Textbook
Our Pasts I, II & III (Classes 6–8)
The simplest possible start: short, illustrated and the base of countless exam questions.
Recommended reading
A curated shelf for exam preparation and for curious readers — from NCERT basics to the standard references and the best popular histories. Every note is our own.
Era
Modern India 19
Textbook
Themes in Indian History, Parts I–III (Class 12)
Source-based chapters on Harappa, Vijayanagara, the Mughal court and 1857 — essential for UPSC.
Textbook
India and the Contemporary World I & II (Classes 9–10)
Nationalism in Europe and India, the French Revolution and the making of a global world.
Textbook
History of Modern India
The old-NCERT modern India classic, from the decline of the Mughals to independence.
Textbook
A Brief History of Modern India
The most-used exam book for modern India; dense, well organised and revision-friendly.
Reference
India's Struggle for Independence
The standard narrative of the national movement from 1857 to 1947.
Reference
From Plassey to Partition and After
A balanced, analytical history of colonial India; excellent for Mains answers.
Reference
The Marathas 1600–1818
How the Maratha state rose from Shivaji's swarajya to a subcontinental power.
Popular history
The Anarchy
A gripping account of how a trading company conquered India.
Popular history
The Last Mughal
Delhi in 1857 through the life of Bahadur Shah Zafar.
Popular history
Ranjit Singh: Maharaja of the Punjab
A readable biography of the founder of the Sikh Empire.
Reference
A History of Assam
The classic history of Assam and the Ahom kingdom.
Popular history
The Great Partition
A humane, clear-eyed history of the Partition of 1947.
Popular history
India After Gandhi
The history of the Republic, from 1947 to the present.
Popular history
Incarnations: A History of India in 50 Lives
Indian history told through fifty remarkable lives, from the Buddha to Ambedkar.
Primary source / classic
The Discovery of India
Nehru's sweeping reflection on India's past, written in prison in 1944.
Primary source / classic
An Autobiography, or The Story of My Experiments with Truth
Gandhi's own account of his life and the ideas behind satyagraha.
Primary source / classic
Annihilation of Caste
Ambedkar's landmark critique of caste, essential for social reform topics.
Popular history
Freedom at Midnight
A dramatic, page-turning narrative of independence and Partition.
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