When Delhi University Chooses To Shrink Delhis Past

The removal of an elective paper on the Delhi Sultanate from Delhi University’s newly notified postgraduate History syllabus, along with several long-taught papers on gender, religion and political structures in ancient India, does students a disservice. It does so not just by narrowing the choice made available to them but also by undermining their ability to engage critically. In recent years, syllabus changes have travelled steadily from schools to colleges and universities, with chapters and subjects rationalised or removed without sufficiently persuasive explanation. Reform is, of course, both desirable and necessary. But the University’s explanation for the omissions — that they are intended to achieve greater balance and regional representation under the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 — sits uneasily with the NEP’s stated aim of fostering considered judgement. Higher education should complicate what students have learnt at school, place events in wider contexts and expose them to competing interpretations and historiographical perspectives. The Delhi Sultanate paper opened a window to the political formations of the 13th and 14th centuries. Its omission renders connections to a rich past more tenuous.

It is difficult to approach History as a study of discrete episodes. It is a continuum, informed, enriched and complicated by what comes before and after. The Delhi Sultanate occupies a vital place in medieval history because alongside the story of powerful dynasts, it offers insights into the transformation of Delhi into a political centre — the evolution of state institutions, patronage networks, the movement of people and ideas, and the events, freedoms and unfreedoms that eventually shaped Mughal and colonial histories. This intricate tapestry cannot be reduced to neat siloes. If neglected regions, communities and perspectives need greater space, the answer should be to widen the field.

That is also the broader argument of the NEP: To make education more multidisciplinary, flexible and capable of encouraging students to think independently. DU should keep that ambition in sight. At a time when debates over curricula risk turning history into a proxy battlefield for contemporary anxieties, the best defence is not a narrower syllabus but greater intellectual choice. A storied university such as DU should trust its students to navigate the past in all its complexity.