The purpose of this course is to introduce the students to the Modern History of India. The unit begins with an outlook on the saga of the downfall of the Mughal rule in India with the debate of continuity/change. It also documents the beginning of the rule of the British East India Company over India, in the early 18th century. Moreover, it discusses colonial ideologies, the establishment of the western education system, the evolution of Indian legal code for the society. Social reform movements marked by debates on ‘caste’, ‘sati’ etc.  carried out by young, western-educated ‘ social reformers’. The first semester ends with the uprising of 1857 and a plethora of peasant rebellions.  

The second semester focuses on the debate on industrialization and the supposed ‘de-industrialization’. It throws light on the founding of the Congress, leading to a socio-political awareness amongst citizens, the return of Mahatma Gandhi and the long struggle for freedom sparking national movements. Deliberations on the ‘two-nation’ theory; a precursor to the Partition are closely analysed.  

We have done our best to segregate the readings and these have been done in accordance with the sub-units but they are not water-tight. It is advisable therefore to go through as many readings as possible; rest is reader’s discretion.

Part-I: History of India-VI (c. 1750-1857) 

I. India in the mid-18th Century: society, economy, polity and culture 

REFERENCES:

1. John F. Riddick_British Entry in India 1599-1765_History of British India: A Chronology

[a] Issues and Debates 

REFERENCES:

1. Barun De_Interpreting 18th Century_*

2. Shireen Moosvi_The Indian Economic Experience 1600-1900 A Quantitative Study_People, Taxation, and Trade in Mughal India

3. Satish Chandra_Introduction to Zamindari System and Jagirdari crisis_Parties and Politics at the Mughal Court, 1707-1740

4. Z. U. Malik_The Core and the Periphery-A Contribution to the Debate on the Eighteenth Century_Social Scientist, Vol. 18, No. 11/12

5. C A Bayly_India in the 18th Century_Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire The New Cambridge History of India

6. Sugata Bose & Ayesha Jalal_India between Empires Decline or Decentralisation_Modern South Asia

[b] Continuity and change

REFERENCES:

1. Sugata Bose & Ayesha Jalal_The Transition to Colonialism_Modern South Asia

II. Dynamics of colonial expansion: indigenous states and Company power

REFERENCES:

1. John F. Riddick_ The Rise of British India 1766-1818_ The history of British India : a chronology

2. Gyanendra Pandey_ 'Encounters and Calamities': The History of a North Indian Qasba in the Nineteenth Century_ eds. Ranajit Guha and  Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak_ Selected Subaltern Studies

[a] Regional kingdoms: economic and military dimensions of colonial expansion: Bengal, Mysore, Marathas, Awadh and Punjab 

REFERENCES:

1. Satish Chandra_The 18th Century in India: Its Economy and the Role of the Marathas, the Jats, the Sikhs and the Afghans_The 18th century in India: Its economy and the role of the Marathas, the Jats, the Sikhs, and the Afghans (Sakharam Ganesh Deuskar lectures on Indian history

2. Sushil Chaudhary_Trade Bullion and conquest:Bengal in the Eighteenth Century_*

3. Amiya Kumar Bagchi_Reflections on Pattern of Regional Growth in British India under British Rule_ Colonialism and Indian Economy

4. C A Bayly_The Indian Capital and the Emergence of Colonial State_ Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire (The New Cambridge History of India)

5. C A Bayly_The Crisis of Indian State_ Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire (The New Cambridge History of India)

[b] Variations in development of agriculture, trade and technology 

REFERENCES:

1. Shireen Moosvi_Travails of a Mercantile Community-aspects of Social Life at the port of Surat (earlier half of the 17th century)_ Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 52 

2. Iftikhar Ahmad Khan_Unpublished documents relating to English East India Company's trade in Gujarat, 1669-82_ Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 52 

3. Satish Chandra_The 18th Century in India: Its Economy and the Role of the Marathas, the Jats, the Sikhs and the Afghans_The 18th century in India: Its economy and the role of the Marathas, the Jats, the Sikhs, and the Afghans (Sakharam Ganesh Deuskar lectures on Indian history

4. John F. Riddick_Science, Technology and Medicine_ The History of British India : A Chronology 

[c] Culture and society

REFERENCES:

1. John F. Riddick_Cultural Developments_ The History of British India : A Chronology 

III. Colonial state and ideology: emergence of the Company State 

REFERENCES:

