How to Prepare for History and Culture?

There are a lot of books available in the market for History and Culture. This makes it more confusing to choose standard books. So here, the books are divided into a few sets. Based on your comfort and language skills, you can choose any one set. However, once you chose the set, don’t change it again. Frequent changing of books causes you more trouble. You should also remember that all these books are authentic and standard. You should read Reference books only for leftover topics.

Your primary priority is to study Freedom Struggle and Modern India. This period covers from the year 1757 to 1947. Once you have mastered this section, you should study Ancient India. Finally, you can study Medieval India. You should not forget to study regional kingdoms of South India such as Bahmani Sultans, Vijayanagar Empire, Cholas, etc. There are many questions asked from these sections.

Books and Resources

Set A

• Ancient India – RS Sharma (Old NCERT)
• Medieval India – Satish Chandra (Old NCERT)
• Modern India – Grover & Grover (S.Chand Publications)
• India After Independence – Bipin Chandra
• World History - Arjun Dev (Old NCERT Books)

Set B

• New NCERT Books for Ancient India, Medieval India, Modern India and India After Independence.
• These can be downloadable directly from official NCERT books.

References

• A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India – Upinder Singh
• The Wonder That was India – AL Basham
• Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300 – Romila Thapar
• Medieval India : From Sultanat to the Mughals (Delhi Sultanat 1206-1526 Part 1) – Satish Chandra
• Medieval India : From Sultanat to the Mughals (Mughal Empire 1526-1748 Part 2) – Satish Chandra
• Indian National Movement – Bipin Chandra.
• A History of South India: From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar – K. A. Nilakanta Sastri.