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Indian Civilizations introduces students to the various influences that have fashioned the civilizations that are integral to the history of India, with an emphasis on the multiplicity of strands in Indian culture and tradition from pre-history to the present. The rich and varied ideas and thoughts from the ancient times to the modern age and their expression through art and artefacts, through literature and philosophical writings, will form the basis for discussions for an understanding of the plurality of Indian civilizations.
Code: FC-0201-1 | Semester: Monsoon 2026
FC Section: Mixed Section ( 20 Senior Seats)
Faculty: Amar Farooqui
The study of India’s past in the modern period has produced diverse understandings of Indian civilisations. This course looks at some of the ways in which these understandings have evolved by discussing the writing of history, notions of heritage, anti-colonial resistance, nationalist thought and memories of exile. We shall explore how histories of representative monuments, rulers, cities or commodities allow us to comprehend the historical processes that have shaped Indian civilisations.
Code: FC-0201-2 | Semester: Monsoon 2026
FC Section: Mixed Section ( 20 Senior Seats)
This course takes an intellectual history approach to the study of Indian civilisations. It considers civilisation as an actor category. It explores how different conceptualisations of civilisation have shaped India, and how India has shaped the concept of civilisation. We will focus mainly but not exclusively on British/Western colonialists and thinkers on one hand and South Asian intellectuals on the other to embark on a journey that will begin from the middle of the eighteenth century and go right up to the present.
Code: FC-0201-3 | Semester: Monsoon 2026
FC Section: First Year
This is a small course about a large and fascinating subject, that of Indian Civilisations. It has been structured in a way that it can be immersed in, one hopes, with enjoyment. The course will draw out civilizational elements from prehistory till the present – through accounts of travels and lives, through ideas and through art – in which small phenomena are linked to the larger frame of the Indian subcontinent and beyond. The course will explore a varied and rich tapestry that includes rock art, the Harappan Civilisation, iconic emperors like Ashoka and Akbar, the words of the Buddha and the Bhakti saints, modern statesmen like B.R. Ambedkar and Jawaharlal Nehru. How social and gender inequalities cut across Indian history will also be explored. Indian civilisations, as the course will emphasise, are not part of the ‘old’ and ‘dead’ past but are made up of elements that continue to be present in contemporary India. Readings will be electronically shared with students.
Code: FC-0201-4 | Semester: Monsoon 2026
FC Section: Senior Year
What is the ‘Indian civilisation’ which we inhabit, and when was it formed? Was it created in antiquity? Or was it a product of the colonial encounter? Discussions about Indian civilisation are usually attentive to ancient times, or to what has been labelled as a ‘composite culture’ fostered by the advent of Islam in medieval times. This course will suggest that the term ‘composite culture’ is perhaps more appropriate to describe the modern Indian living conditions, habits and identities which burgeoned during British rule, and have flourished thereafter. It addresses the making of modern Indian civilisation, not so much by looking at a distant past, but by examining developments in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We shall discuss politics and economics, but also – among other topics – food and dress, technology and health, the adoption of new technologies, and new items of mass consumption. To a greater extent than many people wish to admit, we are constituted by colonialism. Even the drinking of tea and coffee, so much a part of our culture now, dates to our relatively recent past, and provides a fascinating history to explore
gaurav.garg@ashoka.edu.in