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HIST-128 South Asia I
Fall only
This is an introductory course on South Asian history intended for students with no prior knowledge of the subject. Working within a broad chronological framework spanning several thousand years, in the lectures, the student will be acquainted with the social formations of the early subcontinental history. Beginning with the Harappan civilization, which was one of the four oldest civilizations of the world, the lectures will trace the development of subcontinental history through the Vedic Age, formation of city-states and monarchies, emergence and decline of the various ancient Empires, the intercivilizational exchange between the Indian subcontinent and the surrounding areas through trade, travel, conquest or cultural exchange, to the passage into the world of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Dynasty. The weekly discussions of this course will be woven around themes such as ancient literary traditions; the significance of inscriptions, archaeology and numismatics; the wo
rld of early historical city; orient-gazing in travelers’ accounts; depiction of femininity in religious art; life in royal courts; the myths of creation in South Asian religions; and the impact of advent of political Islam on the subcontinent, to name a few.
The aim of this course is to enable the students to question the picture of South Asia as a land ensconced in mysticism and religion; a society with a timeless and changeless civilization; a region fraught by communal and caste rigidities; and a society that was nudged out of its slumber with the advent of the ‘West’. Second, in this course the student would be primarily engaging with historical methods and ‘primary’ sources (such as archaeological data, coins, inscriptions, oral history, literary, poetic and art works). A critical and analytical approach towards the reading of the sources would be encouraged to enable the student to independently arrive at his/her own conclusions. And lastly, by the end of the course the student will be sensitized to the diversity and multiplicity of cultures which constitute the South Asian historical potpourri.
This course meets the general education requirement in History for College students when taken in combination with a LATE introductory-level history course (HIST 002, 006, or 034).
Offered in Fall.
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: None
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