
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
- 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
- Pre-history and Proto-history:
- Geographical factors
- hunting and gathering (paleolithic and mesolithic)
- Beginning of agriculture (neolithic and chalcolithic)
- Indus Valley Civilization:
- Origin, date, extent, characteristics, decline, survival and significance, art, and architecture
- Megalithic Cultures:
- Distribution of pastoral and farming cultures outside the Indus
- Development of community life
- Settlements
- Development of agriculture
- Crafts, Pottery
- Iron industry
- 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

- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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.
- 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
- 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
- Early Medieval India, 750-1200:
- 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
- Cultural Traditions in India, 750- 1200:
- 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

- The Thirteenth Century:
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- British Expansion in India:
- Bengal – Mir Jafar and Mir Kasim
- The Battle of Buxar; Mysore
- The Marathas
- The three Anglo-Maratha Wars
- Punjab
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Constitutional Developments in the Colonial India between 1858 and 1935
- 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
- Politics of Separatism
- the Muslim League
- the Hindu Mahasabha
- Communalism and the politics of partition
- Transfer of power
- Independence
- 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
- Caste and Ethnicity after 1947
- Backward castes and tribes in post-colonial electoral politics
- Dalit movements
- 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
- 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.
- 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
- Industrialization:
(i) English Industrial Revolution:
- Causes and Impact on Society
(ii) Industrialization in other countries:
- USA, Germany, Russia, Japan
(iii) Industrialization and Globalization
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Liberation from Colonial Rule:
(i) Latin America-Bolivar
(ii) Arab World-Egypt
(iii) Africa-Apartheid to Democracy
(iv) South-East Asia-Vietnam
- Decolonization and Underdevelopment:
(i) Factors constraining development: Latin America, Africa
- Unification of Europe:
(i) Post War Foundations: NATO and European Community
(ii) Consolidation and Expansion of European Community
(iii) European Union.
- 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.