Course Manual

History 1 - Modern South Asia: Themes in Historiography

BA LLB’22

Course Instructors
Aishwarya Pundit
Gagan Kumar
Gitanjali Surendran
Nalamala Chandra Bhanu Murthy
Saumya Saxena
Samiparna Samanta

Semester II (2023-2024)

Meeting Times:
Part 1

Information on History 1 - Modern South Asia: Themes in Historiography offered by Jindal

Global Law School, Semester II, 2022-2023

The following information is provided by the course coordinator. The following information
contains the official record of the details of the course.

Course title: History 1

Course code:

Course duration: One semester

No. of credit units: 4

Level: Undergraduate

Medium of instruction: English

Pre-requisites: None

Pre-cursors: None

Equivalent courses: None

Exclusive courses: None

Part II

1. Course description

This course has two aims. First, it covers key themes in the history of modern South Asia in order
to provide a basic foundation in the historical study of the region. Second, it focuses on
historiography to give students a grounding in the discipline through readings from different
schools of historiography and develop their critical thinking skills. The course is designed to
enable students to critically analyse not only historical events but also to think about contemporary
Indian politics and society in historical terms. It begins with a survey of the politics, culture and
society of the early modern period, ie the Mughal period, and then continues on to survey
important themes in the early colonial and late colonial periods. It ventures into the post colonial
period to provide the students with exposure to themes like contemporary Indian politics and the
post colonial history of Pakistan to deepen their knowledge base of South Asian history. By
introducing students to both the discipline of history and important themes in modern South Asian
history, this course will serve as a base for a more advanced course on legal history in their third
semester at JGLS.

2. Course aims

 To provide a basic knowledge base of the history of South Asia from 1526 onward
 To be able to critically analyse major historical issues in the study of South Asia
 To develop a thorough understanding of the major categories of historical analysis –
gender, class, ethnicity, race.
 To understand the discipline of history and the rigours of historical analysis
 To impart the skill of reading historical writing with a critical lens
 To make reasoned arguments based on the historical evidence at hand
 To provide a strong base with which the students can move on to the more advanced legal
history course in their third semester.

3. Course intended learning outcomes

Intended Learning Outcomes Teaching and Learning Assessment Tasks/Activities

Activities
By the end of the course
students should be able to: Students’ ability to describe and
explain the main topics and
 Read historical writing readings covered in the syllabus
fluently, and A list of selected readings will will be tested by the following
analytically and be provided for each week. three modes of assessments:
critically describe and 50 % Students will be given strong
explain the various guidance on their reading and 1. End-of-term exam–
topics and readings research through lectures and 50% of grade
covered in class. tutorials. 2. Internal assessment-
Each instructor will
Students will, by responding detail here, in this
 Clearly and coherently to questions, develop their section, their internal
communicate in written analytical and critical assessment strategy for
and verbal form their capabilities. the remaining 50% of
positions on various 30% your grade.
debates of South Asian
history.

 Critically apply lessons 20%

learned on the history of
South Asia.
 4. Grading of student achievement

O 80 and above Outstanding Outstanding work with strong evidence of knowledge of the subjec
matter, excellent organisational capacity, ability to synthesize and
critically analyse and originality in thinking and presentation.

A+ 75 to 79.75 Excellent Sound knowledge of the subject matter, thorough understanding o

issues; ability to synthesize critically and analyse.
A 70 to 74.75 Good Good understanding of the subject matter, ability to identify issues
and provide balanced solutions to problems and good critical and
analytical skills.
A- 65 to 69.75 Adequate Adequate knowledge of the subject matter to go to the next level o
study and reasonable critical and analytical skills.
B+ 60 to 64.75 Marginal Limited knowledge of the subject matter and irrelevant use of
materials and, poor critical and analytical skills.
B 55 to 59.75 Poor Poor comprehension of the subject matter; poor critical and
analytical skills and marginal use of the relevant materials.
________________________________________________
“Pass” in a pass-fail course. “Pass” is indicative on only a basic
__________ __________________ ________________ understanding of the subject matter.
B- 50 to 54.75 Pass ________________________________________________
Fails in the subject

__________ __________________ _________________

F Below 50 Fail

5. Course work and teaching methodology

The course is divided into thirteen weeks and will consist of lectures and class discussions.
Students will be graded in two segments – internal assessment and end of semester examination.