1. Judith Brown_Bureaucracy and 'Trusteeship' in the Colonial Empire_ in_ Judith Brown and Wm Roger Louis_ The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume IV: The Twentieth Century

2. Judith Brown_Colonial Rule_in_ Judith Brown and Wm Roger Louis_ The Oxford History of the British Empire: Volume IV: The Twentieth Century

3. John F. Riddick_Oriental Studies_ History of British India

4. C A Bayly_Consolidation & Failure of EIC 1818-1857_ Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire (The New Cambridge History of India)

5. Santhi Hejeebu_The Colonial Transition and the Decline of the East India Company, C. 1784-1784_in_eds. Latika Chaudhary, Bishnupriya Gupta, Tirthankar Roy & Anand V. Swamy_ A New Economic History of Colonial India

[a] Imperial ideologies: Orientalism, Utilitarianism, Evangelicalism and the question of Race 

REFERENCES:

1. Dorothy M. Figueira_The Enlightenment and Orientalist Discourse_ Aryans, Jews, Brahmins: Theorizing Authority through Myths of Identity 

[b] The colonial army: military culture and recruitment

REFERENCES:

1. Kaushik Roy_Race and Recruitment in the Indian Army_ Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 47

2. G.J. Bryant_ Indigenous Mercenaries in the Services of European Imperialists_War in History, Volume 7

IV. Law and education 

REFERENCES:

1. Sugata Bose and Ayesha Jalal_ Company Raj and Indian Society 1757 to 1857: Reinvention and Reform of ‘Tradition’_ Modern South Asia 

[a] Evolution of law and colonial courts 

REFERENCES:

1. John F. Riddick_ Law and Judicial Institutions_ The History of British India: A Chronology

2. Radhika Singha_ A Despotism of Law: Crime and Justice in Early Colonial India

3. Sudhindra Bose_ Judicial Administration in India_ British Rule in India*

[b] Indigenous and colonial education: institutions and medium of instruction

REFERENCES:

1. T.B. Macauly_ Macauly’s Minute on Education

2. K.K. Pillay_ British Education Policy and Social Change_*

3. John F. Riddick_ British Education in India_ The History of British India: A Chronology

4. Sir Theodore Morison_ Education_ Imperial Rule in India*

V. Economy and society 

REFERENCES:

1. Dipesh Chakrabarty_ Conditions for Knowledge of Working Class Conditions: Employers, Government and the Jute Mill Workers of Calcutta, 1890-1940_in_Ranjit Guha and Gayatri Chakravorty (eds.)_Selecyed Subaltern Studies

2. S. Ambirajan_Political Economy and British Policy in India_Classical Political Economy and British Policy in India

3. Neil Charlesworth_The Nature of the Debates_British Rule and the Indian Economy 1800–1914

4. Sugata Bose & Ayesha Jalal_The First Century of British Rule 1757-1857_Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy

5. B.R. Tomlinson_Introduction: Development and Underdevelopment in Colonial India_The Economy of Modern India, 1860–1970

[a] Land revenue systems and agrarian relations 

REFERENCES:

1. Ranjit Sen_Social Effects of the British Policy of Revenue Maximization in Bengal (18th century)_in_Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 48 (1987)

2. K.S.S. Seshan_ Permanent settlement- The Madras Way_in_Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 49 (1988)

3. A.K. Singh_The Early British Land Revenue settlements in the Provinces and their Impact upon the Agrarian Life 1775-1833_in_Proceedings of IHC , Vol.52, 1991-92

4. Amiya Kumar Bagchi_Land Tax, Property Rights and Peasant Insecurities in Colonial India_Colonialism and Indian Economy

5. Neil Charlesworth_The Land and Agriculture_British Rule and the Indian Economy 1800–1914

6. C A Bayly_Peasants and Brahmins Consolidating Traditional Society_Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire

7. Dharma Kumar and Tapan Raychaudhuri_ Agrarian Relations_The Cambridge History of India, Vol. 2

[b] Commercialization, indebtedness and famines 

REFERENCES:

1. Surendra Gopal_Merchants in Western India in the Sixteenth-Seventeenth Centuries_Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 52 (1991)

2. Amiya Kumar Bagchi_Markets, Market Failures and the Transformation of Authority, Property, and Bondage in Colonial India_Colonialism and Indian Economy

