For a UPSC CSE aspirant, the optional subject is also an important subject. In the UPSC mains exam, optional marks have two papers, Paper 1 and Paper 2. Each paper is of 250 marks which makes a total of 500 marks. The UPSC optional subject list contains 48 subjects in total, one of which is History.

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SYLLABUS FOR PAPER I

1. Sources

• Archaeological sources: 
  • Exploration
  • excavation
  • epigraphy
  • numismatics
  • monuments 
• Literary sources: 
  • Indigenous 
  • Primary and secondary poetry
  • scientific literature
  • literature
  • literature in regional languages
  • religious literature
• Foreign accounts: 
  • Greek
  • Chinese 
  • Arab writers

2. Pre-history and Proto-history:

• Geographical factors
• hunting and gathering (paleolithic and mesolithic)
• Beginning of agriculture (neolithic and chalcolithic)

3. Indus Valley Civilization: 

• Origin, date, extent, characteristics, decline, survival and significance, art, and architecture

4. Megalithic Cultures:

• Distribution of pastoral and farming cultures outside the Indus
• Development of community life
• Settlements
• Development of agriculture
• Crafts, Pottery
• Iron industry

5. Aryans and Vedic Period:

• Expansions of Aryans in India
• Vedic Period: Religious and philosophic literature
• The transformation from Rig Vedic period to the later Vedic period
• Political, social, and economical life
• Significance of the Vedic Age
• Evolution of Monarchy and Varna system

6. Period of Mahajanapadas: 

• Formation of States (Mahajanapada)  
• Republics and monarchies
• Rise of urban centers
• Trade routes
• Economic growth
• Introduction of coinage
• The spread of Jainism and Buddhism
• Rise of Magadha and Nandas
• Iranian and Macedonian invasions and their impact

7. Mauryan Empire: 

• Foundation of the Mauryan Empire
• Chandragupta, Kautilya, and Arthashastra
• Ashoka
• Concept of Dharma
• Edicts
• Polity, Administration
• Economy
• Art, architecture, and sculpture
• External contacts 
• Religion
• Spread of religion
• Literature
• The disintegration of the empire 
• Sungas and Kanvas

8. Post – Mauryan Period (Indo-Greeks, Sakas, Kushanas, Western Kshatrapas):

• Contact with the outside world
• growth of urban centers
• economy
• coinage
• development of religions
• Mahayana
• social conditions
• art, architecture
• culture, literature, and science

9. Early State and Society in Eastern India, Deccan and South India: 

• Kharavela
• The Satavahanas
• Tamil States of the Sangam Age
• Administration, economy, land grants, coinage, trade guilds and urban centres 
• Buddhist centres
• Sangam literature and culture
• Art and architecture

10. Guptas, Vakatakas and Vardhanas: 

• Polity and administration
• Economic conditions, Coinage of the Guptas
• Land grants, Decline of urban centers
• Indian feudalism
• Caste system
• Position of women 
• Education and educational institutions
• Nalanda, Vikramshila and Vallabhi, Literature, scientific literature, art, and architecture.

11. Regional States during Gupta Era: 

• The Kadambas, Pallavas, Chalukyas of Badami
• Polity and Administration, Trade guilds, Literature
• Growth of Vaishnava and Saiva religions
• Tamil Bhakti movement
• Shankaracharya 
• Vedanta 
• Institutions of temple and temple architecture
• Palas
• Senas
• Rashtrakutas
• Paramaras
• Polity and administration
• Cultural aspects. Arab conquest of Sind; 
• Alberuni, The Chalukyas of Kalyana, Cholas, Hoysalas, Pandyas: Polity and Administration
• local Government
• Growth of art and architecture, religious sects, Institution of temple and Mathas, Agraharas, education and literature, economy and society

12. Themes in Early Indian Cultural History:

• Languages and texts
• major stages in the evolution of art and architecture
• major philosophical thinkers and schools
• ideas in Science and Mathematics

