Child Abuse: NCERT Style

Here’s a common reprimand parents give their errant children: Is this what they teach you in school?

Let’s recall Eminent Historians: Their Technology, Their Line, Their Fraud. This path breaking book not only unmasked the eminences but awoke an entire generation of thinking Indian youth. In a way, it was a work that can rightly be termed as an effort in course-correction. In retrospect, the education system of my generation injected a healthy distaste for history: it’s all about dates and years and wars, who the fuck wants to know what Aurangzeb did, who cares what Indus Valley civilization was all about. The end of 10th standard exams meant freedom from history.

Reading Eminent Historians made me–and thousands others–realize that at least two generations of Indians were victims of child abuse thanks mainly to NCERT.

But reading about the historical misdeeds committed by these eminent historians is one thing and reading the actual “history” these worthies propagated is entirely another things. The former is akin to reading a crime report/FIR while the latter is like being present at the actual scene of crime. The first hand impact always hits you harder.

Eminent Historians did definitely initiate some course correction but it’s always easy, and quicker to relapse into bad habits. Enter Arjun Singh.

Recently, some kind folks pointed my attention to some “appalling” distortions in the recent NCERT history textbooks. I scanned through a few random items. Which was enough to make me take some of these history textbooks for some re-education–being present on the scene of the crime like I said. What I learned was severely interesting.

Our Pasts – II, the Class VII history text book is a brilliant specimen. While the instances Arun Shourie has quoted in Eminent Historians are good examples of pretty blatant distortions, the current crop is a study in nuance. It injects both a subtler form and variant of poison in impressionable minds untainted by ideology. Poor kids think they are actually getting an education. Some random examples follow.

Example 1:

A section on temple towns (Page 76-77) doesn’t mention anything at all about why temple towns were renowned as they still are. It simply calls it a “pattern of urbanization” and then drives the point home rather quickly and directly: they were commercial centers where “temple authorities used their wealth to finance trade and banking.” Show me exactly one historical temple town which did this. A simpler logic is available: what was the king for, if not to direct and manage trade and commerce?

Example 2:

The second exhibit is a repetition of the same fabrication quoted in Eminent Historians concering the destruction of temples. The last section on Page 65 is boldly titled Why were Temples Destroyed? The answer quoted verbatim: “Because kings built temples to demonstrate their devotion to God and their power and wealth, it is not surprising that when they attacked one another’s kingdoms they often targeted these buildings.” (Bold added) And who were these temple-destroying kings?

• Shrimara Shrivallabha, a Pandyan king invaded Sri Lanka and removed all valuables and carted off lots of golden images of the Buddha in the Jewel Palace and other Buddhist monasteries. But didn’t the section title read “why were temples destroyed?“
• Rajendra I, the Chola king who carted off lots of sculptures and idols of the Chalukyas and Kalingas of Orissa. Note again the mention about temple destruction. None whatsoever.
• And then Mahmud of Ghazni gets ICU-level care compared to these vile (Hindu) kings. Reproduced verbatim: “During his campaigns…he also attacked the temples of defeated kings and looted their wealth and idols. Sultan Mahumud was not a very important ruler at that time. But by destroying temples…the one at Somnath…he tried to win credit as a great hero of Islam. In the political culture of the Middle Ages, most rulers displayed their political might…by attacking and looting the places of worship of defeated rulers.

This section is followed by a weighty question designed to instill the virtues of self-thinking as a way to stimulate the intellect of the student. Here’s the question: “In what ways do you think the policies of Rajendra I and Mahmud of Ghazni were a product of their times? How were the actions of the two rulers different?” The way the questions are framed leaves you no room for a “wrong” answer. Gold-standard Propaganda.

Example 3:

Next, the section on Sikhism is robbed similarly of context. Nothing about Guru Nanak’s (and most other Sikh Gurus) explicit proclamation of Sikhism as a movement to counter Islam’s barbarity is mentioned. Barring a stray mention of Jahangir’s clampdown of Sikhs fearing their revolt, the section completely emasculates the warrior spirit of this amazing race of people. The Sikhs were among the strongest forces who helped check the almost wholesale Islamization of the entire North India.

Example 4:

Basvanna and the Vira Shaiva movement is given selective treatment. The textbook glorifies this movement as a reaction against the evils of Brahmins, the caste system, rituals, and idol worship. I leave it to your learning of history to verify the degree of selectiveness this exhibits.

This level of finely-crafted distortion is hardly surprising if you look at the list of contributors to the textbook. Every eminence on the textbook committee hails from one or the other of the hallowed portals of secularism: Delhi University, Aligarh Muslim University, and Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. The lion’s share of contributors hail–quite evidently, from the Mecca, JNU.

I found these four gems during just a quick scan. And this, just in one part of History textbooks for Class VII. If I dive deeper and cast my net wider, I’m sure to extract the almost limitless treasure hidden in the Ocean’s bottom. I intend to make an NCERT Child Abuse series. This is just the preface.

Tags: Arun Shourie, Attack on Hinduism, Commentary, Education, Eminent Historians, Eminent Historians Book, History, History Distortion Continues, India, Indian History Falsified, Indian Politics, NCERT Child Abuse, NCERT History Textbooks, NCERT Textbooks, Poisoning Children, Pseudosecularism Hall of Shame, Society & Culture, Toxic History Textbooks