SunstarTV Bureau: The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has informed that, there is no evidence over Mughal emperors had rebuilt temples after destroying them in wars, however, the same claim is made in the history textbook.
The issue was revealed in an RTI application seeking evidence for the claim made in the same in the textbook of Indian History (Part-2) for class 12.
Shivank Verma the one, who filed the RTI application, had sought details regarding textbook “On page 234 of the history textbook, all Mughal emperors gave grants to support the building and maintenance of places of worship Even when temples were destroyed during war, grants were later issued for their repair as we know from the reigns of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb.”
The chapter contains the Mughal empire as ‘a unifying force’, mentioning Abu’l Fazl, Mughal chronicler and author of Akbarnama. It mentions how Akbar had abolished the jizya, and people from various religions and ethnicities were given awards and positions in the Mughal Empire. However, in the paragraph claiming that the Mughal rulers had rebuilt temples after demolishing them, no source is given.
Therefore, an application was filed under the Rights to Information Act seeking the evidence of the claim made in the NCERT textbook. The petitioner had sought two details, regarding the claim, first, the source from which NCERT concluded that Mughals had issued grants for rebuilding temples destroyed in war during the regime of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb, and second, the number of temples repaired by Aurangzeb and Shah Jahan.
NCERT said that it does not have any information regarding the claim it made in the textbook. The replies to both the queries were “The information is not available on the files of the department.”
