Core Course IV

History of India, c. 1700-1950

Course Objectives:

This paper provides a thematically arranged overview of the history of India from the beginning
of the eighteenth-century to the making of the republic in 1950. The first two units examine the
British colonial expansion in the eighteenth-century and proceed to discuss the consolidation of
the colonial state power in the political settings of nineteenth-century India. The third unit
critically situates the links between land revenue administration, export-oriented
commercialisation of agricultural production and deindustrialisation and the rampant famine in
colonial India. With a long-term perspective on the ideological, institutional and political
formations, the last four units introduce the major tendencies in the anti-colonial nationalist and
popular movements in colonial and immediate post-colonial India.

Learning Outcomes:
After the successful completion of this Course, the students will be able to:
• Trace the British colonial expansion in the political contexts of eighteenth-century India
and the gradual consolidation of the colonial state power in the nineteenth century.
• Identify the key historiographical debates around the colonial economic policies,
including the land revenue collection, commercialisation of agricultural production, trade
policies and deindustrialisation.
• Delineate and explain the ideological, institutional, and political formations of the anti-
colonial nationalist movement.
• Discuss the colonial context of the emergence of communal politics in India and the
subsequent partition of India.

Course content:

Unit I. India in the 18th century- Background and Debates

Unit II. Expansion and consolidation of British power: Special reference to Bengal,
Mysore, Maratha and Punjab
Unit III. Making of the British Colonial Economy:
[a] Land revenue settlements;
[b] Commercialisation of agriculture;
[c] Deindustrialisation;
[d] Drain of wealth
Unit IV. The Revolt of 1857: Causes, nature and consequences
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Unit V Social and Religious Reform Movements in Colonial India:
[a] Overview of reformist and revivalist movements in the 19th century;
[b] Caste Movements (Phule, Sree Narayan Guru, Ambedkar);
[c] Peasant and tribal movements: an overview
Unit VI. Growth of the National Movement, 1858-1947:
[a] Early nationalism and foundation of the Indian National Congress;
[b] A critique of colonialism (moderates, extremists and militant nationalists);
[c] Mahatma Gandhi and mass nationalism: Non-cooperation, Civil Disobedience,
and Quit India movements; relationship between the masses and leaders
Unit VII. Development of Communalism and the Partition of India:
[a] An overview of the growth of communalism;
[b] Towards Freedom and Partition
Unit VIII. Independent India: Making of the Constitution: The evolution of the
Constitution and its Main Provisions; basic features of the Constitution

ESSENTIAL READINGS AND UNIT-WISE TEACHING OUTCOMES:

Unit I. This unit situates the major historiographical debates on the transformation of the Indian
society in the eighteenth-century. (Teaching Time: 2 weeks approx.)

• Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar. (2004). From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India.

Delhi: Orient Longman, pp. 1-138.
• Bayly, C.A. (1990). An Illustrated History of Modern India 1600-1947. London: National
Portrait Gallery.
• Bose, S and Ayesha Jalal. (1998). Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political
Economy. New Delhi: OUP, pp. 38-69.
• Lakshmi Subramanian. (2010). History of India, 1707-1857. Hyderabad: Orient
Blackswan, pp. 1-98.
• Dube, Ishita Banerjee. (2015). A History of Modern India. Delhi: Cambridge University
Press, pp. 2-79.
• सेखर ,बं)ोपा=याय. (2012).आधुिनकभारतकाइितहास :kलासी सेिवभाजनतक. Hyderabad: Orient
Longman.
• आर॰एल ,शु Yल . ( Ed ) . ( 1 9 8 7 ) . आ धु िन क भा र त काइ ित हा स , D e l h i :
िह>दीमा=यमकाया7नवयिनदेशालय, pp. 1-44.

Unit II. This unit discusses the process which led to the expansion and consolidation of the
British colonial power in India with the help of specific case studies. (Teaching Time: 2 weeks
approx.)