Internal Assessment (50% in total):

ADD INTERNAL ASSESSMENT COMPONENTS HERE

The End-term examination will cover the entire syllabus and consist of short answers and
longer essays. The exam will comprise 50 per cent of the final grade.

In case a student has to miss the mid-semester exam due to illness, a medical certificate must
be obtained from the JGU medical centre. A resit date will be decided within two weeks of the
original date of the exam.

COURSE POLICIES – PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:

Student Conduct:

The classroom is a professional environment and I require all students to respect that. You are
expected to conduct yourself in class, so others are not distracted during lectures/discussions.
Discourteous or unseemly conduct will impact your participation grades and result in being asked
to leave /incur a penalty. CHEATING: Is bad. Don’t do it. Earn your degree.

Use of Electronic Devices/Technology Policy:

Cell phones are not permitted in classrooms. If you do bring them to class, they must be silenced
and put away. If I see your phone out and in use, I will ask you to leave, and you receive a penalty
( -15 on your internal assessment grades).

*Exam Policy: No make-ups or alternate dates will be given for any assignment except under
extremely serious mitigating circumstances. Extreme mitigating circumstances include COVID-19
pandemic, a serious health condition, and any other circumstance that I deem legitimate. In case of
an emergency, please contact me as soon as possible. Ideally, you should notify me before the
assignment is due. Work ahead and get everything done EARLY instead of late!

*A missed assignment due to unacceptable reasons will result in a failure for that assignment.
Note: If I decide to offer a make-up exam, the assignment will be based on the same information,
but will be understandably different and will reflect the additional time you have had to study.

7. Guidelines for assignments and warning against plagiarism

Assignments must represent individual work on the part of students. In other words, students
must research, read, think, and assimilate on their own, and then attempt an assignment. The key
to writing or completing a successful assignment is careful reading and adequate reflection on the
reading so as to formulate an approach or an argument in original terms (ie in the student’s own
words).

Plagiarism means “To take the words or an idea of someone else and pass it off as one’s own.”
Plagiarism is a serious matter and will be penalized with a failing grade ie an ‘F’. Students
must refrain from copying words, phrases, sentences, ideas from someone else’s work (ie
fellow students, the prescribed reading, the internet). Instances of plagiarism will be entered
into the student’s academic record.

Good citation practices will help to avoid plagiarism. If a student is relying on the authority of
another scholar or any website, the original source must be acknowledged by way of footnotes
and the quoted material must be placed within quotes. In the event of confusions regarding proper
citation protocol, the course instructor must be consulted.

Students should always consult with the instructors about the veracity and authenticity of a
particular web site and its suitability for researching topics covered in this syllabus.
Wikipedia, for example, provides some good leads and some general information, but cannot be
the sole source of information while writing a historical essay.

7. Disability support and accommodation requirements

JGU endeavors to make all its courses accessible to students. All students with a
known disability needing academic accommodations are required to register with
the Disability Support Committee ( dsc@jgu.edu.in ). The Committee has so far
identified the following conditions that could possibly hinder student’s overall
well-being. These include: physical and mobility related difficulties; visual
impairment; hearing impairment; medical conditions; specific learning difficulties
e.g. dyslexia; mental health. The Disability Support Committee maintains strict
confidentiality in its discussions. The students should preferably register with the
Committee in the month of June/January as disability accommodation requires early
planning. DSC will approve and coordinate all the disability related services such
as appointment of academic mentors, specialized interventions and course related
requirements such as accessible classrooms for lectures, tutorials and examinations.
All faculty members are required to refer students with any of the above-mentioned
conditions to the Disability Support Committee for addressing disability-related
accommodation requirements.

Part III

Textbook reading

While this course does not prescribe a single textbook, for background reading and for an
understanding of important themes, students may consult:

Ayesha Jalal and Sugata Bose, Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy, New
Delhi: OUP, 2004.

