While teaching of History Honours began in Ravenshaw College in 1912, PG programme in History was introduced in 1950. However, the administrative and academic responsibilities of the Department of History were taken over by Utkal University in 1959 which had been functioning from Ravenshaw College since 1943. The PG Department of History finally shifted to Vani Vihar in Bhubaneswar with the re-location of Utkal University to Bhubaneswar in 1962. The PG programme in history in Ravenshaw College was, however, reintroduced in 1980. The present day Orissa State Museum was similarly crafted from the Museum of the History department of Ravenshaw College which had started functioning in 1932. The Department, at present, offers UG, PG, M. Phil and Ph. D. programmes. There are 32 seats at UG, 64 seats at PG and eight seats at M. Phil level. Ph. D. positions vary according to vacancy. At the master’s level, Modern and Contemporary History as well as Ancient Indian History and Archaeology are offered as special papers. The faculty strength of the department comprises one Professor, two Associate Professors and four Assistant Professors along with one visiting Professor and three guest faculty members. Our faculty specialise in and are leading / have led research in paleography, archaeology, medieval history in South Asia, and modern Indian history. The Department has collaborated with Centre of Medicine, Ethics, Society and History (MESH) of the Birmingham University to undertake a collaborative research on public health and ethics. Recently, an MOU was effected with Aarhus University in Denmark.

Ravenshaw College offered teaching of history since the beginning of 20th century and History as an honours subject came to be taught since 1912. Post-graduation programme in History was first introduced in Ravenshaw College in the year 1950. However, the administrative and academic responsibilities of the concerned department were taken over by Utkal University in 1959 which had been functioning from Ravenshaw College since 1943. The post graduate department of History finally shifted to Vani Vihar in Bhubaneswar with the shifting of Utkal University to Bhubaneswar in 1962. The post-graduate programme in history in Ravenshaw College was, however, reintroduced in 1980. The present day Orissa State Museum was similarly crafted from the Museum of the History department of Ravenshaw College which commenced in 1932.

The undergraduate department of history in Ravenshaw uniquely remained endowed with the critical academic insights and research commitment of some of the best minds of the contemporary academia in the pre-independence period. Distinguished historians and scholars like Sir Jadunath Sarkar,(1919-1923) Professor R G Khosla, and  Professor Nisikant Sanyal as well as  illustrious educationist (yet  ironically least discussed) like Syed Ross Masood, ( post 1912), the only grandson of Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, founder of Aligarh Muslim University adorned the department and perhaps, in many ways, conceptualized the  orientation, thrusts and possibilities of  history teaching and research both at the national and regional levels.

It is worth mentioning that Syed Ross Masood who studied at Oxford served for some time as the Professor of History in Ravenshaw after he returned to India in 1912. Prof. Masood had subsequently made a distinct mark in the field of education by becoming the Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University and the Minister for Education and Public Work of Bhopal   State before his untimely death in 1937. What is still significant with Masood was the intellectually stimulating friendship he shared with E.M. Foster, author of  the celebrated  novel A  Passage to India. The latter had served as a personal tutor of Masood during his stay at Surrey, a bonding which subsequently facilitated a greater understanding on Indian civilization and culture on Foster’s part through Masood’s intellectual vision. No wonder, Foster would dedicate his “Passage to India” to Ross Masood famously declaring that this would not have been possible without Masood.

Similarly, Sir Jadunath Sarkar (1870-1958) was an academic and public intellectual who was a pioneer in the art of history writing in India. He was knighted in 1929 and became the first Indian historian to gain honorary membership in the American Historical Association. His comprehensive histories of Aurangzeb and Shivaji greatly shaped modern India’s understanding of these two figures.

In the same vein many other eminent scholars and historians, namely , Prof. Krushna Chandra Panigrahi, Professor Manmath Nath Das, Professor Ghanshyam Das, and Professor Altaf Hussain, broadly redefined the focus of the discipline in the initial four decades of Indian independence. Though the discipline’s limitation in terms of forging critical linkages with the shifting paradigmatic gaze of global and national academy remained visible, these scholars nevertheless made seminal contribution in developing historical scholarship Pitted against this overarching backdrop, teaching of history and research  in the department  till about  the first decade of 21st century betrayed a  methodology based on a heady mix of  positivism of Rankean strain and romanticization of  historical personalities and institutions suffused with nationalist ideologies in a binary opposition to colonial-imperialist ideologies.  One of the perceptible developments of this phase of academic engagement for the department, however, was the growing excavation of newer areas and themes of research and teaching pertaining to Orissan regional history.

With the establishment of Ravenshaw University and appointment of faculty members for the department since 2010, the department has been keenly pursuing a two-pronged strategy of integrating high end research in the domain of contemporary historical studies to the teaching practices of all the academic programmes of the department. At the other level, it prioritizes cutting edge research by the faculty members of the department in tune with their areas of specialization. 

Recognizing the unavoidable need to engage with the ever shifting historiographic focus in the global academy and informed with the urgency of re-viewing the conceptual lenses underlying the project of South Asian history teaching and research, the department has restructured syllabus with trans-disciplinary focus.

Aligning with the changing disciplinary practices, the faculty members have been pursuing researches in local, regional history and identity politics in the post colonial contexts as well as issues pertaining to post colonial subalternity in the context of South Asia.  Besides, the interests and focus on exploring the history of health, medicine, medical ethics, science, and technology have been equally significant. The other major strands of research and scholarship have remained wedded to Epigraphy, Buddhist archaeology, changing nature of religious landscape, socio-economic transition in pre and early “modern” South Asia with unflinching academic rigour.

As part of this overall programmatic research agenda; the department has been in the process of developing linkages with institutions, centres and scholars of national and international repute. International Workshops and Seminar and lectures by eminent scholars from different universities, such as Birmingham, Kiel, Sydney, Tokyo, York (UK), Harvard(US); Aarhus University (Denmark), Columbia, JNU, Delhi University, and  Central University, Hyderabad, etc. have led to growing  academic enrichment of the department.   The Department has collaborated with Centre of Medicine, Ethics, Society and History (MESH) of the Birmingham University to undertake a collaborative research on public health and ethics. Yet another MOU with Aarhus University in Denmark is in pipeline.

Besides, the other highpoints of the multifarious activities of the Department includes the organization of the 74th session of the Indian History Congress in December 2013 and the Annual Session of the Epigraphical Society of India in November 2013. Besides, the Department conducts colloquium, seminar, Memorial lecture and other lectures on  a number of key  themes  underlying the multi-disciplinary research interests of the department .

The Department of History, as part of Ravenshaw University at present offers UG, PG, M.Phil and Ph.D programmes. There are 32 seats at UG, 64 seats at PG and eight seats at M. Phil level.  At the master level, Modern and Contemporary History as well as Ancient Indian History and Archaeology are offered as special papers. The faculty position of the department comprises of one Professor, two Associate Professors and four Assistant Professors along with one visiting Professor and three Guest Faculty members.