Delhi, Permanent Black, 2003.
30. Nathan, Dev, From Tribe to Caste, Shimla, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1997.
31. Omvedt, Gail, Dalits and the Democratic Revolution: Dr. Ambedkar and the Dalit Movement
in Colonial India, New Delhi, Sage Publications, 1994.
32. Omvedt, Gail, Dalit Visions, Orient Blackswan, 2010.
33. O'Hanlon, Rosalind, Caste, Conflict, and Ideology, Cambridge University Press, 1985.
34. Pai, Sudha, Dalit Assertion and the Unfinished Democratic Revolution: The Bahujan Samaj
Party in Uttar Pradesh (Cultural Subordination and the Dalit Challenge), Sage Publications, 2002.
35. Singh K.S., (ed.), The Tribal Situation in India, reprint ed., Delhi, Motilal Banarsidas, 1996.
36. Rath, G.C., (ed.), Tribal Development in India, New Delhi, Sage Publications, 2006, pp.153-
165.
37. Singh, Ekta, Caste System in India: A Historical Perspective, Delhi, Kalpaz Publications,
2005.
38. Srinivas, M.N., Social Change in Modern India, reprint ed., New Delhi, Orient Longman,
1985.
39. Vidyarthi, L.P., and B.K. Rai, The Tribal Culture of India, reprint ed., New Delhi, Concept
Publishing Co., 2000.
40. Weiner, Myron, Sons of the Soil: Migration and Ethnic Conflicts in India, Delhi, Oxford
41. Yagati, Chinna Rao, Dalit Studies: A Bibliographical Handbook, New Delhi, Kanishka
Publishers, Distributors, 2003.
42. Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar, Caste, Politics and the Raj, Bengal 1872-1937, K.P Bagchi &
Company, Calcutta, 1990.
43. Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar, Caste, Protest and Identity in Colonial India: The Namasudras of
Bengal, 19721947, Richmond Surrey, Curzon Press, New York, 1997.
44. Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar, Caste, Culture and Hegemony Social Dominance in Colonial
Bengal, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 2004.
45. Basu, Swaraj, Dynamics of a Caste Movement The Rajbansis of North Bengal, 19101947,
Manohar, New Delhi, 2003.
46. Dube, Ishita Banerjee, (ed.), Caste in History, OUP, New Delhi, 2008.
47. Barrier, N. Gerald, (ed.), The Census in British India: New Perspective, New Delhi, 1981.
48. Cohn, Bernard S., An Anthropologist Among the Historians and other Essays, OUP, 1987.
49. Shah, Ghanshyam, (ed.), Dalit Identity and Politics Cultural Subordination and the Dalit
Challenge, Vol. 2, Sage Publications, New Delhi, 2001.
50. Bhagavan, Manu, and Anne Feldhaus, (eds.), Claiming Power From Below Dalits and the
Subaltern Question in India, OUP, New Delhi, 2008.
51. Narayan, Badri, Documenting Dissent Contesting Fables, Contested Memories and Dalit
Political Discourse, IIAS, Shimla, 2001.
52. Kotani, H., (ed.), Caste System, Untouchability and the Depressed, Manohar, New Delhi,
1999.
53. Sharma, K. L., (ed.), Caste and Class in India, Rawat Publications, New Delhi, 1998.
54. Sharma, K. L., Reconceptualising Caste, Class and Tribe, Rawat Publications, New Delhi,
2001.
55. Hardgrave, Robert, L., The Nadars of Tamilnad: The Political Culture of a Community in
Change, OUP, Bombay, 1967.
56. Connor, Walker, Ethnonationalism: The Quest for Understanding, Princeton University
Press, Princeton, 1954.

57. Das, N. K., Ethnic Identity, Ethnicity and Social Stratification in North East India, Inter-India
Publications, New Delhi, 1989.
58. Pakem, B., (ed.), Nationality, Ethnicity and Cultural Identity in North East India, Omsons
Publication, Guwahati, 1990.
59. Basu, Sajal, Communalism, Ethnicity and State Politics, Rawat Publications, New Delhi,
2000.
Course 17 (Hist/PG/4.3.D): History of the U S A: The Civil War and Emergence of Modern
America.
Prelude to the Civil War Sectional conflicts and the issue of Slavery.
The anti-Slavery movement upto 1844.
Territorial expansion Mexican War.
Accentuation of sectional conflicts Compromise of 1850.
Genesis of the Civil War and its nature.
Emergence of Abraham Lincoln Lincoln, Civil War and Reconstruction.
Radical Reconstruction.
Age of Enterprise and Modernization:
Industrial Revolution and Big Business.
Role of Cities.
Modernization of society, culture and religion:
Social Gospel Movement.
The Gilded Age.
Agrarian unrest Populist Movement.
Industrial unrest organized labour.
Emergence of United States as world power Spanish-American War.
Suggested Readings:
H.B. Parkes, The United States of America.

R.N. Current, H. Williams, and Frank Freidal, American History. A survey.
P. Glad, and Allen Weinstein, et al, The Process of American History.
R.B. Nye and J.E. Morpurgo, A History of the United States.
Course 17 (Hist/PG/4.3.E): European History: Socialism: The Soviet Experience.
Soviet State: Nature and Structure.

The Rise and Decline of Workers Democracy.
The Rise of Peoples Democracies.
Stalinism: Theory and Practice Transformation of the Social Structures; Soviet State and
Society in 1930s.
Popular Opposition Germany 1953, Hungary 1956, Poland 1956, Czechoslovakia 1968, Poland
1979-80.
The 20th Party Congress of CPSU and its significance.
Soviet Foreign policy.
The Crisis of Stalinism and the fall of the Peoples Democracies.
Glasnost, Perestroika and the Collapse of the Soviet Union.
Books:
a) E. H. Carr, The Bolshevik Revolution (3 volumes).

b) ______, Socialism in One Country.
c) E.H. Carr and R.W. Davies, Foundations of a Planned Economy.
d) D. Rousset, The Legacy of the Bolshevik Revolution.
e) J. B. Dunlop, The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire.
f) Francois Feito, The Peoples' Democracies.
g) Tariq Ali, ed., The Stalinist Legacy.
h) Daniel Singer, The Road to Gdansk.
Course 17 (Hist/PG/4.3.F): Economic Changes in Colonial India: North-eastern

India/North-western India/Southern India/Western India.
1. Agriculture
2. Development of Infrastructure
3. Trade
4. Industry
5. Changing role of the Colonial State
6. Rise of New communities
Some Selected Readings:
Peasant History of Late Pre-Colonial and Colonial India, Project of History of Science,
Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilisation, Vol. VIII, Part 2, Centre for Studies in Civilisations
and Pearson Longman.
Singh, Chetan, (ed.), Socio-Economic Transformation of North-Western India in the Twentieth
Century, Manohar.
Grewal, R., and S. Paul, (eds.), Pre-Colonial and Colonial Punjab: Essays for Indu Banga,
Manohar.
Ali, Imran, Punjab and Imperialism, OUP.
Kessinger, Tom G., Vilyatpur, 1848-1968, University of California Press.
Talbot, I., Punjab under British Rule, Manohar.
Guha, A., Planter Raj to Swaraj, ICHR.
_____., Medieval and Early Colonial Assam, KPB.
Saikia, Rajen, Social and Economic History of Assam, Manohar.
Guha, Sumit, Economic Transformation in Western India, OUP.
Course 17 (Hist/PG/4.3.G): Social History of Science and Technology in India: the Colonial
phase.
Colonial Science:
i) William Jones and the Asiatic Society.
ii) Colonial Botany and Forest Policy.
iii) Serampore Missionaries and Science.
iv) Rise of Western Medicine and Decline of Ayurveda.
National Science:
i) Mahendralal Sircar and National Science.
ii) Satish Mukherjee, The Dawn Society and National Science.
iii) National Council of Education and National Science.
iv) Swadeshi Technology: Theory and Practice.
v) Acharya J.C. Bose and National Science.
vi) Acharya P.C. Ray and National Science.

Books recommended:
1. A. K. Biswas, History of Science in India.

2. _____, ed., History, Science and Society in the Indian Context.
3. A. Nandy, Alternative Sciences.
4. C. Palit, ed., Science, Technology, Medicine and Environment in India. Historical perspectives.
5. C. Palit, Mahendralal Sircar and National Science.
6. Subrata Pahari and C. Palit, Satis Mukherjee, the Dawn Society and National Science.
Course 17 (Hist/PG/4.3.H): War, Society, Culture and Colonialism in South Asia, 1770-
1947.
The British led Indian Army (also known as the Sepoy Army) was one of the principal pillars of
the British Empire in India. About 35% of the British Government in Indias revenue went to
sustain the army. The army functioned as a colonial gendarme to quell internal disorders. In
addition, the Sepoy Army was also used as an imperial fire brigade in the extra-Indian territories of
the British Empire. For instance, the Sepoy Army conquered Burma for Britain in the nineteenth
century and was used in Mesopotamia not only to fight the Turks during First World War but also
to crush the Arab rebellion during 1919-21. The colonial army was equally important for the
colonized. The army was a volunteer force. In peacetime, it recruited about 15-20,000 small
peasants. Payment in cash, regular pension and gratuities attracted the small peasants towards the
colonial army. One of the characteristics of the colonial army was that the colonial regime
established special collaborative relationship with certain segments of the colonized. For instance,
the British-Indian Army heavily recruited the Sikhs from central Punjab and constructed Punjab
Canal Colonies to accommodate them within the colonial regime. Construction of cantonments and
canal colonies changed the rural landscapes of the sub-continent. The cultural impact of the colonial
military machine cannot be denied. For establishing favourable collaborative relationship with
certain peripheral indigenous communities, the British utilized the Martial Race theory. The British
encouraged distinct identity creation among the various groups who were ascribed the status of
martial races. Two instances of British identity construction for the martial races can be cited.
One is the encouragement of the use of kukris from the 1840s among the Magar and Limbu tribes
of central Nepal in an attempt to create Gurkha identity. The second is deliberate British policies of
creating Sikh identity as distinct from the Singhs through use of five Ks. The cultural baggage
associated with such constructs remains with us even today.
Themes
1. The Great Mutiny and the Garrison State in India
2. Construction of the Sepoy Army and its Cultural Implications
3. Frontier Warfare in British-India
4. Indian Army in the Two World Wars
5. Armies, Warfare and Decolonization in South Asia
6. Colonial Legacies: Colonial Trends in the Post-Colonial Armies
Selected Readings:
Alavi, Seema, The Sepoys and the Company: Tradition and Transition in Northern India, 1770-
1830 (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995).
Indian Voices of the Great War: Soldiers Letters, 1914-18, Selected and Introduced by David
Omissi (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan, 1999).
Mazumder, Rajit K., The Indian Army and the Making of Punjab (New Delhi: Permanent Black,
2003).
Omissi, David, Martial Races: Ethnicity and Security in Colonial India, 1858-1939, War and
Society, vol. 9, no. 1 (1991).