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 • Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar. (2004) From Plassey to Partition. Delhi: Orient Longman, pp.
1-65.
• Mann, Michael. (2015). South Asia’s Modern History: Thematic Perspectives. London:
Routledge, pp. 20-53.
• Chaudhary, Latika et al. (Eds.). (2016). A New Economic History of Colonial India.
London: Routledge, pp. 33-51.
• Chandra, Bipan. (1979). Nationalism and Colonialism in Modern India. Hyderabad:
Orient Longman, pp. 39-125.
• एल .बी ,gोवर. (1995). आधुिनकभारतकाइितहास. New Delhi: S. Chand & Co.
• सेखर ,बं)ोपा=याय. (2012).आधुिनकभारतकाइितहास :kलासी सेिवभाजनतक. Hyderabad: Orient
Longman.

Unit III. This unit provides a critical perspective on the changing patterns of land relations,
agricultural practices, and trade and industry in the Indian sub-continent under the British
colonial rule. (Teaching Time: 2 weeks approx.)

• Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar. (2004). From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India.

Delhi: Orient Longman, pp. 82-138.
• Dutt, R.P. (1986). India Today. Calcutta: Manisha, pp. 21-96.
• Mann, Michael. (2015). South Asia’s Modern History: Thematic Perspectives. London:
Routledge, pp. 264-314.
• Bose, S and Ayesha Jalal. (1998). Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political
Economy. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, pp. 53-69.
• Chaudhary, Latika (et. al. eds.). (2016). A New Economic History of Colonial India.
London: Routledge, pp. 52-66.
• Sarkar, Sumit. 2014. Modern Times: India 1880s-1950s: Environment, Economy and
Culture. Ranikhet: Permanent Black, pp. 106-216.
• सGयसाची ,भmाचाय7 (2008).राजकमल :!द#ली .आधुिनकभारतकाआNथकइितहास.
• सेखर ,बं)ोपा=याय. (2012).आधुिनकभारतकाइितहास :kलासी सेिवभाजनतक. Hyderabad: Orient
Longman.
• आर॰एल ,शुYल, (ed.). (1987). आधुिनकभारतकाइितहास Delhi: िह>दीमा=यमकाया7नवयिनदेशालय,
pp. 92-95 and 104-178.

Unit IV. This unit elaborates the various aspects of the Revolt of 1857 and understand its impact
on colonial rule and the Indian society. (Teaching Time: 1 week approx.)

• Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar (2004). From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India.

Delhi: Orient Longman, pp. 169-183.

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 • Mann, Michael. (2015). South Asia’s Modern History: Thematic Perspectives. London:
Routledge, pp. 264-314, 55-62.
• Pati, Biswamoy. (Ed.). (2007). The Great Rebellion of 1857 in India: Exploring
transgressions, contests and diversities. London: Routledge, pp. 1-15; 111-128.
• Bose, S and Ayesha Jalal. (1998). Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political
Economy. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, pp. 70-77.
• Taneja, Nalini. (2012). “The 1857 rebellion.” in K. N. Panikkar, (Ed.). Perspectives of
Modern Indian History. Mumbai: Popular Prakashan, pp. 93-126.
• सेखर ,बं)ोपा=याय. (2012). आधुिनकभारतकाइितहास :kलासीसेिवभाजनतक. Hyderabad: Orient
Longman.
• आर॰एल ,शुYल, (Ed). (1987) आधुिनकभारतकाइितहास.Delhi: िह>दीमा=यमकाया7नवयिनदेशालय,
pp. 238-280.

Unit V. This unit discusses the social and religious reform movements and early rural insurgency
in colonial India as a response to British colonialism. (Teaching Time: 2 weeks approx.)

• Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar. (2004). From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India.

Delhi: Orient Longman, pp. 139-168; 342-47; 353-356.
• Joshi, V.C. (1975). Rammohun Roy and the process of modernization in India. Delhi:
Vikas. relevant chapters.
• O’Hanlon, Rosalind. (2012). Caste, Conflict and Ideology: Mahatma Jotirao Phule and
the Low Caste Protest in Nineteenth-Century Western India. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, pp. 3-14; 105-134.
• Dube, Ishita Banerjee. (2015). A History of Modern India. Delhi: Cambridge University
Press, pp. 346-360.
• सेखर ,बं)ोपा=याय. (2012). आधुिनकभारतकाइितहास :kलासी सेिवभाजनतक. Delhi: Orient
Longman, relevant chapters.
• आर॰एल ,शुYल. (Ed.). (1987). िह>दीमा=यमकाया7नवयिनदेशालय) आधुिनकभारतकाइित हास.
Delhi: Delhi University, pp. 190-212.

