Course Content

Hindu History as it is reconstructed in school and college textbooks suffers from both commissions and omissions. The course will examine the glaring omissions i.e. the knowledge-systems of the ancient Indians, and their impact on the world in various periods of time and make a strong case for an ancient Hindu civilization that was knowledge-based. It will explore the ancient knowledge systems of the Hindus in such diverse fields as (a) Philosophy; (b) Medicine; (c) Math; (d) Astronomy; (e) Music; (f) Technology; (g) Arts; (h) Sciences; (i) Textiles; (j) Metallurgy; (k) Architecture and many others. It will also explore available evidence for the outflow of knowledge from India to the world, from ancient through current times.

Hindus note with dismay the significant omissions in their western-reconstructed History, which is nevertheless presented as uncontestable historical truth, certified by the western expert. More often than not, a Hindu cannot recognize their own civilization in the contemporary presentation of Hindu History. This 1-credit course will (a) expose the student to original sources and efforts to reconstruct a more authentic narrative about Hindu History; (b) build the foundations used to challenge the existing narratives, and (c) present an evidence-based alternative narrative for the deep history of Hindus.

The Reconstructing Hindu History course will be multi-disciplinary and draw from various original sources and curated content from published research papers in various disciplines, as well as classic textbooks by various authors. Course handouts will include key papers and class notes.

This course is for the person who wants a rational, logical understanding of ancient Hindu history, and wants to understand the evidence from multi-disciplinary fields. The background required to understand the various subject areas will be covered in the course itself.

The Instructor will provide a strong understanding of the evidence from these areas, and how that contributes to a strong, bold, inspiring, factual new narrative on the Hindu civilization.

Course Outline

The course outline is as follows, where each topic is expected to run for 75 minutes. Each class will have about 50 minutes of instruction, followed by about 25 minutes of interaction, Q&A. The first 10 topics will be handled in the 1st term, where a strong foundation will be laid for the antiquity of Hindus. The remaining topics will be handled in the second term, where we will address the knowledge systems of the Hindus.