Omissi, David, The Sepoy and the Raj: The Indian Army, 1860-1940 (Houndmills, Basingstoke:
Macmillan, 1994).
Omissi, David, Europe through Indian Eyes: Indian Soldiers encounter England and France,
1914-18, English Historical Review, vol. CXXII, no. 496 (2007).
Peers, Douglas M., (ed.), Warfare and Empires: Contact and Conflict between European and
non-European Military and Maritime Forces and Cultures (Brookfield, Vermont: Ashgate, 1997).
Roy, Kaushik, (ed.), War and Society in Colonial India: 1806-1945 (New Delhi: Oxford
Roy, Kaushik, Brown Warriors of the Raj: Recruitment and the Mechanics of Command in the
British-Indian Army (New Delhi: Manohar, 2008).
Wickremesekera, Channa, Best Black Troops in the World: British Perceptions and the Making
of the Sepoy (New Delhi: Manohar, 2002).
Yong, Tan Tai, The Garrison State: The Military, Government and Society in Colonial Punjab,
1849-1947 (New Delhi: Sage, 2005).
Course 18 (Hist/PG/4.4.A): Material Culture, Progress and the Intellectual Milieu in Early
India.
1. The World of Production:

Land: Developments in Techniques and Methods. Economic outputs and effects on Society.
Production criteria.
Handicraft: Items of Manufacture and Technology Historical Evaluation. Trade and Commerce:
Historical developments Theories and Evidence.
Labour: Slave, Hired and Forced.
2. Evolution of Economic Institutions:
Revenue System, Ownership, Guilds, Currency system and Regulative structures.
3. Economic Policies and Concepts:
The Arthasastra, Epics and the Smritis: Issues of Sovereign Prerogative, Property Ownership,
Financial and Revenue Administration, Partnership in Business, Contracts, Public Finance.
Growth of Technology and Science and the progress of the Material World: Architecture and the
rise of cities, Philosophy and physical Theory, Applications of mathematics, Chemistry, Plant and
Physical Sciences and social developments.
4. Urbanization De-urbanization:
Socio Economic Factors, Evidence and Theories.
5. Related Issues in Economic History: Theories and Debates.
Select Readings:
1. D.P. Chattopadhyaya, ed., History of Science and Technology in Ancient India, 3 vols.
2. B.M. Barua, History of Pre-Buddhist Indian Philosophy.
3. Frank J. Hoffman, Rationality and Mind in Early Buddhism.
4. B.B. Datta, The Science of the Sulba.
5. Prasanna Kumar Acharya, Indian Architecture According to Manasara Silpasastra.
6. T.A. Saraswati Amma, Geometry in Ancient and Medieval India.
7. P.C. Ray, ed., History of Chemistry in Ancient and Medieval India.
8. A.F.R. Hoernle, ed., Susruta Samhita.
9. Ajay S. Rawat, ed., History of Forestry in India.
10. Santimoy Chatterjee, et al, eds., Studies in History of Sciences.
11. D. C. Sircar, ed., Trade and Industry in Ancient India.
12. George Thibaut, Mathematics in the Making in Ancient India.
13. O.P. Jaggi, Scientists of Ancient India.
14. A.K.Y.N. Aiyer, Agriculture and Allied Arts in Vedic India.
15. A.K. Bag, History of Mathematics.

16. Arun Kumar Biswas, Minerals and Metals in Ancient India, 2 vols.
17. Nupur Dasgupta, The Dawn of Technology in Indian Protohistory.
18. Dharmapal, Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century.
19. Aniruddha Ray and S.K. Bagchi, Technology in Ancient and Medieval India.
20. A.J. Qaisar, The Indian Response to European Technology and Culture.
21. Shanti Swarup, The Arts and Crafts of India and Pakistan.
22. U.N. Ghoshal, The Agrarian System in Ancient India.
23. R.S. Sharma, Material Culture and Social Formation in Ancient India.
24. Shereen Ratnagar, Encounters. The Westerly trade of the Harappan Civilization.
25. A. Ghosh, The City in Early Historical India.
26. Vijay Thakur, Urbanization in Ancient India.
27. N.N. Kher, Agrarian and Fiscal Economy in the Mauryan and Post Mauryan Age.
28. R.S. Sharma, Indian Feudalism.
29. R. S. Sharma, Urban Decay.
30. Romila Thapar, Ancient Indian Social History: Some Interpretations.
Course 18 (Hist/PG/4.4.B): Regional History: History of Punjab with special reference to

the History of the Sikhs: from the late seventeenth century to the mid-nineteenth century (c.
1699-1849).
The State and society of Punjab under the Mughals decline of the Mughals new centres of
powers in Punjab the rise and consolidation of the Sikh.
Faith Sikh response to State (Mughal) intervention transformation of the Sikh Panth under
Guru Gobind Singh the rise of the Khalsa conflict with the Mughals Banda Bahadurs
attempts to build up a State, foreign invasions the tradition of martyrdom its contemporary
relevance the age of the misls the rise of Ranjit Singh State formation under Sikh rule the
Khalsa Raj agricultural development trade and commerce urbanization the ruling class and
social mobility different Sikh sects institutional developments decline of the Sikh State
conflict with the English East India Company annexation of Punjab by the British.
Books recommended:
Alam, Muzaffar, Crisis of Empire in Mughal Imperial North India: Awadh and the Punjab, 1707-
48.
Banga, Indu, (ed.), Five Punjabi Centuries: Polity, Economy, Society and Culture, c. 1500-1900.
Grewal, J.S., The Sikhs of the Punjab. New Cambridge History of India.
Course 18 (Hist/PG/4.4.C): Social History of Modern India: Colonial perceptions, Social

changes, Political will and Popular participation.
1. Colonial perceptions: Changing strategic imperatives: Law and social control in modern India
norms of legality crime and criminality professionalisation of social expertise changes in
common law structure the question of land rights.
2. Social Changes: Urbanisation and social change the debate on changing frontiers and the
social consequences of the mirage of permanent boundaries. Western intervention in science,
medicine and public health changing social perception of diseases, mortality etc. Social changes
and cultural impact art and popular culture visual and performing arts the question of social
control.
3. Political will Social reforms and political changes case studies. Social History of peasants
and workers.

4. Popular Participation popular response to social changes women, youth and students,
Environmental issues and ecological movements social forestry conservation, common property
decentralisation and popular autonomics.
Reading List:
1. Sister Karuna Mary Braganza, Cultural forces shaping India.

2. Romesh Thapar, Tribe, Caste and Religion in India.
3. P. N. Chopra, A Social, Cultural and Economic History of India, Vols. I, II & III.
4. Doris A. Graber, Media Power in Politics.
5. M. S. A. Rao, (ed.), Urban Sociology in India.
Course 18 (Hist/PG/4.4.D): The Far Side of the Dollar: Twentieth Century USA From the
Great Depression to the Imperialism of Our Times.
This course examines key themes in twentieth-century US history. It starts with a survey of the
circumstances leading to the Great Depression, and crisis of capitalism from 1929 onwards and
treats related developments in US society and politics in the 1930s. Also covered are the
involvements of the United States in the Second World War, its emergence as an atomic power, its
subsequent engagements in cold War and counter-insurgency programmes in the Third World,
shifts in American culture from the 1950s, the Civil Rights Movement and the anti-Vietnam War
Movement. The course concludes with a survey of post-Cold War US unilateralism as reflected in
foreign as well as domestic policies.
Topics
1. The Golden Twenties and the brewing crisis of over-production
2. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the beginning of the Great Depression
3. Class, race and gender in America during the depression years
4. New Deal and the nature of state intervention during the depression years
5. Literature, film and culture in the United States during the depression
6. The route to Second World War
7. The US during and after the War
8. Rise of McCarthyism
9. The origins of the Cold War
10. Culture and Society during the 1950s
11. Culture and Society during the 1960s
12. The Civil Rights Movement
13. War against Vietnam and the Peace Movement
14. The Feminist Movement
15. The Students Movement and Youth Revolt in the 1960s
16. The Rise and Fall of Richard Nixon
17. US Imperialism and US Foreign Policy Orientations after the Second World War
Bibliography:
T. Harry, R. N. Current and F. Freidel Williams, A history of the United States, Alfred Knopf,
1967.
Gabriel Kolko, Main Currents of Modern American History, Joanna Cotler Books, 1976.
Paul Sweezy and Paul Baran, Monopoly Capital, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968.
Howard Zinn, A Peoples History of the United States, New York: Perennial Classics, 2003.
William Blum, Rogue State: A Guide to the Worlds Only Superpower, Common Courage Press,
2000

Mike Davis, Dead Cities and Other Tales, New York: New Press: Distributed by W. W. Norton,
2002.
Noam Chomsky, Deterring Democracy, London: Verso, 1991.
Aijaz Ahmad, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Imperialism of Our Times, LeftWord Books, 2004.
Course 18 (Hist/PG/4.4.E): European History: Socio-cultural and Political Movements and

Ideologies in Europe.
The outline of the full course is given below. Select themes will be offered each year. The course
will consist of around 42 lectures together with regular internal assessment in the form of group
discussions, tutorials/ term papers.
1. Nationalism
2. Liberalism
3. Social Democracy
4. Communism
5. Feminism
6. Environmentalism
7. Modernism
8. The New Left: Politics, Culture
9. New social movements
10. The challenge of the European Union.
Suggested Readings:
Carl Marzani, The Promise of Eurocommunism (Lawrence, Hill & Co, 1980).
Santiago Carillo, Eurocommunism and the State (Lawrence and Wishart, 1977).
Daniel Bensaid and Henri Weber, May 68: A Dress Rehearsal (Paris, Maspero, 1968).
Fernando Claudin, The Communist Movement: From Comintern to Cominform (Monthly Review
Press, 1977).
Ernest Mandel, From Stalinism to Eurocommunism (New York, Schocken Books, 1978).
Joel Kovel, The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or the End of the World? (Zed Books,
2007).
Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Obsolete Communism The Left Wing Alternative (AK Press, 2000).
Livio Maitan, From PCI to the PDS (IIRE Notebook for Study and Research no. 15).
Stein Rokkan, State Formation, Nation-Building, and Mass Politics in Europe (ed. by Stein
Kuhnle, Peter Flora, Derek Urwin), (Oxford, OUP, 1999).
Richard Bellamy, Rethinking Liberalism (London, Pinter, 2000).
Gregory M. Luebbert, Liberalism, Fascism, and Social Democracy (New York, OUP, 1991).
Alan Milward, The European Rescue of the Nation State (2nd edn., New York, Routledge, 1999).
Martin Baldwin-Edwards and Martin Schain, The Politics of immigration in Western Europe
(London, Frank Cass, 1994).
Rogers Brubaker, Nationalism Reframed. Nationhood and the National Question in the New
Europe (Cambridge, CUP, 1996).
Richard Caplan and John Feffer, Europe's New Nationalism. States and Minorities in Conflict
(Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1996).
Joseph H. Carens, Culture, Citizenship, and Community. A Contextual Exploration of Justice as
Evenhandednes (Oxford, OUP, 2000).
Herman Schmitt and Jacques Thomassen, (eds.), Political Representation and Legitimacy in the
European Union (Oxford, OUP, 1999).
Jet Bussemaker, Citizenship and welfare state reform in Europe (London, Routledge,1999).
Percey Lehning and Albert Weale, Citizenship, Democracy and Justice in the New Europe
(London, Routledge, 1997).