13. Early Medieval India, 750-1200:
14. i) Polity: 

• Major political developments in Northern India and the Peninsula, origin and the rise of Rajputs
• The Cholas: administration, village economy, and society 
• “Indian Feudalism” 
• Agrarian economy and urban settlements 
• Trade and commerce 

ii) Society: 

• the status of the Brahman and the new social order 
• Condition of women 
• Indian science and technology

14. Cultural Traditions in India, 750- 1200:
15. i) Philosophy:

• Shankaracharya and Vedanta
• Ramanuja and Vishishtadvaita
• Madhva and BrahmaMimansa 

ii) Religion: 

• Forms and features of religion
• Tamil devotional cult, growth of Bhakti
• Islam and its arrival in India
•  Sufism 

iii) Literature: 

• Literature in Sanskrit
• growth of Tamil literature
•  literature in the newly developing languages
• Kalhan’s Rajtarangini
• Alberuni’s India

iv)  Art and Architecture: 

• Temple architecture
• sculpture
• painting

15. The Thirteenth Century:
16. i) Establishment of the Delhi Sultanate: 

• The Ghurian invasions 
• factors behind Ghurian success 
• Economic, social and cultural consequences 

ii) Foundation of Delhi Sultanate and early Turkish Sultans 

• Consolidation
• The rule of Iltutmish and Balban

17. The Fourteenth Century:

•  “The Khalji Revolution” 
• Alauddin Khalji: Conquests and territorial expansion, agrarian and economic measures
• Muhammad Tughluq: Major projects, agrarian measures, the bureaucracy of Muhammad Tughluq
• Firuz Tughluq: Agrarian measures, achievements in civil engineering and public works
• The decline of the Sultanate
• foreign contacts and Ibn Battuta’s account

18. Society, Culture and Economy in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries:

i) Society:

• composition of rural society, ruling classes, town dwellers, women, religious classes, caste, and slavery under the Sultanate
• Bhakti movement
• Sufi movement 

ii) Culture: 

• Persian literature, literature in the regional languages of North India, literature in the languages of South India, 
• Sultanate architecture and new structural forms
• painting
• evolution of a composite culture  

iii) Economy: 

• Agricultural production
• rise of urban economy and non-agricultural production
• trade and commerce

18. The Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Century

i) Political Developments and Economy:

• Rise of Provincial Dynasties
• Bengal, Kashmir (Zainul Abedin)
•  Gujarat, Malwa, Bahmanids 
• The Vijayanagar Empire 
• Lodis 
• Mughal Empire

ii) First phase: 

• Babur and Humayun
• The Sur Empire
• Sher Shah’s administration 
•  Portuguese Colonial enterprise 
• Bhakti and Sufi Movements

19. The Fifteenth and early Sixteenth Century

i) Society and Culture: 

• Regional cultural specificities 
• Literary traditions 
• Provincial architecture 
• Society, culture, literature, and the arts in the Vijayanagara Empire

20. Akbar: 

• Conquests and consolidation of the Empire 
• Establishment of Jagir and Mansab systems 
• Rajput policy 
• Evolution of religious and social outlook, 
• theory of Sulh-i-kul and religious policy 
• Court patronage of art and technology

21. Mughal Empire in the Seventeenth Century: 

• Major administrative policies of Jahangir, Shahjahan, and Aurangzeb 
• The Empire and the Zamindars 
• Religious policies of Jahangir, Shahjahan, and Aurangzeb 
• Nature of the Mughal State 
• Late Seventeenth-century crisis and the revolts 
• The Ahom Kingdom 
• Shivaji and the early Maratha Kingdom

22. Economy and Society in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries:

• Population, agricultural production, craft production 
• Towns, commerce with Europe through Dutch, English and French companies:
• trade revolution 
• Indian mercantile classes, banking, insurance, and credit systems 
• Condition of peasants, condition of women  
• Evolution of the Sikh community and the Khalsa Panth