3. Dharma Kumar and Tapan Raychaudhuri_ Regional Economy (1757-1857)_The Cambridge History of India, Vol. 2

[c] Forests and pastoral economy

REFERENCES:

1. Archana Chakraverty_British Policy towards Hill Tribes_in_Proceedings of the Indian History Congress Vol. 50, Golden Jubilee Session (1989) 

[d] Question of de-industrialization and foreign trade

REFERENCES:

1. Toru Matsui_Nineteenth Century Indian Economy-A review of Interpretation_in_The Indian Economic and Social History Review : IESHR, March 1968, Volume 5, Issue 1

2. Morris D Morris_Towards a Reinterpretation of Nineteenth Century Indian Economic History_in_The Indian Economic and Social History Review : IESHR, March 1968, Volume 5, Issue 1

3. Morris D Morris_Trends and Tendencies in Indian Economic History_in_The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 23, No. 4 (Dec., 1963)

4. T.Raychaudhuri_A Reinterpretation of Nineteenth Century Indian Economic History_in_The Indian Economic and Social History Review : IESHR, March 1968, Volume 5, Issue 1

5. David Clingingsmith & Jeffrey G Williamson_India’s Deindustrialization_in_Explorations in Economic History, Volume 45, Issue 3, July 2008

6. Bipin Chandra_Reinterpretation of Nineteenth Century-Indian Economic History_in_The Indian Economic and Social History Review : IESHR, March 1968, Volume 5, Issue 1

7. Amiya Kumar Bagchi_De-Industrialization in India 19th Century_Colonialism and Indian Economy

8. Neil Charlesworth_Business and Industrial Development_British Rule and the Indian Economy 1800–1914

9. Dharma Kumar and Tapan Raychaudhuri_ The Occupational Structure_The Cambridge History of India, Vol. 2

10. Dharma Kumar and Tapan Raychaudhuri_ National Income_The Cambridge History of India, Vol. 2

11. Dharma Kumar and Tapan Raychaudhuri_Foreign Trade and Balance of Payments (1757-1947)_The Cambridge History of India, Vol. 2

12. Indrajit Ray_The Myth and Reality of Deindustrialisation in Early Modern India_in_Latika Chaudhary, Bishnupriya Gupta, Tirthankar Roy, Anand V. Swamy (eds.)_A New Economic History of Colonial India

13. Neil Charlesworth_The State and Economic Development_British Rule and the Indian Economy 1800–1914

14. Neil Charlesworth_Investment, Trade, and the Imperial Connections_British Rule and the Indian Economy 1800–1914

15. Bipin Chandra_An Economic Critique of Colonialism_India's Struggle for Independence

VI. Cultural changes, social and religious reform movements

REFERENCES:

1. John F. Riddick_Religion and Missions_History of British India: A Chronology

[a] Reform and revival: Brahmo Samaj, Prathna Samaj, Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, Jyotiba Phule, AryaSamaj, Wahabi, Deoband, Aligarh 

REFERENCES:

1. Susan Bayly_ Western 'Orientalism' and Colonial Perceptions of Caste_Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age

2. Susan Bayly_ The 'Brahman Raj'- Kings and Service People c. 1700-1830_Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age

3. Susan Bayly_ The Everyday Experience of Caste in Colonial India_Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age

4. Susan Bayly_ The Everyday Experience of Caste in Colonial India_Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age

5. Rosalind O'Hanlon_ The Crisis of Cultural Legitimacy- Missionaries, Reformers, and Hindu Society in the Mid- Nineteenth Century_Caste, Conflict and Ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India

6. Susan Bayly_ Historical Origins of a 'Caste Society_Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age

7. Rosalind O'Hanlon_ The Growth of Religious Reform Opinion in Western India_Caste, Conflict and Ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India

8. Rosalind O'Hanlon_ Student Radicals in Mid-Nineteenth Century Western India_Caste, Conflict and Ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India

9. Rosalind O'Hanlon_ Christianity and the Attack on Caste in Phule's Early Writing_Caste, Conflict and Ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India

10. J.V Naik_ Social Composition of the Prarthana Samaj: A Statistical Analysis_Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 48