Simon Hix, The Political System of the European Union (Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1999).
Andrew Moravscsik, The Choice for Europe. Social Purpose and State Power from Messina to
Maastricht (London, UCL Press, 1998).
J.H.H. Weiler, The Constitution of Europe. Do the New Clothes Have an Emperor? and other
Essays on European Integration (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999), pp. 10-101.
Karlheinz Neunreither and Antje Wiener, (eds.), European Integration after Amsterdam.
Institutional Dynamics and Prospects for Democracy (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000).
Other books may be suggested in class.
Course 18 (Hist/PG/4.4.F): State, Industry and Planning: Colonial and Post-colonial India.
1. India at the threshold of the 20th century

2. Industrial enterprises in India: Big bourgeoisie and its relations with the Colonial State
3. Swadeshi enterprise in Bengal
4. Business and Politics in Colonial India
5. Planning and Development in India
6. Green Revolution
7. Neo-liberal Policy Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization Special Economic
Zones (SEZ)
Reading List:
1. R.P. Dutt, India Today.

2. V.I. Pavlov, The Indian capitalist class.
3. A.K. Bagchi, Private investments in India.
4. Bipan Chandra, Nationalism and colonialism in modern India.
5. S.A. Kochanek, Business and Politics in India.
6. Claude Markovits, Business and politics in India.
7. Suniti Kumar Ghosh, The Indian big bourgeoisie.
8. Suniti Kumar Ghosh, India and the Raj.
9. Suniti Kumar Ghosh, Imperialisms tightening grip over Indian agriculture.
10. Suniti Kumar Ghosh, Development planning in India.
11. Amit Bhattacharyya, Swadeshi enterprise in Bengal 1900-1920.
12. Amit Bhattacharyya, Swadeshi enterprise in Bengal. The second phase 1921-47.
13. F.R. Frankel, Indias Green revolution.
14. Chittabrata Palit, Commerce and Industries in Bengal.
15. A.H. Hanson, The process of Planning: A study of Indias Five Year Plans.
16. B.R. Tomlinson, The political economy of the raj.
17. M.P. Prabhakaran, Historical origins of Indias underdevelopment.
18. P.A.Wadia and K.T. Merchant, The Bombay Plan: a criticism.
19. John P. Lewis, Quiet crisis in Indian economic development and American policy.
20. L.Natarajan, American shadow over India.
21. George Rosen, Western Economists and Eastern Societies. Agents of change in South Asia,
1950-70.
22. Chester Bowles, Ambassadors Report.
23. F.R. Frankel, Indias Political Economy 1947-77.
24. Daniel Thorner, Agricultural Cooperatives in India. A Field report.
25. P.J. Eldridge, The Politics of Foreign Aid in India.
26. Amit Bhattacharyya, Bharater Arthonoitik Itihaser Ruprekha.
27. G.D. Birla, In the Shadow of the Mahatma.
28. G.D. Birla, Bapu: A Unique Association, 4 vols.
29. Selig Harrison, ed., The United States and India.
30. Michael Kidron, Foreign Investments in India.

Course 18 (Hist/PG/4.4.G):
In this course, either course Hist/P.G./4.4.G-1 or Hist/P.G./4.4.G-2 will be offered from year
to year.
(Hist/PG/4.4.G-1): From Scientific Revolution to Modern Science.
1. The Scientific Revolution

(a) Basic features
(b) Main stages
(c) The Newtonian world-view
2. The world of the scientific revolution
(a) Social change
(b) Science and the institutions
(c) The impact of Newton
(d) The Enlightenment and Science
(e) The expanding world practical astronomy.
3. Chemistry
(a) From Boyle to Lavoisier
(b)From Lavoisier to Dalton
(c) From Dalton to Mendeleyev
4. The Life Sciences
(a) Classification
(b) Evolution before Darwin
5. Science and the Industrial Revolution
(a) Steam Power
(b) The transformation of energy
(c)Engineering and the study of the basic sciences
6. Evolution
(a) Lyell
(b) Darwin and Wallace
(c) Social Darwinism
(d) Sociobiology
(e) Genetics and evolution
7. Physics in the 19th and early 20th centuries the world of Einstein
8. The rise and fall of proletarian science
References:
1. John Henry, The Scientific Revolution and the Origins of Modern Science.
2. Herbert Butterfield, The Origins of Modern Science.
3. A. R. Hall, From Galileo to Newton.
4. Richard S. Westfall, The Construction of Modern Science.
5. Thomas S. Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution.
6. I. B. Cohen, The Birth of a New Physics.
7. Ernst Mayr, The Growth of Biological Thought.
8. Marie Boas Hall, Robert Boyle and Seventeenth-Century Chemistry.
9. I. B. Cohen, The Newtonian Revolution.
10. R.S. Westfall, Never at Rest: A Biography of Isaac Newton.
11. Christopher Hill, Intellectual Origins of the English Revolution.
12. R.E. Schofield, The Lunar Society of Birmingham.
13. A.D'Abro, The Evolution of Scientific Thought. From Newton to Einstein.

14. Banesh Hoffmann, Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel.
15. J. D. Bernal, Science in History.
16. I. Bernard Cohen, Revolution in Science.
17. Morris Kline, Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times.
18. _______, Mathematics in Western Culture.
19. Roy Porter, The Making of Geology: Earth Science in Britain, 1660-1815.
20. David Kohn, (ed.), The Darwinian Heritage.
21. Stephen J. Gould, Ever Since Darwin.
22. Douglas J. Futuyma, Evolution.
23. William H. Brock, The Fontana History of Chemistry.
OR
(Hist/P.G./4.4.G-2): Science in Traditional and Modern World: Mesopotamia, Sinic World

and the World of the Indigenous Tribes of the Americas.
1. The Neolithic Revolution; Palaeolithic period to the Neolithic Revolution Shift from
hunting and food gathering to agriculture and permanent settlements Emergence of social classes
and rise of civilisations.
2. Mesopotamia: (a) The Sumerians: wheeled vehicles, irrigation system, dykes, canals for
better farming, Cuneiform system of writing, and development of early forms of Algebra and
Geometry. (b) The Hittites: Mining of iron ores and procurement of iron (c) The Babylonians;
Development of astronomy.
3. Sinic World: Astronomy, Calendar, Mathematics, Mechanics, Magnetism and the Compass,
Optics, Paper-making, Gunpowder firearms, Porcelain, Alchemy, Knowledge of Hydrology, Maps,
Mining, Sericulture, Tea, Acupuncture, Surgery, Metallurgy, Shipbuilding, Spinning wheel etc.
4. The Americas a) Incas of Peru b) Aztecs of Mexico c) Mayas of Central America
Reading List:
1. Henri Frankfort, The Birth of Civilisation in the Near East.

2. J. Alden Mason, The Ancient Civilisations of Peru.
3. Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China.
4. Martin A. Beek, Atlas of Mesopotamia. A Survey of the History of Mesopotamia from the Stone
Age to the Fall of Babylon.
5. G. Roux, Iraq.
6. L. Delaporte, Mesopotamia: The Babylonian and Assyrian Civilization.
7. Martin Levy, Chemistry and Chemical Technology in Ancient Mesopotamia.
Course 18 (Hist/PG/4.4.H): The Age of Total War 1790-1945.
The twentieth century is probably the most violent century in the 2,500 years of recorded history
of the world. This century witnessed the rise of extreme ideologies which enunciated annihilation of
entire nationalities, a new form of war known as Total War which involved mobilization of entire
society and economy and deletion of all distinctions between the home front and the frontlines in
the battlefield. The conduct of Total War and extreme ideologies gave birth to totalitarian state
whose tentacles reached to the bottom layers of the society. The culmination of Total War was the
rise of nuclear weapons in the post World War II era. The two Total Wars resulted in the decline of
Europe and the rise of two superpowers. The roots of Total War could be traced back to mass
popular mobilization initiated by the French Revolution and Napoleonic regime. The process of
raising multi-million mass armies was sustained by the ongoing industrialization of West Europe.

The ideological father of Total/Absolute War was Carl Von Clausewitz. Clausewitz influenced Erik
Ludendorff during First World War and finally Adolf Hitlers der totale krieg during World War II.
Clausewitzs philosophy could be traced back to the tussle between Enlightenment and
Romanticism in late eighteenth century German intellectual thought. Unlike traditional approach,
this course argues that the course of history is shaped by both structural as well as contingent
factors. In addition to long-term social and economic forces, human agency played an important
role in the unfolding of the historical process. Ironically, the beginning of atomic age seemed to
result in the end of Total War.
Themes
1. Theorists of Total War: From Clausewitz to Hitler.
2. French Revolution, Napoleon and the Rise of Peoples War.
3. Clausewitz, German Wars of Unification and the American Civil War.
4. The Road towards Total War: First World War as an Armageddon.
5. Totalitarianism and Total War: Nazism, Panzer Revolution and Carpet Bombing.
6. Nuclear War Games: Theorists of Nuclear Warfare, MAD and the End of Total War.
Reading List:
Barnett, Correlli, The Audit of War: The Illusion and Reality of Britain as a Great Nation (1986,
reprint, London: Pan, 2001).
Bayly, C. A., and Tim Harper, Forgotten Armies: The Fall of British Asia, 1941-45 (London:
Allen Lane, 2004).
Beckett, Ian, (ed.), 1917: Beyond the Western Front (Leiden, Boston: E.J. Brill, 2009).
Bracher, Karl Dietrich, The German Dictatorship: The Origins, Structure and Consequences of
National Socialism, tr. from the German by Jean Steinberg, with an Introduction by Peter Gay
(1970, reprint, Middlesex: Penguin, 1982).
Bullock, Alan, Hitler: A Study in Tyranny (1952, reprint, London: Penguin, 1962).
Bullock, Alan, Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives (1991, reprint, London: Fontana, 1993).
Carr, William, Hitler: A Study in Personality and Politics (London: Edward Arnold, 1978).
Chickering, Roger, and Stig Forster, (eds.), Great War, Total War: Combat and Mobilization on
the Western Front, 1914-18 (2000, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
Chickering, Roger, and Stig Forster, (eds.), The Shadows of Total War: Europe, East Asia, and
the United States, 1919-39 (2003, reprint, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007).
Chickering, Roger, Stig Forster and Bernd Greiner, (eds.), A World at Total War: Global Conflict
and the Politics of Destruction, 1937-45 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
Fest, Joachim C., Hitler, tr. from the German by Richard and Clara Winston (London:
Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1974).
Fischer, Fritz, World Power or Decline: The Controversy over Germanys Aims in the First
World War (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1975).
Fleming, Gerald, Hitler and the Final Solution (1985, reprint, Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1986).
Kennedy, Paul, (ed.), The Warplans of the Great Powers: 1880-1914 (London: George Allen &
Unwin, 1979).
Kennedy, Paul, The Realities behind Diplomacy: Background Influence on British External
Policy, 1865-1980 (1981, reprint, London: Fontana, 1989).
Kennedy, Paul, Strategy and Diplomacy: 1870-1945 (1983, reprint, London: Fontana, 1989).
Kennedy, Paul, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict
from 1500 to 2000 (1988, reprint, London: Fontana, 1990).
Kershaw, Ian, The Hitler Myth: Image and Reality in the Third Reich (1987, reprint, Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1989).
Magenheimer, Heinz, Hitlers War: Germanys Key Strategic Decisions, 1940-45, Could
Germany have Won World War II (London: Arms and Armour, 1998).
Marxism and the Science of War, ed., with an Introduction by Bernard Simmel (Oxford: Oxford