23. Culture in the Mughal Empire:

• Persian histories and other literature  
• Hindi and other religious literature 
• Mughal architecture 
• Mughal painting 
• Provincial architecture and painting 
• Classical music 
• Science and technology

24. The Eighteenth Century:

• Factors for the decline of the Mughal Empire 
• The regional principalities: Nizam’s Deccan, Bengal, Awadh 
• Maratha ascendancy under the Peshwas 
• The Maratha fiscal and financial system 
• The emergence of Afghan Power
• Battle of Panipat:1761 
• State of politics, culture, and economy on the eve of the British conquest

SYLLABUS FOR PAPER II

1. European Penetration into India: 

• The Early European Settlements
• The Portuguese and the Dutch
• The English and the French East India Companies
• Their struggle for supremacy
• Carnatic Wars
• Bengal -The conflict between the English and the Nawabs of Bengal
• Siraj and the English
• The Battle of Plassey
• Significance of Plassey

2. British Expansion in India:

• Bengal – Mir Jafar and Mir Kasim
• The Battle of Buxar; Mysore
• The Marathas
• The three Anglo-Maratha Wars
•  Punjab

3. Early Structure of the British Raj: 

• The early administrative structure
• From diarchy to direct control
• The Regulating Act (1773)
• The Pitt’s India Act (1784)
• The Charter Act (1833)
• The voice of free trade and the changing character of British colonial rule
• The English utilitarian and India

4. Economic Impact of British Colonial Rule: 

(a) Land revenue settlements in British India;

•  The Permanent Settlement
• Ryotwari Settlement
• Mahalwari Settlement
• The economic impact of the revenue arrangements
• Commercialization of agriculture
• Rise of landless agrarian laborers
• The impoverishment of the rural society

(b) Dislocation of traditional trade and commerce

• De-industrialization
• The decline of traditional crafts
• Drain of wealth
• The economic transformation of India
• Railroad and communication network including telegraph and postal services
• Famine and poverty in the rural interior
• European business enterprise and its limitations

5. Social and Cultural Developments:

• The state of indigenous education, its dislocation
• Orientalist-Anglicist controversy
• The introduction of western education in India
• The rise of press, literature, and public opinion
• The rise of modern vernacular literature
• Progress of science
• Christian missionary activities in India

6. Social and Religious Reform movements in Bengal and Other Areas: 

• Ram Mohan Roy
• The Brahmo Movement 
• Devendranath Tagore
• Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar
• The Young Bengal Movement
• Dayananda Saraswati
• The social reform movements in India including Sati, widow remarriage, child marriage, etc.
• The contribution of the Indian renaissance to the growth of modern India
• Islamic revivalism – the Feraizi and Wahabi Movements

7. Indian Response to British Rule:

• Peasant movements and tribal uprisings in the 18th and 19th centuries including the Rangpur Dhing (1783)
• the Kol Rebellion (1832)
• the Mopla Rebellion in Malabar (1841-1920)
• the Santal Hul (1855)
• Indigo Rebellion (1859-60)
• Deccan Uprising (1875) and the Munda Ulgulan (1899-1900)
• The Great Revolt of 1857 – Origin, character, causes of failure, the consequences
• The shift in the character of peasant uprisings in the post-1857 period
• the peasant movements of the 1920s and 1930s

8. Factors leading to the birth of Indian Nationalism

• Politics of Association
• The Foundation of the Indian National Congress
• The Safety-valve thesis relating to the birth of the Congress
• Program and objectives of Early Congress
• the social composition of early Congress leadership
• the Moderates and Extremists
• The Partition of Bengal (1905)
• The Swadeshi Movement in Bengal
• the economic and political aspects of the Swadeshi Movement 
• The beginning of revolutionary extremism in India