11. Kanai Lal Chattopadhyay_Brahmo Reform Movement in the 19 the century Bengal- a Modernising Force*

12. Dorothy M. Figueira_Rammohan Roy_Aryans, Jews, Brahmins: Theorizing Authority Through Myths of Identity, Navayana,

13. Bipin Chandra_Socio-Religious Reforms and the National Awakening_in_Bipin Chandra, Mridula Mukherjee, Aditya Mukherjee, Sucheta Mahajan, K. N. Panikkar_India's Struggle for Independence, 1857-19

[b] Debates around gender, caste and community

REFERENCES:

1. Sarah Lamb_ Introduction_White Saris and Sweet Mangoes_ Aging, Gender and Body in North India

2. Rosalind O'Hanlon_ From Warrior Traditions to Nineteenth-Century Politics- Structures, Ideology, Identity in the Maratha- Kunbi Caste Complex_Caste, Conflict and Ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India

3. Rosalind O'Hanlon_ Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth Century Western India_Caste, Conflict and Ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India

4. Rosalind O’Hanlon_Gender in the British Empire_in_ed. Judith M. Brown & Wm Roger Louis_The Oxford History of the British Empire, Volume IV: The Twentieth Century

VII. Popular resistance 

REFERENCES:

1. Eric Stokes_Privileged Land Tenure in Village India in the Early 19th Century_ [Cambridge South Asian Studies] The Peasant and the Raj: Studies in Agrarian Society and Peasant Rebellion in Colonial India

2. Eric Stokes_The Structure of Landholding in Uttar Pradesh, 1860-1948_ [Cambridge South Asian Studies] The Peasant and the Raj: Studies in Agrarian Society and Peasant Rebellion in Colonial India

3. Eric Stokes_Dynamism and Enervation in North Indian Agriculture, the Historical Dimension_ [Cambridge South Asian Studies] The Peasant and the Raj: Studies in Agrarian Society and Peasant Rebellion in Colonial India

4. Eric Stokes_Peasants, Moneylenders and Colonial Rule an Excursion into Central India_ [Cambridge South Asian Studies] The Peasant and the Raj: Studies in Agrarian Society and Peasant Rebellion in Colonial India

5. Eric Stokes_Agrarian Society and the Pax Britannica in Northern India in the Early Nineteenth Century_ [Cambridge South Asian Studies] The Peasant and the Raj: Studies in Agrarian Society and Peasant Rebellion in Colonial India

6. Eric Stokes_The Land Revenue Systems of the North-Western Provinces and Bombay Deccan 1830—80: Ideology and the Official Mind_ [Cambridge South Asian Studies] The Peasant and the Raj: Studies in Agrarian Society and Peasant Rebellion in Colonial India

7. Eric Stokes_The First Century of British Colonial Rule in India: Social Revolution or Social Stagnation?_ [Cambridge South Asian Studies] The Peasant and the Raj: Studies in Agrarian Society and Peasant Rebellion in Colonial India

8. C A Bayly_Rebellion and Reconstruction_ Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire, The New Cambridge History of India

[a] The Uprising of 1857 

REFERENCES:

1. Ranjit Sen_The Revolt of 1857_*

2. Iqbal Hussain_Elements of the ideological background to the rebellion of 1857_ in_ Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol 50

3. John F. Riddick_Indian Mutiny and Reconstruction of Under Crown Rule 1857 - 1876_History of British India: A Chronology

4. Gautam Bhadra_ Four Rebels of Eighteen-Fifty-Seven_ in_ eds. Ranajit Guha and Gayatri Chakravorty_ Selected Subaltern Studies

5. Eric Stokes_Traditional Resistance Movements and Afro-Asian Nationalism :The Context of the 1857 Mutiny Rebellion_ [Cambridge South Asian Studies] The Peasant and the Raj: Studies in Agrarian Society and Peasant Rebellion in Colonial India

6. Eric Stokes_Nawab Walidad Khan and the 1857 Struggle in the Bulandshahr District_[Cambridge South Asian Studies] The Peasant and the Raj: Studies in Agrarian Society and Peasant Rebellion in Colonial India

7. Eric Stokes_Rural Revolt in the Great Rebellion of 1857 in India: A Study of the Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar Districts_[Cambridge South Asian Studies] The Peasant and the Raj: Studies in Agrarian Society and Peasant Rebellion in Colonial India

