Gender in Indian History up to1500

Paper Code:

24DHIS 511(A)

Credits:

Contact Hours:

90.00

Max. Marks:

100.00

Objective:

Course objectives

The course teaches how ‘Gender’ is not an innocent term denoting biological differences but a social and culturally constructed unequal relationship that needs careful historical analysis in the context of Indian history. The focus is not merely on studying ‘women’s history’ but to go beyond and explore aspects of masculinities as well as alternative sexualities, spanning temporal frames from prehistory to 1500 CE. There is an added emphasis on learning inter-disciplinary analytical tools and frames of analysis concerning familiar topics such as class, caste, and environment that enriches an understanding of historical processes

Course Outcomes:

Course Outcomes (CO)

Course

Learning outcomes (at course level)

Learning and teaching strategies

Assessment Strategies

Course Code

Course Title

24DHIS 511(A)

Gender in Indian History up to1500

CO61- Critically analyse the concepts of gender and patriarchy and demonstrate their use as tools for

historical analysis

CO62- Examine the role and functioning of power equations within social contexts in ancient period of Indian history in the construction of gender identities

CO63- Trace Gender in ancient Indian Economy, culture and religion up to c.1200 CE

CO64- Analyse Gender and power in Medieval India: c.1200 to 1500

CO65- Examine the role of Gender in pre-Mughal and Mughal India: c.1200 to 1500

CO66-Contribute effectively in course-specific interaction

Approach in teaching:

Interactive Lectures, Discussion, Tutorials, Reading assignments, Power Point Presentation

Learning activities for the students:

Self-learning assignments, Effective questions, Seminar presentation, Giving tasks.

Class test, Semester end examinations, Quiz, Solving problems in tutorials, Assignments, Presentation, Individual and group projects

18.00

Unit I:

Theories and concepts

[a] Gender: a tool of historical analysis

[b] Understanding structures of patriarchy

18.00

Unit II:

Gender in Ancient India up to c.1200 CE

[a] Women in political spaces: from early to early medieval times

[b] Varna, jati, household, sexuality and marriage

18.00

Unit III:

Gender in ancient Indian Economy,culture and religion up to c.1200 CE

[a] Economic and material production, property relations and patronage;

[b] Gender in cultural and religious frames: representations in art and literature; goddesses and saints

18.00

Unit IV:

Gender in Medieval India: c.1200 to 1500

[a] Women and power in the Delhi Sultanate: Raziya Sultan

[b] Gender and literature: love and manliness in Hindawi Romances

18.00

Unit V:

Gender in Medieval India: c.1200 to 1500

[a] Women and power in the Mughal India: Nurjahan.

[b] Representations of women and men in Indo-Persian, Sanskrit and Rajput Traditions

Essential Readings:

ESSENTIAL READINGS

Altekar A. S. The Position of Women in Hindu Society.Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1956.
Baig Tara Ali, Women of India, ‎ Hassell Street Press (2021)
Ali, A. ‘Women in Delhi Sultanate’. In The Oxford Encyclopaedia of Islam and Women,Vol. 1. New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 197-200.
Lerner, G. The Majority Finds its Past: Placing Women in History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979.
Orr, Leslie. ‘Women’s Wealth and Worship: Female Patronage of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism in Medieval Tamil Nadu,’ in Mandaktranta Bose ed. Faces of the Feminine in Ancient Medieval and Modern India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. 124-146.
Ramaswamy, V. Walking Naked: Women and Spirituality in South India. Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 1997.
Roy, K. The Power of Gender and the Gender of Power, Explorations in Early Indian History. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2010.60
Shah, S. The Making of Womanhood: Gender Relations in the Mahabharata. Revised Edition, Delhi: Manohar, 2012.
Talbot, C. ' Rudramba Devi The Female King: Gender and Political authority in medieval India, in David Shulman (ed), Syllables of the Sky: Studies in South Indian Civilisation.New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1995, pp.391-428.

References:

SUGGESTED READINGS

Blackstone, R. K. Women in the Footsteps of Buddha: Struggle for Liberation in the Therigathas. Curzon Press, 1998.
Chakravarti, U. Everyday Lives Every Day Histories: Beyond the Kings and Brahmans of ‘Ancient’ India, Tulika Books, New Delhi, 2006.
Chitgopekar, N, ed. Invoking Goddess, Gender Politics in Indian Religion. Delhi: Shakti Books, 2002
Desai, V. N. 'Reflections on the History and Historiography of Male sexuality in Early India' in Vidya Dehajiya, ed. Representing the Body:Gender Issue sin Art. New Delhi:Kali for Women, 1997, pp. 44-55.
Geetha, V. Gender. Calcutta: Stree, 2002.
Jha, P. K. Gender, Varna and Vidyapati. Nehru Memorial Museum and Library,Occasional Papers (New Series), 2013, pp. 1-37.
Mahalaksmi, R. ‘Inscribing the Goddess: Female Deities in Early Medieval Inscriptions from Tamil Region’,inThe Making of the Goddess: Korravai-Durga in Tamil Traditions. New Delhi: Penguin Books India, 2011, pp. 156-98.
Rangachari, Devika. Exploring Spaces for Women in Early Medieval Kashmir.
NMML Occasional Papers.
Roy, Kumkum. Emergence of Monarchy in North India, Eighth-Fourth Centuries BC: As Reflected in the Brahmanical Tradition. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Sahgal, Smita ‘Exploring the Beneficiaries: A Gendered Peep into the Institution of Niyoga in Early India’.in Indian Historical Review, 39, 2, December-2012, Sage Publications, New Delhi, pp. 163-98.
Scott, J. W. Gender and the Politics of History. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998.
Tyagi, J. Engendering the Early Households, Brahmanical Precepts in early Grhyasūtras, middle of the First millennium BCE. Delhi: Orient Longman, 2008.