Opinion Mughals have not been erased from NCERT textbooks

The purpose of studying Indian history should be to understand who we are and how we got here, by understanding the demography, culture, and practices of the various components of India over the last two-and-a-half millennia. This requires us to dive deep into all polities that have resided in the subcontinental region for significant periods. Mughal history is just one glorious 200-year part of just one period (medieval) of Indian history. Apart from that, we have the remaining 2,000 years, not to mention the other great medieval powers like the Marathas and Southern dynasties, that continue to be underrepresented.

In post-independence India, medieval Mughal history has become synonymous with Indian history and with symbols of the nation such as the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal. This is an understandable progression from the independence movement where we rallied behind the last great idea of Indian nationhood — the Mughal Empire (remember, the revolt of 1857 coalesced over placing Bahadur Shah back on the throne in Delhi). Without denying the Mughals their important place in our national psyche, we need to understand that there is a lot more to our history that needs attention.

Can we honestly say that we are doing justice to the breadth and depth of our history? I doubt it.

The NCERT removed overlapping material from grades 6 to 12 to reduce the burden on students. Specifically, from grade 12, a chapter on ‘Mughal Courts: Kings and Chronicles 2’, and from grade 11, chapters titled ‘Central Islamic Lands’, ‘Clash of Cultures’ and ‘Industrial Revolution’. Grade 12 has been designed around themes in Indian history. It is divided into three parts spanning over 2,000 years. One theme out of 12 focuses on ‘Kings and Chronicles’. It revolves around the significant policies that redefined the landscape and mindset of the people. Akbar’s policies feature in this theme in the rationalised syllabus as well. This is over and above the extensive coverage they get in the middle school curricula, at the cost of the exclusion of the rest.

It would appear that Mughals have been overrepresented in our history books and were an obvious area for right-sizing. If I did a poll of my (admittedly ancient) ICSE peers or their children, all would be able to name the major Mughal emperors, but I doubt most could place the Vijayanagara or Chola empire on a map, or speak five intelligent sentences on the Guptas or Mauryas. This is not how we build a national consciousness.

In conclusion, it is simplistic and dishonest to call out the issue and say that “Mughal history” has been “eliminated” from NCERT. It is just one aspect of it that has been eliminated from Grade 12 as part of a larger reform of the curriculum aimed at reducing the burden on students.
Indian history is too rich, long, and unwieldy for any curriculum to do justice. In the age of Wikipedia, we need to expose our children to the broad themes and grand sweep of history, create an understanding of their origins, and equip them with the tools and curiosity to read and research further as they grow. The current reorganisation is a good step in that direction.

Those quibbling over the current rearrangement lack both a perspective on the scale of Indian history and an understanding of the complexities of teaching it. They would be better served by picking up a few history books themselves.

The writer, chairperson of The Acres Foundation, is a businessman and educator who runs four schools in Bombay