Course Description:
History of
India – VI (1750-1857) covers the period of Indian history after the decline of
the Mughal Empire, and before the establishment of the British Rule. The period
saw a fragmented political system dominated by various Indian and European
rulers and ruling groups such as different Nawabs, Nizams and Rajas, the
Marathas, the Sikhs, the French and the English East India Company. However,
does this imply that other aspects of life in India such as culture, economy
and society were also fragmented? What were the reasons behind the rise of
European political powers in India? In this course, we shall try to find
answers to such questions and discover the finer aspects of Indian political,
social, cultural and economic life in the period.
The course is
more than being simply a part of the series of chronologically determined
courses. It offers students an opportunity to learn about a variety of
historical phenomena, political and social theories, and philosophical
questions. The course begins with descriptions of society and politics in
pre-colonial India but ends when the colonial conquest of India is complete.
How was precolonial society and polity different from the colonial society and
polity? Was this transition difficult or easy? What is the opinion of different
schools of history on this issue? How do they quantify and qualify their
understanding?
Answers to these
questions would be found at the pan-Indian and at the regional levels.
Different sectors of Indian life would reveal different answers. Equally we ask
whether ‘colonial vs pre-colonial’, ‘coloniser vs colonised’, and ‘modern vs
traditional’ were the primary questions to be asked from the history of this
period. These questions have long dominated the study of eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries in India history. However, the common people of India did
not see this to be the primary axis of their lives. So, we also ask questions
such as ‘how did social groups and communities within India relate with each
other during the colonial period?’, and ‘to what extent were the relations
between various communities of India managed by the colonial regime?’. The
course will also familiarise students with the research output of various
historians, and with historical data from different regions of India.
| Course Status : | Ongoing |
| Course Type : | Core |
| Language for course content : | English |
| Duration : | 15 weeks |
| Category : |
|
| Credit Points : | 5 |
| Level : | Undergraduate |
| Start Date : | 01 Jul 2024 |
| End Date : | 31 Oct 2024 |
| Enrollment Ends : | 31 Aug 2024 |
| Exam Date : | 08 Dec 2024 IST |
| Shift - : | 1 |
Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.
SCHEDULE
WEEK 1 UNIT I: The Eighteenth Century in India:
Political History
1. Overview of 18th Century Indian Political Situation: Rise of the Regional Powers
2. Internal Conflicts Between Afghans, Marathas and Mughals
3. The Conquest of Bengal: Plassey to Buxar
4. Towards Subjugation
WEEK 2 UNIT I: The Eighteenth Century in
India: Political History
5. The Period From 1797-1856
6. Polities in Eighteenth Century India
7. Trade Revenue
8. The Indigenous Political System in Place in Punjab
WEEK 3 UNIT II: The Eighteenth Century in India:
Economy, Culture and Other Themes
9. The Question of 18th Century as the Dark Age
10. Cultural Approach and Regional Variations
11. Economic Aspects
12. The East India Company Foundation and
13. The Place of the English Company
WEEK 4 UNIT III: Trade, Commerce and Industry
14. Commercialisation of Agriculture
15. Drain of Wealth
16. Deindustrialisation of India under
Colonial Rule
17. British Trade Policies particularly
Mercantilism
18. Industrial development of India under
the East India Company
WEEK 5 UNIT IV: Evolution of Agricultural and Rural
Economy
19. Land Revenue Systems under the British
20. Mahalwari Settlement
21. Permanent Settlement
22. Rural Indebtedness.
WEEK 6 UNIT IV: Evolution of Agricultural and Rural
Economy
23. Ryotwari Settlement
UNIT
V: Ideologies of Company Rule
24. Ideologies of the Raj Part 1
25. Ideologies of the Raj Part 2
26. Law, Property & Improvement
WEEK 7 UNIT V: Ideologies of Company Rule
27. William Jones as a Linguist and
Administrator
28. William Jones as a Historian
29. James Mill and the Utilitarians I
30. James Mill and the Utilitarians II
WEEK 8 UNIT VI: Administration, Law, Education and
Media
31. Development of Western Education and
Modern ideas
32. Administration Under The East India
Company Module
33. Constitutional Development under the
East India Company
34. Judicial Reform Under the East India
Company
WEEK 9 UNIT VI: Administration, Law, Education and
Media
35. Growth of Press Under the Early British Rule
UNIT
VII: Social Reform Movement
36. Social Reform Movements in 19th Century India - I
37. Social Reform Movements in 19th Century India - II
38. Social Reform Movements in 19th Century India - III
WEEK 10 UNIT VII: Social Reform Movement
39. Social Reform Movement and Its Historiography
40. Historiography of the Social Reform Movement
UNIT
VIII: Tribal and Peasant Movements
41. Tribal and Peasant Movements under the East India Company 42. Peasant and Tribal Movements in Western India
WEEK 11 UNIT VIII: Tribal and Peasant Movements
43. Peasant and Tribal Movements in Bengal
44. Tribal and Peasant Rebellions in Eastern India
45. Peasant and Tribal Movements in Southern India
UNIT
IX: The Events of 1857
46. Early Resistance to the British
WEEK 12 UNIT VIII: Tribal and Peasant Movements
47. Causes of the Revolt of 1857
48. Nature of the Revolt of 1857
49. Course of the Revolt of 1857
About the Course Coordinator
Vikas Rathee is an Assistant Professor at, the Department of History, Central University of Punjab. He has received his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona, and his M.Phil. from Jawaharlal Nehru University. He has also been a research fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has taught courses on medieval and modern Indian history, World History and Historical Methods to the Bachelors and Masters students; and, has taught and delivered lectures at institutions in Punjab, India, Europe and North America. He has written for reputed magazines and journals such as Economic & Political Weekly, Encyclopedia of Islam 3, Outlook India, Scroll and others. His research is based on sources in English, Braj, Marwari, Persian, Urdu and Punjabi languages.
BOOKS and REFERENCE
1. Seema Alavi, ed., Eighteenth Century in India, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2002.
2. Javed Majeed, Ungoverned Imaginings: James
Mill’s The History of British India and Orientalism,
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992
3. P.J. Marshall, ed., The Eighteenth Century in
Indian History: Evolution or Revolution?, Delhi: Oxford University Press,
2003.
4. Thomas Metcalf, Ideologies of the Raj,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995
5. Sumit & Tanika Sarkar, eds., Caste in
Modern India: A Reader, 2 vols., Ranikhet: Permanent Black, 2013
6. Sumit & Tanika Sarkar, eds., Women and
Social Reform in Modern India: A Reader, 2 vols., Ranikhet: Permanent
Black, 2011
7. History of India, 1757-1857, BHIC 110
Study Material, Indira Gandhi National Open University (https://egyankosh.ac.in/handle/123456789/76474)
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