Do you care, what CBSE History Textbook teaches your kid?

Now the government has made available all NCERT textbooks online through e-Pathshala portal. The URL is: http://epathshala.nic.in/e-pathshala-4/flipbook/

A simple scan through the 6^th standard NCERT social studies will give the direction & ‘agenda’ of our educators to educate our future generation. If you happen to be a parent, please do care to go through this. This will open your eyes. Our educators are educating your kid to be guilty of India, to be guilty of our civilization, to be guilty of ancient scriptures & traditions. Subtly they convey that everything Indian is bad and everything foreign be it Chinese, Christian, Islam, Judaism is very good. They go the extent of telling that in India women had no independence & “Women had to follow husbands”!!!

Thankfully history textbooks are made extremely confusing and boring; so the child forgets what he read & parents don’t care. But he remembers the essence – That India is just a bland, boring, unscientific, superstitious country. Because the structure & content conveys it overall.

Few points I have taken here to put across the content & its agenda. Comments & analysis is my view to see the alternative to the points.

Page Ref	Content as is	What’s the ‘Agenda’? Comments & Analysis
Page 4 Chapter 1	The Iranians and the Greeks who came through the northwest about 2500 years ago and were familiar with the Indus, called it the Hindos or the Indos, and the land to the east of the river was called India. The name Bharata was used for a group of people who lived in the northwest, and who are mentioned in the Rigveda, the earliest composition in Sanskrit (dated to about 3500 years ago). Later it was used for the country	Agenda: To educate that India and Bharata were names given by some foreigners. ‘Later it was used for the country’ means what? The land existed somehow & later intelligent people came made it a country? Only after British united it became a country and was christened India & some saffronists called it Bharata? Why originally only for Northwest region it was called Bharata? Because to educate that the Deccan was in darkness or nonexistent or insignificant? Comment & Analysis: Why can we not mention Bharata is named after Bharata Muni or Bharata the King; Why not refer our own sandhyavandana which calls our land as Bharata Varsha/ Bharata Khanda over many millennium before as per our oldest Puranas? There are many scientific dating done on our scriptures. Why not refer Jainism first Thirthankara Rishabha who travelled across Niligiris, Sahyadri as part of Bharata Varsha? Why not refer Agasthya who traced course of Kaveri; why not refer Ramayana whose scientific dating is put in the range of 5000 to 7000BC to set the course of Bharata Varsha? In this textbook itself, Chapt 10, page 100 gives a sangam literature poem describing entire Bharata;
Page 47 Chapter 5	Do any of these names sound familiar? Sometimes, the people who composed the hymns described themselves as Aryas and called their opponents Dasas or Dasyus. These were people who did not perform sacrifices, and probably spoke different languages.	Agenda: To educate that there were 2 classes of people - nobles and slaves. They were called Aryans & Dasyas. The names resonate with most Indian languages and hence precariously put under that title. The 2 sects always fought. Different languages mentioned to build up thought of different language speaking folks fought. Comment & Analysis: We never hear in any of our Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas any sect called Aryans & Dasas. It is for convenience of earlier Brits & later leftists to hammer home the theory of Aryan Invasion from foreign lands and enslaving locals. We hear of Deva – Asura. But both speak same language. We hear many kingdoms like Kosala, Lanka, Kaikeya, Gandhara, Anga, Kalinga etc., & names of people according to those kingdoms. But never a separate sect called Arya. Arya is just a Sanskrit word for a Gentleman. Dasa is a Sanskrit word for a servant. For example Hanuman is a great Dasa of Rama. It was by devotion & not by force.
Page 47 Chapter 5	Later, the term dasa (and the feminine dasi) came to mean slave. Slaves were women and men who were often captured in war. They were treated as the property of their owners, who could make them do whatever work they wanted.	Agenda: In Europe & Arabia then later extended to America, Australia the human slavery, slave trade, treating them less than even animals was the hall mark of the civilization development in medieval period. So there is an attempt to draw parallels here and to show India also in that poor light. The textbook committee cannot fathom Indian civic sense to be far superior to that of foreign. Comment & Analysis: Never in Indian subcontinent Slavery was practiced the way it was in the west. The defeated king or his kith or kin used to be re-established & not dethroned. In epic stories of Ramayana/ Mahabharata or during Buddha’s time or in Pururava in Alexander time or in Mauryan time or in Gupta, Chalukyan time, or in Vijayanagara time or in Shivaji times we never see any defeated king, his soldiers &  citizens being degraded as slaves. They will be prisoners until a pact is reached, but never used as permanent slaves. Then why is there a blatant LIE here? What is their agenda?!!!!
Page 55 Chapter 6	Some priests and warriors were rich, as were some farmers and traders. Others, including many herders, crafts persons, labourers, fishing folk and hunters and gatherers, were poor	Agenda: To educate discrimination existed. Rich & poor divide was based on caste and jobs!!? Rich were Brahmins & Kshatriyas. Poor are shudras. India is bad & India was bad? Comment & Analysis: It is so silly. Many stories start with a poor Brahmin in our folklore. Many hunter groups were tribes with their own leader as king. Krishna was a herder. So what is rich? What do they mean by poor?
