HISTORY OF INDIA V (c. 1750 - 1857)

Paper Code:

24CHIS 511

Credits:

Contact Hours:

90.00

Max. Marks:

100.00

Objective:

Course Objectives:

The paper introduces students to key features of the 18th century in the Indian subcontinent. It analyses the interface between the 18th century kingdoms and the early colonial state. The paper also discusses the processes by which the British East India Company transformed itself into a state and gradually consolidated its position over a vast expanse. Apart from the evolution of colonial institutions of governance and developing forms of colonial exploitation, the paper also highlights the interface between Company Raj and indigenous elite on various social issues. The paper concludes with a critical survey of peasant resistance to colonial agrarian policies, and the 1857 revolt against the Company Raj.

Course Outcomes:

Course Outcomes (CO)

Course

Learning outcomes (at course level)

Learning and teaching strategies

Assessment Strategies

Course Code

Course Title

24CHIS 511

HISTORY OF INDIA V (c. 1750 - 1857)

CO49- Assess the political, social and economic aspects of 18^th century Modern India

CO50- Trace an understanding on Expansion and Consolidation of colonial Power in India

CO51- Develop an opinion about social and economic issues in the rural Pre-Independent India

CO52- Evaluate the socio –economic, Trade and Industrial policies of the British

CO53- Critically assess Popular resistance and Revolt of 1857

CO54- 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

India in the mid – 18th Century; Society, Economy, Polity

18.00

Unit II:

Expansion and Consolidation of colonial Power:

[a] Mercantilism, foreign trade and early forms of exactions from Bengal.

[b] Dynamics of expansion, with special reference to Bengal, Mysore, Western India, Awadh, Punjab, and Sindh.

18.00

Unit III:

Rural Economy and Society:

[a] Land revenue systems and forest policy.

[b] Commercialisation and indebtedness.

[c] Rural society: change and continuity.

[d] Famines.

[e] Pastoral economy and shifting cultivation

18.00

Unit IV:

Trade and Industry

[a] De – industrialization

[b] Trade and fiscal policy

[c] Drain of Wealth

[d] Growth of modern industry

18.00

Unit V:

Popular resistance

[a] The Uprising of 1857

[b] Peasant resistance to colonial rule: Santhal Uprising (1856); Indigo Rebellion (1860); Pabna

Agrarian Leagues (1873); Deccan Riots (1875).

Essential Readings:

ESSENTIAL READINGS

Alavi, Seema, ed. The Eighteenth Century in India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press,2007.
Bandhopadhyay, Shekhar. From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India. Delhi:Orient Blackswan, 2004
Bayly, C. A. Indian Society and the Making of the British Empire.
Bhattacharya, Sabyasachi, ed. Rethinking 1857. Delhi: Orient Longman, 2007.
Habib, Irfan. Indian Economy Under Early British Rule 1757-1857: A People's History of India 25.Delhi: Tulika, 2013.
The New Cambridge History of India. Volume II.1.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Roy, Tirthankar. An Economic History of Early Modern India. London and New York: Routledge, 2013.
Subramanian, Lakshmi. History of India, 1707-1857. Delhi: Orient Blackswan, 2010.

References:

SUGGESTED READINGS

Alavi, Seema. The Sepoys and the Company: Tradition and Transition in Northern India,1770–1830. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998

Bayly, Susan. Caste Politics and Indian Society from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1999.

Choudhary, Sushil. Prelude to Empire: Plassey Revolution of 1757. Delhi: Manohar, 2000.

Guha, Ranajit. Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial India. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1983.

Hardiman, David. Peasant Resistance in India, 1858-1914. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Mukherjee, Mithi. India in the Shadows of Empire: A Legal and Political History 1774- 1950. New

Mukherjee, Rudrangshu. Awadh in Revolt 1857-1858. New Delhi: Oxford UniversityPress, 1984.

Parthasarathi,Prasannan.The Transition to a Colonial Economy: Weavers, Merchants and Kings in South India, 1720-1800. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.

Raj,K N.et. al, ed. Essays on the Commercialization of Indian Agriculture. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1985.

Stein, Burton, ed. The Making of Agrarian Policy in British India, 1770-1900. Delhi:Oxford University Press, 1992.

Stern, Phillip. The Company-State: Corporate Sovereignty and the Early Modern Foundations of the British Empire in India.New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.