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Economy and Society in Early India

This document outlines the units and topics covered in a history of India course from approximately 300 BCE to 750 CE. The units cover the economy, society and political formations during this period, including the expansion of agriculture, urban growth, social stratification and the Mauryan Empire. Later units discuss the transition to early medieval India under the Guptas, the nature of religious and philosophical traditions like Hinduism and Buddhism, and cultural developments in literature, art and architecture. A reading list with secondary sources on these topics is also provided.

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Nisha Chowdhury
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240 views2 pages

Economy and Society in Early India

This document outlines the units and topics covered in a history of India course from approximately 300 BCE to 750 CE. The units cover the economy, society and political formations during this period, including the expansion of agriculture, urban growth, social stratification and the Mauryan Empire. Later units discuss the transition to early medieval India under the Guptas, the nature of religious and philosophical traditions like Hinduism and Buddhism, and cultural developments in literature, art and architecture. A reading list with secondary sources on these topics is also provided.

Uploaded by

Nisha Chowdhury
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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CORE-III: HISTORY OF INDIA-II

Unit-I: Economy and Society (circa 300 BCE to circa CE 300):


[1] Expansion of agrarian economy
[2] Urban growth; craft production: trade and trade routes
[3] Social stratification: class, Varna, jati, untouchability; gender; marriage
and property
relations
Unit-II: Changing political formations (circa 300 BCE to circa CE
300):
[1] The Mauryan Empire: Chandragupta Maurya and Asoka-Conquest and
Administration;
[2] Post-Mauryan Polities with special reference to the Kushanas and the
Satavahanas-
Kaniska I and Gautamiputra Satakarni
Unit-III: Towards early medieval India [circa CE fourth century to
CE 750]:
[1] Gupta Age: Agrarian expansion, land grants, graded Land rights and
peasantry
[2] The problem of urban decline: patterns of trade, currency, and urban
Settlements.
[3] Varna, proliferation of jatis: changing norms of marriage and property.
[4] The nature of polities: the Gupta empire and its contemporaries: post-
Gupta polities –
Pallavas, Chalukyas
Unit-IV: Religion, philosophy and society (circa 300 BCE- CE 750):
(1) Consolidation of the brahmanical tradition: dharma, Varnashram,
Purusharthas,
Samskaras.
(2) Theistic cults (from circa second century BC): Mahayana; the Puranic
tradition.
(3) The beginnings of Tantricism
Unit-V: Cultural developments (circa 300 BCE- CE 750):
[1] A brief survey of Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit and Tamil literature. Scientific and
technical
treatises
[2] Art and architecture; Mauryan, post-Mauryan, Gupta, post-Gupta

Reading List:
B. D. Chattopadhyaya, The Making of Early Medieval India, 1994.
D. P. Chattopadhyaya, History of Science and Technology in Ancient
India, 1986.
D. D. Kosambi, An Introduction to the Study of Indian History,1975.
S. K. Maity, Economic Life in Northern India in the Gupta Period,1970.
B. P. Sahu (ed), Land System and Rural Society in Early India,1997.
K. A. N. Sastri, A History of South India.
R. S. Sharma, Indian Feudalism, 1980.
R.S.Sharma,Urban DecayinIndia,c.300-1000,Delhi,Munshiram Manohar Lal,1987
Romila Thapar, Asoka and the Decline of the Mauryas, 1997.
Susan Huntington, The Art of Ancient India: Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain, New York,
1985.
N. N. Bhattacharya, Ancient Indian Rituals and Their Social Contents, 2nd ed., 1996.
J. C. Harle, The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent,1987.
P. L. Gupta, Coins, 4th ed., 1996.
Kesavan Veluthat, The Early Medieval in South India, New Delhi,2009
H. P. Ray Winds of Change, 1994.
Romila Thapar, Early India: From the Origins to 1300, 2002.

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