Kishan Sirswal

Assistant Professor

BA (Hons) History (St. Joseph's College/ University of North Bengal, 2005)

MA History (University of North Bengal, 2007)

PhD (Modern Indian History, University of Visva-bharati, Santiniketan, 2020)

I finished my B.A. in History (Hons.) from St. Joseph's College, Darjeeling in 2005;  M.A. in Modern Indian History from the University of North Bengal in 2008 specializing in Economic History of Modern India. I have qualified for my NET exam in 2007. I have taught in Salesian College, Sonada, Darjeeling for four and a half years as a full-time Assistant Professor in the Department of History and also taught a few papers in the department of Travel and Tourism.  I am working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of History, Presidency University, Kolkata since April 2013 to date. Before, I qualified for my doctoral research entitled “Role of trade and commerce in the socio-economic conditions of Darjeeling hills, 1861-1962” from the University of Visva-bharati, Santiniketan in 2020. My research emphasizes colonial trans-Himalayan trade consisting of Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and Sikkim; tea trade; Kalimpong as a trading post and cultural pluralism in the Darjeeling Himalaya. 

My research is a comprehensive and exploratory overview of trade and commerce in the colonial Darjeeling hills. However, it focuses more on two sub-divisions of the Darjeeling district- Darjeeling Sadar and Kalimpong.

The research explains how the trade through the trans-Himalayas affected important political and commercial relations between the Himalayan kingdoms and the British. The British created a series of buffer states and signed several treaties with the countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, and Tibet. The intention was to gain economic power and to capture the market until Central Asia. That is why the East India Company conducted many policies and missions for almost two centuries. This is how Darjeeling and later Kalimpong sub-division of Darjeeling flourished as the major trading posts for trans-Himalayan trade. The research explores the colonial legacy of trans-Himalayan trade and tea trade and the role of Darjeeling and Kalimpong in it as an entrepot and trade centers examining the direction, volume, and scope of trade.

Secondly, the research observes the genesis and growth of the tea plantation industry and the tea trade and export; and its role in the socio-economic conditions of the Darjeeling hills. Further, the research presents an analytical study in the connection of how trade brought cultural pluralism in the Darjeeling hills.

However, I have received Foreign Travel Grant from ICHR (Indian Council of Historical Research) to visit British Library, London, to collect archival sources for 14 days in 2016.

I have designed and taught the courses on Economic History, Indian Nationalism, and Modern Europe earlier. Currently, I teach Economic History and Economic Nationalism in Modern India; and Ecology and Environmental History of India to both UG and PG students. Further, I teach History of the Modern World and History of East Asia to UG and History of Capitalism, Industrialisation, and Globalisation to PG students. In addition, I also supervise dissertations of both UG and PG students.

Member of the Indian History Congress.

Editor on the editorial board of the Journal- Yore: Research and Review

Papers in Journals/Proceedings

History and Heritage of Darjeeling, “the Queen of Hills” in India 1835-1947, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 2018-19, Vol. 79 (2018-19), pp.371-378

Darjeeling, “Sports Revisited”- Legacy, Problems & Prospects in “Sports, Games and Holistic Education”, Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Salesian College Publication, Darjeeling,  Vol IV, No.2, 2013.

Sustainability of Cultural Integration in Darjeeling hills, in Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Salesian College Publication, Darjeeling, December 2011, pp. 109-122.

Role of Tea Plantation Industry in Human Resource Development in Darjeeling hills, in "Darjeeling and the Indian East", Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Salesian College Publication, Darjeeling,  Vol.II, No.1, May 2011, pp. 85-96.

Papers in Edited Volume/Book

Cultural Pluralism in Darjeeling and Kalimpong: Reflections from Oral History in “Darjeeling: In Search of People’s History of the Hills”, Manohar Publishers, New Delhi, 2022

Darjeeling: Role of the British in its development- A Historical Perspective, in "Darjeeling- A Multidisciplinary Perusal", Kalpagriha Publication, Darjeeling, November 2011.

Book reviewed in Journals

Silk and Religion, An Exploration of Material Life and the Thought of People, AD 600-1200, Xinru Liu, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2007 in "Mountain Economy: Resources, Sustainability and Governance", Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Salesian College Publication, Darjeeling, Vol.II, No.2, December 2011

Darjeeling: A Favoured Retreat, Jahar Sen, Indus Publishing Company, New Delhi, 1989 in "Darjeeling and the Indian East", Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Salesian College Publication, Darjeeling, Vol. II, No.1, May 2011.

History of India, 1707-1857, Lakshmi Subhramanian, Orient Blackswan Limited, New Delhi, 2010, in "Darjeeling and the Indian East", Salesian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, Salesian College Publication, Darjeeling, Vol.II No.1, May 2011