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TexTbook in HisTory for Class Vi
OUR PASTS-ISocial Science
Prelims.indd 1 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, be lent,
re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the publisher’s consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.
The correct price of this publication is the price printed on this page, Any revised price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any other means is incorrect and should be unacceptable.
OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION DIVISION, NCERT
NCERT CampusSri Aurobindo MargNew Delhi 110 016
Phone : 011-26562708
108, 100 Feet Road Hosdakere Halli ExtensionBanashankari III StageBengaluru 560 085
Phone : 080-26725740
Navjivan Trust BuildingP.O.Navjivan Ahmedabad 380 014
Phone : 079-27541446
CWC CampusOpp. Dhankal Bus StopPanihatiKolkata 700 114
Phone : 033-25530454
CWC ComplexMaligaon Guwahati 781 021
Phone : 0361-2674869
Publication Team
Head, Publication : Anup Kumar Rajput
Division
Chief Production : Arun Chitkara
OfficerChief Business
: Vipin Dewan
ManagerChief Editor (In ch
arge) : Bijnan Sutar
Editor : Benoy Banerjee
Production Assistant : Om Prakash
Cover, Layout and Illustrations
Arrt Creations, New DelhiFirst Edition
February 2006 Phalguna 1927Reprinted
October 2006, November 2007
January 2009, January 2010January 2011, January 2012January 2013, October 2013December 2014, February 2016December 2016, November 2017January 2019, August 2019March 2021, August 2021 and November 2021
Revised Edition
July 2022 Ashadha 1944November 2022 Kartika 1944
PD 360T BS
© National Council of Educational
Research and Training, 2006, 2022
` 65.00
Printed on 80 GSM paper with NCERT
watermark
Published at the
Publication Division
by the Secretary, National Council of
Educational Research and Training,
Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016
and printed at Amit Printing Press, D-12 and
13, Industrial Area, Site-A, Mathura (UP)0654 – O ur Pasts-I
Textbook for Class VIISBN 81-7450-493-1
Prelims.indd 2 11/18/2022 3:28:56 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
FOrewOrd
The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 recommends
that children’s life at school must be linked to their life outside
the school. This principle marks a departure from the legacy of bookish learning which continues to shape our system and causes a gap between the school, home and community. The syllabi and textbooks developed on the basis of NCF signify an attempt to implement this basic idea. They also attempt to discourage rote learning and the maintenance of sharp boundaries between different subject areas. We hope these measures will take us significantly further in the direction of a child-centred system of education outlined in the National Policy on Education (1986).
The success of this effort depends on the steps that school
principals and teachers will take to encourage children to reflect on their own learning and to pursue imaginative activities and questions. We must recognise that, given space, time and freedom, children generate new knowledge by engaging with the information passed on to them by adults. Treating the prescribed textbook as the sole basis of examination is one of the key reasons why other resources and sites of learning are ignored. Inculcating creativity and initiative is possible if we perceive and treat children as participants in learning, not as receivers of a fixed body of knowledge.
These aims imply considerable change in school routines
and mode of functioning. Flexibility in the daily time-table is
as necessary as rigour in implementing the annual calendar so that the required number of teaching days are actually devoted to teaching. The methods used for teaching and evaluation will also determine how effective this textbook proves to be for making children’s life at school a happy experience, rather than a source of stress or boredom. Syllabus designers have tried to address the problem of curricular burden by restructuring and reorienting knowledge at different stages with greater consideration for child psychology and the time available for teaching. The textbook attempts to enhance this
Prelims.indd 3 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
(iv)
endeavour by giving higher priority and space to opportunities
for contemplation and wondering, discussion in small groups, and activities requiring hands-on experience.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training
(NCERT) appreciates the hard work done by the textbook development committee responsible for this book. We wish to thank the Chairperson of the advisory group in Social Science, Professor Hari Vasudevan and the Chief Advisor for this book, Professor Neeladri Bhattacharya for guiding the work of this committee. Several teachers contributed to the development of this textbook; we are grateful to their principals for making this possible. We are indebted to the institutions and organisations, which have generously permitted us to draw upon their resources, material and personnel. We are especially grateful to the members of the National Monitoring Committee, appointed by the Department of Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development under the Chairpersonship of Professor Mrinal Miri and Professor G. P. Deshpande, for their valuable time and contribution. As an organisation committed to systemic reform and continuous improvement in the quality of its products, NCERT welcomes comments and suggestions which will enable us to undertake further revision and refinement.
Director
National Council of Educational
Research and TrainingNew Delhi
20 December 2005
Prelims.indd 4 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
RATIONALISATION OF CONTENT
IN THE TEXTBOOKS
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to
reduce content load on students. The National Education Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing the content load and providing opportunities for experiential learning with creative mindset. In this background, the NCERT has undertaken the exercise to rationalise the textbooks across all classes. Learning Outcomes already developed by the NCERT across classes have been taken into consideration in this exercise.Contents of the textbooks have been rationalised in view of the following
• Overlapping with similar content included in other subject
areas in the same class
• Similar content included in the lower or higher class
in the same subject
• Dif fi culty level
• Content, which is easily accessible to students without
much interventions from teachers and can be learned by
children through self-learning or peer-learning.
• Content, which is not relevant in the present context.
This present edition, is a reformatted version after carrying
out the changes given above.
Prelims.indd vPrelims.indd v 8/10/2022 12:00:15 PM8/10/2022 12:00:15 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
Prelims.indd 6 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
textbOOk develOPment COmmIttee
ChaIrPersOn, advIsOry COmmIttee FOr textb OOks In sOCIal
sCIenCe at the mIddle level
Hari Vasudevan, Professor, Department of History, University of
Calcutta, Kolkata
ChIeF advIsOr
Neeladri Bhattacharya, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
advIsOr
Kumkum Roy, Associate Professor, Centre for Historical
Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
members
Anil Sethi, Former Professor, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT
Gauri Srivastava, Reader, Department of Women’s Studies,
NCERTJaya Menon, Reader, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh
N.P. Singh, Principal, Rashtriya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya,
New DelhiP.K. Basant, Reader, Department of History and Culture,
Faculty of Humanities and Languages, Jamia Millia Islamia,
New Delhi Ranabir Chakravarti, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Shuchi Bajaj, Post-Graduate Teacher (History), Springdales
School, New DelhiVishwa Mohan Jha, Reader in History , Atma Ram Sanatan
Dharma College, Delhi University, New Delhi
member -COOrdInatOr
Seema S. Ojha, Lecturer, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT.
Prelims.indd 7 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
Prelims.indd 8 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
why study hIstOry ?
This year, in Class VI, you will read history. It is part of a bigger
group of subjects known as Social Science. Social Science helps
us understand the working of our social world. It tells us about geography, the way the economy works, and the manner in which social and political life is organised. Most parts of Social Science other than history tell you about the world in the present. History will help you understand how this present evolved. It will tell you about the past of the present.
When we live in a society, we become used to the world
around us. We begin to take that world for granted. We forget that life was not always the way we see it. Can you, for instance, imagine a life without fire? Can you think of what it is to live in a society where the cultivation of crops was unknown? Or, what it was to live at a time when roads and railways did not exist, and yet people travelled long distances? History can take us into these pasts.
History in this sense is an adventure. It is a journey across
time and space. It transports us into another world, another age, in which people lived differently. Their economy and society, their beliefs and faiths, their clothes and food, their settlements and buildings, their arts and crafts – everything was different. History can open doors into such worlds.
You may shrug your shoulders and say “Why should we
bother about pasts that are no longer with us, pasts that have gone by?”
But history is not just about the past. It is about the present.
The society we live in has been fashioned by those who came before us. The joys and sorrows of their daily lives, their attempt to grapple with the problems of their time, their discoveries and inventions, slowly transformed human societies. These changes were often so gradual, so seemingly small, that their impact was not noticed by people at that time. Only later, when we return to the past, when we study history, can we begin to see how these changes happened, and we can observe their long-term effect. By reading history we can understand how the modern world has emerged over long centuries of development.
Prelims.indd 9 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
(x)
The book that you will study this year will take you back to
our ancient pasts. Over the next two years you will continue your
journey through the history of subsequent periods.
In this book you will read not just about the kings and queens
who lived in ancient India, and about their conquests and policies. You will learn about hunters and peasants, crafts people and traders. You will see how fire came to be used, and iron tools were discovered; how wheat and rice began to be cultivated, and villages and towns developed. You will read about pilgrims and saints, buildings and paintings, religions and beliefs. You will find out that history is not only about great men. It is also about the lives and activities of ordinary women, men and children. History is not only about political events, it is about everything that happens in society.
The book will also help you understand how historians come
to know about the past. Somewhat like detectives, historians follow clues and traces left by people who lived in the past. Everything that survives from earlier times – stone tools, traces of plants, bones, written material and pictures, ornaments and implements, inscriptions and coins, buildings and sculpture, pots and pans — can tell us something about the past. Historians and archaeologists study these sources and try and understand them. In this book, you will see many of these sources and find out how historians study these.
But studying history can help us understand more than the
past. It enables us to develop important skills and qualities. When we try and enter another world, we have to learn how to do this — to understand people whose lives were different. As we do this, we open up our minds and break out of our small present-day worlds. We begin to see how other people may think and act. This can become a learning experience that enriches us in many different ways.
So, before you shrug your shoulders, ask yourself one
question: Do I want to know who I am? Do I want to understand how this society works? Do I want to understand the world in which I live? If you do, then you will need to know how our societies
have evolved. And how our pasts have shaped the present.
neeladri bHaTTaCHarya
Chief Advisor
History
Prelims.indd 10 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
Acknowledgements
This book has been in the making for several months. The team
that developed this book included school teachers, subject
experts from colleges and universities, and NCERT faculty. All the members of the team have worked to write the text, select visuals and design exercises. We have had long and intense discussions on all these aspects.
We have greatly benefited from the insightful and incisive
comments and suggestions offered by young readers — Apoorv Avram, Mallika Visvanathan and Meera Visvanathan. We have tried to incorporate the comments and suggestions offered by all those who read drafts of the book as it took shape. We would like to thank in particular the members of the National Monitoring Committee who offered detailed suggestions. We are also grateful to Professor Romila Thapar, Uma Chakravarti, Jairus Banaji, Upinder Singh, C. N. Subrahmaniam of Eklavya, and Mary John
for reading and offering critical comments on drafts. Professor B.D. Chattopadhyaya, Professor Kunal Chakrabarti, Vijaya Ramaswamy, Professor S.R. Walimbe and Naina Dayal advised us on specific sections. Professor Narayani Gupta provided constant support.
We are also grateful to the Director General, Archaeological
Survey of India, Surendra Kaul, Director General, Centre for
Cultural Resources and Training, New Delhi, Purnima Mehta and the staff of the Photo Archives, American Institute of Indian Studies, Gurgaon, Haryana, K.P. Rao, University of Hyderabad, and Bharati Jagannathan for providing photographs of inscriptions, coins, monuments, sculpture, painting, including illustrations of archaeological and historical sites and artefacts, such as pottery, tools and associated finds. We would like to thank Geetanjali Surendran and the members of the National Manuscript Mission, New Delhi for photographs of manuscripts. Catherine Jarrige kindly granted us permission to reproduce the sketches of Mehrgarh. We would also like to thank those who provided us with pictures of children — Umesh Matta of UNICEF, New Delhi, R.C. Das of CIET, NCERT, and Springdales School, New Delhi.
Prelims.indd 11 28 April 2022 02:16:49
Rationalised 2023-24
(xii)
The maps in the book have been drawn by K. Varghese of
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and Shyam Narain
Lal, Department of History, Jammu University. Subhadra Sengupta copyedited and proofread the manuscript. Animesh Roy and Ritu Topa of Arrt Creations, New Delhi, designed and typeset the book. We would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation of their efforts.
While every effort has been made to acknowledge the source
of illustrations, we apologise for any omissions that may have inadvertently taken place.
We look forward to more feedback on the book, and hope
to improve on it in future editions.
Special thanks are due to Savita Sinha, Professor and Head,
DESSH, NCERT for her support during the development of this book.
Thanks are due to Shveta Uppal, Chief Editor, NCERT and
Vandana R. Singh, Consultant Editor for going through the manuscript and suggesting relevant changes.
The Council also gratefully acknowledges the contributions
of Arvind Sharma, DTP Operator; during the preparation of the book and Incharge DTP Cell, Bijnan Sutar in shaping this
book. The efforts of the Publication Department, NCERT are also highly appreciated.
The Council acknowledges the valuable inputs for
analysing syllabi, textbooks and the content, proposed to be rationalised for this edition by Umesh Ashok Kadam, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Sunil Kumar Singh, PGT History ,
Kendriya Vidyalaya, AFS, Tughlakabad, New Delhi; Krishna Ranjan, PGT History , Kendriya Vidyalaya, Vikaspuri; Archana
Verma, Department of History, Hindu College, University of Delhi, Delhi; Shruti Mishra, PGT History and HoD,
History, Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram, New Delhi; Gouri Srivastava, Professor and Head, Pratyusa K. Mandal, Professor;
Seema S. Ojha, Professor, DESS; Mily Roy Anand, Professor,
DGS and Sharad Kumar Pandey, Associate Professor, DCS&D,
NCERT.
Prelims.indd 12 09 June 2022 05:28:03
Rationalised 2023-24
C O n t e n t s
Foreword iii
Rationalisation of Content in the Textbooks v
Why Study History? ix
1. INTRODUCTION: WHAT, WHERE, HOW AND WHEN? 1
2. FROM HUNTING–GATHERING TO GROWING FOOD 10
3. IN THE EARLIEST CITIES 22
4. WHAT BOOKS AND BURIALS TELL US 33
5. KINGDOMS, KINGS AND AN EARLY REPUBLIC 43
6. NEW QUESTIONS AND IDEAS 52
7. FROM A KINGDOM TO AN EMPIRE 62
8. VILLAGES, TOWNS AND TRADE 73
9. NEW EMPIRES AND KINGDOMS 85
10. BUILDINGS, PAINTINGS AND BOOKS 96
Prelims.indd 13 22 April 2022 12:02:42
Rationalised 2023-24
In thIs bOOk
• You will find that each chapter is introduced by a young
girl or a boy.