Maser, Werner, Hitler, tr. by Peter and Betty Ross (London: Allen Lane, 1973).
Overy, Richard, The Dictators: Hitlers Germany and Stalins Russia (London: Allen Lane,
2004).
Smart, Nick, (ed.), The Second World War (Hampshire: Ashgate, 2006).
Stern, J.P., Hitler: The Fuehrer and the People (1975, reprint, London: Fontana, 1986).
Strachan, Hew, The First World War: vol. 1, To Arms (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).
Turner, Jr., Henry Ashby, German Big Business and the Rise of Hitler (Oxford: Oxford

M. Phil. And Ph.D. courses
(The topics listed are given as guidelines and may change from year to year)
Semester I
Course 1 (1.1): Methodology. (For both M.Phil. and Ph.D. candidates*)
1. Historical Method methodological approaches sources language.

2. History and other disciplines.
3. Explanations in History principal theories Premodern and Modern the academic.
Professional discipline and popular histories the multiple notions of the past.
4. Causation in History The Debate on Determinism.
5. Truth, Fact, Evidence Quantitative and Qualitative Method.
6. Objectivity in History.
7. Writing a dissertation: Scope, Hypothesis, Data collaboration Method Analysis
Archives, Documentation and findings.
References:
W.H. Walsh, An Introduction to Philosophy of History.

Patrick Gardiner, The Nature of Historical Explanation.
R.G. Collingwood, The Idea of History.
E.H. Carr, What is History.
Allan Sheridan, Michel Foucault: The Will to Truth.
Jacques Le Goff and Pierre Nora, (eds.), Constructing the Past: Essays in Historical
Methodology.
Nicholas Royle, After Derrida.
Harjeet Singh Gill and Bernard Pottier, (eds.), Ideas, Words and Things: French Writings in
Semiology.
Sreedharan, A Textbook of Historiography.
*(Ancient and Medieval Indian History Ph.D. candidates must opt for the following methodology
course)
Course 1 A (1.1.A) Methodology of Research (Ancient Indian History, Medieval and Early-
Modern Indian History).
1. Recognition of a historical problem or the identification of a need for certain historical

knowledge.
2. Forming of hypotheses that tentatively explain relationships between historical factors.
3. Sources for the Historical Problem selected for study.
Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
Texts, Documents, Artefacts, Archaeological investigations.
4. Accessing sources: Physical Observation and analysis, Field Survey, Anthropological
approaches, Museum and Archival sources.

5. External criticism: Critical Approach to Sources: Provenance, Chronology, Internal Criticism:
Reliability, Subjectivity.
6. Referencing and citing of references.
7. Synthesis: Historical reasoning and Explanatory model.
8. Research methods: Exploratory method, Constructive method, Empirical method.
9. Quantitative and Qualitative Researches.
10. Possible Models and Approaches to Interdisciplinary research.
Suggested Readings:
Marc Bloch, The Historians Craft, Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1991.
J. Gilbert, S.J. Garraghan, A Guide to Historical Method, edited by , S.J. Jean Delanglez,
Fordham University Press, New York, 1946.
Konrad Hugo Jarausch, Kenneth A., Hardy, Quantitative methods for historians: a guide to
research, data, and statistics, University of North Carolina Press, 1991.
Georg W. F. Hegel, The Philosophy of History, Cosimo Inc, New York, 2007.
Liz Spencer, Jane Ritchie, Jane Lewis and Lucy Dillon, Quality in Qualitative Evaluation: A
framework for assessing research evidence, National Centre for Social Research, Government
Chief Social Researchers Office, UK.
Natasha Mack, Cynthia Woodsong, Kathleen M. Macqueen, Greg Guest and Emily Namey,
Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Collectors Field Guide, Family Health International, USA,
2005.
D.D. Kosambi, Combined Methods in Indology and Other Writings, compiled, edited and
introduced by Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya, OUP, New Delhi, 2002.
Romila Thapar, Narratives and the Making of History, OUP, New Delhi, 2000.
Lewis R. Binford, In Pursuit of the Past: Decoding the Archaeological Record, University of
California Press, Berkeley, Paperback, 2002.
K. Paddayya, The New Archaeology and Aftermath, Ravish Publishers, Pune, 1990.
Julian Thomas, ed., Interpretative Archaeology, A Reader, Leicester University Press, London,
New York, 2000.
Ratna Basu and Karunasindhu Das, eds., Aspects of Manuscriptology, the Asiatic Society,
Kolkata, 2005.
J. Gail Adalbert et al, Script and Images; Papers on Art and Epigraphy, Motilal Banarsidass,
Delhi, 2003.
A.H. Dani, Indian Paleography, Munshiram Manoharlal, New Delhi, 1986.
D.C. Sircar, Indian Epigraphy, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1965/1996.
B.N. Mukherjee, Origin of Brahmi and Kharoshti Scripts, Progressive Publishers, Kolkata, 2005.
D.D. Kosambi, Indian Numismatics, Orient Longman, ICHR, New Delhi, 1981.
Olivier Guillaume, Analysis of Reasonings in Archaeology: The case of GraecoBactrian and
Indo Greek Numismatics, OUP, New Delhi, 1990.
B.N. Mukherjee, P.K.D. Lee, Technology of Indian Coinage, Indian Museum, Calcutta, 1988.
Muzaffar Alam and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, eds., The Mughal State 1526-1750.
Ali Anooshahr, Mughal Historians and the Memory of the Islamic conquest of India, Indian
Economic and Social History Review, XLIII, 3, July-September 2006.
Maurice Aymard and Harbans Mukhia, eds., French Studies in History, 2 vols.
C.A. Bayly, Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British
Expansion, 1770-1870.
Leonard Blusse and F.S. Gaastra, eds., On the Eighteenth Century as a Category of Asian
History, Van Leur in Retrospect.
Allison Busch, Poetry of Kings: The Classical Hindi Literature of Mughal India.
Satish Chandra, Historiography. Religion and State in Medieval India.
Stephen Dale, The Poetry and Autobiography of the Baburnama, Journal of Asian Studies, 55,
3, August 1996.

_____., Steppe Humanism: The Autobiographical Writings of Zahir al-Din Muhammad Babur,
International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 22, 1, Feb. 1990.
Richard Davis, Lives of Indian Images.
John S. Deyell, Living Without Silver: The Monetary History of Early Medieval North India.
Richard Eaton, Essays on Islam and Indian History.
Finbarr Barry Flood, ed., Piety and Politics in the Early Indian Mosque.
Irfan Habib, 'Potentialities for Capitalist Development in the Economy of Mughal India,
Enquiry, Winter 1971.
_____., A Political Theory for the Mughal Empire A Study of the Ideas of Abul Fazl,
Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 59 session, Patiala, 1998.
_____., Essays in Indian History: Towards Marxist Perception.
_____., Interpreting Indian History.
Peter Hardy, Historians of Medieval India.
Mohibul Hasan, Historians of Medieval India.
Ronald Inden, Jonathan Walters, and Daud Ali, Querying the Medieval: Texts and the History of
Practices in South Asia.
Blair B. Kling and M.N. Pearson, eds., The Age of Partnership, Europeans in Asia Before
Dominion.
Herman Kulke, The State in India, 1000-1700.
P.J. Marshall, The Eighteenth Century in Indian History, Evolution or Revolution?
Harbans Mukhia, Communalism and the Writing of Medieval Indian History: A Reappraisal,
Social Scientist, 1983.
_____., Historians and Historiography During the reign of Akbar.
_____., ed., The Feudalism Debate.
K. A. Nizami, History and Historians in Medieval India.
K.M. Pannikar, Asia and the Western Dominance.
Margrit Pernau and Yunus Jaffrey, Information and the Public Sphere: Persian Newsletters from
Mughal Delhi.
C.H. Philips, Historians of India, Pakistan and Ceylon.
Om Prakash and Denys Lombard, eds., Commerce and Culture in the Bay of Bengal, 1500-1800.
Jadunath Sarker, History of History Writings in Medieval India.
_____., A Short History of Aurangzeb.
Sunil Sharma, Forbidden Love, Persianate Style: Re-reading Tales of Iranian Poets and Mughal
Patrons, Iranian Studies, 42, 5, pp. 765-779.
Burton Stein, Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India.
Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Mughal state structure or process? Reflections on recent Western
historiography, Indian Economic and Social History Review, 29, no.3, Jul-Sep 1992, 291-321.
_____., Further Thoughts on an Enigma: The Tortuous Life of Nicolo Manucci, 1638-c.1720,
Indian Economic and Social History Review, XLI, 1, January-March, 2008, 35-76.
_____., Explorations in Connected History: Mughals and Franks.
Course 2 (1.2): Historiography. (For both MPhil. and Ph.D. candidates)
Section I
Origins of Historiography Herodotus and Thucydides
Renaissance and History
Enlightenment and History Gibbon to Ranke
Modern Liberalism
Academic History Writing English Marxism, Hill, Hobsbawn, Thompson, Louis Namier,
Annales School (Marc Bloch, Braudel, Ladurie), Gramsci

Post Modernism Nietzsche, Foucault, Derrida, Heidegger, Hayden White, George Sarton,
American Historiography
Section II
Indian Historiography Highlights
Emergence of Historical consciousness in nineteenth century India early British writings on the
Indian Past the Indian encounter with the Past History the Indian search for a Golden Past the
Economic critique of British rule writings in the regional languages different debates on Indian
History Indian Feudalism, Eighteenth century India, writings on Mutiny and Partition recent
trends in the writings of Indian History.
Books Recommended:
Philips, C. H., (ed.), Historians of India, Pakistan and Ceylon.

