SEMESTER – V

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
COURSES OFFERED BY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
Category I
[UG Programme for Bachelor in History (Honours) degree in three years]

DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC CORE COURSE -1 (DSC-1) – : History of India – V: c. 1500 – 1600

CREDIT DISTRIBUTION, ELIGIBILITY AND PRE-REQUISITES OF THE COURSE

Course title & Code Credits Credit distribution of the course Eligibility Pre-requisite
Lecture Tutorial Practical/ criteria of the course
Practice (if any)
History of India – V: 4 3 1 0 12 th Pass Should have
c. 1500 – 1600 studied History
of India
– IV: c. 1200 –
1500

Learning Objectives
The course is intended to engage students into a critical discussion of political, institutional and
cultural processes that led to the establishment and consolidation of theMughal state in India. It
also provides a basic understanding of major developments in other regions of the Indian sub-
continent not ruled by the Mughals in the sixteenth century. The students would familiarise
themselves with the nature and variety of sources as well as the diverse and uneven ways in which
historians have treated and interpreted them

Learning outcomes
Upon completion of this course the student shall be able to:
• Critically evaluate major sources available in Persian and vernacular languages forthe
period under study
• Compare, discuss and examine the varied scholarly perspectives on the issues ofthe
establishment and consolidation of the Mughal state.
• Explain the religious milieu of the time by engaging with some prominent religious
traditions.
• Discuss how different means such as visual culture was used to articulate authorityby the
rulers
• Discern the nuances of the process of state formation in the areas beyond thedirect
control of the Mughal state.

SYLLABUS OF DSC
Unit I: Sources and Historiography
1. An overview of Persian Literary Traditions
2. Vernacular Literature- Brajbhasha and Telugu/Tamil

80
Unit II: Political Formations and Institutions
1. Mughal state- Role of Military tactics and technology; Changing notions ofKingship
; Institutions (Evolution of Mansab, Jagir and land revenue system)
2. Rajput and Ahom Political culture
3. Formation of Nayaka states of Madurai, Thanjavur and Jinji

Unit III: Political and Religious Ideas

Unit IV: Visual culture and articulation of Authority

Practical component (if any) – NIL

Essential/recommended readings

Unit I. This unit introduces students to the available Persian and vernacular literary sources
for the study of the period under study. It also provides an opportunity to the students
to critically analyse these sources based on their modern historiographical
interpretations. (Teaching Time: 9 hrs. approx.)
Essential Readings:
• Rizvi, S. A. A. (1975)- Religious and Intellectual History of the Muslims During the Reign
of Akbar (1556-1605), Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal
• Truschke, Audrey (2016). Culture of Encounters, New Delhi: Penguin Allen Lane,
(Chapter 4 ‘Abul Fazl Redefines Islamicate Knowledge and Akbar’s Sovereignty’, pp.
142- 165)
• Alam, Muzaffar (2004). Languages of Political Islam, Delhi: Permanent Black, (Chapter
4, ‘Language and Power’, pp. 115-140)
• Ali, S Athar. (1992). “Translations of Sanskrit Works at Akbar’s Court” Social Scientist,
vol. 20 no.9, pp, 38-45
• Busch, Allison (2005), “Literary Responses to the Mughal Imperium: the Historical
Poems of Kesavdas” in South Asia Research, Vol. 25, No.1, pp 31-54
• Busch, Allison (2010) “Hidden in Plain view: Brajbhasha poets at the MughalCourt”
• Modern Asian Studies. Vol. 44, No.2, pp 267-309
• Sharma, Sandhya (2011). Literature, Culture and History in Mughal NorthIndia,
1550- 1800, Delhi: Primus (Introduction and Chapter 5)
• Rao, V N, David Shulman, and Sanjay Subrahmanyam (eds.) (2001). Textures ofTime:
Writing History in South India 1600-1800, Delhi: Permanent Black
• Sreenivasan, Ramya (2014) “Rethinking Kingship and Authority in South Asia: Amber
(Rajasthan), Ca. 1560-1615.” Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient
57, no. 4, pp 549–86