Page 56 Chapter 6	Often, women were also grouped with the shudras. Both women and shudras were not allowed to study the Vedas. The priests also said that these groups were decided on the basis of birth. For example, if one’s father and mother were brahmins one would automatically become a brahmin, and so on.	Agenda: Women discrimination was rampant all across India. Shudras were cursed by birth. All women are grouped with shudras??!! What crap? India is bad, India was bad!!? Comment & Analysis: Discrimination, untouchability existed and it even exists now. Our society always fought against it and is fighting against it. Upper caste people only from Buddha to Shankara to Basavanna to Gandhiji to Pejavara Shree fought and fighting to reform the society. Society degrades and reforms continuously in India. It is not rigid. It is fluid. We should educate our kids about India’s greatness more. This is absolutely lacking in entire textbook framework.
Page 72 Chapter 7	The system of ashramas Around the time when Jainism and Buddhism were becoming popular, brahmins developed the system of ashramas. Here, the word ashrama does not mean a place where people live and meditate. It is used instead for a stage of life. Four ashramas were recognised: brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha and samnyasa. Generally, women were not allowed to study the Vedas, and they had to follow the ashramas chosen by their husbands.	Agenda: Hindu is a religion. All is not well in it. So when new religions challenged it like Buddhism & Jainism, it came up with Chatur Ashrama? Till then that concept was not there? Women had to follow their husbands!!! Look, they were/are so backward!!! What according to the textbook committee is right? When husband chooses Vanaprastha/ Samnyasa wife should go elsewhere to quench sexual & other material desires? Comment & Analysis: Firstly Hinduism is not a religion guided by a rigid guide book & a prophet. Even Buddha is considered as Vishnu avathara and Rishabha the first Jain thirthankara is considered Vishnu avathara. They can teach children that Bharatha follows Sanatana dharma which is all encompassing philosophies to flourish in an open & debatable manner. Vanaprastha & all other ashramas find mention in Mahabharata which predates Buddha & Jains. Because the earliest Buddhist texts and Jain texts refer to both Rama & Krishna. So it is wrong to say the Chatur Ashrama in Hinduism came about in response to rise of neo religions.   Then why so many lies in our text books? What’s the agenda?
Page 95 Chapter 9 Page 118 Chapter 11 Page 119 Chapter 11	A few rules picked from Arthashastra of Chanakya depicting strict rules on erring women A story snippet from Abhijnana Shakuntala of Kalidasa showing policemen harassing fishermen Chinese piligrim Fa Xian mentioning untouchability Banabhatta’s story snippet on King’s convoy leaving a dusty trail.	Agenda: There are some snippets from various ancient texts picked up to show ancient India/ Hinduism in all bad light only. Out of a dozen direct quotes only 3, one from Meghadoota & 2 from Sangam literature indicate some goodness also persisted in India. Comment & Analysis: Chinese visitors studied in our universities for decades. Took 100s of our books to china. Translated them throughout their lives. All committee found in that was some mention of untouchability? Kalidasa, Banabhatta are known for writing great poetry, slimily, language, grace, beauty, imagination, drama, emotions, raja neeti, loka neeti etc.,. All that committee could quote is some dusty trail in villages & some lowly conversation? Why are we bent on denigrating ourselves? Why can we not boldly glorify the merits of Arthashastra, Aryabhateeyam, Kavya, Kadambari etc.,? Why our kids have to feel guilty of our ancient India and its rich literature?
Page 73 Chapter 7 Page 109 Chapter 10 Page 120 Chapter 11	A good verse from Zend Avesta of Zoroastrians Jesus also taught people to treat others with love and trust others, just as they themselves wanted to be treated An exemplary good verse from Bible given; Like Christianity, Islam was a religion that laid stress on the equality and unity of all before Allah, the one supreme god. An exemplary  good verse from Quran given	Agenda: All that is foreign is great! Look at those words – equality, unity, love, trust. These are only found in the lexicons of Bible, Zend Avesta, Quran. Not in Vedas, Ramayana, Arthashastra, Kalidasa Kavya etc., Comment & Analysis: Good words from good books all over the world are welcome. But why not good words from our own scriptures. For example, in this textbook ‘Vedas’ are mentioned in about 11 places. Not a single verse is given. Why? Lets look at some common verses that kids of this age come across from Vedas: “Sathyameva Jayate” – Found on our national emblem; In our currency “Sathyam vada; Dharmam chara” – Most popular simple statement “Maa gruDhah kasya swidDhanam ” – Don’t be greedy on others wealth “Loka samastha sukhinobhavanthu; Om Shantihi, Shantihi, Shantihi” – Shanthi manthra recited generally at the end of a meeting; Similarly Bhojana Manthra, Vidhyashala manthra like ‘thamasoma jyothirgamaya’ etc., If in the textbook we put up these simple statements, verses, it resonates well with kid’s day to day life also and feels great to belong to a great country and civilization. What part of these veda manthras are non-secular?

Unless you care for your kids and their education, India as a nation, you pass to your next generation will continue your own slave & guilty mentality. At least, when the textbook committee makes some minor tweaks here and there to improve, please stop screaming – saffronization!!. Lets take some saffron it is good for the heart.

I glanced through a 6^th standard textbook for ICSE called Transitions from Madhubun publications. It is written very well; presented well. Although it still portrays, Aryan invasion theory & other date discrepancies, it is much clear & easy to read and understand. It gives a decent sense of belonging to a great nation called India.

Karnataka state department textbook covering the Vedic period also is not good, but it is not as denigrating as NCERT texts.

I’ll reserve another blog to cover 7, 8, 9, 10 standard history books which cover 8^th Century CE onwards till Independence.