How many of you are preparing History Optional for 2026?

If you are, then please give a thumbs up.

If we have some decent number of optional students of 2026 here, we are thinking of starting some activity exclusively for you.

Nikhil

https://youtu.be/c7M6n3YUDro?si=LZ0Tr0pPl7bIhCzO

Excellent till the very last sentence. First half is linguistic history and second half is the history of language.

The second half is more useful for our syllabus but both parts are exceedingly well made.

I have always been a great fan of this channel and personally recommend you to explore this in further details. There are very many interesting videos there like on Indian Philosophy or on Marathi language. On Sanskrit and on Tagore.

He is single-handedly making the linguistic history of India sexy for everyone. I cannot be less profuse in praise of this channel and shower any less adulation on this guy. I don't know who he is, but may God provide him strength to produce more and more such videos on every language of India.

Nikhil

Look at these PYQs:

"The tenets of Hindu and Muslim mystics were similar enough that the ground was ripe for syncretic movements involving adherents of both religious." Elucidate. [2005, 2007]

“Bhakti and Sufi movements served the same social purpose.” Discuss. [2017, 15 Marks]

Discuss the contribution of the Bhakti and Sufi movements of the Medieval India to the process of cultural synthesis? (30 marks, HPSC)

Nikhil

📣THE BIGGEST UPSC MEETUP OF THIS YEAR – FREE & OPEN FOR ALL!

REGISTER HERE

If you’re preparing for UPSC CSE 2026, this is your game-changing opportunity to meet the top UPSC faculties & mentors of UPSC CSE rankers.

Tomorrow at 12 Noon

📍Location: LevelUp IAS, Karol Bagh Centre - Google Map Location
Address - 2nd Floor, 45 Pusa Road, Opp. Metro Pillar 128, Karol Bagh

📲Queries? Call directly- 08062961200, 7041021151

Both Vishal sir and Me are going to record strategy vidoes to guide aspirants preparing for 2026 with History Optional. We are going to begin with the following sources related videos first.

1. Sources for Ancient India
2. Sources for Medieval India
3. Sources for Modern India
4. Sources for World History

These videos will appear on YT.

If you want us to answer any specific query with respect to these 4 topics, please write in the comment. We will make sure to involve the points in our discussion.

Nikhil

https://youtu.be/7xQM5EYXCkY

This is a short discussion, where I describe the sources one should use for World History. Which books I think are very essential for World History?

All queries are welcome as comment on YT. I will personally answer them in YT comment section there.

Rest of the videos to follow soon.

Nikhil

Has anyone seen this book?

Someone recommended this and I got it... but I am not very sure how much academically good it is. It seems like the extrapolation of Arun Shoruie's earlier book Eminent Historians.

Definitely not recommended for UPSC CSE preparation. Although the book seems to he refering to various historians, it seems more for social media consumer of history debates.

There is a class of Public Historians rising in India. This is across the spectrum from Aniruddha Kanisetti on one end to Vikram Sampath on another end. On one hand they don't come from academia to a large extent, despite some having formal education in History. On the other hand, they are the ones who are more influential today than the university professors due to the rise of social media.

The quality of their work varies. But the public excitement about history is very high today.

As Dickens would call it, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times" for History today in India.

Nikhil

A movie is coming on this....!! Never imagined it would be a subject for a screenplay.

School textbooks, do they really have so much impact on society? I really doubt. I don't think school textbooks of history should be made into the kurukshetra of ideological battle.

Nikhil

For all admin related info and course related inquiries, please contact the institute.
Here is the information https://www.levelupias.com/contacts/ They will help out quickly.

Let's keep this platform for history related discussion. I would prefer to not answer admin related queries as far as possible here on this platform.

This is an open platform for everyone's learning. This not a place to resolve your individual doubts about courses and handouts/material. Lets try to use it only when it helps all of us. For personal doubts please get in touch with the institute.

I hope everyone understands and agrees.

Nikhil

Hello students,

Here we are coming with our old-faithful DAMP course. It is called as Daily Answer Writing and Mentorship Program

This is the program we have been running for over 4 years since 2020-21, and hundreds of students of History Optional have benefitted. However, in recent months, we had paused it for some time due to introduction of HOT500. Even then, students kept asking for it.

Tbh, I was initially surprised by this consistent requests and tried to avoid them. It is not easy to be a history teacher and updating content all the time with so much explosion of new things around. But after a detailed discussion with Vishal sir, we decided to re-launch it with upgrades.

It's features are simple. Three months program, which gives you schedule for studying/revising optional in a disciplined manner. It also gives daily targets to cover the syllabus properly. There is a 24 hour window for submission of answer, every day, which inculcates habit of regular answer writing. After that you get evaluation, feedback, model answers and video discussion. And then there are 2 full length tests (FLTs) too.

Watching merely the foundation lectures doesn't help if we don't do some regular answer writing practice. Also, directly going to write full tests is a very daunting task. This program is that crucial middle link which makes foundation learning strong, improves answer writing, and makes you ready to write full length tests.

No more delaying your answer writing practice. D in DAMP stands for Daily. It really helps in long term. Initial few days are difficult if you have never done any answer writing. But once you get into habit it, that would the moment of your 'arrival'.

And then both Vishal sir and Me are available for personal mentoring as well. The M in DAMP stands for that Mentorship.


Vishal sir has explained the featurs here:
https://youtu.be/P32NWPuBZ3g?si=fD9UxuChfaDLr0VN

The webpage link for the details is here https://www.levelupias.com/upsc-history-optional-daily-answer-writing-damp

Hope to see many among you there. Every day from 17th of March.

Nikhil

LevelUp IAS Holi offer: Get 66% off on all Prelims 2025 courses.
https://youtu.be/FTHdmhVAX98?si=sooSbKWGCQxif8VU

To avail the offer, please click:
https://www.levelupias.com/upsc-cse-prelims-modular-courses-online/

The third video in the series is coming soon.

We have already covered Modern and World History sources. Now, stay tuned for Ancient India sources. A detailed discussion of all the important sources in about 28 mins.

Subscribe to our dedicated YT channel for History Optional.

https://youtube.com/@historyoptionalforupsc

The Sources of Ancient India video is now Live on our channel. If you want to ask doubt about any source that I covered or if you want to ask about any other new source which we have not covered, all the comments are most welcome there in YT. I will try to answer them in the comment section.

As old school teachers, we have not yet mastered the art of seeking comments like a seasoned podcaster. So, we still rely on old school style of requesting Like- Comment- Share- Subscribe.

https://youtu.be/IQVb5bu5zXQ

So far, the discussion videos on sources/booklist for Ancient, Modern and World are recorded and public. I have not yet recorded the same for Medieval India. Will do it very soon. If you want to suggest any source or if you want to ensure that I include discussion on any specific source that you are interested in, do let me know.

Nikhil

📢 History Durbar – A Special Open Session with Nikhil Sir & Vishal Sir

Master the craft of answer writing for History Optional

🗓 Date: 13th March 2025 | ⏰ Time: 5 PM | 🎟 Entry: FREE | Mode: ONLINE

📍 Registration Link: https://shorturl.at/uL365

- Meet Nikhil sir and Vishal sir, top faculty for History Optional
- Master high-scoring answer writing techniques
- Get proven strategies to score 300+ in History Optional
- Understand what UPSC really expects in History Optional