SYLLABUS FOR B.A. HISTORY HONS. SECOND YEAR
PAPER VII : SEMESTER III
HISTORY OF INDIA III (c. 750 – 1206)
I. Studying Early Medieval India:
Historical geography-Sources: texts, epigraphic and numismatic data
Debates on Indian feudalism, rise of the Rajputs and the nature of the state
II. Political Structures:
(a) Evolution of political structures: Rashtrakutas, Palas, Pratiharas, Rajputs and Cholas
(b) Legitimization of kingship; brahmanas and temples; royal genealogies and rituals
(c) Arab conquest of Sindh: nature and impact of the new set-up; Ismaili dawah
(d) Causes and consequences of early Turkish invasions: Mahmud of Ghazna; Shahab-ud-Din
of Ghur
III. Agrarian Structure and Social Change:
(a) Agricultural expansion; crops
(b) Landlords and peasants
(c) Proliferation of castes; status of untouchables
(d) Tribes as peasants and their place in the varna order
IV. Trade and Commerce:
(a) Inter-regional trade
(b) Maritime trade
(c) Forms of exchange
(d) Process of urbanization
(e) Merchant guilds of South India
V. Religious and Cultural Developments:
(a) Bhakti, Tantrism, Puranic traditions; Budhism and Jainism; Popular religious cults
(b) Islamic intellectual traditions: Al-Biruni; Al-Hujwiri
(c) Regional languages and literature
(d) Art and architecture: Evolution of regional styles
PAPER VII : SEMESTER III
HISTORY OF INDIA III (c. 750 – 1206)
I. Studying Early Medieval India:
Historical geography-Sources: texts, epigraphic and numismatic data
Debates on Indian feudalism, rise of the Rajputs and the nature of the state
II. Political Structures:
(a) Evolution of political structures: Rashtrakutas, Palas, Pratiharas, Rajputs and Cholas
(b) Legitimization of kingship; brahmanas and temples; royal genealogies and rituals
(c) Arab conquest of Sindh: nature and impact of the new set-up; Ismaili dawah
(d) Causes and consequences of early Turkish invasions: Mahmud of Ghazna; Shahab-ud-Din
of Ghur
III. Agrarian Structure and Social Change:
(a) Agricultural expansion; crops
(b) Landlords and peasants
(c) Proliferation of castes; status of untouchables
(d) Tribes as peasants and their place in the varna order
IV. Trade and Commerce:
(a) Inter-regional trade
(b) Maritime trade
(c) Forms of exchange
(d) Process of urbanization
(e) Merchant guilds of South India
V. Religious and Cultural Developments:
(a) Bhakti, Tantrism, Puranic traditions; Budhism and Jainism; Popular religious cults
(b) Islamic intellectual traditions: Al-Biruni; Al-Hujwiri
(c) Regional languages and literature
(d) Art and architecture: Evolution of regional styles
PAPER VIII : SEMESTER III
RISE OF THE MODERN WEST - I
I. Transition from feudalism to capitalism: problems and theories.
II. Early colonial expansion motives, voyages and explorations; the conquests of the Americas: beginning of the era of colonization; mining and plantation; the African slaves.
III. Renaissance: its social roots, city states of Italy; spread of humanism in
Europe; Art.
IV. Origins, course and results of the European Reformation in the 16th century.
V. Economic developments of the sixteenth century: Shift of economic balance from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic; Commercial Revolution; Influx of American silver and the Price Revolution.
VI. Emergence of European state system: Spain; France; England; Russia
RISE OF THE MODERN WEST - I
I. Transition from feudalism to capitalism: problems and theories.
II. Early colonial expansion motives, voyages and explorations; the conquests of the Americas: beginning of the era of colonization; mining and plantation; the African slaves.
III. Renaissance: its social roots, city states of Italy; spread of humanism in
Europe; Art.
IV. Origins, course and results of the European Reformation in the 16th century.
V. Economic developments of the sixteenth century: Shift of economic balance from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic; Commercial Revolution; Influx of American silver and the Price Revolution.
VI. Emergence of European state system: Spain; France; England; Russia
PAPER IX (a) I : SEMESTER III
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (c.1776-1945)
I The Background:
The land and indigenous people: settlement and colonisation by Europeans; early
colonial society and politics; indentured labour-White and Black
II Making of the Republic:
[a] Revolution Sources of conflict: Revolutionary groups, Ideology: The War of
Independence and its historical interpretations.
[b] Processes and Features of Constitution making: Debates, Historical
interpretations.
III Evolution of American Democracy:
[a] Federalists: Jeffersonianism: Jacksonianism, Rise of political parties-1840-1960; J judiciary-role of the Supreme Court.
[b] Expansion of Frontier: Turner’s Thesis; Marginalisation, displacement and decimation of native Americans; Case histories of: Tecumseh; Shawnee Prophet.
[c] Limits of democracy: Blacks and women.
IV Early Capitalism:
[a] Beginnings of Industrialisation.
[b] Immigrants and changing composition of Labour; Early Labour Movements.
V The Agrarian South:
[a] Plantation economy.
