A NEW class 7 NCERT social science textbook released on Friday has a larger section on “Ghaznavid Invasions” — focusing on the Mahmud of Ghazni’s “destruction and plunder” and his eagerness to “spread his version of Islam to non-Muslim parts of the world” — compared to the previous edition.

The section on the Ghaznavid invasions is preceded by a box that contains “a word of caution”. The box is similar to the “note on history’s darker periods”, which was published in the class 8 textbook, placed before the chapter on the Delhi Sultanate. The box in the class 7 textbook refers to this note and states that it explains how history has recorded war, conquest and destruction more than peace, good governance or creativity, and how the world over historians have sometimes hesitated to draw att

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