Overview
- The Class 7 social science book Exploring Societies: India and Beyond was issued Friday for the current session under NEP 2020 and NCF 2023, consolidating content into integrated volumes.
- A six-page section titled The Ghaznavid Invasions details Mahmud of Ghazni’s 17 campaigns, including the plunder of Mathura, Kannauj and Somnath, large-scale killings, and the sale of prisoners in Central Asia.
- The text quotes medieval chroniclers such as Al-Utbi and Al-Biruni to document temple destruction, motives, and accounts of images taken to Ghazni.
- A prefatory box titled a word of caution explains why darker periods are studied and states that present-day people should not be held responsible for past actions.
- The chapter expands context to later Turkic campaigns under Muhammad Ghuri, Qutb-ud-din Aibak and Bakhtiyar Khilji, including the destruction of Nalanda and Vikramashila, and NCERT’s director says the content is self-explanatory.