• Each chapter is divided into sections. Read, discuss
and understand each section before proceeding to the next.
• Some chapters contain definitions.
• Many chapters contain a portion from a source ,
clues from which historians write history. Read these carefully, and discuss the questions they contain.
• Many of our sources are visual. Each illustration has a
story to tell.
• You will also find maps. Look at these and try to locate
the places mentioned in the lessons.
• Many chapters contain boxes with interesting, additional information .
• At the end of each chapter, you will find a list of keywords . These are to remind you of important ideas/
themes introduced in the lesson.
• You will also find some dates listed at the end of each
chapter.
• In each chapter there are intext questions and activities
that are highlighted. Spend some time discussing these as you go along.
• And there is a small section titled Imagine. This is your
chance to go back into the past and figure out what life would have been like.
• You will also find three kinds of activities listed at the end of each chapter — Let’s recall, Let’s discuss and
Let’s do.
So, you will find that there is a lot to read, see, think about and do. We do hope you enjoy it.Definitions
Additional
information
KEYWORDS
SOME IMPORTANT
DATES
Imagine
Let’s recall
Let’s discuss Let’s do
SourceLOOK OUT FOR THESE
Prelims.indd 14 22 April 2022 12:02:43
Rationalised 2023-24
| {
"answer_start": [
-1
],
"text": [
"[Answer placeholder: Review context manually]"
]
} | qa_1 | {
"note": "This question and answer pair needs manual review",
"source": "Generated from context"
} |
|
TexTbook in HisTory for Class Vi
OUR PASTS-ISocial Science
Prelims.indd 1 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, be lent,
re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the publisher’s consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.
The correct price of this publication is the price printed on this page, Any revised price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any other means is incorrect and should be unacceptable.
OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION DIVISION, NCERT
NCERT CampusSri Aurobindo MargNew Delhi 110 016
Phone : 011-26562708
108, 100 Feet Road Hosdakere Halli ExtensionBanashankari III StageBengaluru 560 085
Phone : 080-26725740
Navjivan Trust BuildingP.O.Navjivan Ahmedabad 380 014
Phone : 079-27541446
CWC CampusOpp. Dhankal Bus StopPanihatiKolkata 700 114
Phone : 033-25530454
CWC ComplexMaligaon Guwahati 781 021
Phone : 0361-2674869
Publication Team
Head, Publication : Anup Kumar Rajput
Division
Chief Production : Arun Chitkara
OfficerChief Business
: Vipin Dewan
ManagerChief Editor (In ch
arge) : Bijnan Sutar
Editor : Benoy Banerjee
Production Assistant : Om Prakash
Cover, Layout and Illustrations
Arrt Creations, New DelhiFirst Edition
February 2006 Phalguna 1927Reprinted
October 2006, November 2007
January 2009, January 2010January 2011, January 2012January 2013, October 2013December 2014, February 2016December 2016, November 2017January 2019, August 2019March 2021, August 2021 and November 2021
Revised Edition
July 2022 Ashadha 1944November 2022 Kartika 1944
PD 360T BS
© National Council of Educational
Research and Training, 2006, 2022
` 65.00
Printed on 80 GSM paper with NCERT
watermark
Published at the
Publication Division
by the Secretary, National Council of
Educational Research and Training,
Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016
and printed at Amit Printing Press, D-12 and
13, Industrial Area, Site-A, Mathura (UP)0654 – O ur Pasts-I
Textbook for Class VIISBN 81-7450-493-1
Prelims.indd 2 11/18/2022 3:28:56 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
FOrewOrd
The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 recommends
that children’s life at school must be linked to their life outside
the school. This principle marks a departure from the legacy of bookish learning which continues to shape our system and causes a gap between the school, home and community. The syllabi and textbooks developed on the basis of NCF signify an attempt to implement this basic idea. They also attempt to discourage rote learning and the maintenance of sharp boundaries between different subject areas. We hope these measures will take us significantly further in the direction of a child-centred system of education outlined in the National Policy on Education (1986).
The success of this effort depends on the steps that school
principals and teachers will take to encourage children to reflect on their own learning and to pursue imaginative activities and questions. We must recognise that, given space, time and freedom, children generate new knowledge by engaging with the information passed on to them by adults. Treating the prescribed textbook as the sole basis of examination is one of the key reasons why other resources and sites of learning are ignored. Inculcating creativity and initiative is possible if we perceive and treat children as participants in learning, not as receivers of a fixed body of knowledge.
These aims imply considerable change in school routines
and mode of functioning. Flexibility in the daily time-table is
as necessary as rigour in implementing the annual calendar so that the required number of teaching days are actually devoted to teaching. The methods used for teaching and evaluation will also determine how effective this textbook proves to be for making children’s life at school a happy experience, rather than a source of stress or boredom. Syllabus designers have tried to address the problem of curricular burden by restructuring and reorienting knowledge at different stages with greater consideration for child psychology and the time available for teaching. The textbook attempts to enhance this
Prelims.indd 3 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
(iv)
endeavour by giving higher priority and space to opportunities
for contemplation and wondering, discussion in small groups, and activities requiring hands-on experience.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training
(NCERT) appreciates the hard work done by the textbook development committee responsible for this book. We wish to thank the Chairperson of the advisory group in Social Science, Professor Hari Vasudevan and the Chief Advisor for this book, Professor Neeladri Bhattacharya for guiding the work of this committee. Several teachers contributed to the development of this textbook; we are grateful to their principals for making this possible. We are indebted to the institutions and organisations, which have generously permitted us to draw upon their resources, material and personnel. We are especially grateful to the members of the National Monitoring Committee, appointed by the Department of Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development under the Chairpersonship of Professor Mrinal Miri and Professor G. P. Deshpande, for their valuable time and contribution. As an organisation committed to systemic reform and continuous improvement in the quality of its products, NCERT welcomes comments and suggestions which will enable us to undertake further revision and refinement.
Director
National Council of Educational
Research and TrainingNew Delhi
20 December 2005
Prelims.indd 4 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
RATIONALISATION OF CONTENT
IN THE TEXTBOOKS
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to
reduce content load on students. The National Education Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing the content load and providing opportunities for experiential learning with creative mindset. In this background, the NCERT has undertaken the exercise to rationalise the textbooks across all classes. Learning Outcomes already developed by the NCERT across classes have been taken into consideration in this exercise.Contents of the textbooks have been rationalised in view of the following
• Overlapping with similar content included in other subject
areas in the same class
• Similar content included in the lower or higher class
in the same subject
• Dif fi culty level
• Content, which is easily accessible to students without
much interventions from teachers and can be learned by
children through self-learning or peer-learning.
• Content, which is not relevant in the present context.
This present edition, is a reformatted version after carrying
out the changes given above.
Prelims.indd vPrelims.indd v 8/10/2022 12:00:15 PM8/10/2022 12:00:15 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
Prelims.indd 6 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
textbOOk develOPment COmmIttee
ChaIrPersOn, advIsOry COmmIttee FOr textb OOks In sOCIal
sCIenCe at the mIddle level
Hari Vasudevan, Professor, Department of History, University of
Calcutta, Kolkata
ChIeF advIsOr
Neeladri Bhattacharya, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
advIsOr
Kumkum Roy, Associate Professor, Centre for Historical
Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
members
Anil Sethi, Former Professor, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT
Gauri Srivastava, Reader, Department of Women’s Studies,
NCERTJaya Menon, Reader, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh
N.P. Singh, Principal, Rashtriya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya,
New DelhiP.K. Basant, Reader, Department of History and Culture,
Faculty of Humanities and Languages, Jamia Millia Islamia,
New Delhi Ranabir Chakravarti, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Shuchi Bajaj, Post-Graduate Teacher (History), Springdales
School, New DelhiVishwa Mohan Jha, Reader in History , Atma Ram Sanatan
Dharma College, Delhi University, New Delhi
member -COOrdInatOr
Seema S. Ojha, Lecturer, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT.
Prelims.indd 7 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
Prelims.indd 8 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
why study hIstOry ?
This year, in Class VI, you will read history. It is part of a bigger
group of subjects known as Social Science. Social Science helps
us understand the working of our social world. It tells us about geography, the way the economy works, and the manner in which social and political life is organised. Most parts of Social Science other than history tell you about the world in the present. History will help you understand how this present evolved. It will tell you about the past of the present.
When we live in a society, we become used to the world
around us. We begin to take that world for granted. We forget that life was not always the way we see it. Can you, for instance, imagine a life without fire? Can you think of what it is to live in a society where the cultivation of crops was unknown? Or, what it was to live at a time when roads and railways did not exist, and yet people travelled long distances? History can take us into these pasts.
History in this sense is an adventure. It is a journey across
time and space. It transports us into another world, another age, in which people lived differently. Their economy and society, their beliefs and faiths, their clothes and food, their settlements and buildings, their arts and crafts – everything was different. History can open doors into such worlds.
You may shrug your shoulders and say “Why should we
bother about pasts that are no longer with us, pasts that have gone by?”
But history is not just about the past. It is about the present.
The society we live in has been fashioned by those who came before us. The joys and sorrows of their daily lives, their attempt to grapple with the problems of their time, their discoveries and inventions, slowly transformed human societies. These changes were often so gradual, so seemingly small, that their impact was not noticed by people at that time. Only later, when we return to the past, when we study history, can we begin to see how these changes happened, and we can observe their long-term effect. By reading history we can understand how the modern world has emerged over long centuries of development.
Prelims.indd 9 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
(x)
The book that you will study this year will take you back to
our ancient pasts. Over the next two years you will continue your
journey through the history of subsequent periods.
In this book you will read not just about the kings and queens
who lived in ancient India, and about their conquests and policies. You will learn about hunters and peasants, crafts people and traders. You will see how fire came to be used, and iron tools were discovered; how wheat and rice began to be cultivated, and villages and towns developed. You will read about pilgrims and saints, buildings and paintings, religions and beliefs. You will find out that history is not only about great men. It is also about the lives and activities of ordinary women, men and children. History is not only about political events, it is about everything that happens in society.
The book will also help you understand how historians come
to know about the past. Somewhat like detectives, historians follow clues and traces left by people who lived in the past. Everything that survives from earlier times – stone tools, traces of plants, bones, written material and pictures, ornaments and implements, inscriptions and coins, buildings and sculpture, pots and pans — can tell us something about the past. Historians and archaeologists study these sources and try and understand them. In this book, you will see many of these sources and find out how historians study these.
But studying history can help us understand more than the
past. It enables us to develop important skills and qualities. When we try and enter another world, we have to learn how to do this — to understand people whose lives were different. As we do this, we open up our minds and break out of our small present-day worlds. We begin to see how other people may think and act. This can become a learning experience that enriches us in many different ways.
So, before you shrug your shoulders, ask yourself one
question: Do I want to know who I am? Do I want to understand how this society works? Do I want to understand the world in which I live? If you do, then you will need to know how our societies
have evolved. And how our pasts have shaped the present.
neeladri bHaTTaCHarya
Chief Advisor
History
Prelims.indd 10 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
Acknowledgements
This book has been in the making for several months. The team
that developed this book included school teachers, subject
experts from colleges and universities, and NCERT faculty. All the members of the team have worked to write the text, select visuals and design exercises. We have had long and intense discussions on all these aspects.
We have greatly benefited from the insightful and incisive
comments and suggestions offered by young readers — Apoorv Avram, Mallika Visvanathan and Meera Visvanathan. We have tried to incorporate the comments and suggestions offered by all those who read drafts of the book as it took shape. We would like to thank in particular the members of the National Monitoring Committee who offered detailed suggestions. We are also grateful to Professor Romila Thapar, Uma Chakravarti, Jairus Banaji, Upinder Singh, C. N. Subrahmaniam of Eklavya, and Mary John
for reading and offering critical comments on drafts. Professor B.D. Chattopadhyaya, Professor Kunal Chakrabarti, Vijaya Ramaswamy, Professor S.R. Walimbe and Naina Dayal advised us on specific sections. Professor Narayani Gupta provided constant support.
We are also grateful to the Director General, Archaeological
Survey of India, Surendra Kaul, Director General, Centre for
Cultural Resources and Training, New Delhi, Purnima Mehta and the staff of the Photo Archives, American Institute of Indian Studies, Gurgaon, Haryana, K.P. Rao, University of Hyderabad, and Bharati Jagannathan for providing photographs of inscriptions, coins, monuments, sculpture, painting, including illustrations of archaeological and historical sites and artefacts, such as pottery, tools and associated finds. We would like to thank Geetanjali Surendran and the members of the National Manuscript Mission, New Delhi for photographs of manuscripts. Catherine Jarrige kindly granted us permission to reproduce the sketches of Mehrgarh. We would also like to thank those who provided us with pictures of children — Umesh Matta of UNICEF, New Delhi, R.C. Das of CIET, NCERT, and Springdales School, New Delhi.
Prelims.indd 11 28 April 2022 02:16:49
Rationalised 2023-24
(xii)
The maps in the book have been drawn by K. Varghese of
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and Shyam Narain
Lal, Department of History, Jammu University. Subhadra Sengupta copyedited and proofread the manuscript. Animesh Roy and Ritu Topa of Arrt Creations, New Delhi, designed and typeset the book. We would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation of their efforts.
While every effort has been made to acknowledge the source
of illustrations, we apologise for any omissions that may have inadvertently taken place.
We look forward to more feedback on the book, and hope
to improve on it in future editions.
Special thanks are due to Savita Sinha, Professor and Head,
DESSH, NCERT for her support during the development of this book.
Thanks are due to Shveta Uppal, Chief Editor, NCERT and
Vandana R. Singh, Consultant Editor for going through the manuscript and suggesting relevant changes.
