The new Class 8 NCERT Social Science textbook, Exploring Society: India and Beyond, published this year, presents a history of medieval India that is considerably changed with an increased focus on what it calls the darker parts of India’s past. The classical curriculum is a major break away from the earlier one, which briefly described the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal periods in Class 7 with less exaggerated details. Under the new syllabus, these will now be covered only in Class 8.
Another important chapter in the book, entitled Reshaping India’s Political Map gives the history of India from the 13th century to the 17th century. It examines the transition and decline between the Delhi Sultanate, the birth of the Vijayanagara Empire, the Mughal rule, rebellions against the Vijayanagara Empire, and the coming of the Sikh community. The chapter has depicted in great detail the political instability, military conquest, and destruction that were prevalent during the time.
The text describes the way a number of villages and cities were robbed, and religious buildings (temples and educational establishments) were attacked and ruined. The book cites various instances of what can be referred to as attacks on temples and talks of the brutality of some of the rulers, like Malik Kafur, who was the general of Alauddin Khilji and was recorded to have raided places of great Hindu religious significance like Srirangam, Madurai, Chidambaram, and even Rameswaram.
According to the chapter, the period of the Delhi Sultanate also witnessed the levels of destruction of sacred images in Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu temples that were not just done due to the need for plunder but also due to iconoclastic motives. But to give it a historical background and not make it appear as politicized, NCERT has incorporated a disclaimer which says that no one should be answerable today for the events in the past. This is explained in another note, a note on some darker periods in history, trying to guide the students to realize the complexity.
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