Akbar Called ‘Brutal’, Aurangzeb a ‘Destroyer’: Is NCERT Rewriting India Or Finally Revealing It?

In a move that has reignited national debates on historical memory and political identity, the NCERT has revised its Class 8 Social Science textbook, Exploring Society: India and Beyond, under the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF SE) 2023. While educational reforms are routine, this one isn’t. Because it does more than reorganize chapters—it reframes empires, relabels emperors, and perhaps most importantly, reshapes how an entire generation will understand power, faith, and conquest in medieval India.

No longer are the Mughals described with soft brushstrokes of imperial glory. The new chapter, Reshaping India's Political Map, invites students to scrutinize rather than celebrate. It doesn’t delete, but it does deconstruct. The question now is: Is this India rewriting history—or finally telling it whole?

The NCERT’s reworked Class 8 history textbook doesn’t just move timelines — it changes how India’s past is told. What used to be part of Class 7 is now under “Reshaping India’s Political Map” in Class 8, and the shift is more than structural. The new voice is sharper, more questioning. The preface sets the tone: history involves violence, conquest, and destruction — and students should confront these parts, not gloss over them. It’s no longer just a story of empires, but a study of how power, ambition, and ideology shaped India across the 13th to 17th centuries.
Babur still enters as the founder of the Mughal dynasty and a brilliant military strategist, known for introducing field artillery to the subcontinent. But alongside the grandeur, the new text brings out what was often softened — Babur’s destruction of temples and his own religious motives as recorded in the Baburnama. His faith-driven zeal, especially against Rajput kings, is examined through his own words. The narrative doesn’t erase his legacy — it expands it, asking students to consider both the sword and the script that carved his empire.

Akbar’s image as a tolerant ruler isn’t erased — it’s reframed. His abolition of the jizya, the Ibadat Khana’s multi-faith dialogues, and the translation of Hindu epics into Persian remain. But now, they sit alongside darker episodes like the massacre at Chittorgarh in 1568, where thousands were slain and women captured. His motivations — part political, part religious — are dissected with quotes from Abul Fazl that show a king evolving from zeal to introspection. The idea is to move beyond flat praise and reveal a ruler struggling with power, faith, and reform.
The textbook doesn’t mince words when it comes to Aurangzeb. His policies are described with clarity and weight — the jizya was reimposed, music banned at court, and temples razed in Banaras, Mathura, and Somnath. The violent suppression of Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, and even Sufis is acknowledged. The chapter details how he seized the throne through blood — imprisoning Shah Jahan and executing Dara Shikoh. While his administrative skill and expansionist success aren’t denied, the focus shifts to the cost of his ideological rigidity. The story here is not just of rule, but of rupture.
Even with its more direct tone, the textbook offers a clear caveat: this is not about blaming communities today for the actions of kings centuries ago. It encourages critical thinking — not condemnation. The goal is to examine how ambition, faith, and violence intertwined in history, and to learn without inheriting guilt. It’s a call to read with clarity, not emotion. To study how empires rose and fell — and how decisions made in palaces shaped lives across villages.
This isn’t just about Mughals. The shift raises deeper questions: what parts of history have we downplayed, and why? Critics of older textbooks say past narratives often avoided uncomfortable truths — choosing harmony over harshness. Others now worry that overemphasis on violence could stir new divides. The challenge isn’t in including difficult truths — it's about balance. Can we critique Aurangzeb and still contextualize him? Can we highlight Akbar’s contradictions without villainizing his faith? And will colonialism, regional kingdoms, and modern politics receive the same scrutinyThe NCERT’s new textbook does not shy away from difficult chapters in Indian history. By calling Babur “brutal” and describing Aurangzeb as a “destroyer,” it confronts the violence that accompanied empire-building in medieval India. Yet it also acknowledges cultural contributions, reformist policies, and personal transformations. It offers a more textured, less romanticized version of events—one that invites inquiry instead of ideology. As classrooms begin to teach this version of history, the broader lesson may be this: history is not about glorifying or condemning, but about understanding—and in that understanding, finding a path toward a more conscious and critical future.