CBCS SYLLABUS
B.A.(Hons.) HISTORY: 2016-17
Semester I
C.C.I: HISTORY OF INDIA- I
Unit-I:
Reconstructing Ancient Indian History
[1] Early Indian notions of History
[2] Sources and tools of historical reconstruction.
[3] Historical interpretations (with special reference to gender, environment, technology, and regions).
Unit-II:
Pre-historic hunter-gatherers
[1] Paleolithic cultures- sequence and distribution; stone industries and other technological developments.
[2] Mesolithic cultures- regional and chronological distribution; new developments in technology and economy; rock art.
Unit-III:
The advent of food production Neolithic and Chalcolithic cultures:
[1] Regional and chronological distribution
[2] Subsistence and patterns of exchange
Unit-IV:
The Harappan civilization
[1] Origins; settlement patterns and town planning;
[2] Agrarian base; craft productions and trade;
[3] Social and political organization; religious beliefs and practices; art;
[4] 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.
[1] North India (circa 1500 BCE-300 BCE)
[2] Central India and the Deccan (circa 1000 BCE - circa 300 BCE)
[3] Tamilakam (circa 300 BCE to circa CE 300)
Reading List:
R.S. Sharma, India’s Ancient Past, New Delhi, OUP, 2007
R. S. Sharma, Material Culture and Social Formations in Ancient India, 1983.
R.S. Sharma, Looking for the Aryas, Delhi, Orient Longman Publishers,1995
D. P. Agrawal, The Archaeology of India, 1985
Bridget & F. Raymond Allchin, The Rise of Civilization in India and Pakistan, 1983.
A. L. Basham, The Wonder that Was India, 1971.
D. K. Chakrabarti, The Archaeology of Ancient Indian Cities, 1997, Paperback.
D. K. Chakrabarti, The Oxford Companion to Indian Archaeology, New Delhi, 2006.
H. C. Raychaudhuri, Political History of Ancient India, Rev. ed. with Commentary by B. N. Mukherjee, 1996
K. A. N. Sastri, ed., History of South India, OUP, 1966.
Upinder Singh, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India, 2008.
RomilaThapar, Early India from the Beginnings to 1300, London, 2002.
IrfanHabib,APeople’s History-Vol.1,PreHistory,2001, ----Vol.-2,Indus Civilization: Including Other Copper Age Cultures and the History of Language Change till 155 B.C., 2002
UmaChakravarti, The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism. 1997.
RajanGurukkal, Social Formations of Early South India, 2010.
R. Champakalakshmi, Trade. Ideology and urbanization: South India 300 BC- AD 1300, 1996.
Gregory L. Possehl, A Indus Civilization: The Contemporary Perspectives, New Delhi, Vistaar publications, 2002.
C.C.II:
SOCIAL FORMATIONS AND CULTURAL PATTERNS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
Unit-I:
Evolution of humankind; Paleolithic and Mesolithic cultures.
Unit-II: Food production: beginnings of agriculture and animal husbandry.
Unit-III:
Bronze Age Civilizations, with reference to any one of the following: i) Egypt (Old Kingdom); ii) Mesopotamia (up to the Akkadian Empire); iii) China (Shang); iv) Eastern Mediterranean (Minoan) economy, social stratification, state structure, religion.
Unit-IV:
Nomadic groups in Central and West Asia; Debate on the advent of iron and its implications
Unit-V:
Slave society and Polis in ancient Greece: Agrarian economy, urbanization, trade and politics in Ancient Greece: Athens and Sparta; Greek Culture.
Reading List:
Burns and Ralph.World Civilizations.Cambridge History of Africa, Vol. I. V.
Gordon Childe, What Happened in History. G. Clark, World Prehistory: A New Perspective. B. Fagan, People of the Earth. AmarFarooqui, Early Social Formations.
M. I. Finley, The Ancient Economy. JacquettaHawkes, First Civilizations. G. Roux, Ancient Iraq. BaiShaoyi, An Outline History of China. H. W. F. Saggs, The Greatness that was Babylon.
B. Trigger, Ancient Egypt: A Social History. UNESCO Series: History of Mankind, Vols. I - III./ or New ed. History of Humanity. R. J. Wenke, Patterns in Prehistory. G. E. M. Ste Croix, Class Struggles in the Ancient Greek World. J. D. Bernal, Science in History, Vol. I. V. Gordon Childe, Social Evolution. Glyn Daniel, First Civilizations. A. Hauser, A Social History of Art, Vol. I.
GE-I:
Environmental Issues in India
Unit-I:
Understanding Environment 1.Concepts, Definitions and the importance of Environment. 2. Environment in Indian Ethos and Philosophy- Environments in Vedas, Epics, Puranas and Medieval Texts. 3. Natural Vegetation and wild life.
Unit-II:
Environment and Societies 1. Geographical Zones: Land, Forests, Rivers, Dams, Pastures, Ecology of Hills & Mountains. 2. Indigenous Knowledge system, Environment and Societies. 3. Human Environment: Settlement, Agriculture, Transport and Communication.
Unit-III:
Colonialism and Developments in the Environment. 1. New Regimes of land, Forest, Water and Irrigation. 2. Impact of Modern Industries on Environment. 3. Resistance in Colonial Time: Peasants, Tribals and Pastoralists.
Unit-IV:
Environmental Issues in Independent India. 1. Forests, Dams, Displacement. 2. Pollution,
Environmental Movements in Independent India. 1. Forest Preservation Movements. 2. The issues of Dams, Development and Displacement. 3. Anti-Pollution Movements.
Degradation.
Unit-V:
Reading List:
Anil Agarwal, et al, The State of India’s Environment, Delhi, 1985.
David Arnold & RamchandanGuha (eds), Natfure Culture, Imperialism, Delhi, OUP, 1995.
D. P. Agrawal, Man Environment in India through Ages.
ErachBharucha, Textbook of Environmental Studies, Orient Blackswan, Second Edition, 2013.
InfanHabib, Man and Environment: The Ecological History of India, Tulika Books, New Delhi, First Edition, 2010
K. C. Samal, Environment – Dependent Poor in India, S. K. Book Agency, New Delhi, 2014.
K.C.Samal, Environmental Resources, SSDN Publishers & Distributors, New Delhi, 2014.
LaeeqFutehally, Our Environment, National Book Turst, New Delhi, First Edition, 1988.
Mahesh Rangarajan, et al, Environment issues in India & K. Sivaramakrishnan, India’s Environmental History (From Ancient Times to the Colonial Period). Mahesh Rangarajan & K. Sivaramakrishnan, India’s Environmental History (Colonialism, Modernity and the Nation). MadhavGadgilRamchandraGuha, This Fissured Land: An Ecological History of India, Delhi, OUP,1990.
------,Ecology and Equity: The Use & Abuse of Nature in Contemporary India, 1995.
NCERT, Social Science: Our Environment, New Delhi, First Edition, 2007.
P.C. Mishra & R.C. Dash, Environment and Society. Salim Ali, The Fall of a Sparrow, 1985.