Inden, R., Imagining India.
Gopal, S., and R. Thapar, (eds.), Problems of Historical writing in India.
Sen, S. P., (ed.), Historians and Historiography in Modern India.
Guha, Ranajit, (ed.), Subaltern Studies Series.
Sreedharan, E., A Text Book on Historiography.

Semester II
Note: Group A courses are for those students who want to specialise in Ancient Indian
History, Group B for those intending to specialise in Medieval/Early Modern Indian History
while Group C courses are designed for those specialising in Modern Indian History.
Course 3:
Course 3 (2.1) is of 50 marks and has the following options designated as A, B and C. Option 3C,
in its turn, has 3 options designated as i, ii and iii respectively.
Course 3 (2.1.A): Early History of India: Methods and Interpretations in Research.
Methods of Research: the theoretical framework and its application in specific research.
Methods of data collection and analysis of primary sources: Archaeological and Literary.
Specific historical context analysis: Material Culture and Ideological background.
Historiography relevant to the scope of research.
Hypothesis to thesis: Treatment of the fundamentals of Historical Problem.
Aspects of Historiography of Early Historic and Early Medieval India.
Themes: (Any one will be offered)

State in Ancient India.
Economic Relations in Ancient India.
Science and Society.
Gender in Ancient India.
Caste and Social Order.
Intellectual history, history of Mentalities.
Schools of Historians/Individual Trendsetting Historian: (Any two will be offered)
Orientalists.
Imperialists.
Nationalists.
Marxist writings.
Empiricists.
Post-nationalists.
Suggested Readings:
Romila Thapar, Interpreting Early India, OUP, Delhi, 1992.

Partha Chattopadhyay, Itihasher Uttaradhikar, Ananda, Kolkata, 2000.
Niharranjan Ray, Bharatetihash Jignasa, Deys Publishing, Kolkata, 2003.
George Grant, Time as History, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1995.
R.A. Herrera, Reasons for Our Rhymes: An Inquiry into the Philosophy of History, William B.
Eedermans Publishing Company, Michigan, Cambridge, UK, 2001.
Partha Chatterjee and Anjan Ghosh, eds., History and the Present, Permanent Black, Delhi, 2002.
Srikanta Chowdhury, From Bangalar Itihasa to Bangalir Itihasa: History in Making, Dipali
Publishers, 2007.
Michael Gottlob, Historical Thinking in South Asia, OUP, New Delhi, 2003.
Eberhard Zangger, The Future of the Past: Archaeology in the 21st Century, Phoenix, Orion
Books, London, 2000.

Tapati Guha-Thakurta, Monuments, Objects, Histories, Institutions of Art in Colonial and
Postcolonial India, Permanent Black, Delhi, 2004.
Irfan Habib, ed., India Studies in the History of an Idea, Aligarh Historians Society, Munshiram
Manoharlal, New Delhi, 2004.
D.D. Kosambi, Myth and Reality, Popular Prakashan, Bombay, 1962/2008.
Ronald Inden, Text and Practice, Essays in South Asian History, OUP, New Delhi, 2006.
R. Inden, Imagining India, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1990.
J.D. Bernal, Science in History, Watts, London, second ed, 1957.
Jayant V. Narlikar, The Scientific Edge, Penguin Books India, New Delhi, 2003.
S. Irfan Habib and Dhruv Raina, Situating the History of Science, OUP, New Delhi, 1999.
Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya, The Making of Early Medieval India, OUP, New Delhi, 1997.
Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya, Studying Early India, Permanent Black, Delhi, 2003.
K. Veluthat, The Early Medieval in South India, Oxford Collected Essays, OUP, New Delhi,
2009.
Daud Ali, ed., Invoking the Past, OUP, New Delhi, 1999.
Kumkum Roy, ed., Women in Early Indian Society, Manohar, New Delhi, 1999.
Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid, eds., Recasting Women: Essays in Indian Colonial History,
Rutgers University Press, 1990.
Kumkum Roy, The Power of Gender and the Gender of Power: Explorations in Early Indian
History, Oxford Collected Essays, New Delhi, 2010.
George Hart, The Poems of Ancient Tamil, Their Milieu and their Sanskrit counterparts, Oxford
India paperbacks, New Delhi, 1999.
Course 3 (2.1.B): Political and Economic History of Medieval India (13th 18th centuries).
The emphasis in this course would be on Historiography of some selected themes, and the
sources.
Medieval India: An Overview
Nature of State systems and Institutions Sultanate and Mughal
Political Culture Court society
Agrarian Economy
Maritime History coming of the European companies
Internal Trade
Urbanisation and Consumption
Agrarian and Mercantile communities
Regional States
Abul Fazl, Akbarnama, H. Beveridge, trans., The Akbarnama of Abul Fazl.

Abdul Qadir Badaoni, Muntkhab-ut-Tawarikh, trans., S.A. Ranking.
Babur, Baburnama, W.M. Thackston, trans., The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and
Emperor.
Francois Bernier, Travels in the Mughal Empire, 1658-68, trans., Irving Brock, revised and
updated by Archibald Constable.
Jahangir, Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri. trans., Alexander Rogers, ed., Henry Beveridge.
Niccolao Manucci, Storia do Mogor or Mogul India, trans., William Irvine.
Muzaffar Alam, Languages of Political Islam in India. c. 1200-1800.
Muzaffar Alam and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, eds., The Mughal State.1526-1750.
______., Indo-Persian Travels in the Age of Discoveries, 1400-1800.
Daud Ali, Courtly Culture and Political Life in Early Medieval India.
M. Athar Ali, Mughal Nobility Under Aurangzeb.
Raziuddin Aquil, In the Name of Allah, Understanding Islam in Indian History.

Sinnappah Arasaratnam, Merchants, companies and commerce on the Coromandel coast, 1650-
1740.
Abdul Aziz, The Mansabdari System and the Mughul Army.
Kenneth Ballhatchet and John Harrison, eds., The City in South Asia: Premodern and Modern.
Indu Banga, ed., Ports and their hinterlands in India, 1700-1950.
______., ed., The City in Indian history: urban demography, society, and politics.
Richard B. Barnett, North India between Empires: Awadh, the Mughals and the British 1720-
1801.
______., ed., Rethinking Early Modern India.
C.A. Bayly, Rulers, Townsmen and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British
Expansion, 1770-1870.
______., Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire.
______., Imperial Meridian: The British Empire and the World, 1780-1830.
Meena Bhargava, ed., Exploring Medieval India. Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries. I. Politics,
Economy, Religion.
Stephen Blake, The Patrimonial-Bureaucratic Empire of the Mughals, Journal of Asian Studies
39, 1, 1979: 77-94.
______., The Urban Economy in Premodern Muslim India: Shahjahanabad, 1639-1739, Modern
Asian Studies, 21, 3, 1987: 447-72.
______., Shahjahanabad: The Sovereign City in Mughal India, 1639-1739.
Stephen Broadberry and Bishnupriya Gupta, The early modern great divergence: wages, prices
and economic development in Europe and Asia, 15001800, Economic History Review, 59, 1,
2006, pp. 231.
Satish Chandra, Parties and Politics at the Mughal Court.
______., Medieval India: Society, the Jagirdari Crisis, and the Village.
K.N. Chaudhuri, Trade and Civilization in the Indian Ocean: An Economic History From the
Rise of Islam Until 1750.
______., Asia Before Europe: Economy and Civilisation of the Indian Ocean From the Rise of
Islam to 1750.
Sushil Chaudhury, Trade and Commercial Organization in Bengal, 1650-1720.
Stephen F. Dale, Indian Merchants and Eurasian Trade, 1600-1750.
______., The Garden of the Eight Paradises.
Ashin Das Gupta and M.N. Pearson, eds., India and the Indian Ocean: 1500-1800.
Ashin Das Gupta, Indian Merchants and the Decline of Surat: c. 1700-1750.
Rajat Datta, Rethinking a Millennium: Perspectives on Indian History from the Eighth to the
Eighteenth Century.
Richard M. Eaton, The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier 1204-1760.
______., Essays on Islam and Indian History.
M.H. Fisher, A Clash of Cultures: Awadh, the British and the Mughals.
R.E. Frykenberg, ed., Delhi through the ages: essays in urban history, culture, and society.
Durba Ghosh, Sex and the Family in Colonial India: The Making of Empire.
Jos Gommans, The Rise of the Indo Afghan Empire c. 1710-1780.
______., Mughal Warfare.
Stewart Gordon, The Marathas. 1600-1818.
J.S. Grewal and Indu Banga, eds., Studies in Urban history.
B.R. Grover, An Integrated Pattern of Commercial Life in the Rural Society of North India
During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Proceedings of the 37th Session of Indian
Historical Records Commission, 1966, Vol.37), reprinted in Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Money and the
Market in India.
Sumit Guha, Environment and Ethnicity in India, 1200-1991.
Irfan Habib, The Agrarian System of Mughal India (1556-1707).
______., ed., Akbar and his India.
Muhammad Habib and K. A. Nizami, Comprehensive History of India, Vol. 5, Delhi Sultanat.
S. Najaf Haider, Precious Metal Flows and Currency Circulation in the Mughal Empire,
Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 39, No. 3, 1996, pp. 298- 364.