The Council also gratefully acknowledges the contributions
of Arvind Sharma, DTP Operator; during the preparation of the book and Incharge DTP Cell, Bijnan Sutar in shaping this
book. The efforts of the Publication Department, NCERT are also highly appreciated.
The Council acknowledges the valuable inputs for
analysing syllabi, textbooks and the content, proposed to be rationalised for this edition by Umesh Ashok Kadam, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Sunil Kumar Singh, PGT History ,
Kendriya Vidyalaya, AFS, Tughlakabad, New Delhi; Krishna Ranjan, PGT History , Kendriya Vidyalaya, Vikaspuri; Archana
Verma, Department of History, Hindu College, University of Delhi, Delhi; Shruti Mishra, PGT History and HoD,
History, Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram, New Delhi; Gouri Srivastava, Professor and Head, Pratyusa K. Mandal, Professor;
Seema S. Ojha, Professor, DESS; Mily Roy Anand, Professor,
DGS and Sharad Kumar Pandey, Associate Professor, DCS&D,
NCERT.
Prelims.indd 12 09 June 2022 05:28:03
Rationalised 2023-24
C O n t e n t s
Foreword iii
Rationalisation of Content in the Textbooks v
Why Study History? ix
1. INTRODUCTION: WHAT, WHERE, HOW AND WHEN? 1
2. FROM HUNTING–GATHERING TO GROWING FOOD 10
3. IN THE EARLIEST CITIES 22
4. WHAT BOOKS AND BURIALS TELL US 33
5. KINGDOMS, KINGS AND AN EARLY REPUBLIC 43
6. NEW QUESTIONS AND IDEAS 52
7. FROM A KINGDOM TO AN EMPIRE 62
8. VILLAGES, TOWNS AND TRADE 73
9. NEW EMPIRES AND KINGDOMS 85
10. BUILDINGS, PAINTINGS AND BOOKS 96
Prelims.indd 13 22 April 2022 12:02:42
Rationalised 2023-24
In thIs bOOk
• You will find that each chapter is introduced by a young
girl or a boy.
• Each chapter is divided into sections. Read, discuss
and understand each section before proceeding to the next.
• Some chapters contain definitions.
• Many chapters contain a portion from a source ,
clues from which historians write history. Read these carefully, and discuss the questions they contain.
• Many of our sources are visual. Each illustration has a
story to tell.
• You will also find maps. Look at these and try to locate
the places mentioned in the lessons.
• Many chapters contain boxes with interesting, additional information .
• At the end of each chapter, you will find a list of keywords . These are to remind you of important ideas/
themes introduced in the lesson.
• You will also find some dates listed at the end of each
chapter.
• In each chapter there are intext questions and activities
that are highlighted. Spend some time discussing these as you go along.
• And there is a small section titled Imagine. This is your
chance to go back into the past and figure out what life would have been like.
• You will also find three kinds of activities listed at the end of each chapter — Let’s recall, Let’s discuss and
Let’s do.
So, you will find that there is a lot to read, see, think about and do. We do hope you enjoy it.Definitions
Additional
information
KEYWORDS
SOME IMPORTANT
DATES
Imagine
Let’s recall
Let’s discuss Let’s do
SourceLOOK OUT FOR THESE
Prelims.indd 14 22 April 2022 12:02:43
Rationalised 2023-24
| What is the correct price of the book? | {
"answer_start": [
-1
],
"text": [
"[Answer placeholder: Review context manually]"
]
} | qa_2 | {
"note": "This question and answer pair needs manual review",
"source": "Generated from context"
} |
TexTbook in HisTory for Class Vi
OUR PASTS-ISocial Science
Prelims.indd 1 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, be lent,
re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the publisher’s consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.
The correct price of this publication is the price printed on this page, Any revised price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any other means is incorrect and should be unacceptable.
OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION DIVISION, NCERT
NCERT CampusSri Aurobindo MargNew Delhi 110 016
Phone : 011-26562708
108, 100 Feet Road Hosdakere Halli ExtensionBanashankari III StageBengaluru 560 085
Phone : 080-26725740
Navjivan Trust BuildingP.O.Navjivan Ahmedabad 380 014
Phone : 079-27541446
CWC CampusOpp. Dhankal Bus StopPanihatiKolkata 700 114
Phone : 033-25530454
CWC ComplexMaligaon Guwahati 781 021
Phone : 0361-2674869
Publication Team
Head, Publication : Anup Kumar Rajput
Division
Chief Production : Arun Chitkara
OfficerChief Business
: Vipin Dewan
ManagerChief Editor (In ch
arge) : Bijnan Sutar
Editor : Benoy Banerjee
Production Assistant : Om Prakash
Cover, Layout and Illustrations
Arrt Creations, New DelhiFirst Edition
February 2006 Phalguna 1927Reprinted
October 2006, November 2007
January 2009, January 2010January 2011, January 2012January 2013, October 2013December 2014, February 2016December 2016, November 2017January 2019, August 2019March 2021, August 2021 and November 2021
Revised Edition
July 2022 Ashadha 1944November 2022 Kartika 1944
PD 360T BS
© National Council of Educational
Research and Training, 2006, 2022
` 65.00
Printed on 80 GSM paper with NCERT
watermark
Published at the
Publication Division
by the Secretary, National Council of
Educational Research and Training,
Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016
and printed at Amit Printing Press, D-12 and
13, Industrial Area, Site-A, Mathura (UP)0654 – O ur Pasts-I
Textbook for Class VIISBN 81-7450-493-1
Prelims.indd 2 11/18/2022 3:28:56 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
FOrewOrd
The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 recommends
that children’s life at school must be linked to their life outside
the school. This principle marks a departure from the legacy of bookish learning which continues to shape our system and causes a gap between the school, home and community. The syllabi and textbooks developed on the basis of NCF signify an attempt to implement this basic idea. They also attempt to discourage rote learning and the maintenance of sharp boundaries between different subject areas. We hope these measures will take us significantly further in the direction of a child-centred system of education outlined in the National Policy on Education (1986).
The success of this effort depends on the steps that school
principals and teachers will take to encourage children to reflect on their own learning and to pursue imaginative activities and questions. We must recognise that, given space, time and freedom, children generate new knowledge by engaging with the information passed on to them by adults. Treating the prescribed textbook as the sole basis of examination is one of the key reasons why other resources and sites of learning are ignored. Inculcating creativity and initiative is possible if we perceive and treat children as participants in learning, not as receivers of a fixed body of knowledge.
These aims imply considerable change in school routines
and mode of functioning. Flexibility in the daily time-table is
as necessary as rigour in implementing the annual calendar so that the required number of teaching days are actually devoted to teaching. The methods used for teaching and evaluation will also determine how effective this textbook proves to be for making children’s life at school a happy experience, rather than a source of stress or boredom. Syllabus designers have tried to address the problem of curricular burden by restructuring and reorienting knowledge at different stages with greater consideration for child psychology and the time available for teaching. The textbook attempts to enhance this
Prelims.indd 3 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
(iv)
endeavour by giving higher priority and space to opportunities
for contemplation and wondering, discussion in small groups, and activities requiring hands-on experience.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training
(NCERT) appreciates the hard work done by the textbook development committee responsible for this book. We wish to thank the Chairperson of the advisory group in Social Science, Professor Hari Vasudevan and the Chief Advisor for this book, Professor Neeladri Bhattacharya for guiding the work of this committee. Several teachers contributed to the development of this textbook; we are grateful to their principals for making this possible. We are indebted to the institutions and organisations, which have generously permitted us to draw upon their resources, material and personnel. We are especially grateful to the members of the National Monitoring Committee, appointed by the Department of Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development under the Chairpersonship of Professor Mrinal Miri and Professor G. P. Deshpande, for their valuable time and contribution. As an organisation committed to systemic reform and continuous improvement in the quality of its products, NCERT welcomes comments and suggestions which will enable us to undertake further revision and refinement.
Director
National Council of Educational
Research and TrainingNew Delhi
20 December 2005
Prelims.indd 4 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
RATIONALISATION OF CONTENT
IN THE TEXTBOOKS
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to
reduce content load on students. The National Education Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing the content load and providing opportunities for experiential learning with creative mindset. In this background, the NCERT has undertaken the exercise to rationalise the textbooks across all classes. Learning Outcomes already developed by the NCERT across classes have been taken into consideration in this exercise.Contents of the textbooks have been rationalised in view of the following
• Overlapping with similar content included in other subject
areas in the same class
• Similar content included in the lower or higher class
in the same subject
• Dif fi culty level
• Content, which is easily accessible to students without
much interventions from teachers and can be learned by
children through self-learning or peer-learning.
• Content, which is not relevant in the present context.
This present edition, is a reformatted version after carrying
out the changes given above.
Prelims.indd vPrelims.indd v 8/10/2022 12:00:15 PM8/10/2022 12:00:15 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
Prelims.indd 6 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
textbOOk develOPment COmmIttee
ChaIrPersOn, advIsOry COmmIttee FOr textb OOks In sOCIal
sCIenCe at the mIddle level
Hari Vasudevan, Professor, Department of History, University of
Calcutta, Kolkata
ChIeF advIsOr
Neeladri Bhattacharya, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
advIsOr
Kumkum Roy, Associate Professor, Centre for Historical
Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
members
Anil Sethi, Former Professor, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT
Gauri Srivastava, Reader, Department of Women’s Studies,
NCERTJaya Menon, Reader, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh
N.P. Singh, Principal, Rashtriya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya,
New DelhiP.K. Basant, Reader, Department of History and Culture,
Faculty of Humanities and Languages, Jamia Millia Islamia,
New Delhi Ranabir Chakravarti, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Shuchi Bajaj, Post-Graduate Teacher (History), Springdales
School, New DelhiVishwa Mohan Jha, Reader in History , Atma Ram Sanatan
Dharma College, Delhi University, New Delhi
member -COOrdInatOr
Seema S. Ojha, Lecturer, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT.
Prelims.indd 7 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
Prelims.indd 8 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
why study hIstOry ?
This year, in Class VI, you will read history. It is part of a bigger
group of subjects known as Social Science. Social Science helps
us understand the working of our social world. It tells us about geography, the way the economy works, and the manner in which social and political life is organised. Most parts of Social Science other than history tell you about the world in the present. History will help you understand how this present evolved. It will tell you about the past of the present.
When we live in a society, we become used to the world
around us. We begin to take that world for granted. We forget that life was not always the way we see it. Can you, for instance, imagine a life without fire? Can you think of what it is to live in a society where the cultivation of crops was unknown? Or, what it was to live at a time when roads and railways did not exist, and yet people travelled long distances? History can take us into these pasts.
History in this sense is an adventure. It is a journey across
time and space. It transports us into another world, another age, in which people lived differently. Their economy and society, their beliefs and faiths, their clothes and food, their settlements and buildings, their arts and crafts – everything was different. History can open doors into such worlds.
You may shrug your shoulders and say “Why should we
bother about pasts that are no longer with us, pasts that have gone by?”
But history is not just about the past. It is about the present.
The society we live in has been fashioned by those who came before us. The joys and sorrows of their daily lives, their attempt to grapple with the problems of their time, their discoveries and inventions, slowly transformed human societies. These changes were often so gradual, so seemingly small, that their impact was not noticed by people at that time. Only later, when we return to the past, when we study history, can we begin to see how these changes happened, and we can observe their long-term effect. By reading history we can understand how the modern world has emerged over long centuries of development.
Prelims.indd 9 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
(x)
The book that you will study this year will take you back to
our ancient pasts. Over the next two years you will continue your
journey through the history of subsequent periods.
In this book you will read not just about the kings and queens
who lived in ancient India, and about their conquests and policies. You will learn about hunters and peasants, crafts people and traders. You will see how fire came to be used, and iron tools were discovered; how wheat and rice began to be cultivated, and villages and towns developed. You will read about pilgrims and saints, buildings and paintings, religions and beliefs. You will find out that history is not only about great men. It is also about the lives and activities of ordinary women, men and children. History is not only about political events, it is about everything that happens in society.
The book will also help you understand how historians come
to know about the past. Somewhat like detectives, historians follow clues and traces left by people who lived in the past. Everything that survives from earlier times – stone tools, traces of plants, bones, written material and pictures, ornaments and implements, inscriptions and coins, buildings and sculpture, pots and pans — can tell us something about the past. Historians and archaeologists study these sources and try and understand them. In this book, you will see many of these sources and find out how historians study these.
But studying history can help us understand more than the
past. It enables us to develop important skills and qualities. When we try and enter another world, we have to learn how to do this — to understand people whose lives were different. As we do this, we open up our minds and break out of our small present-day worlds. We begin to see how other people may think and act. This can become a learning experience that enriches us in many different ways.
So, before you shrug your shoulders, ask yourself one
question: Do I want to know who I am? Do I want to understand how this society works? Do I want to understand the world in which I live? If you do, then you will need to know how our societies
have evolved. And how our pasts have shaped the present.
neeladri bHaTTaCHarya
Chief Advisor
History
Prelims.indd 10 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
Acknowledgements
This book has been in the making for several months. The team
that developed this book included school teachers, subject
experts from colleges and universities, and NCERT faculty. All the members of the team have worked to write the text, select visuals and design exercises. We have had long and intense discussions on all these aspects.
We have greatly benefited from the insightful and incisive
comments and suggestions offered by young readers — Apoorv Avram, Mallika Visvanathan and Meera Visvanathan. We have tried to incorporate the comments and suggestions offered by all those who read drafts of the book as it took shape. We would like to thank in particular the members of the National Monitoring Committee who offered detailed suggestions. We are also grateful to Professor Romila Thapar, Uma Chakravarti, Jairus Banaji, Upinder Singh, C. N. Subrahmaniam of Eklavya, and Mary John
for reading and offering critical comments on drafts. Professor B.D. Chattopadhyaya, Professor Kunal Chakrabarti, Vijaya Ramaswamy, Professor S.R. Walimbe and Naina Dayal advised us on specific sections. Professor Narayani Gupta provided constant support.
