The major themes covered in this course include the debates on continuity and change in relation to colonial rule, ideas of tradition and modernity, models of development, agrarian structure and rural transformation, marriage and family, caste and kinship, secularism, Subaltern religion and religious conflict, class and social mobility. The course takes a critical and engaged perspective on concepts such as the village, family, caste, region, nation, language, religion, gender, class, development, tradition, indigenousness, tribe, modernisation and others. Various approaches that have influenced the study of Indian society such as Orientalism, Indology, Structuralism, Structural-FunctionSubaltern Studies will also be discussed.