India’s National Council of Educational Research and Training has released a revised Class 8 Social Science textbook that foregrounds episodes of brutality and religious intolerance during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal periods. The book, titled “Exploring Society: India and Beyond – Part 1,” will be used from the 2025-26 academic session and replaces three earlier volumes for history, civics and geography. New passages label Babur a “brutal and ruthless conqueror” who erected “towers of skulls,” recount Akbar’s order to massacre roughly 30,000 civilians at Chittorgarh in 1568, and cite Aurangzeb’s edicts to demolish temples in Banaras, Mathura and Somnath. A dedicated note explains that these accounts are included to examine “darker periods in history” and stresses that no present-day community should be blamed for past events. Michel Danino, who heads NCERT’s Social Science curriculum group, said the revisions aim to provide an evidence-based narrative consistent with the National Education Policy 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023. The Delhi Sultanate and Mughal chapters, previously taught in Class 7, have been moved to Class 8 to fit the new integrated syllabus. The changes have triggered a political dispute. Opposition figures and some Muslim organisations accuse the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of “saffronising” history, while BJP leaders and several Sikh and Hindu representatives argue the textbook merely presents documented facts. NCERT has stood by the content, saying an honest appraisal of contentious episodes is essential for a balanced understanding of India’s past.