HIS-HC-1016:

HISTORY OF INDIA- I

Lectures : 5; Tutorial : 1 (per week)

Course Outcome: After the completion of this paper, the students will be able to explore and effectively use historical tools in reconstructing the remote past of ancient Indian pre and proto history. The course will also train the students to analyse the various stages of evolution of human cultures and the belief systems in the proto- history period.


Unit I. Reconstructing Ancient Indian History

[a] Early Indian notions of History

[b] Sources and tools of historical reconstruction: archaeological: epigraphy, numismatics, literary

[c] Historical interpretations (with special reference to gender, environment, technology, and regions)


Unit II. Pre-historic hunter-gatherers

[a] Paleolithic cultures- sequence and distribution; stone industries and other technological developments.

[b] Mesolithic cultures- regional and chronological distribution; new developments in technology and economy; rock art.


Unit III. The advent of food production 

[a] Understanding the regional and chronological distribution of the Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures: subsistence, and patterns of exchange


Unit IV. The Harappan civilization

Origins; settlement patterns and town planning; agrarian base; craft productions and trade; social and political organization; religious beliefs and practices; art; the problem of urban decline and the late/post-Harappan traditions.


Unit V. Cultures in transition

Settlement patterns, technological and economic developments; social stratification; political relations; religion and philosophy; the Aryan Problem.

[a] North India (circa 1500 BCE-300 BCE)

[b] Central India and the Deccan (circa 1000 BCE - circa 300 BCE)

[c] Tamilakam (circa 300 BCE to circa CE 300)

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HIS-HC-1026

SOCIAL FORMATIONS AND CULTURAL PATTERNS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

Lectures : 5; Tutorial : 1 (per week)

Course Outcome: after the completion of this paper, the students will be able to explain the processes and stages of the evolution of the variety of cultural pattern throughout antiquarian periods in History. They will be able to relate the connections between the various Bronze Age civilizations in the ancient world as well as development of slave and polis societies in ancient Greece.


Unit I. Evolution of Humankind:

[a] Paleolithic and Mesolithic cultures.

[b]Food production: beginnings of agriculture

[c]Animal husbandry.


Unit II. Bronze Age Civilizations: economy, social stratification, state structure, religion

[a]Egypt (Old Kingdom)

[b]Mesopotamia (up to the Akkadian Empire);

[c] China (Shang);


Unit III. Nomadic groups in Central and West Asia

[a] From Bronze to Iron age: Anatolia and Greece

[b]Minoan Civillization

[c]Debate on Iron


Unit IV. Slave society in Ancient Greece:

[a] Origin of Slavery: Slavery in Sparta and Greece

[b] Debate on Slavery

[c] Agrarian economy, urbanization, trade.


Unit V. Polis in ancient Greece:

[a]Development of democracy in Athens and Sparta;

[b]Concept of citizenship

[c]Greek Culture-Science and Philosophy, religion, art and architecture

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HIS –HG-1016

HISTORY OF INDIA (FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES UP TO c. 1206)

Lecture : 5; Tutorial : 1 (per week)

Course Outcome: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to explain the emergence of state system in North India, development of imperial state structure and state formation in South India in the early period. They will be able to understand the changes and transformations in polity, economy and society in early India and the linkages developed through contacts with the outside world.


Unit: I

[a] Sources : literary and archaeological

[b] Indus Civilization :origin, extent, urban planning and urban decline.

[c] Society, polity, economy and religion in the Rig Vedic Period

[d] Society, polity, economy and religion in the Later Vedic Period


Unit: II

[a] Rise of territorial states– Janapadas and Mahajanapadas

[b] Rise of new religious movements in north India- Jainism and Buddhism :social dimension 

of early Jainism and Buddhism.

[c] The Mauryas - Background of Mauryan state formation.

[d] Asoka :Dhamma - its propagation; Administration and Economy under the Mauryas.

[e] Decline of the Mauryas


Unit: III

[a] Post–Mauryan period : The Sungas, Chedis

[b]Kharavelas and Satavahanas

[c]Sangam Age: literature, society and culture in South India.


Unit: IV

[a] Central Asian contact and its Impact: The Indo-Greeks, Sakas and Kushanas

[b] The Gupta Empire- state and administration

[c] Post Gupta period :Vardhanas and Palas


Unit: V

[a] Political development in the South – the Pallavas, the imperial Cholas, the Rashtrakutas and the Chalukyas.

[b] The Arabs and the Turks in Indian politics –Ghaznivides and the Ghorid invasions. 

[c] Indian Society during 650 –1200 A.D.-literature & language, temple architecture and Sculpture.

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