We are also grateful to the Director General, Archaeological
Survey of India, Surendra Kaul, Director General, Centre for
Cultural Resources and Training, New Delhi, Purnima Mehta and the staff of the Photo Archives, American Institute of Indian Studies, Gurgaon, Haryana, K.P. Rao, University of Hyderabad, and Bharati Jagannathan for providing photographs of inscriptions, coins, monuments, sculpture, painting, including illustrations of archaeological and historical sites and artefacts, such as pottery, tools and associated finds. We would like to thank Geetanjali Surendran and the members of the National Manuscript Mission, New Delhi for photographs of manuscripts. Catherine Jarrige kindly granted us permission to reproduce the sketches of Mehrgarh. We would also like to thank those who provided us with pictures of children — Umesh Matta of UNICEF, New Delhi, R.C. Das of CIET, NCERT, and Springdales School, New Delhi.
Prelims.indd 11 28 April 2022 02:16:49
Rationalised 2023-24
(xii)
The maps in the book have been drawn by K. Varghese of
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and Shyam Narain
Lal, Department of History, Jammu University. Subhadra Sengupta copyedited and proofread the manuscript. Animesh Roy and Ritu Topa of Arrt Creations, New Delhi, designed and typeset the book. We would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation of their efforts.
While every effort has been made to acknowledge the source
of illustrations, we apologise for any omissions that may have inadvertently taken place.
We look forward to more feedback on the book, and hope
to improve on it in future editions.
Special thanks are due to Savita Sinha, Professor and Head,
DESSH, NCERT for her support during the development of this book.
Thanks are due to Shveta Uppal, Chief Editor, NCERT and
Vandana R. Singh, Consultant Editor for going through the manuscript and suggesting relevant changes.
The Council also gratefully acknowledges the contributions
of Arvind Sharma, DTP Operator; during the preparation of the book and Incharge DTP Cell, Bijnan Sutar in shaping this
book. The efforts of the Publication Department, NCERT are also highly appreciated.
The Council acknowledges the valuable inputs for
analysing syllabi, textbooks and the content, proposed to be rationalised for this edition by Umesh Ashok Kadam, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Sunil Kumar Singh, PGT History ,
Kendriya Vidyalaya, AFS, Tughlakabad, New Delhi; Krishna Ranjan, PGT History , Kendriya Vidyalaya, Vikaspuri; Archana
Verma, Department of History, Hindu College, University of Delhi, Delhi; Shruti Mishra, PGT History and HoD,
History, Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram, New Delhi; Gouri Srivastava, Professor and Head, Pratyusa K. Mandal, Professor;
Seema S. Ojha, Professor, DESS; Mily Roy Anand, Professor,
DGS and Sharad Kumar Pandey, Associate Professor, DCS&D,
NCERT.
Prelims.indd 12 09 June 2022 05:28:03
Rationalised 2023-24
C O n t e n t s
Foreword iii
Rationalisation of Content in the Textbooks v
Why Study History? ix
1. INTRODUCTION: WHAT, WHERE, HOW AND WHEN? 1
2. FROM HUNTING–GATHERING TO GROWING FOOD 10
3. IN THE EARLIEST CITIES 22
4. WHAT BOOKS AND BURIALS TELL US 33
5. KINGDOMS, KINGS AND AN EARLY REPUBLIC 43
6. NEW QUESTIONS AND IDEAS 52
7. FROM A KINGDOM TO AN EMPIRE 62
8. VILLAGES, TOWNS AND TRADE 73
9. NEW EMPIRES AND KINGDOMS 85
10. BUILDINGS, PAINTINGS AND BOOKS 96
Prelims.indd 13 22 April 2022 12:02:42
Rationalised 2023-24
In thIs bOOk
• You will find that each chapter is introduced by a young
girl or a boy.
• Each chapter is divided into sections. Read, discuss
and understand each section before proceeding to the next.
• Some chapters contain definitions.
• Many chapters contain a portion from a source ,
clues from which historians write history. Read these carefully, and discuss the questions they contain.
• Many of our sources are visual. Each illustration has a
story to tell.
• You will also find maps. Look at these and try to locate
the places mentioned in the lessons.
• Many chapters contain boxes with interesting, additional information .
• At the end of each chapter, you will find a list of keywords . These are to remind you of important ideas/
themes introduced in the lesson.
• You will also find some dates listed at the end of each
chapter.
• In each chapter there are intext questions and activities
that are highlighted. Spend some time discussing these as you go along.
• And there is a small section titled Imagine. This is your
chance to go back into the past and figure out what life would have been like.
• You will also find three kinds of activities listed at the end of each chapter — Let’s recall, Let’s discuss and
Let’s do.
So, you will find that there is a lot to read, see, think about and do. We do hope you enjoy it.Definitions
Additional
information
KEYWORDS
SOME IMPORTANT
DATES
Imagine
Let’s recall
Let’s discuss Let’s do
SourceLOOK OUT FOR THESE
Prelims.indd 14 22 April 2022 12:02:43
Rationalised 2023-24
| What is the name of the book that was printed in the first edition? | {
"answer_start": [
-1
],
"text": [
"[Answer placeholder: Review context manually]"
]
} | qa_3 | {
"note": "This question and answer pair needs manual review",
"source": "Generated from context"
} |
TexTbook in HisTory for Class Vi
OUR PASTS-ISocial Science
Prelims.indd 1 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, be lent,
re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the publisher’s consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.
The correct price of this publication is the price printed on this page, Any revised price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any other means is incorrect and should be unacceptable.
OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION DIVISION, NCERT
NCERT CampusSri Aurobindo MargNew Delhi 110 016
Phone : 011-26562708
108, 100 Feet Road Hosdakere Halli ExtensionBanashankari III StageBengaluru 560 085
Phone : 080-26725740
Navjivan Trust BuildingP.O.Navjivan Ahmedabad 380 014
Phone : 079-27541446
CWC CampusOpp. Dhankal Bus StopPanihatiKolkata 700 114
Phone : 033-25530454
CWC ComplexMaligaon Guwahati 781 021
Phone : 0361-2674869
Publication Team
Head, Publication : Anup Kumar Rajput
Division
Chief Production : Arun Chitkara
OfficerChief Business
: Vipin Dewan
ManagerChief Editor (In ch
arge) : Bijnan Sutar
Editor : Benoy Banerjee
Production Assistant : Om Prakash
Cover, Layout and Illustrations
Arrt Creations, New DelhiFirst Edition
February 2006 Phalguna 1927Reprinted
October 2006, November 2007
January 2009, January 2010January 2011, January 2012January 2013, October 2013December 2014, February 2016December 2016, November 2017January 2019, August 2019March 2021, August 2021 and November 2021
Revised Edition
July 2022 Ashadha 1944November 2022 Kartika 1944
PD 360T BS
© National Council of Educational
Research and Training, 2006, 2022
` 65.00
Printed on 80 GSM paper with NCERT
watermark
Published at the
Publication Division
by the Secretary, National Council of
Educational Research and Training,
Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016
and printed at Amit Printing Press, D-12 and
13, Industrial Area, Site-A, Mathura (UP)0654 – O ur Pasts-I
Textbook for Class VIISBN 81-7450-493-1
Prelims.indd 2 11/18/2022 3:28:56 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
FOrewOrd
The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 recommends
that children’s life at school must be linked to their life outside
the school. This principle marks a departure from the legacy of bookish learning which continues to shape our system and causes a gap between the school, home and community. The syllabi and textbooks developed on the basis of NCF signify an attempt to implement this basic idea. They also attempt to discourage rote learning and the maintenance of sharp boundaries between different subject areas. We hope these measures will take us significantly further in the direction of a child-centred system of education outlined in the National Policy on Education (1986).
The success of this effort depends on the steps that school
principals and teachers will take to encourage children to reflect on their own learning and to pursue imaginative activities and questions. We must recognise that, given space, time and freedom, children generate new knowledge by engaging with the information passed on to them by adults. Treating the prescribed textbook as the sole basis of examination is one of the key reasons why other resources and sites of learning are ignored. Inculcating creativity and initiative is possible if we perceive and treat children as participants in learning, not as receivers of a fixed body of knowledge.
These aims imply considerable change in school routines
and mode of functioning. Flexibility in the daily time-table is
as necessary as rigour in implementing the annual calendar so that the required number of teaching days are actually devoted to teaching. The methods used for teaching and evaluation will also determine how effective this textbook proves to be for making children’s life at school a happy experience, rather than a source of stress or boredom. Syllabus designers have tried to address the problem of curricular burden by restructuring and reorienting knowledge at different stages with greater consideration for child psychology and the time available for teaching. The textbook attempts to enhance this
Prelims.indd 3 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
(iv)
endeavour by giving higher priority and space to opportunities
for contemplation and wondering, discussion in small groups, and activities requiring hands-on experience.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training
(NCERT) appreciates the hard work done by the textbook development committee responsible for this book. We wish to thank the Chairperson of the advisory group in Social Science, Professor Hari Vasudevan and the Chief Advisor for this book, Professor Neeladri Bhattacharya for guiding the work of this committee. Several teachers contributed to the development of this textbook; we are grateful to their principals for making this possible. We are indebted to the institutions and organisations, which have generously permitted us to draw upon their resources, material and personnel. We are especially grateful to the members of the National Monitoring Committee, appointed by the Department of Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development under the Chairpersonship of Professor Mrinal Miri and Professor G. P. Deshpande, for their valuable time and contribution. As an organisation committed to systemic reform and continuous improvement in the quality of its products, NCERT welcomes comments and suggestions which will enable us to undertake further revision and refinement.
Director
National Council of Educational
Research and TrainingNew Delhi
20 December 2005
Prelims.indd 4 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
RATIONALISATION OF CONTENT
IN THE TEXTBOOKS
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to
reduce content load on students. The National Education Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing the content load and providing opportunities for experiential learning with creative mindset. In this background, the NCERT has undertaken the exercise to rationalise the textbooks across all classes. Learning Outcomes already developed by the NCERT across classes have been taken into consideration in this exercise.Contents of the textbooks have been rationalised in view of the following
• Overlapping with similar content included in other subject
areas in the same class
• Similar content included in the lower or higher class
in the same subject
• Dif fi culty level
• Content, which is easily accessible to students without
much interventions from teachers and can be learned by
children through self-learning or peer-learning.
• Content, which is not relevant in the present context.
This present edition, is a reformatted version after carrying
out the changes given above.
Prelims.indd vPrelims.indd v 8/10/2022 12:00:15 PM8/10/2022 12:00:15 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
Prelims.indd 6 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
textbOOk develOPment COmmIttee
ChaIrPersOn, advIsOry COmmIttee FOr textb OOks In sOCIal
sCIenCe at the mIddle level
Hari Vasudevan, Professor, Department of History, University of
Calcutta, Kolkata
ChIeF advIsOr
Neeladri Bhattacharya, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
advIsOr
Kumkum Roy, Associate Professor, Centre for Historical
Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
members
Anil Sethi, Former Professor, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT
Gauri Srivastava, Reader, Department of Women’s Studies,
NCERTJaya Menon, Reader, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh
N.P. Singh, Principal, Rashtriya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya,
New DelhiP.K. Basant, Reader, Department of History and Culture,
Faculty of Humanities and Languages, Jamia Millia Islamia,
New Delhi Ranabir Chakravarti, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Shuchi Bajaj, Post-Graduate Teacher (History), Springdales
School, New DelhiVishwa Mohan Jha, Reader in History , Atma Ram Sanatan
Dharma College, Delhi University, New Delhi
member -COOrdInatOr
Seema S. Ojha, Lecturer, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT.
Prelims.indd 7 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
Prelims.indd 8 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
why study hIstOry ?
This year, in Class VI, you will read history. It is part of a bigger
group of subjects known as Social Science. Social Science helps
us understand the working of our social world. It tells us about geography, the way the economy works, and the manner in which social and political life is organised. Most parts of Social Science other than history tell you about the world in the present. History will help you understand how this present evolved. It will tell you about the past of the present.
When we live in a society, we become used to the world
around us. We begin to take that world for granted. We forget that life was not always the way we see it. Can you, for instance, imagine a life without fire? Can you think of what it is to live in a society where the cultivation of crops was unknown? Or, what it was to live at a time when roads and railways did not exist, and yet people travelled long distances? History can take us into these pasts.
History in this sense is an adventure. It is a journey across
time and space. It transports us into another world, another age, in which people lived differently. Their economy and society, their beliefs and faiths, their clothes and food, their settlements and buildings, their arts and crafts – everything was different. History can open doors into such worlds.
You may shrug your shoulders and say “Why should we
bother about pasts that are no longer with us, pasts that have gone by?”
But history is not just about the past. It is about the present.
The society we live in has been fashioned by those who came before us. The joys and sorrows of their daily lives, their attempt to grapple with the problems of their time, their discoveries and inventions, slowly transformed human societies. These changes were often so gradual, so seemingly small, that their impact was not noticed by people at that time. Only later, when we return to the past, when we study history, can we begin to see how these changes happened, and we can observe their long-term effect. By reading history we can understand how the modern world has emerged over long centuries of development.
Prelims.indd 9 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
(x)
The book that you will study this year will take you back to
our ancient pasts. Over the next two years you will continue your
journey through the history of subsequent periods.
In this book you will read not just about the kings and queens
who lived in ancient India, and about their conquests and policies. You will learn about hunters and peasants, crafts people and traders. You will see how fire came to be used, and iron tools were discovered; how wheat and rice began to be cultivated, and villages and towns developed. You will read about pilgrims and saints, buildings and paintings, religions and beliefs. You will find out that history is not only about great men. It is also about the lives and activities of ordinary women, men and children. History is not only about political events, it is about everything that happens in society.
