No Delhi Sultanate, Mughals in books: A look at past NCERT syllabus changes

Business Standard

28-04-2025

The new Class 7 history book focuses on Ashoka, the Mauryan Empire, and dynasties like the Cholas, Pandyas, Cheras, and Satavahanas, with no mention of Mughals or the Delhi Sultanate
Abhijeet Kumar New Delhi
In a major shift, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has reportedly revised its Class 7 Social Science textbook for the academic year 2025-26, removing chapters on the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals. In their place, students will now study ancient Indian dynasties such as the Mauryas, the Shungas, and the Satavahanas, along with cultural traditions and sacred sites across religious traditions.
The changes mark a notable departure from the earlier curriculum that introduced students to medieval India through the lens of Muslim dynasties and Mughal administration. Rather, the new curriculum supposedly brings the historical coverage to a stop approximately at the time of the Gupta dynasty (about the 6th century AD), rewriting almost a thousand years of subsequent political and cultural advancements.
But the change is not an isolated one. It is increasingly becoming a part of redrawing history textbooks.
What has changed in the new NCERT syllabus?
The new class 7 book includes five major themes: India and the world, Tapestry of the past, Our cultural heritage and traditions of knowledge, Governance and democracy, and Economic life around us. The historical part of the book ends at the 'classical age' of ancient India, and attention is specifically drawn towards the likes of Ashoka and the Mauryan empire as well as the Cholas, Pandyas, Cheras, and Satavahanas.
There is no mention — as yet — of the Delhi Sultans or the Mughal emperors. New chapters like 'How the Land Becomes Sacred' instead explore pilgrimage sites across religious traditions, with emphasis on events such as the Kumbh Mela.
This change reflects a larger trend of deletions and revisions in Indian textbooks, often connected to ongoing discussions about historical memory and national identity.
NCERT syllabus undergoing repeated revisions
The current change follows at least three significant rounds of NCERT textbook revisions, each altering or reframing the narrative of India's past.
During the pandemic, NCERT rationalised the syllabus by removing what it called 'overlapping' and 'irrelevant' content. But the cuts were not evenly distributed. Entire chapters on the Mughal Empire were pruned, sections on the Delhi Sultanate vanished, and the political history of the medieval period was substantially compressed.
In 2023, further changes struck at sensitive modern political history. References to the Babri Masjid demolition, the Emergency of 1975, and the 2002 Gujarat riots were either deleted or rewritten. Discussions of Dalit movements, the Naxalite insurgency, and communal violence were also substantially trimmed.
Rewriting MK Gandhi, partition, and the Congress era
Some of the most striking deletions involve the legacy of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in a syllabus revision in 2022.
Several references to Gandhi's opposition to Hindu extremism and the communal fallout after Partition were deleted from Class 12 political science textbooks. Details about his assassination, particularly naming Nathuram Godse's ideological affiliations, were significantly toned down.
From the Class 12 political science textbook 'Politics in India since Independence', sections that explored Gandhi's assassination, Hindu-Muslim tensions, and the crackdown on communal organisations were excised.
Similarly, a more detailed narrative in the Class 12 history book describing Nathuram Godse's ideological motivations — including his branding of Gandhi as an 'appeaser of Muslims' — was replaced with a simplified description stating merely that Gandhi was 'shot dead by a young man'.
Meanwhile, references to the decline of the Congress party post-1989, the Mandal Commission's recommendations, and economic liberalisation in 1991 were reframed, often with greater emphasis on 'positive reforms' rather than political instability.
Textbook revisions spark debate on history
References to the 2002 post-Godhra communal violence were removed from textbooks across classes. A sociology textbook that discussed the ghettoisation of religious communities after the riots had its relevant paragraphs deleted.
Mentions of India's first education minister were omitted from Class 11 political science textbooks, removing his contributions from discussions on the Constituent Assembly.
In 2024, NCERT dropped multiple mentions of the Babri Masjid from political science textbooks, citing updates in light of the Supreme Court's 2019 Ayodhya verdict.
The NCERT justified these revisions by citing the Supreme Court's 2019 verdict on Ayodhya and a desire to align historical teaching with 'recent developments'.
Mughal history: From central theme to marginal note
The Mughal Empire, once a staple of Indian history education, has been systematically reduced since 2017.
> The two-page table of Mughal emperors' achievements was deleted from Class 7's Our Pasts-II, in 2022.
> Class 8 textbooks removed discussions on Aurangzeb and the political fragmentation after his death.
> Even in Class 12, the Themes in Indian History textbook no longer carries 'Theme 9: Kings and Chronicles, the Mughal Courts', once dedicated to understanding Mughal historiography.
What was once a detailed exploration of Mughal governance, culture, and legacy has been condensed into brief references — if mentioned at all.
State boards follow suit to rewrite history syllabus
And this trend is not confined to NCERT alone. In Maharashtra, 2017 saw the removal of chapters on the Mughal empire and Western history from Classes 7 and 9. The syllabus was reoriented around the Maratha empire, with Shivaji presented as an 'ideal ruler', and the Sant movement given expanded coverage. Events like the French Revolution and American War of Independence were shrunk to passing mentions.
The Maharashtra State Board defended the changes as efforts to make history more 'locally relevant'.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan under the BJP government (2014-2018) reworked its textbooks to recast Maharana Pratap as the victor at the Battle of Haldighati against Akbar, stripping the Mughal emperor of his 'Great' title.
Jawaharlal Nehru was omitted from Class 8 books, while Vinayak Damodar Savarkar received prominent treatment — first being hailed as 'Veer Savarkar' and then, after the Congress government returned in 2018, simply referred to by name, with references to his 'mercy petitions' to the British restored.
Textbook committees formed under different governments reversed these changes — reflecting how political shifts directly impact the writing of history.
Are textbooks becoming a battleground of memories?
India's textbook battles are hardly new. Since the late 1970s, successive governments have sought to tweak history books to reflect their ideological priorities — whether to highlight 'cultural nationalism', promote 'secularism', or craft new national myths.
Academics and historians have raised concerns that these changes could result in a skewed understanding of India's complex historical tapestry. Critics argue that the deliberate omission of the Sultanate and Mughal periods erases a significant era that shaped India's political institutions, art, architecture, and culture.
Supporters, however, contend that the updates correct long-standing imbalances and allow students to better appreciate India's indigenous and pre-Islamic traditions, which they believe were previously underrepresented.