[b] Slave Society and Culture: Slave resistance.
VI Ante Bellum Foreign Policy:
War of 1812: Monroe Doctrine: Manifest Destiny.
VII Civil War:
[a] Abolitionism and Sectionalism.
[b] Issues and interpretations, and
[c] Rise of Republicanism, Emancipation and Lincoln
PAPER IX (b) I : SEMESTER III
HISTORY OF THE USSR (c. 1917-64)
I. The Russia Revolutions of February and October 1917: Dual Power, Provisional government; the establishment of soviet Power; Nationalities question.
II. Civil War and War Communism 1918-1921: The first eight months; Red and White Economic Policies.
III. The New Economic Policy: Political Debates; trade unions; gender relations; Foreign Policy; the Comintern ; formation of the USSR.
IV. The Great Debate of Soviet Industrialisation.
V. Collectivisation of Soviet Agriculture
HISTORY OF THE USSR (c. 1917-64)
I. The Russia Revolutions of February and October 1917: Dual Power, Provisional government; the establishment of soviet Power; Nationalities question.
II. Civil War and War Communism 1918-1921: The first eight months; Red and White Economic Policies.
III. The New Economic Policy: Political Debates; trade unions; gender relations; Foreign Policy; the Comintern ; formation of the USSR.
IV. The Great Debate of Soviet Industrialisation.
V. Collectivisation of Soviet Agriculture
PAPER XI : SEMESTER IV
HISTORY OF INDIA IV (c.1206 - 1550)
I. Interpreting the Delhi Sultanate:
Survey of sources: Persian tarikh tradition; vernacular histories; epigraphy
II. Sultanate Political Structures:
(a) Foundation, expansion and consolidation of the Sultanate of Delhi; The Khaljis and the Tughluqs; Mongol threat and Timur’s invasion; The Lodis: Conquest of Bahlul and Sikandar; Ibrahim Lodi and the battle of Panipat
(b) Theories of kingship; ruling elites; Sufis, ulama and the political authority; imperial monuments and coinage
(c) Emergence of provincial dynasties: Bahamanis, Vijayanagar, Gujarat, Malwa, Jaunpur and Bengal
(d) Consolidation of regional identities; regional art, architecture and literature
III. Society and Economy:
(a) Iqta and the revenue-free grants
(b) Agricultural production; technology
(c) Changes in rural society; revenue systems
(d) Monetisation; market regulations; growth of urban centres; trade and commerce; Indian Ocean trade
IV. Religion, Society and Culture:
(a) Sufi silsilas: Chishtis and Suhrawardis; doctrines and practices; social roles
(b) Bhakti movements and monotheistic traditions in South and North India; Women Bhaktas;
Nathpanthis; Kabir, Nanak and the Sant tradition(c) Sufi literature: malfuzat; premakhayans
PAPER XII : SEMESTER IV
RISE OF THE MODERN WEST - II
I. 17th century European crisis: economic, social and political dimensions.
II. The English Revolution: major issues; political and intellectual currents.
III. Rise of modern science in relation to European society from the Renaissance to the 17th century.
IV. Mercantilism and European economics; 17th and 18th centuries.
V. European politics in the 18th century – parliamentary monarchy; patterns of Absolutism in Europe.
VI. Political and economic issues in the American Revolution.
VII. Preludes to the Industrial Revolution.
PAPER XIII (a) II : SEMESTER IV
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (c.1776-1945)
I Reconstructions: Political changes and agrarian transformation:
[a] Conservative and Radical phases.
[b] The New South: Participants and Reactions – Carpetbaggers; Scalawags, Blacks, Ku Klux Klan.
II Industrial America:
[a] Growth of Capitalism and Big Business.
[b] Business cycles; Depression.
III Resistance and Reform:
[a] Labour movements and Unionisation.
[b] Agrarian crises amd populism. Urban corruption and progressivism.
[c] New Deal.
IV U.S. Imperialism:
[a] Spanish-American War
[b] Expansion in the Far East and Latin America
[c] World War I and Fourteen Points
[d] Isolationism
[e] Americans in World War II: Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
V Afro-American Movements:
Black Movements: Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Dubois; NAACP and Marcus Garvey.
VI Women’s Movements:
[a] Rise of the Lowell Factory System
[b] Abolitionists and Women’s rights movement
[c] Suffrage
[d] Afro-American Women
VII Religious, Cultural and Intellectual Trends:
[a] Religious movements; Early Revivalism; Puritans, Quakers; Mormons;
Temperance.
[b] Mass culture (circa 1900 - 1945)
[c] Major literary trends (circa 1900 - 1945).
PAPER – XIII (b) II : SEMESTER – IV
HISTORY OF THE USSR (c. 1917-1964s)
I. Planned Industrialisation 1928-41.
II. Political, Social and Cultural Changes 1928-45: Demography, Working class and gender relations.
III. Soviet History: 1945-56
Industrial and Agricultural reconstruction; Moves towards Market Socialism.
IV. The Khrushchev Era: Desalinization; industrial and agricultural Policies.
V. Soviet Foreign Policy, Cominters and the second world war 1929-45.