Gavin Hambly, The Cities of Mughal India.
Farhat Hasan, State and Locality in Mughal India. Power Relations in Western India, c. 1572-
1730.
Neeraj Hatekar, Indian political economy and the early British industrial revolution: A fresh look
for 1753-1794, Indian Economic and Social History Review, Vol. 39, No. 4, 2002.
______., Farmers and Markets in the Pre-Colonial Deccan: The plausibility of Economic Growth
in Traditional Society, Past and Present, Vol. 178, No. 1, 2003.
Andrea Hintze, The Mughal Empire and its Decline: An Interpretation of the Sources of Social
Power.
Peter Jackson, The Delhi Sultanate. A Political and Military History.
Iqtidar Alam Khan, Gunpowder and Firearms: Warfare in Medieval India.
Dirk H.A. Kolff, Naukar, Rajput and Sepoy: The Ethnohistory of the Military Labour Market of
Hindustan, 1450-1850.
Hermann Kulke, The State in India, 1000-1700.
Sunil Kumar, The Emergence of the Delhi Sultanate.
Ruby Lal, Domesticity and Power in the Early Mughal World.
David Ludden, An Agrarian History of South Asia.
Pius Malekandathil, Maritime India. Trade, Religion and Polity in the Indian Ocean.
Catherine Manning, Fortunes faire-The French in Asian Trade, 1719-48.
Shireen Moosvi, The Economy of the Mughal Empire, C.1595: A Statistical Study.
Hameeda Khatoon Naqvi, Urban Centres and Industries in upper India, 1556-1803.
______., Urbanisation and urban centres under the great Mughals, 1556-1707, an essay in
interpretation.
Prasannan Parthasarathi, Rethinking Wages and Competitiveness in the Eighteenth century:
Britain and South India, Past and Present, no. 158, 1998.
M.N. Pearson, The Portuguese in India.
Frank Perlin, Invisible City: Monetary, Administrative, and Popular Infrastructures in Asia and
Europe, 1500-1900.
Kenneth Pomeranz, The Great Divergence. China, Europe, and the Making of the Modern World
Economy.
Om Prakash, The Dutch East India Company and the Economy of Bengal, 1630-1720.
______., European Commercial Enterprise in Pre-Colonial India.
Velcheru Narayana Rao, David Shulman, and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Symbols of Substance:
Court and State in Nayaka Period Tamil Nadu.
Indrani Ray, The French East India Company and the Trade of the Indian Ocean: A Collection of
Essays, ed., and intro., Lakshmi Subramanian.
Tapan Raychaudhuri and Irfan Habib, eds., The Cambridge Economic History of India. vol. I
John R. Richards, ed., Precious Metals in the Later Medieval and Early Modern Worlds.
______., ed., The Imperial Monetary System of Mughal India.
______., The Mughal Empire.
Yogesh Sharma, ed., Coastal Histories. Society and Ecology in pre-Modern India.
N. A. Siddiqi, Land Revenue Administration Under the Mughals, 1700-1750.
Chetan Singh, Region and Empire: Punjab in the Seventeenth Century.
S. Jeyaseela Stephen, ed., The Indian Trade at the Asian Frontier.
Sanjay Subrahmanyam and C. A. Bayly, Portfolio Capitalists and the Political Economy of Early
Modern India, The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 25, 4, 1988: 401-24.
Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Mughal state structure or process? Reflections on recent Western
historiography, Indian Economic and Social History Review, (Delhi) 29, no.3 (Jul-Sep 1992) 291-
321.
______., Rural Industry and Commercial Agriculture in Late 17th century South Eastern India,
Past and Present, 126, 1990: 76-114.
______.,, ed., Merchants, Markets, and the State in Early Modern India.

______.,, Improvising Empire: Portuguese Trade and Settlement in the Bay of Bengal, 1500
1700.
______.,, The Political Economy of Commerce: Southern India 1500-1650.
______.,, Penumbral Visions - Making Politics in Early Modern South India.
______.,, Explorations in Connected History: From the Tagus to the Ganges.
______.,, Explorations in Connected History: Mughals and Franks.
Course 3 (2.1 C)
This course in its three available options generally engages with Modern History and has 3
options - 3 (2.1.C.i), 3(2.1.C.ii) and 3(2.1.C.iii) any one of which may be taken
Course 3 (2.1.C.i): Historical Studies in Environment.
This course would present different conceptions of the environment and important issues and
interventions in the history of the environment and environmentalism.
Themes would include:

Nature, Environment and Ecology
Nature, (Wo)Man, Machine
Environment in Policy and Practice
Community and Traditional Knowledge in Environmental Discourse
Gender and Environment
History and Varieties of Environmentalism
Select Readings:
Raymond Williams, Ideas of Nature, in Problems in Materialism and Culture: Selected Essays.
Yrjo Haila and Richard Levins, What Program can Ecology set for Society, in Humanity and
Nature: Ecology, Science and Society.
Arun Agrawal and K. Sivaramakrishnan, eds., Social Nature: Resources, Representations and
Rule in India.
J.K. Boyce, Inequality as a Cause of Environmental Degradation, Ecological Economics, Vol.
11, 1994.
Arun Agrawal, Enchantment and Disenchantment: The Role of Community in Natural Resource
Conservation, World Development, 27: 4, 1999.
Vandana Shiva, Staying Alive: Women, Ecology and Survival in India.
Bina Agarwal, The Gender and Environment Debate: Lessons from India, Feminist Studies,
18:1, 1992.
Lyla Mehta, Contexts and Constructions of Water Scarcity, Economic and Political Weekly, 29
Nov. 2003.
Ramachandra Guha, Environmentalism: A Global History.
Course 3 (2.1.C.ii): Science and Society.
1. Approaches to the History of Science: Historical and Anthropological Analyses of science:

Overlaps, Dissociations and necessities of multidisciplinary treatment.
2. Science as knowledge: A Historical Reconnaissance of the emergence of Disciplines, Methods
and Institutions in India.
3. Science in social application in the context of India:

i) Science, Medicine and Public health.
ii) Science and Information.
iii) Science, Resources and Resource building.
iv) Science and Environment.
v) Science, Society and Technology, Industry: Interfaces.
4. The Culture of Science, discourses of Progress.
5. Political implications of science in the context of colonisation and decolonisation.
6. Feminist interventions in the study of science.
Selected Readings:
Deepak Kumar, Science and the Raj.

Zaheer Babar, The Science of Empire: Scientific Knowledge, Civilization, and Colonial Rule in
India.
Pratik Chakrabarti, Western Science in Modern India: Metropolitan Methods, Colonial Practices.
Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China.
J.D. Bernal, Science in History.
Course 3 (2.1.C.iii): The City in History.
This course considers the city in the global South (especially India) as a historically produced and
reproduced site of urbanity of a distinctive kind. As the question of colonial mediation is involved
in this specific kind of engagement, the legacy pre-colonial is very germane to the understanding of
the specifics of colonial and postcolonial urbanity in its economic and social implications. The
history of the postcolonial state and its programme of development and planning is no less
germane. Again, the emergence of urban neo-liberalism, too, has come to transform the urban
experience in India. This course gives an opportunity to undertake a searching historical journey in
the light of these developments over time.
Selected themes will be

1. An overview of the important theoretical perspectives on the city as a social organism.
2. Urban space and culture in Ancient and Early Medieval India: Actual and Representational.
3. The Medieval Urbanity.
4. Colonial urbanity; its political economy and politics of space historically diversified; case
studies.
5. Postcolonial notions of development and the transforming urban milieu.
6. Urban neoliberalism, mega-city projects and the most recent urban transformation in India.
7. The city and the environment in historical perspective; right to the city in historical
perspective.
Suggested Readings:
V. Gordon Childe, The Urban Revolution, Town Planning Review, 21, 3 17.
R.M. Adams, The Origin of Cities, Scientific American, 203, 153 168.
K. Davis, Urban research and its significance, in J. Gibbs, ed., Urban Research Methods, Delhi,
1966.
Robert Refield, The Cultural role of Cities, in M. Redfield, ed., Human Nature and the Study of
Society, the Papers of Robert Redfield, Chicago, 1962.
Lewis Mumford, The City in History, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, 1961.
Colin Renfrew, Approaches to Social Archaeology, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1984.
A. Ghosh, The City in Early historic India, Simla Institute of Advanced Studies, Simla, 1973.
D.K. Chakrabarti, The Archaeology of Ancient Indian Cities, OUP, New Delhi, 1995.

F.R. Allchin, ed., The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The emergence of Cities and
States, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995.
Kenneth Ballhatchet and John Harrison, eds., The City in South Asia: Premodern and Modern,
London and Dublin, 1980.
Indu Banga, ed., The City in Indian history: urban demography, society, and politics, New Delhi,
1991.
R. Champakalakshmi, Trade, ideology, and urbanization: South India 300 BC to AD 1300, New
Delhi, 1998.
R.E. Frykenberg, ed., Delhi through the ages: essays in urban history, culture, and society, Delhi,
1986.
Hameeda Khatoon Naqvi, Urbanisation and urban centres under the great Mughals, 1556-1707,
an essay in interpretation, Simla, 1972.
Swati Chattopadhyay, Calcutta: Modernity, Nationalism and the Colonial Uncanny, Routledge,
2005.
Veena Talwar Oldenburg, The Making of Colonial Lucknow, Oxford University Press, 1990.
Prashant Kidambi, The Making of an Indian Metropolis: Colonial Governance and Public
Culture in Bombay, 1890-1920, Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2007.
Mike Davis, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles, Vintage, 1992.
Mike Davis, Dead Cities: A Natural History, The New Press, 2003.
David Harvey, Paris, Capital of Modernity, Routledge, new ed. 2005.
Manuel Castells, The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-Cultural Theory of Urban Social
Movements, University of California Press, 1985.
Henri Lefebvre, Writings on Cities, and trans. and ed., by Eleonore Kofman and Elizabeth Lebas,
Blackwell Publishing, 1996.
Course 4:
Course 4 (2.2) is of 50 marks and has the following options designated as A, B and C. Option 3C,
in its turn, has 3 options designated as i, ii and iii respectively.
Course 4 (2.2.A): Themes in Early Historical and Early Medieval India.
Political and Legal Institutions and Thought.

Gender Studies.
Liberal Arts, Visual Arts, Performing Arts.
Science and Society.
Paradigms of civilisation.
Early Medieval in India.
Economic Institutions, Practices and Relations.
Suggested Readings:
D. P. Agrawal, The Copper Bronze Age in India, New Delhi, 1969.

H.D. Sankalia, Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Pakistan, Bombay, 1963.
R. C. Majumdar, Corporate Life in Ancient India, Calcutta, First Pubd., 1919.
Beni Prasad, Theory of Government in Ancient India, Allahabad, 1974.
N.N. Law, Aspects of Ancient Indian Polity, Oxford, 1st Pubd, 1921.
U. Ghoshal, A History of Indian Political Theories, Madras, 1966.
N.C. Bandopadhyaya, Development of Hindu Polity and Political Theories, New Delhi, 1980.
J. C. Heesterman, The Ancient Indian Royal Consecration, The Hague, 1957.
R.S. Sharma, Aspects of Political Ideas and Institutions in Ancient India, Delhi, 1991.
_______., Origin of the State in India, Bombay, 1989.