The book will also help you understand how historians come
to know about the past. Somewhat like detectives, historians follow clues and traces left by people who lived in the past. Everything that survives from earlier times – stone tools, traces of plants, bones, written material and pictures, ornaments and implements, inscriptions and coins, buildings and sculpture, pots and pans — can tell us something about the past. Historians and archaeologists study these sources and try and understand them. In this book, you will see many of these sources and find out how historians study these.
But studying history can help us understand more than the
past. It enables us to develop important skills and qualities. When we try and enter another world, we have to learn how to do this — to understand people whose lives were different. As we do this, we open up our minds and break out of our small present-day worlds. We begin to see how other people may think and act. This can become a learning experience that enriches us in many different ways.
So, before you shrug your shoulders, ask yourself one
question: Do I want to know who I am? Do I want to understand how this society works? Do I want to understand the world in which I live? If you do, then you will need to know how our societies
have evolved. And how our pasts have shaped the present.
neeladri bHaTTaCHarya
Chief Advisor
History
Prelims.indd 10 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
Acknowledgements
This book has been in the making for several months. The team
that developed this book included school teachers, subject
experts from colleges and universities, and NCERT faculty. All the members of the team have worked to write the text, select visuals and design exercises. We have had long and intense discussions on all these aspects.
We have greatly benefited from the insightful and incisive
comments and suggestions offered by young readers — Apoorv Avram, Mallika Visvanathan and Meera Visvanathan. We have tried to incorporate the comments and suggestions offered by all those who read drafts of the book as it took shape. We would like to thank in particular the members of the National Monitoring Committee who offered detailed suggestions. We are also grateful to Professor Romila Thapar, Uma Chakravarti, Jairus Banaji, Upinder Singh, C. N. Subrahmaniam of Eklavya, and Mary John
for reading and offering critical comments on drafts. Professor B.D. Chattopadhyaya, Professor Kunal Chakrabarti, Vijaya Ramaswamy, Professor S.R. Walimbe and Naina Dayal advised us on specific sections. Professor Narayani Gupta provided constant support.
We are also grateful to the Director General, Archaeological
Survey of India, Surendra Kaul, Director General, Centre for
Cultural Resources and Training, New Delhi, Purnima Mehta and the staff of the Photo Archives, American Institute of Indian Studies, Gurgaon, Haryana, K.P. Rao, University of Hyderabad, and Bharati Jagannathan for providing photographs of inscriptions, coins, monuments, sculpture, painting, including illustrations of archaeological and historical sites and artefacts, such as pottery, tools and associated finds. We would like to thank Geetanjali Surendran and the members of the National Manuscript Mission, New Delhi for photographs of manuscripts. Catherine Jarrige kindly granted us permission to reproduce the sketches of Mehrgarh. We would also like to thank those who provided us with pictures of children — Umesh Matta of UNICEF, New Delhi, R.C. Das of CIET, NCERT, and Springdales School, New Delhi.
Prelims.indd 11 28 April 2022 02:16:49
Rationalised 2023-24
(xii)
The maps in the book have been drawn by K. Varghese of
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and Shyam Narain
Lal, Department of History, Jammu University. Subhadra Sengupta copyedited and proofread the manuscript. Animesh Roy and Ritu Topa of Arrt Creations, New Delhi, designed and typeset the book. We would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation of their efforts.
While every effort has been made to acknowledge the source
of illustrations, we apologise for any omissions that may have inadvertently taken place.
We look forward to more feedback on the book, and hope
to improve on it in future editions.
Special thanks are due to Savita Sinha, Professor and Head,
DESSH, NCERT for her support during the development of this book.
Thanks are due to Shveta Uppal, Chief Editor, NCERT and
Vandana R. Singh, Consultant Editor for going through the manuscript and suggesting relevant changes.
The Council also gratefully acknowledges the contributions
of Arvind Sharma, DTP Operator; during the preparation of the book and Incharge DTP Cell, Bijnan Sutar in shaping this
book. The efforts of the Publication Department, NCERT are also highly appreciated.
The Council acknowledges the valuable inputs for
analysing syllabi, textbooks and the content, proposed to be rationalised for this edition by Umesh Ashok Kadam, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Sunil Kumar Singh, PGT History ,
Kendriya Vidyalaya, AFS, Tughlakabad, New Delhi; Krishna Ranjan, PGT History , Kendriya Vidyalaya, Vikaspuri; Archana
Verma, Department of History, Hindu College, University of Delhi, Delhi; Shruti Mishra, PGT History and HoD,
History, Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram, New Delhi; Gouri Srivastava, Professor and Head, Pratyusa K. Mandal, Professor;
Seema S. Ojha, Professor, DESS; Mily Roy Anand, Professor,
DGS and Sharad Kumar Pandey, Associate Professor, DCS&D,
NCERT.
Prelims.indd 12 09 June 2022 05:28:03
Rationalised 2023-24
C O n t e n t s
Foreword iii
Rationalisation of Content in the Textbooks v
Why Study History? ix
1. INTRODUCTION: WHAT, WHERE, HOW AND WHEN? 1
2. FROM HUNTING–GATHERING TO GROWING FOOD 10
3. IN THE EARLIEST CITIES 22
4. WHAT BOOKS AND BURIALS TELL US 33
5. KINGDOMS, KINGS AND AN EARLY REPUBLIC 43
6. NEW QUESTIONS AND IDEAS 52
7. FROM A KINGDOM TO AN EMPIRE 62
8. VILLAGES, TOWNS AND TRADE 73
9. NEW EMPIRES AND KINGDOMS 85
10. BUILDINGS, PAINTINGS AND BOOKS 96
Prelims.indd 13 22 April 2022 12:02:42
Rationalised 2023-24
In thIs bOOk
• You will find that each chapter is introduced by a young
girl or a boy.
• Each chapter is divided into sections. Read, discuss
and understand each section before proceeding to the next.
• Some chapters contain definitions.
• Many chapters contain a portion from a source ,
clues from which historians write history. Read these carefully, and discuss the questions they contain.
• Many of our sources are visual. Each illustration has a
story to tell.
• You will also find maps. Look at these and try to locate
the places mentioned in the lessons.
• Many chapters contain boxes with interesting, additional information .
• At the end of each chapter, you will find a list of keywords . These are to remind you of important ideas/
themes introduced in the lesson.
• You will also find some dates listed at the end of each
chapter.
• In each chapter there are intext questions and activities
that are highlighted. Spend some time discussing these as you go along.
• And there is a small section titled Imagine. This is your
chance to go back into the past and figure out what life would have been like.
• You will also find three kinds of activities listed at the end of each chapter — Let’s recall, Let’s discuss and
Let’s do.
So, you will find that there is a lot to read, see, think about and do. We do hope you enjoy it.Definitions
Additional
information
KEYWORDS
SOME IMPORTANT
DATES
Imagine
Let’s recall
Let’s discuss Let’s do
SourceLOOK OUT FOR THESE
Prelims.indd 14 22 April 2022 12:02:43
Rationalised 2023-24
| What is the principle of NCF? | {
"answer_start": [
-1
],
"text": [
"[Answer placeholder: Review context manually]"
]
} | qa_4 | {
"note": "This question and answer pair needs manual review",
"source": "Generated from context"
} |
TexTbook in HisTory for Class Vi
OUR PASTS-ISocial Science
Prelims.indd 1 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, be lent,
re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the publisher’s consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.
The correct price of this publication is the price printed on this page, Any revised price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any other means is incorrect and should be unacceptable.
OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION DIVISION, NCERT
NCERT CampusSri Aurobindo MargNew Delhi 110 016
Phone : 011-26562708
108, 100 Feet Road Hosdakere Halli ExtensionBanashankari III StageBengaluru 560 085
Phone : 080-26725740
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Phone : 079-27541446
CWC CampusOpp. Dhankal Bus StopPanihatiKolkata 700 114
Phone : 033-25530454
CWC ComplexMaligaon Guwahati 781 021
Phone : 0361-2674869
Publication Team
Head, Publication : Anup Kumar Rajput
Division
Chief Production : Arun Chitkara
OfficerChief Business
: Vipin Dewan
ManagerChief Editor (In ch
arge) : Bijnan Sutar
Editor : Benoy Banerjee
Production Assistant : Om Prakash
Cover, Layout and Illustrations
Arrt Creations, New DelhiFirst Edition
February 2006 Phalguna 1927Reprinted
October 2006, November 2007
January 2009, January 2010January 2011, January 2012January 2013, October 2013December 2014, February 2016December 2016, November 2017January 2019, August 2019March 2021, August 2021 and November 2021
Revised Edition
July 2022 Ashadha 1944November 2022 Kartika 1944
PD 360T BS
© National Council of Educational
Research and Training, 2006, 2022
` 65.00
Printed on 80 GSM paper with NCERT
watermark
Published at the
Publication Division
by the Secretary, National Council of
Educational Research and Training,
Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016
and printed at Amit Printing Press, D-12 and
13, Industrial Area, Site-A, Mathura (UP)0654 – O ur Pasts-I
Textbook for Class VIISBN 81-7450-493-1
Prelims.indd 2 11/18/2022 3:28:56 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
FOrewOrd
The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 recommends
that children’s life at school must be linked to their life outside
the school. This principle marks a departure from the legacy of bookish learning which continues to shape our system and causes a gap between the school, home and community. The syllabi and textbooks developed on the basis of NCF signify an attempt to implement this basic idea. They also attempt to discourage rote learning and the maintenance of sharp boundaries between different subject areas. We hope these measures will take us significantly further in the direction of a child-centred system of education outlined in the National Policy on Education (1986).
The success of this effort depends on the steps that school
principals and teachers will take to encourage children to reflect on their own learning and to pursue imaginative activities and questions. We must recognise that, given space, time and freedom, children generate new knowledge by engaging with the information passed on to them by adults. Treating the prescribed textbook as the sole basis of examination is one of the key reasons why other resources and sites of learning are ignored. Inculcating creativity and initiative is possible if we perceive and treat children as participants in learning, not as receivers of a fixed body of knowledge.
These aims imply considerable change in school routines
and mode of functioning. Flexibility in the daily time-table is
as necessary as rigour in implementing the annual calendar so that the required number of teaching days are actually devoted to teaching. The methods used for teaching and evaluation will also determine how effective this textbook proves to be for making children’s life at school a happy experience, rather than a source of stress or boredom. Syllabus designers have tried to address the problem of curricular burden by restructuring and reorienting knowledge at different stages with greater consideration for child psychology and the time available for teaching. The textbook attempts to enhance this
Prelims.indd 3 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
(iv)
endeavour by giving higher priority and space to opportunities
for contemplation and wondering, discussion in small groups, and activities requiring hands-on experience.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training
(NCERT) appreciates the hard work done by the textbook development committee responsible for this book. We wish to thank the Chairperson of the advisory group in Social Science, Professor Hari Vasudevan and the Chief Advisor for this book, Professor Neeladri Bhattacharya for guiding the work of this committee. Several teachers contributed to the development of this textbook; we are grateful to their principals for making this possible. We are indebted to the institutions and organisations, which have generously permitted us to draw upon their resources, material and personnel. We are especially grateful to the members of the National Monitoring Committee, appointed by the Department of Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development under the Chairpersonship of Professor Mrinal Miri and Professor G. P. Deshpande, for their valuable time and contribution. As an organisation committed to systemic reform and continuous improvement in the quality of its products, NCERT welcomes comments and suggestions which will enable us to undertake further revision and refinement.
Director
National Council of Educational
Research and TrainingNew Delhi
20 December 2005
Prelims.indd 4 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
RATIONALISATION OF CONTENT
IN THE TEXTBOOKS
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to
reduce content load on students. The National Education Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing the content load and providing opportunities for experiential learning with creative mindset. In this background, the NCERT has undertaken the exercise to rationalise the textbooks across all classes. Learning Outcomes already developed by the NCERT across classes have been taken into consideration in this exercise.Contents of the textbooks have been rationalised in view of the following
• Overlapping with similar content included in other subject
areas in the same class
• Similar content included in the lower or higher class
in the same subject
• Dif fi culty level
• Content, which is easily accessible to students without
much interventions from teachers and can be learned by
children through self-learning or peer-learning.
• Content, which is not relevant in the present context.
This present edition, is a reformatted version after carrying
out the changes given above.
Prelims.indd vPrelims.indd v 8/10/2022 12:00:15 PM8/10/2022 12:00:15 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
Prelims.indd 6 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
textbOOk develOPment COmmIttee
ChaIrPersOn, advIsOry COmmIttee FOr textb OOks In sOCIal
sCIenCe at the mIddle level
Hari Vasudevan, Professor, Department of History, University of
Calcutta, Kolkata
ChIeF advIsOr
Neeladri Bhattacharya, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
advIsOr
Kumkum Roy, Associate Professor, Centre for Historical
Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
members
Anil Sethi, Former Professor, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT
Gauri Srivastava, Reader, Department of Women’s Studies,
NCERTJaya Menon, Reader, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh
N.P. Singh, Principal, Rashtriya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya,
New DelhiP.K. Basant, Reader, Department of History and Culture,
Faculty of Humanities and Languages, Jamia Millia Islamia,
New Delhi Ranabir Chakravarti, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Shuchi Bajaj, Post-Graduate Teacher (History), Springdales
School, New DelhiVishwa Mohan Jha, Reader in History , Atma Ram Sanatan
Dharma College, Delhi University, New Delhi
member -COOrdInatOr
Seema S. Ojha, Lecturer, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT.
Prelims.indd 7 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
Prelims.indd 8 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
why study hIstOry ?
This year, in Class VI, you will read history. It is part of a bigger
group of subjects known as Social Science. Social Science helps
us understand the working of our social world. It tells us about geography, the way the economy works, and the manner in which social and political life is organised. Most parts of Social Science other than history tell you about the world in the present. History will help you understand how this present evolved. It will tell you about the past of the present.
