NEW DELHI: The Maharashtra education board of India has revised history textbooks for classes VII and IX, removing almost all traces of the rule of the Mughals and the monuments they built, instead focusing on the Maratha empire founded by Shivaji.
A member of the history subject committees for old and revised textbooks claimed that the need to revise the syllabus was felt in order to update history with modern events.
“We have looked at history from a Maharashtra-centric point of view. Even if it is the Delhi Sultanate or the Mughal rule and the medieval history of India, we have kept Maharashtra at the centre. It is a natural course as we are from Maharashtra. What’s wrong in that? In fact the central board books have very little about our state,” chairman of the history subject committee said justifying the move.
Shivaji, who was in the earlier textbook referred to as people’s king, will now be mentioned as an “ideal ruler”.
The new edition for class VII history book has also eliminated Muslim rulers in the country before the Mughal period, including Razia Sultana and Muhammad bin Tughlaq.
At least five chapters on the rise and fall of major dynasties in India have been condensed into one chapter — India before the times of Shivaji Maharaj. Pertaining the Mughal rule, only those events which had an impact on Maharashtra have been mentioned. Another chapter on the social life during the Mughal era, which mentioned their architecture such as the Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri among others has been dropped.