81
Unit II. This unit enables students to understand the various contexts and processes involved
in the establishment and consolidation of the Mughal state encompassing such
themes as the role of military tactics and technology,legitimacy through innovative
notions of kingship and administrative institutions. Besides the Mughal state, it also
discusses other political formations, some of considerable resilience and importance
that complicated the processes of imperial integration. To provide a rounded picture
of these developments the unit also discusses the histories of the emerging Rajput
regimes. To underline the variegated nature of politics of this period, the unit also
studies the Nayaka state formation in South India. (Teaching Time- 15 hrs. approx.)
• Gommans, Jos J L. (2002). Mughal Warfare: Indian Frontiers and Highroads to
Empire, 1500-1700, London and New York: Routledge
• Gommans, Jos J L & Dirk H A Kolff, eds. (2001). Warfare and Weaponry inSouth
Asia 1000-1800, New Delhi: OUP, (Introduction)
• Streusand, Douglas E. (1989). The Formation of the Mughal Empire, Delhi:
Oxford University Press
• Tripathi, R P. (1959). Some Aspects of Muslim Administration. Allahabad: TheIndian
Press. (Chapter on ‘Turko-Mongol Theory of Kingship’)
• Khan, I.A. (1972). “The Turko-Mongol Theory of Kingship”, in K A Nizami (Ed.).
• Medieval India-A Miscellany, Vol. II, London: Asia Publishing House.
• Richards, J F. (1996). The Mughal Empire, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
(Introduction & Chapters 1-4)
• Alam, M and S Subrahmanyam (eds.) (1998). The Mughal State, 1526-1750, Delhi:
OUP, (Introduction)
• Ali, S Athar (Revised 1997) -The Mughal Nobility Under Aurangzeb, Delhi: Oxford
University Press (Chapter 2)
• Moosvi, Shireen. (1981). “The Evolution of the Mansab System under Akbar until
1596- 97”, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, Vol. 113 No.
2, pp. 173-85,
• Habib, Irfan (1999), The Agrarian System of Mughal India (1556-1707), OUP, New Delhi
(Chapter 6)
• Khan, IqtidarAlam (1968). “The Nobility Under Akbar and the Development of his
Religious Policy ,1560-80”, Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, No 1-2 , pp.29- 36
• Ziegler, Norman P (1998)- “Some Notes on Rajput Loyalties During the MughalPeriod”
in John F. Richards, (Ed.). Kingship and Authority in South Asia, Delhi: Oxford University
Press, pp. 242-284.
• Zaidi, S Inayat A. (1997). “Akbar and Rajput Principalities- Integration into Empire” in
Irfan Habib (ed.) Akbar and His India, Delhi: Oxford University Press
• Chandra, Satish. (1993). Mughal Religious Policies, The Rajputs and The Deccan, Delhi:
Vikas Publishing House.
• Balabanlilar, Lisa (2013). Imperial Identity in the Mughal Empire, New Delhi: Viva
Books. (Introduction and Chapters 1 and 2)
• Rao, V N, David Shulman, and S. Subrahmanyam (1992). Symbols ofSubstance: Court
and State in Nayaka Period Tamilnadu, Delhi: Oxford University Press
• Rao, V, & Subrahmanyam, S. (2012). ‘Ideologies of state building in Vijayanagara and
post-Vijayanagara south India: Some reflections’ In P. Bang& D. Kolodziejczyk (Eds.),
Universal Empire: A Comparative Approach to Imperial Culture and Representation in
Eurasian History, Cambridge,Cambridge University Press, pp 210-232

82
 • Dirks, Nicholas B (2007). The Hollow Crown. Ethnohistory of an Indian Kingdom,
• Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Introduction)
• Howes, Jennifer (2003). The Courts of Pre-colonial South India, London: Routledge.
(Introduction and Chapter 3)
• Karashima, Noboru (1985). “Nayaka Rule in North and South Arcot Districts in South
India During the 16th Century”, Acta Asiatica, Vol. 48, pp. 1-25

UNIT III: This unit seeks to capture the political and religious milieu of the times focussing on
developments in Indian Islam as well as more generally on cross- cutting ideas in
circulation in north India manifested in the teachings of Vaishnava Bhakti saints.
(Teaching Time: 12 hrs. approx.)
• Rizvi, S.A.A. (1975). Religious and Intellectual History of the Muslims During the Reign
of Akbar (1556-1605). New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal
• Alam, Muzaffar (2004). The Languages of Political Islam: India (1200-1800), Delhi:
Permanent Black (Introduction, Chapters 2 and 5)
• Ali, S Athar (2008), “Sulh-i-Kul and Religious Ideas of Akbar” in Mughal India: Studies
in Polity, Ideas, Society and Culture, Delhi: Oxford University Press
• Moosvi, Shireen (2007). “The Road to Sulh-i-Kul: Akbar’s Alienation from Theological
Islam” in Irfan Habib (ed.) Religion in History, Delhi: Tulika
• Friedman, Yohanan (1971), Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi: An Outline of His Thought and a
Study of His Image in the Eyes of Posterity, McGill- Queen’s University Press, Montreal
(Introduction)
• Lorenzen, David N. (1995). Bhakti Religion in North India: Community Identity and
Political Action, New York: State University of New York Press (Introduction)
• Chatterjee, K. (2009). “Cultural Flows and Cosmopolitanism in Mughal India: The
Bishnupur Kingdom”, Indian Economic and Social History Review, vol. 46, No. 2, pp.
147- 82.
• Dalmia, Vasudha (2015), ‘Hagiography and the “other” in the Vallabha Sampradaya’
in Vasudha Dalmia and Munis D Faruqi (eds), Religious Interactions in Mughal India,
New Delhi, OUP.
• Stewart, Tony K (2013), ‘Religion in Subjunctive: Vaishnava Narrative Sufi Counter-
Narrative in Early Modern Bengal’, The Journal of Hindu Studies, Vol 6, pp 52-72

