This is the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) social science history textbook for Class VII, Our Pasts II. It is an English medium (Roman script) book — the complete text, exercises, maps and captions are in English, and there is no Hindi content in it. It is the prescribed history component of the Class 7 social science course for CBSE schools and for state boards that follow the NCERT curriculum.
Our Pasts II covers roughly a thousand years of Indian history, from about 700 to 1750 — the medieval period. It begins with how historians work with the sources of this period and how the terms "medieval" and "Hindustan" changed meaning over time, then moves through the new kings and kingdoms that emerged after the eighth century, the Delhi Sultans, the Mughal Empire, and the regional cultures and rulers who grew alongside and after them. Along the way it takes up the subjects that are usually treated as social history rather than dynastic history: temples and mosques as architecture and as institutions, tribes, nomads and settled communities, the devotional paths of the Bhakti and Sufi traditions, and the political formations of the eighteenth century that closed the period.
This is one of the NCERT books that competitive-exam aspirants return to long after school. Medieval Indian history is a standing section in the UPSC, RPSC and RSSB syllabi, and the chronological spine a candidate needs — which dynasty followed which, what the administrative innovations were, who the major figures of the Bhakti and Sufi movements were — is laid out here more clearly than in most thicker reference works. Candidates are routinely advised to read the NCERT history set from Class 6 through Class 12 before starting on any standard reference text, and this volume is the medieval segment of that sequence.
The chapters are supported by maps, photographs of monuments and manuscript illustrations, extracts from contemporary sources, and "Let's recall", "Let's discuss" and "Let's do" exercises at the end of each chapter.
Key Features:
English medium book — complete content written in English (Roman script), no Hindi content
Published by NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training)
Social Science — Our Pasts II, Textbook in History for Class VII (Class 7)
Prescribed for CBSE schools and state boards following the NCERT curriculum
Covers medieval India, c. 700 to 1750
Covers Tracing Changes Through a Thousand Years
Covers New Kings and Kingdoms
Covers The Delhi Sultans
Covers The Mughal Empire
Covers Rulers and Buildings — temples, mosques and monumental architecture
Covers Towns, Traders and Craftspersons
Covers Tribes, Nomads and Settled Communities
Covers Devotional Paths to the Divine — Bhakti and Sufi traditions
Covers The Making of Regional Cultures
Covers Eighteenth-Century Political Formations
Maps, monument photographs and source extracts throughout
Chapter-end "Let's recall", "Let's discuss" and "Let's do" exercises
Also widely used as foundation reading for UPSC, RPSC, RSSB and other competitive examinations
Standard NCERT text — the base book before any reference or guide
यह पुस्तक राष्ट्रीय शैक्षिक अनुसंधान और प्रशिक्षण परिषद (NCERT) द्वारा कक्षा VII (कक्षा 7) के लिए निर्धारित सामाजिक विज्ञान — इतिहास की पाठ्यपुस्तक Our Pasts II है। ध्यान दें: यह पुस्तक पूर्णतः अंग्रेज़ी भाषा एवं रोमन लिपि में है — इसमें हिन्दी भाषा का प्रयोग नहीं है। इसमें लगभग 700 से 1750 ई. तक के मध्यकालीन भारत का इतिहास सम्मिलित है — नए राजा एवं उनके राज्य, दिल्ली के सुल्तान, मुगल साम्राज्य, शासक एवं इमारतें, नगर-व्यापारी एवं शिल्पीजन, जनजातियाँ-खानाबदोश एवं एक जगह बसे हुए समुदाय, ईश्वर से अनुराग (भक्ति एवं सूफी परम्पराएँ), क्षेत्रीय संस्कृतियों का निर्माण तथा अठारहवीं शताब्दी में नए राजनीतिक गठन। मानचित्र, स्मारकों के चित्र, समकालीन स्रोतों के अंश तथा अध्यायांत अभ्यास प्रश्न सम्मिलित हैं। UPSC, RPSC एवं RSSB जैसी प्रतियोगी परीक्षाओं में मध्यकालीन भारत एक निश्चित खंड है, और अभ्यर्थियों को किसी भी मानक संदर्भ पुस्तक से पूर्व कक्षा 6 से 12 तक की NCERT इतिहास पुस्तकें पढ़ने की सलाह दी जाती है — यह पुस्तक उसी क्रम का मध्यकालीन भाग है।
