A Look at the Past:

The History Syllabus of the Calcutta University (1916)

Teaching South Asia editor's note: This syllabus gives us an interesting glimpse at past teaching about India and Indian history.  All of the spellings are as in the original.  For clarity, we have added enumeration for each of the topics listed below.

1. The physical features of the country.
2. The aborigines of India. Immigrations from the north-east and north-west.
3. The Aryans. The Indo-Aryans.
4. The Vedas. Relation of the Rig-Veda to other Vedas.
5. The Brahmanas. The Smritis. Manu.
6. The caste system.
7. Buddha and Buddhism.
8. Mahavira and the Jains.
9. The kingdoms of Kosala and Magadha: the empire of the Nandas.
10. Invasion of Alexander the Great.
11. Accounts of India given by Greek writers.
12. The Maurya empire. Chandra Gupta. Asoka.
13. The Kusana empire; Kanishka. The Saka era. The Gupta empire; Buddhist architecture and the fine arts. Chinese pilgrims. Kalidas. Vikramaditya; the Vikrama era.
14. Rise of the Rajputs.
15. Muhammadan conquest of Sind, and the Punjab, Mahmud of Gazni.
16. Hindu civilization on the eve of the Muhammadan rule in India.
17. The Pathan dynasties. Muhammad Ghori. Qutb-ud-Din. Altamish. Razia. Mogul invasion.
18. Conquest of Gujarat, Malwa, and the Deccan; incursions into Southern India. Ala-ud-Din.
19. The Tughlak dynasty. Muhammad Tughlak; Firuz Tughlak. Timur's invasion. Break-up of the Pathan empire; the Muhammadan kingdoms of Delhi, Bengal, Jaunpur, Gujarat, the Deccan; and the Hindu kingdoms of Vijayanagar, Meywar, and Orissa.
20. Rise of religious sects under Pathan rule: Ramananda, Kabir, Nanak, Chaitanya. Spread of Muhammadanism. Pathan architecture; the Urdu language; Indian literature in Pathan times.
21. The Mogul dynasty: Baber; Humayun; Sher Shah; restoration of Humayun.
22. Akbar: Todar Mal; Abul-Fazl.
23. Jehangir; Nur Jehan; Sir Thomas Roe; Shah Jehan; Bernier; Mogul architecture.
24. Aurangzeb; Rajput revolt; his treatment of the Hindus; Sivaji and the Mahrattas; break-up of the Mogul empire.
25. The successors of Aurangzeb; revolt of the provinces; invasions of the Mahrattas; invasions of Nadir Shah and Ahmed Shah Abdali.
26. Struggle for supreme power between Muhammadans and the Mahrattas; the Mahratta confederacy; extent of Mahratta dominion. Contact of the Mahrattas with the English.
27. The Europeans in India; discovery of the Cape route to India by the Portuguese. The Dutch, the French, and the English Merchant Companies, and early settlements. First charter of the East India Company.
28. The French in India; Dupleix. The English in India; Clive; English wars and the territorial acquisitions in Madras, Bengal, and Bombay. Plassey; the Dewani. Early history of Calcutta. Clive's system of administration. Warren Hastings: his financial, revenue, and judicial reforms; his relations with native powers.
29. The Regulating Act; Warren Hastings, first Governor-General; extent of British dominion in his time.
30. Pitt's India Act; Lord Cornwallis; his administrative reforms; the permanent settlement. Sir John Shore; his non-intervention policy.
31. Lord Wellesley; his wars with Mysore and with the Mahrattas; the system of subsidiary treaties.
32. Lord Minto; state of Central India; extension of relations of British Indian Government with foreign powers outside India; renewal of the Company's charter.
33. Lord Hastings; his wars with Nepal and with the Mahrattas. Lord Amherst; the first Burmese war.
34. Lord William Bentinck; his social and administrative reforms; renewal of the Company's charter. Sir Charles Metcalfe. Lord Auckland; his policy; the first Afghan war. Lord Ellenborough; the Sind War. Lord Hardinge; the first Sikh war.
35. Lord Dalhousie; the second Sikh war; the doctrine of lapse and the annexation policy; the second Burmese war. Material progress of the country under Dalhousie.
36. Lord Canning; the Indian Mutiny, probable causes; the assumption of direct government by the Crown; the Queen's Proclamation.
37. India under the Viceroys: Financial reforms; the Orissa famine and other great famines; the second and third Afghan wars; the third Burmese war; delimitation of Frontier boundaries.
38. The Mahrattas: their rise; Sivaji and his successors; Mahratta system of war, administration, and revenue; rise of the Peshwas; Baji Rao; his successors; origin of the chief existing Mahratta states.
39. Mysore: an ancient Hindu kingdom; Hyder Ali; his wars with the Mahrattas, the Nizam, and the English; Tippu Sultan; restoration of the Hindu dynasty.
40. The Sikhs: their origin and religion; Guru Govinda; their struggle with Ahmed Shah Abdali; Ranjit Singh; his conquests; the Khalsa; Ranjit Singh's successors.

From: Smith, Vincent A.  The Oxford Student's History of India.  6th ed.  Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1916, 372-374.