Fall 2004

HIS 346M • Muslim India Before 1750

Course Description

This course will deal with the history, art and architecture, and religions of India during the period of Muslim rule, from the tenth to the eighteenth centuries. We will look at the émigré culture of the Sultanate period (ca. 1000-1500), and the composite culture of the Mughal period (ca. 1500-1800), paying particular attention to the interaction of Islam with Indian religions, the development of distinctive architectural and artistic forms of expression, and the ideology and form of political institutions. Towards the end of the course, we will also look at the earliest contact between Europe and India from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries.

Texts

Textbooks (subject to change): Ainslie Embree, ed., SOURCES OF INDIAN TRADITION, Vol. I Blair & Bloom, THE ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF ISLAM, 1250-2800 John Richards, THE MUGHAL EMPIRE Selected travel accounts for book reports, optional research paper

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