Unit VI. This unit explores the long-term development of institutions, ideologies and different
groups and individuals that shaped the political fields of the anti-colonial nationalist movement
in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. (Teaching Time: 2 weeks approx.)

• Sarkar, Sumit. (1983). Modern India 1885-1947. Delhi: Macmillan, pp. 37-298.
• Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar. (2004). From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India.
Delhi: Orient Longman, pp. 279-404.
• Chandra, Bipan. (1989). India’s Struggle for Independence. Delhi: Penguin, pp. 170-310.

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 • Pandey, Gyanendra. (2002). The Ascendancy of the Congress in Uttar Pradesh 1926-34:
A Study in Imperfect Mobilization. New Delhi: Anthem Press (Second edition).
(“Introduction” and Ch.4).
• Bose, S and Ayesha Jalal. (1998). Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political
Economy. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, pp. 86-101.
• Amin, Shahid. (1984). “Gandhi as Mahatma: Gorakhpur District, Eastern UP, 1921-22.”
in Ranajit Guha, (Ed.). Subaltern Studies III. Delhi: OUP, pp. 1-61.
• Dube, Ishita Banerjee. (2015). A History of Modern India. Delhi: Cambridge University
Press, pp. 260-302.
• सुिमत ,सरकार (2009). आधुिनकभारत. Delhi: राजकमल, relevant chapters.
• सेखर ,बं)ोपा=याय (2012). आधुिनकभारतकाइितहास : kलासी सेिवभाजनतक. Delhi: Orient
Longman, relevant chapters.

Unit VII. This unit critically situates the political and social contexts that led to communal
mobilization and its impact on the sub-continent’s social and political fabric. (Teaching Time: 2
weeks approx.)

• Sarkar, Sumit. (1983). Modern India 1885-1947, Delhi: Macmillan, pp. 355-390 (relevant
sections)
• Pandey, Gyanendra. (1990). The Construction of Communalism in Colonial North India.
Delhi: Oxford University Press, pp. 1-22.
• Chandra, Bipan.(2008). Communalism in Modern India. New Delhi: Har Anand, pp.
50-96; 238-324 (all other chapters and relevant as suggested reading).
• Bose, S and Ayesha Jalal. (1998). Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political
Economy. New Delhi: OUP, pp. 135-156.
• Chandra, Bipan. (1979). Nationalism and Colonialism in Modern India. Hyderabad:
Orient Longman, pp. 257-302.
• Misra, Salil. (2012). “Emergence of Communalism in India.” in K. N. Panikkar (Ed.),
Perspectives of Modern Indian History. Mumbai: Popular Prakashan, pp. 223-258.
• सुिमत ,सरकार (2009) आधुिनकभारत. Delhi: राजकमल, relevant chapters.

Unit VIII. This unit situates the process of making the constitution as an attempt to decolonize
Indian society and its political practices. (Teaching Time: 2 weeks approx.)

• Chandra, Bipan. (2000). IndiaSince Independence. Delhi: Penguin Books, pp. 38-85.
• Guha, Ramachandra. (2007). India after Gandhi: The History of the World’s Largest
Democracy. Delhi: Macmillan, pp. xi-126
• Austin, Granville. (1966). The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation. New Delhi:
Oxford University Press, pp. 1-144.

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 • Hasan, Mushirul. (2012). “India’s Partition: Unresolved Issues.” in K. N. Panikkar, (Ed.).
Perspectives of Modern Indian History. Mumbai: Popular Prakashan, pp. 313-339.
• Dube, Ishita Banerjee. (2015). A History of Modern India. Delhi: Cambridge University
Press, pp. 436-465.

