SASIAN - Introduction to the Civilization of Early India

This course offers a broad historical and cultural survey of the civilizations of the Indian subcontinent from the earliest period known to archaeology to the advent of Islam as a major cultural and political force around the 13th century CE. Attention will be paid to the geography and ethnography of the region, its political history, and to the religious, philosophical, literary, scientific, and artistic movements that have shaped it and contributed to its development as a unique, diverse, and fascinating world civilization. Lectures, readings, and class discussions will center on salient texts, broadly defined, that have characterized major cultural, religious, and political formations from the earliest antiquity to the late medieval period. This course is open to all interested students and is required for those majoring or minoring in South Asian Studies.