The course will focus on themes of state, society, and religion that students have been introduced to in Early India. While discussing major state systems located in the core areas in north and south India (eg, Guptas, Cholas, Delhi Sultanate), this course will also highlight complex socio-political and economic systems and connections located in other, often understudied areas. In doing so, we move away from a solely state centric perspective to one that looks at the complex interplay between society, religion, culture etc. Some of the generative questions that this course seeks to answer are: What are some of the key debates around early medieval India? How did people live? What was the form of government? How were wars fought, empires built, maintained and brought down? What is the relationship between temples, urbanisation and agricultural expansion? What do we know about the consolidation of regional identities such as those of the Rajputs? This course will provide students with systematic and rigorous answers to many of these questions