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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 2025
This course takes an intellectual history approach to the study of Indian civilizations. It considers civilization as an actor category. It explores how different conceptualizations of civilization have shaped India, and how India has shaped the concept of civilization. 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-0201-2 | Semester: Monsoon 2025
What is the ‘Indian civilization’ which we inhabit, and when was it formed? Did it get created in classical antiquity? Or was it a product of the colonial encounter? Discussions about Indian civilization are usually attentive to antiquity, 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 civilization, 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.
Code: FC-0201-3 | Semester: Monsoon 2025
This is a small course about a large and fascinating subject, that of Indian Civilizations. 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 Civilization, 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 civilizations, as the course will emphasize, 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 2025
Faculty: Tanika Sarkar
Course description to be updated.
Code: FC-0201-5 | Semester: Monsoon 2025
Faculty: Anindita Chatterjee
This foundation course is designed to introduce students to the idea of Indian civilization as manifested through varying forms seen in history, politics and culture of the Indian subcontinent. We will situate ourselves in the modern and the contemporary periods of Indian civilization and our focus will be on political, social, economic, and cultural transformations in this era. At the same time, we will rely on a study of the historical past to understand these modern and contemporary developments. We will critically examine key ideas and practices that have historically emerged and shaped individual behaviour and collective lived experiences. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, we will investigate how key concepts in Indian collective and intimate life, such as caste, tribe, religion, sexuality and gender underwent changes during the modern and contemporary periods.
Code: FC-0201-6 | Semester: Monsoon 2025
Faculty: Amar Farooqui
The study of India’s past in the modern period has produced diverse understandings of Indian civilizations. This course looks at a few of the ways in which these understandings have evolved, by discussing the writing of history, narratives of events, notions of heritage, aspects of the colonial economy and nationalist critiques, resistance, and memories of exile. Some of the historical themes that the course focusses on are: the afterlife of Shahjahan’s citadel in Delhi, the building of the governor-general’s residence in Calcutta, the influence of Tod’s Annals on the historiography of Rajasthan, connections between ancient Mamallapuram, late Mughal Arcot, and Madras, opium as an intoxicant, princes at imperial assemblages, Zoroastrianism and nationalist thought, and Vincent Smith as a historian of the Mauryas. We shall explore how histories of certain monuments, rulers, cities or commodities allow us to comprehend the processes that have shaped Indian civilizations.
gaurav.garg@ashoka.edu.in