Unit I: The Story of the First Cities Harappan Archaeology

• Broad overview: Early urban centres.
• Story of discovery: Harappan civilization.
• Excerpt: Archaeological report on a major site.
• Discussion: how it has been utilized by archaeologists/historians.

Unit II: Political and Economic History: How Inscriptions tell a story

• Broad overview: Political and economic history from the Mauryan to the Gupta period.
• Story of discovery: Inscriptions and the decipherment of the script. Shifts in the understanding of political andeconomic history.
• Excerpt: Asokan inscription and Gupta period land grant.
• Discussion: Interpretation of inscriptions by historians.

Unit III: Social Histories using the Mahabharata

• Broad overview: Issues in social history, including caste,class, kinship, and gender.
• Story of discovery: Transmission and publications of the Mahabharata.
• Excerpt: From the Mahabharata, illustrating how it has been used by historians.

Unit IV: A History of Buddhism: Sanchi Stupa

• Broad overview:
  (a) A brief review of religious histories of Vedicreligion, Jainism, Vaisnavism, and Saivism.
  (b) Focus on Buddhism.

• Story of discovery: Sanchi stupa.

• Excerpt: Reproduction of sculptures from Sanchi.

• Discussion: Ways in which sculpture has been interpreted by historians, and other sources for reconstructing thehistory of Buddhism.

Unit V: Medieval Society Through Travellers’ Accounts

• Broad Overview: Outline of social and cultural life as they appear in travellers’ accounts.

• Story of their writings: A discussion of where they travelled, why they travelled, what they wrote, and Forwhom they wrote.

• Excerpts: from Alberuni, Ibn Batuta, Bernier.

• Discussion: What these travel accounts can tell us and how they have been interpreted by historians?

Unit VI: Religious Histories: The Bhakti-Sufi Tradition

• Broad Overview:
  (a) Outline of religious developments during thisperiod.
  (b) Ideas and practices of the Bhakti-Sufi saints.

• Story of Transmission: How Bhakti-Sufi compositionshave been preserved.

• Excerpt: Extracts from selected Bhakti Sufi works.

• Discussion: Ways in which these have been interpretedby historians.

Unit VII: New Architecture: Hampi

• Broad Overview:
  (a) Outline of new buildings during the Vijayanagarperiod - temples, forts, irrigation facilities.
  (b)Relationship between architecture and the politicalsystem.

• Story of Discovery: Account of how Hampi was found.

• Excerpt: Visuals of buildings at Hampi.

• Discussion: Ways in which historians have analyzed andinterpreted these structures.

Unit VIII: Agrarian Relations: The Ain-i-Akbari

• Broad overview:
  (a) Structure of agrarian relations in the 16th and $17^{\text {th }}$ centuries.
  (b) Patterns of change over the period.

• Story of Discovery: Account of the compilation andtranslation of Ain-i-Akbari.

• Excerpt: From the Ain-i-Akbari

• Discussion: Ways in which historians have used the textto reconstruct history.

Unit IX: The Mughal Court: Reconstructing Histories through Chronicles

• Broad Overview:
  (a) Outline of political history c. 15th-17th centuries.
  (b) Discussion of the Mughal court and politics.

• Story of Discovery: Account of the production of court chronicles, and their subsequent translation and transmission.

• Excerpts: from the Akbarnama and Padshahnama.

• Discussion: Ways in which historians have used the textsto reconstruct political histories.

Unit X: Colonialism and Rural Society: Evidence from Official Reports

• Broad overview:
  (a) Life of zamindars, peasants, and artisans in the late18 ${ }^{\text {th }}$ century.
  (b) East India Company, revenue settlements, and surveys.
  (c) Changes over the nineteenth century.

• Story of official records: An account of why official investigations into rural societies were undertaken andthe types of records and reports produced.

• Excerpts: From Firminger’s Fifth Report, Accounts of Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, and Deccan Riots Report.

• Discussion: What do the official records tell and do not tell, and how they have been used by historians?

Unit XI: Representations of 1857

• Broad Overview:
  (a) The events of 1857-58.
  (b) How these events were recorded and narrated.

• Focus: Lucknow.

• Excerpts: Pictures of 1857. Extracts from contemporaryaccounts.

• Discussion: How the pictures of 1857 shaped British opinion of what had happened.

Unit XII: Colonialism and Indian Towns: Town Plans and Municipal Reports

• Broad Overview: The growth of Mumbai, Chennai, hill stations, and cantonments in the $18^{\text {th }}$ and $19^{\text {th }}$ centuries.
• Excerpts: Photographs and paintings. Plans of cities. Extract from town plan reports. Focus on Kolkata town planning.
• Discussion: How the above sources can be used to reconstruct the history of towns? What these sourcesdo not reveal.

Unit XIII: Mahatma Gandhi Through Contemporary Eyes

• Broad Overview: (a) The nationalist movement 1918-48,
  (b) The nature of Gandhian politics and leadership.

• Focus: Mahatma Gandhi in 1931.

• Excerpts: Reports from English and Indian languagenewspapers and other contemporary writings.

• Discussion: How newspapers can be a source of history.

Unit XIV: Partition through Oral Sources

• Broad Overview:
  (a) The history of the 1940s;
  (b) Nationalism, Communalism, and Partition.

• Focus: Punjab and Bengal.

• Excerpts: Oral testimonies of those who experienced partition.

• Discussion: Ways in which these have been analyzed toreconstruct the history of the event.

Unit XV: The Making of the Constitution

• Broad Overview:
  (a) Independence and the new nation-state.
  (b) The making of the Constitution.

• Focus: The Constitutional Assembly debates.

• Excerpts: From the debates.

• Discussion: What do such debates reveal and how they canbe analyzed?