Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Indian Literature Syllabus - Mumbai University 2026
Syllabus for Indian Literature
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Module 1: Background
- 1 Postcolonial India: Society, Power, and Representation
- 2 Class, Caste, Gender, and Marginality in Indian Literature
- 3 Indian Writing in English
- 4 Indian Literature in English Translation
- 5 Modern Indian Drama and the Politics of the Private Sphere
- 6 Subaltern Voices and Narratives of Resistance
Module 2: Novel
- Arvind Adiga: The White Tiger
- A Note on the Pedagogical Approach: The novel should be taught through close reading and contextual analysis, focusing on class conflict, inequality, and neoliberal India, with postcolonial and Marxist perspectives informing the study of narrative voice, satire, and social critique.
Module 3: Drama
- Mahesh Elkunchwar: Flower of Blood (Translated by Shanta Gokhale)
- A Note on the Pedagogical Approach: Teaching will combine textual analysis, character study, and thematic discussion, with attention to performance elements and translation. Feminist and psychological approaches will help students explore patriarchy, repression, and existential alienation in modern Indian drama.
Module 4: Poetry
- A) Amrita Pritam
- A) ‘I say unto Waris Shah’ (translated by N.S. Tasneem)
- B) A Virgin (translated by Suresh Kohli)
- C) Oedipus (translated by Charles Brasch)
- B) Meena Kandasamy
- A) Advaita
- B) Mascara
- C) Storming in Tea-Cups
- C) Mamang Dai
- A) Voice of the Mountain
- B) Small Towns and the River
- C) Floating Island
- A Note on the Pedagogical Approach: Poems should be taught through thematic clustering, comparative reading, and oral interpretation, encouraging sensitivity to language, imagery, and voice. Critical frameworks such as feminism, Dalit studies, trauma theory, and ecocriticism will guide analysis of resistance, identity, and ecological concerns.
Books
- Adiga, Aravind. The White Tiger. HarperCollins, 2008.
- Elkunchwar, Mahesh. Flower of Blood. Translated by Shanta Gokhale, Oxford University Press, 2009.
- Pritam, Amrita. Selected Poems. Translated by N. S. Tasneem and Suresh Kohli, Sahitya Akademi, 1992.
- Kandasamy, Meena. Ms Militancy. Navayana, 2010.
- Dai, Mamang. River Poems. HarperCollins India, 2004.
Reference Books
- Iyengar, K. R. Srinivasa. (2000/2013). Indian Writing in English. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi.
- Mukherjee, Meenakshi. (1971/1974). The Twice Born Fiction: Themes and Techniques of the Indian Novel in English. Heinemann Educational Books / Arnold-Heinemann, New Delhi.
- Gopal, Priyamvada. (2009). The Indian English Novel: Nation, History and Narration. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
- Naik, M. K. (2006). Indian English Poetry: From the Beginnings up to 2000. Pencraft International.
- King, Bruce. (1989). Modern Indian English Poetry. Oxford University Press.
- Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature. (1991). 6 Vols. Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi.
- Pritam, Amrita. ‘I say unto Waris Shah’ (tr. N.S. Tasneem), Modern Indian Literature: An Anthology, Plays and Prose, Surveys and Poems. ed. K.M. George, vol. 3, Delhi: Sahitya Akademi, 1992.
- https://www.scribd.com/document/782105481/Ratkapushpa-English
- https://apnaorg.com/books/english/selected-poems-amrita-pritam/selected- poems-amrita-pritam.pdf
- https://iwp.uiowa.edu/sites/iwp.uiowa.edu/files/2024- 06/IWP2009_Kandasamy_meena_mulligatawnydreams.pdf
- https://www.poetryinternational.com/en/poets-poems/poems/poem/103- 17012_SMALL-TOWNS-AND-THE-RIVER
- https://www.poetryinternational.com/en/poets-poems/poems/poem/103- 16999_FLOATING-ISLAND
- https://www.scribd.com/document/462564036/The-Voice-Of-The-Mountain