Keyword syllabus

Historiography and schools of historiography, historical sources, historical context, historical time,
perspectives in history, the archive, political, intellectual, social, economic, cultural and gender
history, race and ethnicity, sovereignty, civil society, modernity, colonialism, forms of resistance,
‘colonial modernity’, nationalism, continuity and change across 1947, Indian democracy, Indian
politics.

Modules – week-wise break up

Module no. Module topic Lecture weeks

1. On History 1, 2
2. The Mughal Era 2, 3
3. The Long 18th Century 4
4. The Rebellion of 1857 5, 6
5. Colonial Knowledge-Formation 6
6. Indian Enlightenment? 7, 8
7. Indian Nationalism 8, 9
8. Gandhi 10, 11
9. India during the World Wars 11, 12
10. Partition of India 12, 13
11. Divergent Paths 13, 14

Part IV

Modules and readings1:

Module 1 - History: Facts, Contexts, Interpretations

History is often viewed as a mere reproduction of facts and dates describing the distant past. And
yet, we see in the world around us today, that there is often great disagreement over facts, events,
personages, historical processes. What is history? What is historiography? How do historians write
history? What are the stakes for history-writing in India?

 Robert Darnton, “Workers Revolt: The Great Cat Massacre of the Rue Saint-Severin”, in his
The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History, pp75-79, 92-101.
 https://aeon.co/essays/silk-is-a-thread-that-opens-up-the-weave-of-human-history
 Janaki Nair, “Clothing: A Social History”, NCERT textbook chapter
 Janaki Nair, “Textbook controversies and the demand for a past: The public lives of history”,
History Workshop Journal, 82 (Autumn 2016): 235-254.
 Arkotong Longkumer, “Chapter 6: Rani Gaindinliu: A Semiotic Challenge to the Nation-
State” in The Greater India Experiment: Hindutva and the Northeast, pp 190-229.

1
The course instructors reserve the right to change readings, and add or subtract selections. Students
will be given adequate notice if any changes are made to the reading list.
Module 2: Early Modernity – the Mughal Era
The Mughal era is often viewed as a time of possibilities. As one of the three great Muslim
empires of Asia in a time before modern colonialism overran most of that continent, the Mughal
empire was exceptional in that the monarch presided over largely non-Muslim subjects. Babur
established his kingdom on the ruins of the centuries old Delhi Sultanate. Today, the Mughals are
often vilified in public discourse as archetypal tyrannical Muslim rulers who oppressed Hindus.
Why is it historically important for us to understand this era based on facts? What does it mean to
understand the Mughal era in rigorous historical terms rather than in terms of political rhetoric?

 Richard Eaton, “Temple desecration and Indo-Muslim states”, Frontline, 5 January 2001, pp
70-77. https://franpritchett.com/00islamlinks/txt_eaton_temples2.pdf
 Manu S. Pillai, “Hindu Sultans,” in Rebel Sultans: The Deccan from Khilji to Shivaji ( New
Delhi: Juggernaut, 2028).
 Ruby Lal, Empress: The Astonishing Reign of Nur Jahan, Chap 8: “A key for closed doors”
and 10: “Wonder of the age”, 94-103, 131-149.
 https://whatshernamepodcast.com/nur-jahan/
 Katherine Butler Brown, “Did Aurangzeb ban music?: Questions for the historiography of his
reign”, Modern Asian Studies, 41:1, January 2007, pp77-87, 91-95, 103-106, 112-116.

Module 3: The Long Eighteenth Century and the Establishment of Company Raj: Decline or
Decentralization? Continuity or Change? Collaboration or Resistance?
The eighteenth century was a dramatic time in the history of the Indian subcontinent. As the
Mughal empire headed toward certain decline, a number of new regional powers took over the
reins of administration in different parts of the country. The Persian and Afghan invasions toward
the middle of the century put an end to pretensions of Mughal power but it was the decisive
military victories of the English East India Company that defined the destiny of the subcontinent
for the next two hundred years. Yet the historiographical question remains, was the eighteenth
century a ‘dark’ century or a time of political, commercial and cultural ebullience? Was Company
rule a continuation of earlier traditions of sovereignty on the subcontinent or did it mark a break?
What was the nature of the East India Company?

