Overview
- The Class 7 social science volume devotes about six pages to Mahmud of Ghazni’s 17 campaigns, detailing raids on Mathura, Kannauj and Somnath.
- The text describes large-scale killings and the taking of prisoners, including children sold in Central Asian slave markets.
- Contemporary accounts from Al-Utbi and Al-Biruni are cited, including references to temple destruction and a note on the Somnath image taken to Ghazni.
- The chapter “Turning Tides: 11th and 12th centuries” also covers Muhammad Ghuri, Qutb-ud-din Aibak and Bakhtiyar Khilji, including the razing of Nalanda and Vikramashila.
- As part of the new integrated curriculum, history, civics and geography are consolidated into two books for Class 7, and NCERT’s director says the content is self-explanatory.