Unit IV: This unit focuses on the nuanced usage of visual culture (particularly architecture) an
effective means to articulate authority by rulers of different backgrounds and political
ambitions. (Teaching Time: 9 hrs. approx.)
• Asher, Catherine B. (1992). Architecture of Mughal India, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press (PP 51-74)
• Brand, Michael, and Glen D Lowry (Eds.). (1987). Fatehpur Sikri, Bombay: Marg
Publications (Chapters 2-7)
• Koch, Ebba. (2002). Mughal Architecture: An Outline of its History and Development,
1526-1858, New Delhi, New York: Oxford University Press (Introduction, Chapter on
Akbar)
• Sharma, Rita and Sharma, Vijay (2020), Forts of Rajasthan, Rupa Publications
• Jaweed, Md Salim (2012), ‘Rajput Architecture of Mewar From 13th to 18th
Centuries”,
• PIHC, Vol 73, pp 400-407

83
 • Asher, Catherine B (2020), ‘Making Sense of Temples and Tirthas: Rajput Construction
Under Mughal Rule’, The Medieval History Journal, Vol 23, Part1, pp 9-49
• Tillotson, Giles Henry Rupert (1987). The Rajput Palaces: The development of an
architectural style, 1450-1750. Yale Univ. Press, (Chapters 1-3)
• Mitchell, George. (1995). Architecture and Art of Southern India: Vijayanagara and the
Successor States 1350-1750, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Eaton, Richard M. And Phillip B. Wagoner. (2014). Power, Memory, Architecture:
Contested Sites on India's Deccan Plateau, 1300-1600. New Delhi:Oxford University
Press. (Chapters 2 and 3)
• Karashima, Noboru (2014). A Concise History of South India: Issues and
Interpretations,
• New Delhi,Oxford University Press. (Section 6.1-6.6)
• Rao, V N, David Shulman, and S. Subrahmanyam. (1992). Symbols of Substance: Court
and State in Nayaka Period Tamilnadu, Delhi: Oxford University Press

Suggestive readings
• Eaton, Richard (2019). India in the Persianate Age, 1000-1765, New Delhi, Penguin
Allen Lane (Chapter 5).
• Kolff, Dirk H.A. (1990). Naukar, Rajput and Sepoy: the Ethnohistory of the military
labour market in Hindustan, 1450-1850. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.
1-116 (valuable for the social contexts of political and military expansion in the 16th
century).
• Talbot, Cynthia (2013), ‘Becoming Turk the Rajput Way: Conversion & Identity in an
Indian Warrior Narrative’, Richard Eaton et al, Expanding Frontiers in South Asian and
World History, Essays in Honour of JF Richards, Cambridge University Press
• RaziuddinAquil. (2007). Sufism, Culture and Politics: Afghans and Islam in Medieval
North India, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Richards, J F. (1998). “The Formulation of Imperial Authority under Akbar and
Jahangir” in Kingship and Authority in South Asia, Delhi: Oxford University Press, pp.
285-326.
• Sharma, Krishna (2003). Bhakti and Bhakti Movement, Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal
Publishers
• Habib, Irfan (ed.1997) Akbar and His India, Delhi: Oxford University Press
• Siddiqui, N A. (reprint 1989). Land Revenue Administration under the Mughals(1700-
1750). New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers
• Chandra, Satish. (Ed.) (2005). Religion, State and Society in Medieval India: Collected
Works of Nurul Hasan, Delhi: Oxford University Press
• Aquil, Raziuddin and Kaushik Roy (2012)- Warfare, Religion and Society in Indian
History, Delhi: Manohar publishers and Distributors (Chapters 3 and 4)
• Nizami, K A (1983). On History and Historians of Medieval India, New Delhi: Vedic
Books
• Spear, Percival (2009). “The Mughal Mansabdari System” in Edmund Leechand S
N Mukherjee (eds.) Elites in South Asia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Alam, Muzaffar (2021). The Mughal and the Sufis: Islam and Political Imagination in
India, Ranikhet: Permanent Black, pp 1-93 (Chapters 1 and 2)
• Talbot, Cynthia, and Catherine B Asher (2006). India Before Europe, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press

84
 • Bahugana, R.P. (2008). “Kabir and other Medieval Saints in Vaishnava Tradition”, PIHC,
Vol. 69, pp 373-383
• Rezavi, Nadeem, (2013) Fatehpur Sikri Revisited, OUP. Readings in Hindi Medium
• Chandra, Satish (2018). Madhyakalin Bharat (Part II), Sultanat se Mughal Ka lTak, New
Delhi: Jawahar Publishers & Distributors
• Habib, Irfan (Ed.).(2000). Madhyakalin Bharat, (Vols. 1-8, relevant articles), New Delhi:
Rajkamal Prakashan
• Habib, Irfan (Ed.). (2016). Akbar Aur Tatkaleen Bharat, New Delhi: Rajkamal Prakashan
• Habib, Irfan. (2017). Madhyakalin Bharat ka ArthikItihas: Ek Sarvekshan, NewDelhi:
Rajkamal Prakashan
• Verma H C. (Ed.) (2017). Madhyakalin Bharat (Vol. II) 1540-1761, HindiMadhyam
Karyanvan Nideshalaya, Delhi University
• Mukhia Harbans (2008), Bhartiya Mughal, Urdu Bazaar, New Delhi

Note: Examination scheme and mode shall be as prescribed by the Examination

85