Romila Thapar, From Lineage to State, Bombay, 1984.
Kumkum Roy, The Emergence of Monarchy in North India, Delhi, 1994.
Vivekanand Jha, Ancient Indian Political History: Possibilities and Pitfalls, Social Scientist,
Vol. 18, No. 1/2. (Jan.-Feb., 1990), pp. 36-54.
Kumkum Roy, ed., Women in Early Indian Societies, Delhi, 1999.
U. Chakrabarti, The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism, Delhi, 1987.
B. H. Baden-Powell, The Indian Village Community, London, 1896.
Romila Thapar, Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas, Delhi, 1963.
Romila Thapar, The Mauryas Revisited, Calcutta, 1987.
Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya, The Making of Early Medieval India, Delhi, 1997.
D.D. Kosambi, An Introduction to the Study of Indian History, Bombay, 1956.
J. Gonda, Ancient Indian Kingship from Religious point of View, Leiden, 1966.
P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, Poona, 1930 62.
J.P. Sharma, Republics in Ancient India, Leiden, 1968.
Haripada Chakrabarti, Vedic India Political and Legal Institutions in Vedic Literature, Calcutta,
1981.
K.P. Jayaswal, Hindu Polity, Bangalore, 1943.
Romila Thapar, Interpreting Early India, Delhi, 1992.
A. H. Philips, Historians of India, Pakistan and Ceylon, Oxford, 1961.
K.A. Nilkanta Sastri, A History of South India, OUP, Oxford, 1975.
______., The Colas, Madras, 1975.
Kenneth R. Hall, Trade and Statecraft in the Age of the Colas, New Delhi, 1980.
R. Champakalakshmi, Trade, Ideology and Urbanization, OUP, New Delhi, first pubd., 1996.
B.Stein, Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India, OUP, Delhi, 1980.
R.C. Majumdar, ed., History of Bengal, vol, I., Ist ed., Dacca, 1943.
Nihar Ranjan Ray, Bangalir Itihas, Adiparba, Calcutta, 3rd ed., 2001.
Sukumari Bhattacharji, Women and society in Ancient India, Basumati corporation Ltd, Kolkata,
1994.
Sukumari Bhattacharji, Prachin Bharat Samaj O Sahitya, Ananda, Kolkata, 1394 Bengali year.
Uma Chakraborty, Gendering Caste through a Feminist Lens, Stree, Kolkata, 2003.
Susie J. Tharu, K. Lalita, Women Writing in India: 600 B.C. to the early twentieth century,
Feminist Press, City University of New York, 1991.
Uma Chakraborty, Everyday Lives, Everyday Histories, Tulika, New Delhi, 2006.
Uma Chakraborty, Beyond the Kings and the Brahmanas of Ancient India, Tulika, 2007.
Kirit Shah, The Problem of Identity: Women in early Indian Inscriptions, Indian Institute of
Advanced Studies, OUP, New Delhi, 2001.
Kumkum Roy, ed., Women in Early Indian Societies, Manohar, New Delhi, 1999.
D.C. Sircar, Religious Life in Ancient India, University of Calcutta, 1972.
Sukumari Bhattacharji, The Indian Theogony, Firma KLM, Calcutta, 1978.
Course 4 (2.2.B): Social and Cultural History of Medieval India (13th 18th centuries).
Historiography and different kinds of sources of some selected themes would be discussed:
Art Visual and Performing Arts
Architecture Sultanate and Mughal
Language and Literature Classical and Vernacular
Religion Bhakti and Sufism
Scientific and Intellectual Trends
Society Urban and Rural Life
Banarasidas, Ardhakathanaka: Half a Tale, trans., Mukund Lath.

Mangalkavyas, selected portions of some texts.
Michael Fisher, ed., Visions Of Mughal India: An Anthology of European Travel Writing.
______., ed., Beyond the Three Seas: Travellers Tales from Mughal India.
W. Foster, The English Factories in India 1618-1621 [to] 1668-1669, 13 vols.
Humayun-Nama, trans., Annette S. Beveridge.
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, Travels in India, trans. V. Ball, ed., William Crooke, Vol. I
Muzaffar Alam, Francoise 'Nalini' Delvoye and Marc Gaborieau, eds., The Making of Indo-
Persian Culture: Indian and French Studies.
Muzaffar Alam, Languages of Political Islam in India. c. 1200-1800.
Raziuddin Aquil, Sufism, Culture and Politics: Afghans and Islam in Medieval North India.
______.,, ed., Sufism and Society in Medieval India.
Raziuddin Aquil and Partha Chatterjee, eds., History in the Vernacular.
Catherine B. Asher, Architecture of Mughal India.
K.M. Ashraf, Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan.
C.A. Bayly, The Pre-History of Communalism? Religious Conflict in India. 1700-1860,
Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 19, No. 2, 1985.
Milo C. Beach, The New Cambridge History of India I:3 Mughal and Rajput Painting.
Milo C. Beach, and Ebba Koch, King of the World. The Padshahnama.
Meena Bhargava, ed., Exploring Medieval India. Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries. II. Culture,
Gender, Regional Patterns.
Katherine Brown, Did Aurangzeb ban music? Questions for the historiography of his
reign, Modern Asian Studies 41/1 (2007), pp. 77-121.
Ramakanta Chakravarty, Vaishnavism in Bengal.
Rajat Datta, Rethinking A Millennium; Perspectives on Indian History From the Eighth to the
Eighteenth Century.
Dharampal, Indian science and technology in the eighteenth century.
Simon Digby, Dreams and Reminiscences of Dattu Sarwani. Indian Economic and Social
History Review 2(1): 52-80 2(2): 178-94.
______., The Sufi Shaikh as a Source of Authority in Medieval India. Purusartha, 9 (1986), pp.
57-77.
Natasha J. Eaton, Between mimesis and alterity: Art, gift and diplomacy in colonial India, 1770-
1800, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 46, 4, 2004, 816-844.
Richard M. Eaton, Sufis of Bijapur 1300-1700: Social Roles of Sufis in Medieval India.
______., ed., Indias Islamic Tradition.
______., A Social History of the Deccan, 1300-1761. Eight Indian Lives.
Carl W. Ernst, Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History, and Politics at a South Asian Sufi Center.
Finbarr Barry Flood, ed., Piety and Politics in the Early Indian Mosque.
David Gilmartin and B. Lawrence, eds., Beyond Turk and Hindu: Rethinking Religious Identities
in Islamicate South Asia.
J.S. Grewal, The Sikhs of the Punjab.
Irfan Habib, Technology in Medieval India 6501750.
______., Pursuing the history of Indian technology: pre-modern modes of transmission of
power, Social Scientist, 20, 3/4, 1992, pp. 122.
Rosalind OHanlon, Manliness and Imperial Service in Mughal North India, Journal of the
Economic and Social History of the Orient, 42, February 1999, 47-93.
______., Kingdom, Household and Body: History, Gender and Imperial Service under Akbar,
Modern Asian Studies, 41, 5, 2007, 887-922.
Farhat Hasan, Forms of Civility and Publicness in Pre-British India, in Rajeev Bhargava and
Helmut Reifeld, eds., Civil Society, Public Sphere and Citizenship: Dialogues and Perceptions.
Nurul Hasan, Religion, State and Society in Medieval India.
History of Science, Technology and Medicine, vol. 7 & 8.
D.N. Jha, ed., Society and Ideology in India: Essays in Honour of Professor R.S. Sharma.
Monica Juneja, ed., Architecture in Medieval India: Forms, Contexts, Histories.
I. A. Khan, Early use of cannon and musket in India: A.D. 14421526, Journal of the Economic
and Social History of the Orient, 24, 2, 1981, pp. 14664.

Ebba Koch, Mughal Art and Imperial Ideology: Collected Essays.
______., Mughal Architecture.
Abdul Sk. Latif, The Muslim Mystic Movement in Bengal, 13011550.
Bruce B. Lawrence, Notes from a Distant Flute: Sufi Literature in Pre-Mughal Literature.
David Lorenzen, ed., Religious Movements in South Asia, 600-1800.
Barbara Daly Metcalf, ed., Moral Conduct and Authority: The Place of Adab in South Asian
Islam.
George Michell, Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates.
Harbans Mukhia, Perspectives on Medieval History.
______., The Celebration of Failure as Dissent in Urdu Ghazal, Modern Asian Studies, 33, pp.
861-881.
K.A. Nizami, Some Aspects of Religion and Politics in India in the Thirteenth Century.
Francesca Orsini, ed., Before the Divide: Hindi and Urdu Literary Culture.
Carla Petievich, Gender politics and the Urdu ghazal: Exploratory observations on Rekhta versus
Rekhti, The Indian the Economic and Social History Review, vol. 38/3, 2001, pp. 223-248.
Sheldon Pollock, ed., Literary Cultures in South Asia.
Ahsan Jan Qaisar, The Indian Response to European Technology and Culture.
A.J. Qaisar and S.P. Verma, eds., Art and Culture: Felicitation Volume in Honour of Prof. S.
Nurul Hasan.
Vijaya Ramaswamy, The genesis and historical role of the master weavers in south Indian textile
production, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 28, 3, 1985, pp. 294325.
Vijaya Ramaswamy and Yogesh Sharma, eds., Biography as History. Indian Perspectives.
Narayana Rao, Velcheru, David Shulman and Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Symbols of Substance:
Court and State in Nayaka Period Tamilnadu.
Aniruddha Ray, Madhyajuger Bharatiya shahar (Medieval Indian cities).
Saiyid Athar Abbas Rizvi, A History of Sufism in India. 2 vols.
Annemarie Schimmel, Islam in the Indian Subcontinent.
Krishna Sharma, Bhakti and the Bhakti Movement.
Sunil Sharma, Persian Poetry at the Indian Frontier.
Samira Sheikh, Forging a Region. Sultans, Traders, and Pilgrims in Gujarat, 1200-1500.
I. H. Siddiqui, Water works and irrigation system in India during pre-Mughal times, Journal of
the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 29, 1, 1986, pp. 5277.
C. Vaudeville, A Weaver named Kabir.
______., Myths, Saints and Legends in Medieval India.
Som Prakash Verma, Mughal Painters and Their Work. A Biographical Survey and
Comprehensive catalogue.
Bonnie Wade, Imaging Sound: An Ethnomusicological Study of Music, Art, and Culture in
Mughal India .
S.C. Welch, Imperial Mughal Painting.
Course 4 (2.2.C.i): Masters of what they survey?: British colonisers and late imperialism,
1880-1945.
Instead of concentrating only on the colonised world, particularly India, this course will explore
the relationship between British colonisers and their Empire from the late nineteenth Century, when
British territorial imperialism reached its height, to the end of the Second World War (1945) which
marked the beginning of decolonisation. The course will focus on the sources of tension and
resistance, rooted in the interstices of capital, class, race and gender that plagued imperial rule both
in the metropolitan centre as well as in the colonised world.
A short bibliography:

E.J. Hobsbawm, The Age of Empire.
E.J. Hobsbawm, The Age of Extremes.
K. M. Panikkar, Asia and Western Dominance.
Amiya Kumar Bagchi, Private Investment in India, 1900-1939.
Sumit Sarkar, Modern India, 1885-1947.
Mike Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts.
M. Beloff, Imperial Sunset, Vol. 1: Britains Liberal Empire, 1897-1921.
K. Jeffery, The British Army and the Crisis of Empire 1918-1939.
C. Barnett, The Collapse of British Power.
R. Wilkinson, Gentlemanly Power: British Leadership and the Public School Tradition.
J. Rutherford, Forever England: Reflections on Masculinity and Empire.
J. M. Mackenzie, (ed.), Imperialism and Popular Culture.
J. A. Mangan, The Games Ethic and Imperialism.
Rozina Visram, Asians in Britain.
Philippa Levine, (ed.), Gender and Empire.
Felix Driver and David Gilbert, (eds.), Imperial Cities. Landscape, Display and Identity.
Course 4 (2.2.C.ii): Colonial and Post-colonial History of the Margins.
1. Colonial state, Forms of knowledge and the Marginal communities

