Removing Mughals from textbooks is 'nonsense', history must be continuous: Historian Romila Thapar

KOZHIKODE: History is a continuous process and cannot be taught in fragments, eminent historian Romila Thapar has said, while calling the practice of removal of entire dynasties such as the Mughals from textbooks as “nonsense”. Speaking online at the ongoing ninth edition of the Kerala Literature Festival (KLF), Thapar on Saturday addressed issues ranging from the rise of popular history on social media to the importance of feminist history and the central role of education in questioning existing knowledge.

“The kinds of things that are happening, where, for example, chunks of history are being thrown out of the syllabus or we are told we don’t need to study them, are nonsense. History is a continuous process. It is an evolution of people and cultures, of ways of behaviour and ways of thinking," she said.

"That continuity cannot be broken by saying, ‘All right, we throw this dynasty out, we throw Mughals out, we throw out that'. It breaks history up and makes no sense," said the renowned historian, who has authored over 25 scholarly books, during the session "Women Writing History: Three Generations".

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NCERT syllabus

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has reportedly revised its Class 7 Social Science textbook for the 2025-26 academic year, removing chapters on the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals . Besides, it also now focuses on ancient Indian dynasties such as the Mauryas, Shungas, and Satavahanas, along with cultural traditions and sacred sites across religious traditions. The 93-year-old historian also voiced concern over the growing influence of "popular history" on social media, saying it often blurs the line between informed scholarship and opinion.

She earnestly urged people to rely on statements from professional historians when seeking accurate explanations of past events. “There is a difference now between the two -- popular history and what professional historians write -- and it is important to note that difference and understand what it entails. When quoting a historical statement, one should be aware whether it comes from professional historical writing or a statement propagated on social media,” she explained.

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Importance of feminist history

Reflecting on her own journey as a historian, Thapar admitted that while she may not have consciously written history from a woman’s perspective throughout her career, she consistently tried to incorporate feminist insights wherever possible.

More importantly, she emphasised the need for women in professional spaces to assert their autonomy and demand respect, adding that writing feminist history was important, but equally vital was “behaving like a feminist” by standing for independence, critical thinking and intellectual freedom.

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"An autonomous woman, I think, is absolutely essential. Therefore, my attitude to this has been, yes, we have to write feminist history, that is a given, but if I am not writing feminist history, I am at least behaving like a feminist. I am propagating that an autonomous woman is an absolutely essential component of any society," she concluded.

Kerala Literature Festival

The four-day literary extravaganza is hosting over 400 speakers, including Nobel laureates Abdulrazak Gurnah and Abhijit Banerjee, astronaut Sunita Williams, author Kiran Desai, essayist Pico Iyer, Jnanpith winner Pratibha Ray, sports icons Rohan Bopanna and Ben Johnson, and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. KLF 2026, now in its ninth edition, will come to a close on Sunday.