9. Rise of Gandhi;

• The character of Gandhian nationalism
• Gandhi’s popular appeal
• Rowlatt Satyagraha
• The Khilafat Movement
• the Non-cooperation Movement
• National politics from the end of the Non-cooperation movement to the beginning of the Civil Disobedience movement
• the two phases of the Civil Disobedience Movement
• Simon Commission
• The Nehru Report
• the Round Table Conferences
• Nationalism and the Peasant Movements
• Nationalism and Working-class movements
•  Women and Indian youth and students in Indian politics (1885-1947)
• the election of 1937 and the formation of ministries
• Cripps Mission
• the Quit India Movement
• the Wavell Plan
• The Cabinet Mission

10. Constitutional Developments in the Colonial India between 1858 and 1935
11. Other strands in the National Movement The Revolutionaries: 

• Bengal, the Punjab, Maharashtra, U.P, the Madras Presidency, 
• Outside India
• The Left
• The Left within the Congress: Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose, 
• the Congress Socialist Party
• the Communist Party of India 
• other left parties

12. Politics of Separatism

• the Muslim League 
• the Hindu Mahasabha
• Communalism and the politics of partition
• Transfer of power
• Independence

13. Consolidation as a Nation

• Nehru’s Foreign Policy
• India and her neighbors (1947-1964)
• The linguistic reorganization of States (1935-1947)
• Regionalism and regional inequality
• Integration of Princely States
• Princes in electoral politics
• the Question of National Language

14. Caste and Ethnicity after 1947

• Backward castes and tribes in post-colonial electoral politics
• Dalit movements

15. Economic development and political change

• Land reforms
• the politics of planning and rural reconstruction
• Ecology and environmental policy in post-colonial India
• Progress of science

16. Enlightenment and Modern ideas: 

(i) Major ideas of Enlightenment: 

• Kant
• Rousseau 

(ii) Spread of Enlightenment in the colonies 

(iii) Rise of socialist ideas (up to Marx); 

• spread of Marxian Socialism.

17. Origins of Modern Politics: 

• European States System
• American Revolution and the Constitution
• French revolution and aftermath, 1789-1815
• American Civil War with reference to Abraham Lincoln and the abolition of slavery
• British Democratic Politics, 1815- 1850; Parliamentary Reformers, Free Traders, Chartists

18. Industrialization: 

(i) English Industrial Revolution: 

• Causes and Impact on Society 

(ii) Industrialization in other countries: 

• USA, Germany, Russia, Japan 

(iii) Industrialization and Globalization

19. Nation-State System:

(i) Rise of Nationalism in 19th century 

(ii) Nationalism: state-building in Germany and Italy 

(iii) Disintegration of Empires in the face of the emergence of nationalities across the world

20. Imperialism and Colonialism: 

(i) South and South-East Asia 

(ii) Latin America and South Africa 

(iii) Australia (iv) Imperialism and free trade: Rise of neo-imperialism

21. Revolution and Counter Revolution: 

(i) 19th Century European revolutions 

(ii) The Russian Revolution of 1917-1921 

(iii) Fascist Counter-Revolution, Italy and Germany

(iv) The Chinese Revolution of 1949

22. World Wars: 

(i) 1st and 2nd World Wars as Total Wars: Societal implications 

(ii) World War I: Causes and consequences 

(iii) World War II: Causes and consequence

23. The World after World War II: 

(i) Emergence of two power blocs 

(ii) Emergence of Third World and non-alignment 

(iii) UNO and the global disputes

24. Liberation from Colonial Rule:

(i) Latin America-Bolivar 

(ii) Arab World-Egypt 

(iii) Africa-Apartheid to Democracy 

(iv) South-East Asia-Vietnam

25. Decolonization and Underdevelopment:

 (i) Factors constraining development: Latin America, Africa

26. Unification of Europe: 

(i) Post War Foundations: NATO and European Community

 (ii) Consolidation and Expansion of European Community 

(iii) European Union.

27. Disintegration of Soviet Union and the Rise of the Unipolar World: 

(i) Factors leading to the collapse of Soviet communism and the Soviet Union, 1985-1991 

(ii) Political Changes in Eastern Europe 1989-2001. 

(iii) End of the cold war and US ascendancy in the World as the lone superpower.