2. Self awareness, Social Reforms and Protests against caste oppression in Colonial India
3. Electoral politics and the Scheduled Castes of Colonial India
4. Partition of India and the Marginal Communities
5. Post-colonial changing perceptions about Dalits in the new writings
6. Reservations and the Marginal Communities: Myth and Reality
7. Caste violence in postcolonial India
8. Rise of the Marginal communities in postcolonial politics
9. Many Marginal Communities and the State: the differently abled; children; trans-gender
communities, refugees, and minorities
Suggested Readings:
Basu, Sajal, Regional Movements: Politics and Language, Ethnicity-Identity, New Delhi,
Manohar, 1992.
Bose, N.K., Structure of the Hindu Society, revised ed., New Delhi, Orient Longman, 1994.
Brahma, Kameswar, A Study of the Socio-Religious Beliefs of the Bodos with Special References
to the Bodos of Kokrajhar District, Calcutta, Puthi Pustak, 1992.
Brass, Paul R., The politics of India since Independence, Cambridge University Press, 1992.
Dirks, Nicholas B., Castes of Mind: Colonialism and the Making of Modern India, New Delhi,
Permanent Black, 2001.
Dutta, Nripendra Kumar, Origin and Growth of Castes in India (Volumes I & II Combined),
Calcutta, Firma KLM Pvt. Ltd, 1986.
Ghosh, G.K. and Sukla Ghosh, Legends of Origin of the Castes and Tribes of Eastern India,
Calcutta, Firm KLM, Pvt. Ltd., 2000.
Hunter, W.W., A History of British India, (2vols.), London, Longman Green and Co., 1899.
_____., History of the Indian People (1903), reprint ed., New Delhi, Cosmo Publications, 1984.
Jaffrelot, Christophe, Indias Silent Revolution: Rise of the Low Castes in North India Politics,
Delhi, Permanent Black, 2003.
Mallik, Ross, Development, Ethnicity and Human Rights in South Asia, New Delhi, 1998.
Mendelsohn, Oliver, and Marika Vicziany, The Untouchables: Subordination, Poverty and the
State in Modern India (Contemporary South Asia), Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Nathan, Dev, From Tribe to Caste, Shimla, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1997.

Omvedt, Gail, Dalits and the Democratic Revolution: Dr. Ambedkar and the Dalit Movement in
Colonial India, New Delhi, Sage Publications, 1994.
Omvedt, Gail, Dalit Visions, Orient Blackswan, 2010.
O'Hanlon, Rosalind, Caste, Conflict, and ideology, Cambridge University Press, 1985.
Pai, Sudha, Dalit Assertion and the Unfinished Democratic Revolution: The Bahujan Samaj Party
in Uttar Pradesh (Cultural Subordination and the Dalit Challenge), Sage Publications, 2002.
Rath, G.C., (ed.), Tribal Development in India, New Delhi, Sage Publications, 2006, pp.153-165.
Sanyal, Charu Chandra, The Rajbanshis of North Bengal, reprint ed., Kolkata, The Asiatic
Society, 2002.
Singh, Ekta, Caste System in India: A Historical Perspective, Delhi, Kalpaz Publications, 2005.
Singh K.S., (ed.), The Tribal Situation in India, reprint ed., Delhi, Motilal Banarsidas, 1996.
Srinivas, M.N., Social Change in Modern India, reprint ed., New Delhi, Orient Longman, 1985.
Vidyarthi, L.P., and B.K. Rai, The Tribal Culture of India, reprint ed., New Delhi, Concept
Publishing Co., 2000.
Weiner, Myron, Sons of the Soil: Migration and Ethnic Conflicts in India, Delhi, Oxford
Yagati, Chinna Rao, Dalit Studies: A Bibliographical Handbook, New Delhi, Kanishka
Publishers, Distributors, 2003.
Course 4 (2.2.C.iii): Warfare and Imperialism in South Asia: 1914-47.
Recent historiography is emphasizing the role of the two World Wars in transforming the global
distribution of power. The end of First World War accelerated the decline of France and Britain.
And in 1945, the defeat of Germany represented the decline of Europe vis-a-vis the rise of two
extra-European super states: USSR and USA. Such a development had long been forecasted by
Alexis de Tocqueville. The two World Wars also accelerated the decline of European overseas
empires. Massive mobilization of the economic and military assets of the colonies by the mother
country not only raised the disaffection among certain section of the colonial populace but also
increased the awareness and leverage of the colonial collaborators. As John Darwin writes, the
result was devolution of power and finally withdrawal of the European powers from the colonies.
This course by making a case study of the British Empire in South Asia in the age of the two World
Wars validates the above points.
The first topic discusses the recent shift in historiography. The second topic concerns itself with
the ramshackle Raj, how it became its own prisoner due to over-dependence on India for
conducting World War I. The third topic portrays how the British were caught between the devil
and deep blue sea. While on one hand, crushing economic burden forced the British to extract more
resources from the periphery, the rise of expectations and powers of the colonial elites prevented
such a move on the part of the Raj. The fourth topic shows that faced with the Axis challenge, the
Raj had to rely on the material and manpower resources of India. After the end of World War II, a
financially bankrupt Britain survived but not the Raj. Even the Rajs closest collaborators in Punjab
(rich peasants) challenged British Governments economic policy. And the war related famine in
Bengal (1942-3) destroyed the prestige of British power. Millions of demobilized soldiers joined
hands with the political agitators and a rising indigenous industrial class challenged British
monopoly capitalism. By 1945, endgames had started.
Topics
1. Imperialism and Warfare: A Historiographical Analysis
2. First World War and the Structure of the Raj
3. Transformation of the Raj in the Interwar Era
4. Global Warfare and British-India
(a) India Base and Industrialization
(b) Expansion of the Indian Army
(c) War and Society: Punjab and Bengal

5. Demobilization and Decolonization
Bibliography:
1. Kaushik Roy, (ed.), War and Society in India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press).
2. Kaushik Roy, The Oxford Companion to Modern Warfare in India (New Delhi: Oxford
University Press).
3. Anirudh Deshpande, British Military Policy in India, 1900-1945: Colonial Constraints and
Declining Power (New Delhi: Manohar).
4. Rajit K. Mazumder, The Indian Army and the Making of Punjab (New Delhi: Permanent
Black).
5. Tan Tai Yong, The Garrison State: The Military, Government, and Society in Colonial
Punjab, 1849-1947 (New Delhi: Sage).
6. S.D. Pradhan and DeWitt Ellinwood, (eds.), India and World War I (New Delhi: Manohar).
7. C.A. Bayly and Tim Harper, Forgotten Armies: The Fall of British Asia, 1941-1945
(Penguin, Viking).
8. C.A. Bayly and Tim Harper, Forgotten War: Freedom and Revolution in Southeast Asia
(Belknap Press).
9. Brian Bond, British Military Policy between the Two World Wars (Oxford University Press).
10. Madhusree Mukherjee, Churchills Secret War. The British Empire and the Ravaging of
India during World War II (Tranqueber Press).
11. Milan Hauner, India in Axis Strategy: Germany, Japan, and Indian Nationalists in the Second
World War (Klett-Cotta).
12. R.G. Fox, Lions of Punjab: Culture in the Making (Berkeley: University of California Press).
13. Correlli Barnett, British Dreams, British Realities, 1945-50 (Macmillan).
14. Denis Judd, The Lion and the Tiger: The Rise and Fall of the British Raj, 1600-1947 (Oxford
University Press).
15. Martin Gilbert, Churchill: A Life (Henry Holt & Co).
16. R.J. Moore, Escape from Empire: The Attlee Government and the Indian Problem (Oxford
University Press).

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Jadavpur University

Department of History, Jadavpur University 2

Department of History, Jadavpur University 3

Field(s) of Specialization and Areas of

Anuradha Roy Intellectual and Cultural History of Modern

Ancient Indian History and Archaeology/

Associate Professors/ Readers

Names Field(s) of Specialization and Areas of

Department of History, Jadavpur University 4

Field(s) of Specialization and Areas of

Department of History, Jadavpur University 5

1. D. D. Kosambi, The Culture and Civilization of Ancient India.

Department of History, Jadavpur University 6

1. The Asiatic WorldIslamic World.

1. A. C. Banerjee, New History of Medieval India.

Department of History, Jadavpur University 7

Department of History, Jadavpur University 8

A. C. Banerjee, New History of Medieval India.

(5) Course 5 (Hist/UG/2.3): Medieval Europe: Institutions.

Department of History, Jadavpur University 9

Department of History, Jadavpur University 10

(6) Course 6 (Hist/UG/3.1): History of Modern India (1757-1885).

Ambirajan, S., Classical Political Economy and British Policy in India.

1. Background to the 14th century: Crusades, Commercial Revolution, HansaChannelBaltic

Department of History, Jadavpur University 11

1. Leo Huberman, Mans Worldly Goods.

(8) Course 8 (Hist/UG/3.3): History of Modern India (1885-1950).

1. Sumit Sarkar, Modern India.

Department of History, Jadavpur University 12

The Problem of identifying the site of the transformation:

Department of History, Jadavpur University 13

1. E. Le Roy Ladurie, The French Peasantry 1450-1660.

(10) Course 10 (Hist/UG/4.2): Comparative Colonialisms in Latin America, Sub-Saharan

A. Sub-Saharan Africa: colonialism, imperialism, liberation struggles, pan-Africanism, and

Department of History, Jadavpur University 14

B. Latin America: Five Centuries of Plunder and Resistance.

Department of History, Jadavpur University 15

C. Colonialism and Imperialism in West Asia and North Africa.

Department of History, Jadavpur University 16

Department of History, Jadavpur University 17

Department of History, Jadavpur University 18

(11) Course 11 (Hist/UG/5.1): Pillars of Civilizations: Egypt and Mesopotamia.

1. Sources problems of writing a non-traditional history of ancient civilizations

(12) Course 12 (Hist/UG/5.2): Modern Europe (1776-1848).

1. The Absolutist state versus the Military-Fiscal State

1. Perry Anderson, Lineages of the Absolutist State.

Department of History, Jadavpur University 19

(13) Course 13 (Hist/UG/5.3): Modern Europe 1871-1919.

Department of History, Jadavpur University 20

Muhammad Mohar Ali, History of the Muslims in Bengal.

Department of History, Jadavpur University 21

Department of History, Jadavpur University 22

(15) Course 15 (Hist/UG/6.1.1): The Chinese Civilisation.

1. Joseph Needham, Science and Society in Ancient China.

Department of History, Jadavpur University 23

(15) Course 15 (Hist/UG/6.1.2): An Historical Outline of Colonial Africa.

A Brief Survey of Pre-Colonial Africa

Thomas Pakenham, The Scramble for Africa.

1. The tributary states of Crete and Mycenae.

Department of History, Jadavpur University 24

1. J. P. T. Bury, (ed.), Cambridge Ancient History, relevant volumes.

(17) Course 17 (Hist/UG/6.3): Modern Europe: 19191945.

1. David Thomson, Europe since Napoleon.

Department of History, Jadavpur University 25