When we live in a society, we become used to the world
around us. We begin to take that world for granted. We forget that life was not always the way we see it. Can you, for instance, imagine a life without fire? Can you think of what it is to live in a society where the cultivation of crops was unknown? Or, what it was to live at a time when roads and railways did not exist, and yet people travelled long distances? History can take us into these pasts.
History in this sense is an adventure. It is a journey across
time and space. It transports us into another world, another age, in which people lived differently. Their economy and society, their beliefs and faiths, their clothes and food, their settlements and buildings, their arts and crafts – everything was different. History can open doors into such worlds.
You may shrug your shoulders and say “Why should we
bother about pasts that are no longer with us, pasts that have gone by?”
But history is not just about the past. It is about the present.
The society we live in has been fashioned by those who came before us. The joys and sorrows of their daily lives, their attempt to grapple with the problems of their time, their discoveries and inventions, slowly transformed human societies. These changes were often so gradual, so seemingly small, that their impact was not noticed by people at that time. Only later, when we return to the past, when we study history, can we begin to see how these changes happened, and we can observe their long-term effect. By reading history we can understand how the modern world has emerged over long centuries of development.
Prelims.indd 9 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
(x)
The book that you will study this year will take you back to
our ancient pasts. Over the next two years you will continue your
journey through the history of subsequent periods.
In this book you will read not just about the kings and queens
who lived in ancient India, and about their conquests and policies. You will learn about hunters and peasants, crafts people and traders. You will see how fire came to be used, and iron tools were discovered; how wheat and rice began to be cultivated, and villages and towns developed. You will read about pilgrims and saints, buildings and paintings, religions and beliefs. You will find out that history is not only about great men. It is also about the lives and activities of ordinary women, men and children. History is not only about political events, it is about everything that happens in society.
The book will also help you understand how historians come
to know about the past. Somewhat like detectives, historians follow clues and traces left by people who lived in the past. Everything that survives from earlier times – stone tools, traces of plants, bones, written material and pictures, ornaments and implements, inscriptions and coins, buildings and sculpture, pots and pans — can tell us something about the past. Historians and archaeologists study these sources and try and understand them. In this book, you will see many of these sources and find out how historians study these.
But studying history can help us understand more than the
past. It enables us to develop important skills and qualities. When we try and enter another world, we have to learn how to do this — to understand people whose lives were different. As we do this, we open up our minds and break out of our small present-day worlds. We begin to see how other people may think and act. This can become a learning experience that enriches us in many different ways.
So, before you shrug your shoulders, ask yourself one
question: Do I want to know who I am? Do I want to understand how this society works? Do I want to understand the world in which I live? If you do, then you will need to know how our societies
have evolved. And how our pasts have shaped the present.
neeladri bHaTTaCHarya
Chief Advisor
History
Prelims.indd 10 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
Acknowledgements
This book has been in the making for several months. The team
that developed this book included school teachers, subject
experts from colleges and universities, and NCERT faculty. All the members of the team have worked to write the text, select visuals and design exercises. We have had long and intense discussions on all these aspects.
We have greatly benefited from the insightful and incisive
comments and suggestions offered by young readers — Apoorv Avram, Mallika Visvanathan and Meera Visvanathan. We have tried to incorporate the comments and suggestions offered by all those who read drafts of the book as it took shape. We would like to thank in particular the members of the National Monitoring Committee who offered detailed suggestions. We are also grateful to Professor Romila Thapar, Uma Chakravarti, Jairus Banaji, Upinder Singh, C. N. Subrahmaniam of Eklavya, and Mary John
for reading and offering critical comments on drafts. Professor B.D. Chattopadhyaya, Professor Kunal Chakrabarti, Vijaya Ramaswamy, Professor S.R. Walimbe and Naina Dayal advised us on specific sections. Professor Narayani Gupta provided constant support.
We are also grateful to the Director General, Archaeological
Survey of India, Surendra Kaul, Director General, Centre for
Cultural Resources and Training, New Delhi, Purnima Mehta and the staff of the Photo Archives, American Institute of Indian Studies, Gurgaon, Haryana, K.P. Rao, University of Hyderabad, and Bharati Jagannathan for providing photographs of inscriptions, coins, monuments, sculpture, painting, including illustrations of archaeological and historical sites and artefacts, such as pottery, tools and associated finds. We would like to thank Geetanjali Surendran and the members of the National Manuscript Mission, New Delhi for photographs of manuscripts. Catherine Jarrige kindly granted us permission to reproduce the sketches of Mehrgarh. We would also like to thank those who provided us with pictures of children — Umesh Matta of UNICEF, New Delhi, R.C. Das of CIET, NCERT, and Springdales School, New Delhi.
Prelims.indd 11 28 April 2022 02:16:49
Rationalised 2023-24
(xii)
The maps in the book have been drawn by K. Varghese of
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and Shyam Narain
Lal, Department of History, Jammu University. Subhadra Sengupta copyedited and proofread the manuscript. Animesh Roy and Ritu Topa of Arrt Creations, New Delhi, designed and typeset the book. We would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation of their efforts.
While every effort has been made to acknowledge the source
of illustrations, we apologise for any omissions that may have inadvertently taken place.
We look forward to more feedback on the book, and hope
to improve on it in future editions.
Special thanks are due to Savita Sinha, Professor and Head,
DESSH, NCERT for her support during the development of this book.
Thanks are due to Shveta Uppal, Chief Editor, NCERT and
Vandana R. Singh, Consultant Editor for going through the manuscript and suggesting relevant changes.
The Council also gratefully acknowledges the contributions
of Arvind Sharma, DTP Operator; during the preparation of the book and Incharge DTP Cell, Bijnan Sutar in shaping this
book. The efforts of the Publication Department, NCERT are also highly appreciated.
The Council acknowledges the valuable inputs for
analysing syllabi, textbooks and the content, proposed to be rationalised for this edition by Umesh Ashok Kadam, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Sunil Kumar Singh, PGT History ,
Kendriya Vidyalaya, AFS, Tughlakabad, New Delhi; Krishna Ranjan, PGT History , Kendriya Vidyalaya, Vikaspuri; Archana
Verma, Department of History, Hindu College, University of Delhi, Delhi; Shruti Mishra, PGT History and HoD,
History, Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram, New Delhi; Gouri Srivastava, Professor and Head, Pratyusa K. Mandal, Professor;
Seema S. Ojha, Professor, DESS; Mily Roy Anand, Professor,
DGS and Sharad Kumar Pandey, Associate Professor, DCS&D,
NCERT.
Prelims.indd 12 09 June 2022 05:28:03
Rationalised 2023-24
C O n t e n t s
Foreword iii
Rationalisation of Content in the Textbooks v
Why Study History? ix
1. INTRODUCTION: WHAT, WHERE, HOW AND WHEN? 1
2. FROM HUNTING–GATHERING TO GROWING FOOD 10
3. IN THE EARLIEST CITIES 22
4. WHAT BOOKS AND BURIALS TELL US 33
5. KINGDOMS, KINGS AND AN EARLY REPUBLIC 43
6. NEW QUESTIONS AND IDEAS 52
7. FROM A KINGDOM TO AN EMPIRE 62
8. VILLAGES, TOWNS AND TRADE 73
9. NEW EMPIRES AND KINGDOMS 85
10. BUILDINGS, PAINTINGS AND BOOKS 96
Prelims.indd 13 22 April 2022 12:02:42
Rationalised 2023-24
In thIs bOOk
• You will find that each chapter is introduced by a young
girl or a boy.
• Each chapter is divided into sections. Read, discuss
and understand each section before proceeding to the next.
• Some chapters contain definitions.
• Many chapters contain a portion from a source ,
clues from which historians write history. Read these carefully, and discuss the questions they contain.
• Many of our sources are visual. Each illustration has a
story to tell.
• You will also find maps. Look at these and try to locate
the places mentioned in the lessons.
• Many chapters contain boxes with interesting, additional information .
• At the end of each chapter, you will find a list of keywords . These are to remind you of important ideas/
themes introduced in the lesson.
• You will also find some dates listed at the end of each
chapter.
• In each chapter there are intext questions and activities
that are highlighted. Spend some time discussing these as you go along.
• And there is a small section titled Imagine. This is your
chance to go back into the past and figure out what life would have been like.
• You will also find three kinds of activities listed at the end of each chapter — Let’s recall, Let’s discuss and
Let’s do.
So, you will find that there is a lot to read, see, think about and do. We do hope you enjoy it.Definitions
Additional
information
KEYWORDS
SOME IMPORTANT
DATES
Imagine
Let’s recall
Let’s discuss Let’s do
SourceLOOK OUT FOR THESE
Prelims.indd 14 22 April 2022 12:02:43
Rationalised 2023-24
| What is the goal of the National Policy on Education? | {
"answer_start": [
-1
],
"text": [
"[Answer placeholder: Review context manually]"
]
} | qa_5 | {
"note": "This question and answer pair needs manual review",
"source": "Generated from context"
} |
TexTbook in HisTory for Class Vi
OUR PASTS-ISocial Science
Prelims.indd 1 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, be lent,
re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the publisher’s consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.
The correct price of this publication is the price printed on this page, Any revised price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any other means is incorrect and should be unacceptable.
OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION DIVISION, NCERT
NCERT CampusSri Aurobindo MargNew Delhi 110 016
Phone : 011-26562708
108, 100 Feet Road Hosdakere Halli ExtensionBanashankari III StageBengaluru 560 085
Phone : 080-26725740
Navjivan Trust BuildingP.O.Navjivan Ahmedabad 380 014
Phone : 079-27541446
CWC CampusOpp. Dhankal Bus StopPanihatiKolkata 700 114
Phone : 033-25530454
CWC ComplexMaligaon Guwahati 781 021
Phone : 0361-2674869
Publication Team
Head, Publication : Anup Kumar Rajput
Division
Chief Production : Arun Chitkara
OfficerChief Business
: Vipin Dewan
ManagerChief Editor (In ch
arge) : Bijnan Sutar
Editor : Benoy Banerjee
Production Assistant : Om Prakash
Cover, Layout and Illustrations
Arrt Creations, New DelhiFirst Edition
February 2006 Phalguna 1927Reprinted
October 2006, November 2007
January 2009, January 2010January 2011, January 2012January 2013, October 2013December 2014, February 2016December 2016, November 2017January 2019, August 2019March 2021, August 2021 and November 2021
Revised Edition
July 2022 Ashadha 1944November 2022 Kartika 1944
PD 360T BS
© National Council of Educational
Research and Training, 2006, 2022
` 65.00
Printed on 80 GSM paper with NCERT
watermark
Published at the
Publication Division
by the Secretary, National Council of
Educational Research and Training,
Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016
and printed at Amit Printing Press, D-12 and
13, Industrial Area, Site-A, Mathura (UP)0654 – O ur Pasts-I
Textbook for Class VIISBN 81-7450-493-1
Prelims.indd 2 11/18/2022 3:28:56 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
FOrewOrd
The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 recommends
that children’s life at school must be linked to their life outside
the school. This principle marks a departure from the legacy of bookish learning which continues to shape our system and causes a gap between the school, home and community. The syllabi and textbooks developed on the basis of NCF signify an attempt to implement this basic idea. They also attempt to discourage rote learning and the maintenance of sharp boundaries between different subject areas. We hope these measures will take us significantly further in the direction of a child-centred system of education outlined in the National Policy on Education (1986).
The success of this effort depends on the steps that school
principals and teachers will take to encourage children to reflect on their own learning and to pursue imaginative activities and questions. We must recognise that, given space, time and freedom, children generate new knowledge by engaging with the information passed on to them by adults. Treating the prescribed textbook as the sole basis of examination is one of the key reasons why other resources and sites of learning are ignored. Inculcating creativity and initiative is possible if we perceive and treat children as participants in learning, not as receivers of a fixed body of knowledge.
These aims imply considerable change in school routines
and mode of functioning. Flexibility in the daily time-table is
as necessary as rigour in implementing the annual calendar so that the required number of teaching days are actually devoted to teaching. The methods used for teaching and evaluation will also determine how effective this textbook proves to be for making children’s life at school a happy experience, rather than a source of stress or boredom. Syllabus designers have tried to address the problem of curricular burden by restructuring and reorienting knowledge at different stages with greater consideration for child psychology and the time available for teaching. The textbook attempts to enhance this
Prelims.indd 3 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
(iv)
endeavour by giving higher priority and space to opportunities
for contemplation and wondering, discussion in small groups, and activities requiring hands-on experience.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training
(NCERT) appreciates the hard work done by the textbook development committee responsible for this book. We wish to thank the Chairperson of the advisory group in Social Science, Professor Hari Vasudevan and the Chief Advisor for this book, Professor Neeladri Bhattacharya for guiding the work of this committee. Several teachers contributed to the development of this textbook; we are grateful to their principals for making this possible. We are indebted to the institutions and organisations, which have generously permitted us to draw upon their resources, material and personnel. We are especially grateful to the members of the National Monitoring Committee, appointed by the Department of Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development under the Chairpersonship of Professor Mrinal Miri and Professor G. P. Deshpande, for their valuable time and contribution. As an organisation committed to systemic reform and continuous improvement in the quality of its products, NCERT welcomes comments and suggestions which will enable us to undertake further revision and refinement.
Director
National Council of Educational
Research and TrainingNew Delhi
20 December 2005
Prelims.indd 4 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
RATIONALISATION OF CONTENT
IN THE TEXTBOOKS
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to
reduce content load on students. The National Education Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing the content load and providing opportunities for experiential learning with creative mindset. In this background, the NCERT has undertaken the exercise to rationalise the textbooks across all classes. Learning Outcomes already developed by the NCERT across classes have been taken into consideration in this exercise.Contents of the textbooks have been rationalised in view of the following
• Overlapping with similar content included in other subject
areas in the same class
• Similar content included in the lower or higher class
in the same subject
• Dif fi culty level
• Content, which is easily accessible to students without
much interventions from teachers and can be learned by
children through self-learning or peer-learning.
• Content, which is not relevant in the present context.
This present edition, is a reformatted version after carrying
out the changes given above.