 William Dalrymple, The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the
Pillage of an Empire, Chap 6: “Racked by famine”, pp 215-235.
 Chapter 5, “India Between Empires: Decline or Decentralization,” Bose and Jalal,
Modern South Asia (Oxford University Press, 1997).
 Richard Becher, “This Fine Country is Verging Towards its Ruin,” Sources of Indian
Tradition, Volume 2 : Modern India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, edited by Rachel Fell
McDermott, Leonard A. Gordon, Ainslie T. Embree, Frances W. Pritchett and Dennis
Dalton. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2014).

Module 4: The Rebellion of 1857: “First War of Independence” or “Sepoy Mutiny”?

Of all the moments of resistance to British rule in India, the rebellion of 1857 was the most
dramatic. How do we think of it in a longer history of resistance to colonial rule in the period of
Company Raj? How do we think of it in the subsequent history of nationalist resistance to colonial
rule? What insights does a subaltern history of the Rebellion give us today?

 Syed Ahmed Khan, “Causes of the Indian Revolt,” 1858.

https://franpritchett.com/00litlinks/txt_sir_sayyid_asbab1873_basic.html
 The King of Oudh’s Declaration, 1857. Delhi Gazette.
 Gautam Bhadra, “Four Rebels of 1857”, Spivak and Guha (eds) Selected Subaltern Studies,
pp 128-145, 156-75.
 Optional Film Screening: Satyajit Ray, Kshatranj ke Khiladi (1978)

Module 5: Knowledge-Formation about India: From Indomania to Indophobia?

The conquest of India by the British was a process that began in 1757 with the British take-over of
Bengal and within a century, the British had been transformed from mere traders to the masters of
India. These new colonizers in India were however soon overtaken by an anxiety as they failed to
understand the “natives,” their customs, religions, state structures and other various facets of life.
This led them to produce and catalog a knowledge about the “natives.” Colonial knowledge-
gathering was a state sponsored project, which was necessary not only to know India, but also to
justify their colonial domination over the subject population. How did the British try to understand
and legitimize their dominance over India? Toward that end, was colonialism a totalizing,
hegemonic power that dramatically altered the lives of its colonial subjects? Or was it a benign
power built on principles of good governance and civil society that ushered in benevolence
towards the millions it governed?

 Edward Said, Orientalism, “Introduction”, pp 1-9

 Bernard S. Cohn, “The Command of Language and the Language of Command,” Colonialism
and Its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India (Princeton: Princeton University Press,
1996). https://blogs.fu-berlin.de/ctandp/files/2010/10/Cohen_CommandofLanguage.pdf

Module 6: An Indian ‘Enlightenment’ or a Borrowed Modernity?

Starting with Rammohun Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, the nineteenth century seems to
have been a time when Indians began to converse (talk back?) with the British and with other
Indians. By the end of that century, many more Indians joined in the conversation and immersed
themselves in debates that animated the emerging public sphere in the Presidency towns. What did
they discuss? What was the nature of the distinction between private and public spheres, between
the traditional and the modern? Was there truly a ‘Bengal Renaissance’/Indian ‘Enlightenment’ or
did these ideas and efforts sometimes have surprisingly conservative outcomes?

 Partha Chatterjee, “The Nationalist resolution of the women’s question”, in Sudesh Vaid and
Kumkum Sangari (eds), Recasting Women: Essays in Colonial History, pp233-237, 242-53.
 Samiparna Samanta, “Meat: To Eat or Not to Eat,” in Meat, Mercy and Morality: Animals
and Humanitarianism in Colonial Bengal 1850-1920 (New Delhi: Oxford University Press,
2021); pp. 133-148; 171- 188.
 Optional Film Viewing: Antarmahal, Rituporno Ghosh (2005).

Module 7: Indian Nationalism: Many Hues

The standard history of Indian nationalism places the Indian National Congress at the very heart of
conceptions of the nation. And indeed, as one of the greatest political parties of the modern world,
the INC is credited with not only winning freedom for India but also for launching a trenchant
critique of colonialism as a moral and material exercise, one which several successful anti-colonial
movements around the world drew from. Yet the ‘nation’ was conceived rather differently by
various nationalists from both within and outside the Congress fold. How do their writings reveal
the many hues of Indian nationalism and complicate the standard narrative?

