This paper discusses Medieval Indian history. Important topics covered in this paper are Delhi Sultanate, Mughal Empire, Vijayanagar Empire, Bhamini Kingdom etc.


  • The course is prepared to create knowledge on medieval world through which students could able to understand different state systems, its socio- cultural contributions and its impact on later society.
  •  Along with a study on medieval European state and society, it focuses on the socio-political and economic currents of medieval Central Asia, West Asia and East Asia.
  •  The course would provide an understanding on scientific and intellectual interactions that taken place between the East and the West in the medieval period.
  •  It also explains the pattern of medieval medicinal system and its efficacy in dealing contagious diseases of the period

•MODULE I: Medieval World: State and Society


  • •Europe after the collapse of Rome
  • •Byzantine empire- Imperial system- Legal System
  • •Carolingians – Charlemagne
  • •Spread of Christianity: Papacy
  • •Growth of Feudalism: Interactions of Germanic tribes with settled peoples-Features of feudalism- Nobility-Serfdom
  • •Dynamics of change in feudal Europe-Technology- Demography

  • Module II- Medieval West Asia


  • Rise of Islam- Caliphate – Abbasids – Expansion of maritime trade
  • •Iqta and changes in agrarian relations
  • •Gunpowder Empires – The Ottoman empire and The Safavid empire in Persia
  • •Arab Science – Mathematics, Astronomy, Alchemy, Optics and Medicine 

Module III- Medieval China

  • Tang & Ming dynasties
  • •Unification of China and emergence of centralized state systems- Bureaucracy – Civil service examination – Gentry society
  • •Trade and reopening of trade route
  • •Technological innovations- emergence of wood block printing
  • •Peasant revolts
  • •Maritime expedition – Cheng Ho

•Module IV- Aspects of Transition

  • Decline of Feudalism
  • •Diseases and medicine in Medieval Europe-brief introduction

  • •Scientific and intellectual interaction between Europe and Asia- Role of Crusades