Prelims.indd vPrelims.indd v 8/10/2022 12:00:15 PM8/10/2022 12:00:15 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
Prelims.indd 6 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
textbOOk develOPment COmmIttee
ChaIrPersOn, advIsOry COmmIttee FOr textb OOks In sOCIal
sCIenCe at the mIddle level
Hari Vasudevan, Professor, Department of History, University of
Calcutta, Kolkata
ChIeF advIsOr
Neeladri Bhattacharya, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
advIsOr
Kumkum Roy, Associate Professor, Centre for Historical
Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
members
Anil Sethi, Former Professor, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT
Gauri Srivastava, Reader, Department of Women’s Studies,
NCERTJaya Menon, Reader, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh
N.P. Singh, Principal, Rashtriya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya,
New DelhiP.K. Basant, Reader, Department of History and Culture,
Faculty of Humanities and Languages, Jamia Millia Islamia,
New Delhi Ranabir Chakravarti, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Shuchi Bajaj, Post-Graduate Teacher (History), Springdales
School, New DelhiVishwa Mohan Jha, Reader in History , Atma Ram Sanatan
Dharma College, Delhi University, New Delhi
member -COOrdInatOr
Seema S. Ojha, Lecturer, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT.
Prelims.indd 7 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
Prelims.indd 8 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
why study hIstOry ?
This year, in Class VI, you will read history. It is part of a bigger
group of subjects known as Social Science. Social Science helps
us understand the working of our social world. It tells us about geography, the way the economy works, and the manner in which social and political life is organised. Most parts of Social Science other than history tell you about the world in the present. History will help you understand how this present evolved. It will tell you about the past of the present.
When we live in a society, we become used to the world
around us. We begin to take that world for granted. We forget that life was not always the way we see it. Can you, for instance, imagine a life without fire? Can you think of what it is to live in a society where the cultivation of crops was unknown? Or, what it was to live at a time when roads and railways did not exist, and yet people travelled long distances? History can take us into these pasts.
History in this sense is an adventure. It is a journey across
time and space. It transports us into another world, another age, in which people lived differently. Their economy and society, their beliefs and faiths, their clothes and food, their settlements and buildings, their arts and crafts – everything was different. History can open doors into such worlds.
You may shrug your shoulders and say “Why should we
bother about pasts that are no longer with us, pasts that have gone by?”
But history is not just about the past. It is about the present.
The society we live in has been fashioned by those who came before us. The joys and sorrows of their daily lives, their attempt to grapple with the problems of their time, their discoveries and inventions, slowly transformed human societies. These changes were often so gradual, so seemingly small, that their impact was not noticed by people at that time. Only later, when we return to the past, when we study history, can we begin to see how these changes happened, and we can observe their long-term effect. By reading history we can understand how the modern world has emerged over long centuries of development.
Prelims.indd 9 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
(x)
The book that you will study this year will take you back to
our ancient pasts. Over the next two years you will continue your
journey through the history of subsequent periods.
In this book you will read not just about the kings and queens
who lived in ancient India, and about their conquests and policies. You will learn about hunters and peasants, crafts people and traders. You will see how fire came to be used, and iron tools were discovered; how wheat and rice began to be cultivated, and villages and towns developed. You will read about pilgrims and saints, buildings and paintings, religions and beliefs. You will find out that history is not only about great men. It is also about the lives and activities of ordinary women, men and children. History is not only about political events, it is about everything that happens in society.
The book will also help you understand how historians come
to know about the past. Somewhat like detectives, historians follow clues and traces left by people who lived in the past. Everything that survives from earlier times – stone tools, traces of plants, bones, written material and pictures, ornaments and implements, inscriptions and coins, buildings and sculpture, pots and pans — can tell us something about the past. Historians and archaeologists study these sources and try and understand them. In this book, you will see many of these sources and find out how historians study these.
But studying history can help us understand more than the
past. It enables us to develop important skills and qualities. When we try and enter another world, we have to learn how to do this — to understand people whose lives were different. As we do this, we open up our minds and break out of our small present-day worlds. We begin to see how other people may think and act. This can become a learning experience that enriches us in many different ways.
So, before you shrug your shoulders, ask yourself one
question: Do I want to know who I am? Do I want to understand how this society works? Do I want to understand the world in which I live? If you do, then you will need to know how our societies
have evolved. And how our pasts have shaped the present.
neeladri bHaTTaCHarya
Chief Advisor
History
Prelims.indd 10 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
Acknowledgements
This book has been in the making for several months. The team
that developed this book included school teachers, subject
experts from colleges and universities, and NCERT faculty. All the members of the team have worked to write the text, select visuals and design exercises. We have had long and intense discussions on all these aspects.
We have greatly benefited from the insightful and incisive
comments and suggestions offered by young readers — Apoorv Avram, Mallika Visvanathan and Meera Visvanathan. We have tried to incorporate the comments and suggestions offered by all those who read drafts of the book as it took shape. We would like to thank in particular the members of the National Monitoring Committee who offered detailed suggestions. We are also grateful to Professor Romila Thapar, Uma Chakravarti, Jairus Banaji, Upinder Singh, C. N. Subrahmaniam of Eklavya, and Mary John
for reading and offering critical comments on drafts. Professor B.D. Chattopadhyaya, Professor Kunal Chakrabarti, Vijaya Ramaswamy, Professor S.R. Walimbe and Naina Dayal advised us on specific sections. Professor Narayani Gupta provided constant support.
We are also grateful to the Director General, Archaeological
Survey of India, Surendra Kaul, Director General, Centre for
Cultural Resources and Training, New Delhi, Purnima Mehta and the staff of the Photo Archives, American Institute of Indian Studies, Gurgaon, Haryana, K.P. Rao, University of Hyderabad, and Bharati Jagannathan for providing photographs of inscriptions, coins, monuments, sculpture, painting, including illustrations of archaeological and historical sites and artefacts, such as pottery, tools and associated finds. We would like to thank Geetanjali Surendran and the members of the National Manuscript Mission, New Delhi for photographs of manuscripts. Catherine Jarrige kindly granted us permission to reproduce the sketches of Mehrgarh. We would also like to thank those who provided us with pictures of children — Umesh Matta of UNICEF, New Delhi, R.C. Das of CIET, NCERT, and Springdales School, New Delhi.
Prelims.indd 11 28 April 2022 02:16:49
Rationalised 2023-24
(xii)
The maps in the book have been drawn by K. Varghese of
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and Shyam Narain
Lal, Department of History, Jammu University. Subhadra Sengupta copyedited and proofread the manuscript. Animesh Roy and Ritu Topa of Arrt Creations, New Delhi, designed and typeset the book. We would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation of their efforts.
While every effort has been made to acknowledge the source
of illustrations, we apologise for any omissions that may have inadvertently taken place.
We look forward to more feedback on the book, and hope
to improve on it in future editions.
Special thanks are due to Savita Sinha, Professor and Head,
DESSH, NCERT for her support during the development of this book.
Thanks are due to Shveta Uppal, Chief Editor, NCERT and
Vandana R. Singh, Consultant Editor for going through the manuscript and suggesting relevant changes.
The Council also gratefully acknowledges the contributions
of Arvind Sharma, DTP Operator; during the preparation of the book and Incharge DTP Cell, Bijnan Sutar in shaping this
book. The efforts of the Publication Department, NCERT are also highly appreciated.
The Council acknowledges the valuable inputs for
analysing syllabi, textbooks and the content, proposed to be rationalised for this edition by Umesh Ashok Kadam, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Sunil Kumar Singh, PGT History ,
Kendriya Vidyalaya, AFS, Tughlakabad, New Delhi; Krishna Ranjan, PGT History , Kendriya Vidyalaya, Vikaspuri; Archana
Verma, Department of History, Hindu College, University of Delhi, Delhi; Shruti Mishra, PGT History and HoD,
History, Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram, New Delhi; Gouri Srivastava, Professor and Head, Pratyusa K. Mandal, Professor;
Seema S. Ojha, Professor, DESS; Mily Roy Anand, Professor,
DGS and Sharad Kumar Pandey, Associate Professor, DCS&D,
NCERT.
Prelims.indd 12 09 June 2022 05:28:03
Rationalised 2023-24
C O n t e n t s
Foreword iii
Rationalisation of Content in the Textbooks v
Why Study History? ix
1. INTRODUCTION: WHAT, WHERE, HOW AND WHEN? 1
2. FROM HUNTING–GATHERING TO GROWING FOOD 10
3. IN THE EARLIEST CITIES 22
4. WHAT BOOKS AND BURIALS TELL US 33
5. KINGDOMS, KINGS AND AN EARLY REPUBLIC 43
6. NEW QUESTIONS AND IDEAS 52
7. FROM A KINGDOM TO AN EMPIRE 62
8. VILLAGES, TOWNS AND TRADE 73
9. NEW EMPIRES AND KINGDOMS 85
10. BUILDINGS, PAINTINGS AND BOOKS 96
Prelims.indd 13 22 April 2022 12:02:42
Rationalised 2023-24
In thIs bOOk
• You will find that each chapter is introduced by a young
girl or a boy.
• Each chapter is divided into sections. Read, discuss
and understand each section before proceeding to the next.
• Some chapters contain definitions.
• Many chapters contain a portion from a source ,
clues from which historians write history. Read these carefully, and discuss the questions they contain.
• Many of our sources are visual. Each illustration has a
story to tell.
• You will also find maps. Look at these and try to locate
the places mentioned in the lessons.
• Many chapters contain boxes with interesting, additional information .
• At the end of each chapter, you will find a list of keywords . These are to remind you of important ideas/
themes introduced in the lesson.
• You will also find some dates listed at the end of each
chapter.
• In each chapter there are intext questions and activities
that are highlighted. Spend some time discussing these as you go along.
• And there is a small section titled Imagine. This is your
chance to go back into the past and figure out what life would have been like.
• You will also find three kinds of activities listed at the end of each chapter — Let’s recall, Let’s discuss and
Let’s do.
So, you will find that there is a lot to read, see, think about and do. We do hope you enjoy it.Definitions
Additional
information
KEYWORDS
SOME IMPORTANT
DATES
Imagine
Let’s recall
Let’s discuss Let’s do
SourceLOOK OUT FOR THESE
Prelims.indd 14 22 April 2022 12:02:43
Rationalised 2023-24
| What is the main reason why other resources and sites of learning are ignored? | {
"answer_start": [
-1
],
"text": [
"[Answer placeholder: Review context manually]"
]
} | qa_6 | {
"note": "This question and answer pair needs manual review",
"source": "Generated from context"
} |
TexTbook in HisTory for Class Vi
OUR PASTS-ISocial Science
Prelims.indd 1 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, be lent,
re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the publisher’s consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.
The correct price of this publication is the price printed on this page, Any revised price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any other means is incorrect and should be unacceptable.
OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION DIVISION, NCERT
NCERT CampusSri Aurobindo MargNew Delhi 110 016
Phone : 011-26562708
108, 100 Feet Road Hosdakere Halli ExtensionBanashankari III StageBengaluru 560 085
Phone : 080-26725740
Navjivan Trust BuildingP.O.Navjivan Ahmedabad 380 014
Phone : 079-27541446
CWC CampusOpp. Dhankal Bus StopPanihatiKolkata 700 114
Phone : 033-25530454
CWC ComplexMaligaon Guwahati 781 021
Phone : 0361-2674869
Publication Team
Head, Publication : Anup Kumar Rajput
Division
Chief Production : Arun Chitkara
OfficerChief Business
: Vipin Dewan
ManagerChief Editor (In ch
arge) : Bijnan Sutar
Editor : Benoy Banerjee
Production Assistant : Om Prakash
Cover, Layout and Illustrations
Arrt Creations, New DelhiFirst Edition
February 2006 Phalguna 1927Reprinted
October 2006, November 2007
January 2009, January 2010January 2011, January 2012January 2013, October 2013December 2014, February 2016December 2016, November 2017January 2019, August 2019March 2021, August 2021 and November 2021
Revised Edition
July 2022 Ashadha 1944November 2022 Kartika 1944
PD 360T BS
© National Council of Educational
Research and Training, 2006, 2022
` 65.00
Printed on 80 GSM paper with NCERT
watermark
Published at the
Publication Division
by the Secretary, National Council of
Educational Research and Training,
Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016
and printed at Amit Printing Press, D-12 and
13, Industrial Area, Site-A, Mathura (UP)0654 – O ur Pasts-I
Textbook for Class VIISBN 81-7450-493-1
Prelims.indd 2 11/18/2022 3:28:56 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
FOrewOrd
The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 recommends
that children’s life at school must be linked to their life outside
the school. This principle marks a departure from the legacy of bookish learning which continues to shape our system and causes a gap between the school, home and community. The syllabi and textbooks developed on the basis of NCF signify an attempt to implement this basic idea. They also attempt to discourage rote learning and the maintenance of sharp boundaries between different subject areas. We hope these measures will take us significantly further in the direction of a child-centred system of education outlined in the National Policy on Education (1986).
The success of this effort depends on the steps that school
principals and teachers will take to encourage children to reflect on their own learning and to pursue imaginative activities and questions. We must recognise that, given space, time and freedom, children generate new knowledge by engaging with the information passed on to them by adults. Treating the prescribed textbook as the sole basis of examination is one of the key reasons why other resources and sites of learning are ignored. Inculcating creativity and initiative is possible if we perceive and treat children as participants in learning, not as receivers of a fixed body of knowledge.
