Last week the NCERT revised its book on medieval history for Class 9 students. The book, Understanding Society: India and Beyond, presents a long span of 700 years from 1000 AD to 1700 as one of resistance and resilience, a period when the Rajputs, the Jats, the Sikhs and the Ahoms resisted foreign invasions. The period is presented as the one in which the “Indian society not only defended itself from external threats but also preserved its traditions”.
In many ways this book is a continuation of the process of presenting history through a new prism, a process which began in 2023 and has seen each succeeding edition reduce the space given to the contribution of the Mughals in particular, and, as many historians point out, it “virtually reduces mediaeval Indian history to battles, blood and gore”.
Tune in to know the facts of history and what’s right or wrong with the new social science book
Guest: Prof. Farhat Hasan, noted historian on pre-modern South Asian history
Host: Ziya Us Salam. Associate Editor, The Hindu
Producer and editor: Jude Weston
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Published - October 06, 2026 07:02 pm IST