8. Eric Stokes_Traditional Elites in the Great Rebellion of 1857: Some Aspects of Rural Revolt in the Upper and Central Doab_[Cambridge South Asian Studies] The Peasant and the Raj: Studies in Agrarian Society and Peasant Rebellion in Colonial India

9. Bipin Chandra_The First Major Challenge: The Revolt Of 1857_ India’s struggle for Independence

10. Sugata Bose & Ayesha Jalal_1857 Rebellion collaboration and Transition to Crown Raj_ in_ eds. Sugata Bose & Ayesha Jalal_ Modern South Asia

11. Eric Stokes, C. A. Bayly_The Peasant Armed the Indian Rebellion of 1857

[b] Peasant resistance to colonial rule: Santhal Uprising (1856); Indigo Rebellion (1860); Pabna Agrarian Leagues (1873); Deccan Riots (1875).

REFERENCES:

1. L.S. Vishwanath_ Peasant Movements in Colonial India_ in_ Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol 49

2. Bipin Chandra_Civil Rebellions and Tribal Uprisings_ India’s struggle for Independence

3. Bipin Chandra_Peasant Movements and Uprisings After 1857_ India’s struggle for Independence 

Part-II History of India- VIII (c. 1857-1950) 

I. Caste, community and nation

[a] Regional, religious and linguistic identities 

[b] Assertions of caste identity: Sanskritizing and anti-Brahmanical trends; regional variations

II. Economy and social classes

[a] Economic critique of colonial rule 

[b] Rise of modern industry: emergence of capitalist and working class 

III. Early Nationalism

[a] Emergence of Congress 

[b] Moderates and Extremists

[c] Swadeshi and Revolutionary Movements

IV. Emergence and social base of Gandhian Nationalism

[a] Intellectual foundations of Gandhian Nationalism 

REFERENCES:

1. Mridula Mukherjee_Emergence of Modern Peasant Organisations and Fashioning a Peasant Agenda, 1924-29_Peasant’s in India’s Non-Violent Revolution 

[b] Rowlatt, Khilafat and Non-Cooperation Movements 

REFERENCES:

1. Mridula Mukherjee_ Peasants and Non-Violence: Forms of Protests and Methods of Mobilization_Peasant’s in India’s Non-Violent Revolution 

[c] Civil Disobedience Movement 

REFERENCES:

1. Mridula Mukherjee_ Marching with the Nation: Peasants and Civil Disobedience, 1930–32_Peasant’s in India’s Non-Violent Revolution 

[d] Quit India Movement

REFERENCES:

Mridula Mukherjee_Peasants and Outsiders: Social Origins of Leaders and Participants_Peasant’s in India’s Non-Violent Revolution 

V. Other Currents in Nationalism

[a] Ambedkar and the Dalit Movement 

[b] Singh Sabha and the Akali Movement 

REFERENCES:

1.

2. Mridula Mukherjee_ Peasant Protest: The Historical Context_Peasant’s in India’s Non-Violent Revolution 

[c] Left movements: peasants and workers

REFERENCES:

1. Mridula Mukherjee_ Consolidating Peasant Politics: National Organisation and  Ideological Radicalisation, 1933-37_Peasant’s in India’s Non-Violent Revolution

2. Mridula Mukherjee_ Mapping Peasant Consciousness: Elements of an Alternative Framework_Peasant’s in India’s Non-Violent Revolution

3. Mridula Mukherjee_ Peasant Upsurge: Reaching the High Watermark, 1938-39_Peasant’s in India’s Non-Violent Revolution

[d] Tribal movements

VI. Communalism: ideologies and practices

[a] Trends in Communalism 

[b] World War II and the post-War crisis 

REFERENCES:

1. Mridula Mukherjee_ Anti-war, People's War and Post-War: Communists and Peasants, 1939-47_Peasant’s in India’s Non-Violent Revolution 

[c] Partition

REFERENCES:

1. Mridula Mukherjee_ Peasant Protest in a Non-Hegemonic State: The Princely State of Patiala, 1930-53_Peasant’s in India’s Non-Violent Revolution 

VII. Independence and the emergence of a new State

REFERENCES:

1. Mridula Mukherjee_ Peasants and Anti-Colonial Nationalism_Peasant’s in India’s Non-Violent Revolution 

[a] Negotiations for Independence 

[b] The Making of the Constitution 

[c] Integration of Princely States 

[d] Land Reforms and the beginning of Planning