NCERT expands section on ‘Ghaznavid invasions’ in Class 7 textbook

The National Council of Educational Research and Training has expanded the section on the “Ghaznavid invasions” in the Class 7 social science textbook, reported The Indian Express on Sunday.

The NCERT is an educational body that advises the Union government on school syllabi.

The textbook, released on Friday, has a more detailed account of Mahmud of Ghazni's “destruction and plunder” and eagerness to “spread his version of Islam to non-Muslim parts of the world”, as compared to the previous version.

While the previous textbook contained only a brief paragraph on Ghazni, the amended version has devoted six pages to the Ghaznavid campaigns, including illustrations and explanatory boxes, according to the newspaper.

It mentions that his biographers depict him as “keen not only to slaughter or enslave ‘infidels' (that is, Hindus or Buddhists or Jains), but also to kill believers from rival sects of Islam”.

The textbook also mentions that he plundered temples in Mathura and Somnath.

“Mahmud's campaigns involved not only destruction and plunder but also the slaughter of tens of thousands of Indian civilians and the capture of numerous prisoners, including children, who were taken to be sold in the slave markets of Central Asia,” reads the book.

When asked about the changes, NCERT Director Dinesh Saklani told The Indian Express that the content is self-explanatory.

The book says that the present-day Somnath temple was rebuilt in 1950 and inaugurated by former President Rajendra Prasad. Students are also encouraged to consider why public donations were used for the reconstruction, India Today reported.

The expanded section is preceded by a box titled “a word of caution”, which explains that historical writing has often focused on war, conquest and destruction, while periods of peace or effective governance receive less attention, The Indian Express reported.

“Our approach is that it is better to face them and analyse them so as to understand what made such developments possible and, hopefully, help avoid their recurrence in future,” it adds. “In addition, we should not forget that while past events cannot be erased or denied, it would be wrong to hold anyone responsible for them today.”

The chapter, titled “Turning Tides: 11th and 12th centuries”, covers other Turkic invasions, including those by Muhammad Ghuri, Qutb-ud-din Aibak and his army commander Bakhtiyar Khilji.

It describes Khilji's destruction of major Buddhist centres such as Nalanda and Vikramashila, adding that there is “consensus among historians of Buddhism that this destruction of its large centres of learning precipitated the decline of Buddhism in India, although a few other factors may have also played a role”.

Also read: India's complex history cannot be wished away through textbook revisions – it must be confronted

Source: Scroll
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