New Delhi: Delhi University’s revised postgraduate History syllabus has dropped a long-standing paper devoted specifically to the Delhi Sultanate, sparking concern over the removal of a major component of medieval Indian history from the third-semester curriculum.
The paper, titled The Delhi Sultanate: Structures of Authority in Medieval North India (13th–14th Centuries), was among the courses omitted from the revised syllabus officially notified by the university on August 7. It had examined the political, administrative, religious, social and cultural history of northern India during the 13th and 14th centuries, including the formation and governing structures of the Delhi Sultanate.
Several other history papers have also disappeared from the revised third-semester list. These include History of North India, c. 1400–1550, Gender and Women in Early India: 1500 BCE to 1000 CE, Political Processes and Structure of Polities in Ancient India and Religion and Society in Ancient Indian Literature.
The History Department had proposed 38 Discipline Specific Elective (DSE) papers, but only 16 were included in the final third-semester list, according to reports. The revised curriculum has been introduced as part of the restructuring of higher-education programmes under the National Education Policy 2020.
The removal of the dedicated Sultanate paper is particularly significant because Delhi University’s postgraduate History programme has included specialised study of the period for decades. The university’s earlier semester listings show a dedicated medieval history course on the Delhi Sultanate and the making of medieval society in North India.
However, the revised curriculum has not completely removed the Delhi Sultanate from study. An Economic History of the Delhi Sultanate: An Essay in Interpretation paper remains part of the programme, keeping the period within the curriculum but in a narrower thematic form.