 R. C. Dutt, Economic History of India, Volume 2, pp v-xix. Available at:

http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/dutt/EcHisIndia2.pdf
 M. S. Golwalkar in Ramachandra Guha, Makers of Modern India, pp 373-377
 Bhagat Singh, “Statement of the Undefended Accused”, found at:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/bhagat-singh/1930/05/05.htm
 Muhammad Iqbal, “AIML Presidential address, 1930” by Muhammad Iqbal, sections 1, 2, 3,
4 found at http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/txt_iqbal_1930.html
 E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker in Ramachandra Guha, Makers of Modern India, pp 242-248

Module 8: Gandhi: “Father of the Nation” or a “Naked Fakir”?

Gandhi is certainly among the most debated and vexed figures in modern South Asian history. He
is lauded as the ‘Father of the Nation’ by some and denounced as a calculating politician by
others. How do we understand his life and his thinking on subjects like the relationship between
religion and politics, his philosophy of non-violence, programme of ethical action and his attitude
toward nationalism and toward caste? What were his differences with B. R. Ambedkar and why
are they important for us to take seriously?

 BR Ambedkar, Annihilation of Caste – The Annotated Critical Edition, pp 321-328, 333-356.

 Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, The Mahatma and the Poet: Letters and Debates between Gandhi
and Tagore, 1915-1941, pp 54-59, 65-68.
 Shahid Amin, “Gandhi as Mahatma”, in Guha and Spivak (eds) Selected Subaltern Studies, pp
288-296, 338-342.

Module 9: The People’s Experience of War

As the anniversaries of the world wars are upon us, many people are asking a fundamental
question – why are these wars commemorated primarily in terms of Euro-American victory? Why
do big Hollywood-driven war films like Dunkirk, for example, tell the story of the tragedies of the
world wars as white when in fact, both world wars were wars of empire. British subjects from
around their empire populated their armies in every capacity especially as coolies and soldiers at
the various fronts. What was Indian soldiers’ and military men’s experience of the world wars?

 Radhika Singha, “The Short Career of the Indian Labour Corps in France” in The Coolie’s
Great War: Indian Labour in a Global Conflict, 1914-1921, pp 1-4; 207-248.
 Yasmin Khan, “Scorched Earth” in The Raj at War: The People’s History of India’s Second
World War, pp 200-219.
 P. Sainath, “Chapter 13: Bhabani Mahato” in The Last Heroes: Foot Soldiers of Indian
Freedom, pp 168-182.

Module 10: The Partition of India: A Disaster, a Birth, Entwined Fates?

The partition of India in 1947 is considered to be one of the most dramatic episodes in world
history in the long twentieth century. In Indian nationalist historiography, it is viewed as a disaster
but for Pakistani nationalists, it was seen as the moment a nation came into its own. Is the story of
Partition a tale of contingent elite politics or one of subaltern violence?

 Ayesha Jalal, “Jinnah’s Pakistan,” in The Sole Spokesman. Jinnah, the Muslim League and
Demand for Pakistan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1987), pp.174-207.
 Selections: https://exhibits.stanford.edu/1947-partition/browse/interviews
 Gyan Pandey, “By Way of Introduction,” Remembering Partition: Violence, nationalism, and
history in India (Cambridge University Press, 2001).
 Optional Film Screening: Earth/ Khamosh Pani

Module 11: India and Pakistan: Divergent Paths?

Many observers of the Indian subcontinent raise the question of how and why India became a
democracy while Pakistan has endured long periods of military rule. Many unsubstantiated claims
are made to explain the seemingly divergent paths of the two nations that has led to a race for
nuclear arms on the subcontinent. How do historians explain the trajectories of India and Pakistan
after independence in 1947? Were their paths initially quite so divergent? What role did certain
colonial legacies play there in?

 Jalal and Bose, Modern South Asia, Chapter 18.

 G. Kudaisya and Tai Yong Tan (ed.) The Aftermath of Partition in South Asia, Chapter 3.

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~This syllabus is subject to change based on the instructor’s discretion