SUGGESTED READINGS:

• Bahl, Vinay. (1988). “Attitudes of the Indian National Congress towards the working
class struggle in India.” in K. Kumar, (Ed.). Congress and Classes: Nationalism,
Workers, and Peasants. New Delhi: Manohar, pp.1-33.
• Bandyopadhyay, Sekhar. (Ed.). (2009). National Movement in India: A Reader. New
Delhi: Oxford University Press.
• Bhargava, Rajeev. (Ed.). (2009). Politics and Ethics of the Indian Constitution. New
Delhi: OUP.
• Brown, Judith. (1972). Gandhi’s Rise to Power, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Chandra, Bipan. (1996). Nationalism and Colonialism in Modern India, Delhi: Orient
Longman.
• Chandra, Bipan. (1966, Reprint 2004). The Rise and Growth of Economic Nationalism in
India. New Delhi: Anamika Publishers.
• Desai, A.R. (1981). Social Background of Indian Nationalism. Delhi: Popular Prakashan.
• Gopinath, Ravindran. (2012). “The British Imperium and the Agrarian Economy”, in K.
N. Panikkar, (Ed.). Perspectives of Modern Indian History, Mumbai: Popular Prakashan,
pp. 62-90.
• Habib, Irfan. (2013). Indian Economy 1757-1857, New Delhi: Tulika Books.
• Habib, Irfan. (2006). Indian Economy 1858-1914, New Delhi: Tulika Books.
• Hasan, Mushirul, (1993). India’s Partition: Process, Strategy and Mobilisation. New
Delhi: Oxford University Press.
• Kumar, K. (Ed.). (1998). Congress and Classes: Nationalism, Workers and Peasants,
Delhi: Manohar.
• Metcalf, B. D. and T.R. Metcalf. (2002). A Concise History of India, Cambridge:
University Press.
• Metcalf, Thomas. (2001). Ideology of the Raj, Delhi: Cambridge University Press.
• Omvedt, Gail. (1994). Dalits and Democratic Revolution, Delhi: Sage.
• Pandey, Gyanendra. (2001). Remembering Partition, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
• Pati, Biswamoy (Ed.). (2007). The 1857 Rebellion, Delhi: Oxford University Press.
• Roy, Tirthankar. (2000). The Economic History of India 1857-1947, New Delhi: Oxford
University Press.

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 • Sarkar, Sumit and Tanika Sarkar (Eds.). (2014). Caste in Modern India: A Reader, Vols. I
& II, Delhi: Permanent Black.
• Sarkar, Sumit. (2014). Modern Times: India 1880s-1950s: Environment, Economy and
Culture. Ranikhet: Permanent Black.
• Sarkar, Sumit (1993). Popular movements and Middleclass leadership in late colonial
India. Delhi: Aakar.
• Stein, Burton. (1998). A History of India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, pp.
239-366.
• च>L, िबपन. (2009). आधुिनकभारतकाइितहास. Delhi: Oriental BlackSwan.

Teaching Learning Process:

Classroom teaching supported by group discussions or group presentations on specific themes/
readings. Given that the students enrolled in the course are from a non-history background,
adequate emphasis shall be given during the lectures to what is broadly meant by the historical
approach and the importance of historicising various macro and micro-level developments/
phenomena. Interactive sessions through group discussions or group presentations shall be used
to enable un-learning of prevailing misconceptions about historical developments and time
periods, as well as to facilitate revision of issues outlined in the lectures. Supporting audio-visual
aids like documentaries and power point presentations, and an appropriate field-visit will be used
where necessary.

Assessment Methods:
Students will be regularly assessed for their grasp on debates and discussions covered in class.
Two written submissions; one of which could be a short project, will be used for final grading of
the students. Students will be assessed on their ability to explain important historical trends and
thereby engage with the historical approach.
Internal Assessment: 25 Marks
Written Exam: 75 Marks
Total: 100 Marks

Keywords:
Colonialism, Land Revenue Settlement, deindustrialisation, Drain of wealth, commercialisation,
nationalism, Gandhi, anti-colonial movement, caste question, Phule, Ambedkar, Partition,
Constitution.

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