In the year 1940 Osmania University established the Department of Religion & Culture. Subsequently, in the year 1965,it was bifurcated into the Department of Indology and the Department of Islamic Studies. Following the UGC guide lines on all India pattern in the year 1975 the Department of Indology was renamed and restructured and named as the Department of Ancient Indian History Culture and Archaeology. When the Department was restructured the subjects of Pre-History, Proto-History, Indian History & Culture, Field Archaeology, Epigraphy, Numismatics, Art and Architecture were made a part of the curriculum offered at the Post-Graduation -Level i.e. MA(AIHC&A). Later on the subjects of Tourism, Archival Studies and Museology were added to the curriculum. The Department was established due to efforts put in by the founder members, late Professor Emeritus M.RadhaKrishna Sarma and Professor S.Dhareshwari. Since then the Department of AIHC&A, saw considerable growth and development. Six more faculty members joined the Department. On the retirement of Professor M.RadhaKrishna Sarma, Professor V.Kishan Rao joined the Department as a faculty member.

Two one year PG Diploma courses were introduced i.e. PG Diploma in Museology(In collaboration with SalarJung Museum,Hyderabad) in the year1984 and PG Diploma in Archival Studies and Manuscriptology (In collaboration with AP State Archives and Research Institute, Hyderabad-Now Telangana State Archives and Research Institute) in the year 1993. The Department celeberated its silver Jubliee in the year 2000 and also hosted the Silver Jubilee Session of the Andhra Pradesh History Congress in the year 2001.

Along the way the faculty members of the Department held high academic, research and administrative positions within the parent university and other universities. They have also served at different levels in the subject related professional bodies. Professor V.Kishan Rao officiated as the Dean Development & UGC Affair OU, Dean Faculty of Arts OU and as the Registrar of Osmania University and retired honorably in the year 2013.Professor K.Venkatachalam officiated as chief warden OU, Registrar of Palamur University,and retired honorably in the year 2016. He was appointed as Vice- Chairman-1-Telangana State Council for Higher Education, Govt of Telangana State while in service and still he is continuing in that position after his retirement from the University service. Both Professor V.Kishan Rao and Professor K.Venkatachalam have earlier been bestowed with the best teacher awards .Professor S.Dhareshwari, one of the founder member of the Department, after retirement has been actively involved with the activities of Tulasi Bhavan, Osmania University.

At present the Department is headed by Dr.N.R.Giridhar, who is both the Head & Chairman BOS. Dr.N.R.Giridhar earlier also held the additional administrative charge of Public Relations Officer, Osmania University and at present is holding the additional administrative charge of Joint-Director of Prof. Ram Reddy Center for Distance Education, Osmania University. The Department has been the host to several foreign students for Post-Graduation in MA(AIHC&A) and Ph.D (in AIHC&A). 70 M. phil Degrees were awarded between 1981 to 2010 and 53 PhD Degrees between 1984 to 2016.In 2016 two Foreign scholars from Iran were awarded Ph.D Degrees completed under the supervision of Prof. A.V.Babu (Retd) and Dr.N.R.Giridhar respectively. CBCS(Choice based credit system) was introduced in the year 2009-10 with ID papers and uniform CBCS System was introduced in the year 2016-17.The present in take for MA(AIHC&A) is 30-33. Total number of Ph.D on rolls are -41.

There are two UGC- PDF Scholars on rolls, Dr.G.Jayaram and Dr.P.Suresh respectively working under the supervision of Prof. K. Venkatachalam (Retd). There are four Ragiv-Gandhi Fellowship holders and six UGC-Non-Net fellowship holders pursuing PhD. The Department has close association with the Archaeological Survey of India, Department of Archaeology and Museums, Telangana State Archives and Research Institute, Govt.of Telangana, Birla Archaeological and Cultural Resaearch Institute-Hyderabad and Salar Jung Museum-Hyderabad, Sri Venkateshwara College of Fine Arts-Hyderabad. Post-Graduate Students and the Research Scholars right from the time time the Department was started have been involved in field Archaeological research, field trips, Archival studies,Museological Studies, Tourism Studies and Cultural Studies. The Department of Ancient Indian History Culture and Archaeology is one of its kind in entire Telangana State.