These aims imply considerable change in school routines
and mode of functioning. Flexibility in the daily time-table is
as necessary as rigour in implementing the annual calendar so that the required number of teaching days are actually devoted to teaching. The methods used for teaching and evaluation will also determine how effective this textbook proves to be for making children’s life at school a happy experience, rather than a source of stress or boredom. Syllabus designers have tried to address the problem of curricular burden by restructuring and reorienting knowledge at different stages with greater consideration for child psychology and the time available for teaching. The textbook attempts to enhance this
Prelims.indd 3 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
(iv)
endeavour by giving higher priority and space to opportunities
for contemplation and wondering, discussion in small groups, and activities requiring hands-on experience.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training
(NCERT) appreciates the hard work done by the textbook development committee responsible for this book. We wish to thank the Chairperson of the advisory group in Social Science, Professor Hari Vasudevan and the Chief Advisor for this book, Professor Neeladri Bhattacharya for guiding the work of this committee. Several teachers contributed to the development of this textbook; we are grateful to their principals for making this possible. We are indebted to the institutions and organisations, which have generously permitted us to draw upon their resources, material and personnel. We are especially grateful to the members of the National Monitoring Committee, appointed by the Department of Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development under the Chairpersonship of Professor Mrinal Miri and Professor G. P. Deshpande, for their valuable time and contribution. As an organisation committed to systemic reform and continuous improvement in the quality of its products, NCERT welcomes comments and suggestions which will enable us to undertake further revision and refinement.
Director
National Council of Educational
Research and TrainingNew Delhi
20 December 2005
Prelims.indd 4 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
RATIONALISATION OF CONTENT
IN THE TEXTBOOKS
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to
reduce content load on students. The National Education Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing the content load and providing opportunities for experiential learning with creative mindset. In this background, the NCERT has undertaken the exercise to rationalise the textbooks across all classes. Learning Outcomes already developed by the NCERT across classes have been taken into consideration in this exercise.Contents of the textbooks have been rationalised in view of the following
• Overlapping with similar content included in other subject
areas in the same class
• Similar content included in the lower or higher class
in the same subject
• Dif fi culty level
• Content, which is easily accessible to students without
much interventions from teachers and can be learned by
children through self-learning or peer-learning.
• Content, which is not relevant in the present context.
This present edition, is a reformatted version after carrying
out the changes given above.
Prelims.indd vPrelims.indd v 8/10/2022 12:00:15 PM8/10/2022 12:00:15 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
Prelims.indd 6 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
textbOOk develOPment COmmIttee
ChaIrPersOn, advIsOry COmmIttee FOr textb OOks In sOCIal
sCIenCe at the mIddle level
Hari Vasudevan, Professor, Department of History, University of
Calcutta, Kolkata
ChIeF advIsOr
Neeladri Bhattacharya, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
advIsOr
Kumkum Roy, Associate Professor, Centre for Historical
Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
members
Anil Sethi, Former Professor, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT
Gauri Srivastava, Reader, Department of Women’s Studies,
NCERTJaya Menon, Reader, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh
N.P. Singh, Principal, Rashtriya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya,
New DelhiP.K. Basant, Reader, Department of History and Culture,
Faculty of Humanities and Languages, Jamia Millia Islamia,
New Delhi Ranabir Chakravarti, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Shuchi Bajaj, Post-Graduate Teacher (History), Springdales
School, New DelhiVishwa Mohan Jha, Reader in History , Atma Ram Sanatan
Dharma College, Delhi University, New Delhi
member -COOrdInatOr
Seema S. Ojha, Lecturer, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT.
Prelims.indd 7 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
Prelims.indd 8 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
why study hIstOry ?
This year, in Class VI, you will read history. It is part of a bigger
group of subjects known as Social Science. Social Science helps
us understand the working of our social world. It tells us about geography, the way the economy works, and the manner in which social and political life is organised. Most parts of Social Science other than history tell you about the world in the present. History will help you understand how this present evolved. It will tell you about the past of the present.
When we live in a society, we become used to the world
around us. We begin to take that world for granted. We forget that life was not always the way we see it. Can you, for instance, imagine a life without fire? Can you think of what it is to live in a society where the cultivation of crops was unknown? Or, what it was to live at a time when roads and railways did not exist, and yet people travelled long distances? History can take us into these pasts.
History in this sense is an adventure. It is a journey across
time and space. It transports us into another world, another age, in which people lived differently. Their economy and society, their beliefs and faiths, their clothes and food, their settlements and buildings, their arts and crafts – everything was different. History can open doors into such worlds.
You may shrug your shoulders and say “Why should we
bother about pasts that are no longer with us, pasts that have gone by?”
But history is not just about the past. It is about the present.
The society we live in has been fashioned by those who came before us. The joys and sorrows of their daily lives, their attempt to grapple with the problems of their time, their discoveries and inventions, slowly transformed human societies. These changes were often so gradual, so seemingly small, that their impact was not noticed by people at that time. Only later, when we return to the past, when we study history, can we begin to see how these changes happened, and we can observe their long-term effect. By reading history we can understand how the modern world has emerged over long centuries of development.
Prelims.indd 9 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
(x)
The book that you will study this year will take you back to
our ancient pasts. Over the next two years you will continue your
journey through the history of subsequent periods.
In this book you will read not just about the kings and queens
who lived in ancient India, and about their conquests and policies. You will learn about hunters and peasants, crafts people and traders. You will see how fire came to be used, and iron tools were discovered; how wheat and rice began to be cultivated, and villages and towns developed. You will read about pilgrims and saints, buildings and paintings, religions and beliefs. You will find out that history is not only about great men. It is also about the lives and activities of ordinary women, men and children. History is not only about political events, it is about everything that happens in society.
The book will also help you understand how historians come
to know about the past. Somewhat like detectives, historians follow clues and traces left by people who lived in the past. Everything that survives from earlier times – stone tools, traces of plants, bones, written material and pictures, ornaments and implements, inscriptions and coins, buildings and sculpture, pots and pans — can tell us something about the past. Historians and archaeologists study these sources and try and understand them. In this book, you will see many of these sources and find out how historians study these.
But studying history can help us understand more than the
past. It enables us to develop important skills and qualities. When we try and enter another world, we have to learn how to do this — to understand people whose lives were different. As we do this, we open up our minds and break out of our small present-day worlds. We begin to see how other people may think and act. This can become a learning experience that enriches us in many different ways.
So, before you shrug your shoulders, ask yourself one
question: Do I want to know who I am? Do I want to understand how this society works? Do I want to understand the world in which I live? If you do, then you will need to know how our societies
have evolved. And how our pasts have shaped the present.
neeladri bHaTTaCHarya
Chief Advisor
History
Prelims.indd 10 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
Acknowledgements
This book has been in the making for several months. The team
that developed this book included school teachers, subject
experts from colleges and universities, and NCERT faculty. All the members of the team have worked to write the text, select visuals and design exercises. We have had long and intense discussions on all these aspects.
We have greatly benefited from the insightful and incisive
comments and suggestions offered by young readers — Apoorv Avram, Mallika Visvanathan and Meera Visvanathan. We have tried to incorporate the comments and suggestions offered by all those who read drafts of the book as it took shape. We would like to thank in particular the members of the National Monitoring Committee who offered detailed suggestions. We are also grateful to Professor Romila Thapar, Uma Chakravarti, Jairus Banaji, Upinder Singh, C. N. Subrahmaniam of Eklavya, and Mary John
for reading and offering critical comments on drafts. Professor B.D. Chattopadhyaya, Professor Kunal Chakrabarti, Vijaya Ramaswamy, Professor S.R. Walimbe and Naina Dayal advised us on specific sections. Professor Narayani Gupta provided constant support.
We are also grateful to the Director General, Archaeological
Survey of India, Surendra Kaul, Director General, Centre for
Cultural Resources and Training, New Delhi, Purnima Mehta and the staff of the Photo Archives, American Institute of Indian Studies, Gurgaon, Haryana, K.P. Rao, University of Hyderabad, and Bharati Jagannathan for providing photographs of inscriptions, coins, monuments, sculpture, painting, including illustrations of archaeological and historical sites and artefacts, such as pottery, tools and associated finds. We would like to thank Geetanjali Surendran and the members of the National Manuscript Mission, New Delhi for photographs of manuscripts. Catherine Jarrige kindly granted us permission to reproduce the sketches of Mehrgarh. We would also like to thank those who provided us with pictures of children — Umesh Matta of UNICEF, New Delhi, R.C. Das of CIET, NCERT, and Springdales School, New Delhi.
Prelims.indd 11 28 April 2022 02:16:49
Rationalised 2023-24
(xii)
The maps in the book have been drawn by K. Varghese of
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and Shyam Narain
Lal, Department of History, Jammu University. Subhadra Sengupta copyedited and proofread the manuscript. Animesh Roy and Ritu Topa of Arrt Creations, New Delhi, designed and typeset the book. We would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation of their efforts.
While every effort has been made to acknowledge the source
of illustrations, we apologise for any omissions that may have inadvertently taken place.
We look forward to more feedback on the book, and hope
to improve on it in future editions.
Special thanks are due to Savita Sinha, Professor and Head,
DESSH, NCERT for her support during the development of this book.
Thanks are due to Shveta Uppal, Chief Editor, NCERT and
Vandana R. Singh, Consultant Editor for going through the manuscript and suggesting relevant changes.
The Council also gratefully acknowledges the contributions
of Arvind Sharma, DTP Operator; during the preparation of the book and Incharge DTP Cell, Bijnan Sutar in shaping this
book. The efforts of the Publication Department, NCERT are also highly appreciated.
The Council acknowledges the valuable inputs for
analysing syllabi, textbooks and the content, proposed to be rationalised for this edition by Umesh Ashok Kadam, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Sunil Kumar Singh, PGT History ,
Kendriya Vidyalaya, AFS, Tughlakabad, New Delhi; Krishna Ranjan, PGT History , Kendriya Vidyalaya, Vikaspuri; Archana
Verma, Department of History, Hindu College, University of Delhi, Delhi; Shruti Mishra, PGT History and HoD,
History, Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram, New Delhi; Gouri Srivastava, Professor and Head, Pratyusa K. Mandal, Professor;
Seema S. Ojha, Professor, DESS; Mily Roy Anand, Professor,
DGS and Sharad Kumar Pandey, Associate Professor, DCS&D,
NCERT.
Prelims.indd 12 09 June 2022 05:28:03
Rationalised 2023-24
C O n t e n t s
Foreword iii
Rationalisation of Content in the Textbooks v
Why Study History? ix
1. INTRODUCTION: WHAT, WHERE, HOW AND WHEN? 1
2. FROM HUNTING–GATHERING TO GROWING FOOD 10
3. IN THE EARLIEST CITIES 22
4. WHAT BOOKS AND BURIALS TELL US 33
5. KINGDOMS, KINGS AND AN EARLY REPUBLIC 43
6. NEW QUESTIONS AND IDEAS 52
7. FROM A KINGDOM TO AN EMPIRE 62
8. VILLAGES, TOWNS AND TRADE 73
9. NEW EMPIRES AND KINGDOMS 85
10. BUILDINGS, PAINTINGS AND BOOKS 96
Prelims.indd 13 22 April 2022 12:02:42
Rationalised 2023-24
In thIs bOOk
• You will find that each chapter is introduced by a young
girl or a boy.
• Each chapter is divided into sections. Read, discuss
and understand each section before proceeding to the next.
• Some chapters contain definitions.
• Many chapters contain a portion from a source ,
clues from which historians write history. Read these carefully, and discuss the questions they contain.
• Many of our sources are visual. Each illustration has a
story to tell.
• You will also find maps. Look at these and try to locate
the places mentioned in the lessons.
• Many chapters contain boxes with interesting, additional information .
• At the end of each chapter, you will find a list of keywords . These are to remind you of important ideas/
themes introduced in the lesson.
• You will also find some dates listed at the end of each
chapter.
• In each chapter there are intext questions and activities
that are highlighted. Spend some time discussing these as you go along.
• And there is a small section titled Imagine. This is your
chance to go back into the past and figure out what life would have been like.
• You will also find three kinds of activities listed at the end of each chapter — Let’s recall, Let’s discuss and
Let’s do.
So, you will find that there is a lot to read, see, think about and do. We do hope you enjoy it.Definitions
Additional
information
KEYWORDS
SOME IMPORTANT
DATES
Imagine
Let’s recall
Let’s discuss Let’s do
SourceLOOK OUT FOR THESE
Prelims.indd 14 22 April 2022 12:02:43
Rationalised 2023-24
| What is the purpose of the textbook? | {
"answer_start": [
-1
],
"text": [
"[Answer placeholder: Review context manually]"
]
} | qa_7 | {
"note": "This question and answer pair needs manual review",
"source": "Generated from context"
} |
TexTbook in HisTory for Class Vi
OUR PASTS-ISocial Science
Prelims.indd 1 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, be lent,
re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the publisher’s consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.
The correct price of this publication is the price printed on this page, Any revised price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any other means is incorrect and should be unacceptable.
OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION DIVISION, NCERT
NCERT CampusSri Aurobindo MargNew Delhi 110 016
Phone : 011-26562708
108, 100 Feet Road Hosdakere Halli ExtensionBanashankari III StageBengaluru 560 085
Phone : 080-26725740
Navjivan Trust BuildingP.O.Navjivan Ahmedabad 380 014
Phone : 079-27541446
CWC CampusOpp. Dhankal Bus StopPanihatiKolkata 700 114
Phone : 033-25530454
CWC ComplexMaligaon Guwahati 781 021
Phone : 0361-2674869
Publication Team
Head, Publication : Anup Kumar Rajput
Division
Chief Production : Arun Chitkara
OfficerChief Business
: Vipin Dewan
ManagerChief Editor (In ch
arge) : Bijnan Sutar
Editor : Benoy Banerjee
Production Assistant : Om Prakash
Cover, Layout and Illustrations
Arrt Creations, New DelhiFirst Edition
February 2006 Phalguna 1927Reprinted
October 2006, November 2007
January 2009, January 2010January 2011, January 2012January 2013, October 2013December 2014, February 2016December 2016, November 2017January 2019, August 2019March 2021, August 2021 and November 2021
Revised Edition
July 2022 Ashadha 1944November 2022 Kartika 1944
PD 360T BS
© National Council of Educational
Research and Training, 2006, 2022
` 65.00
Printed on 80 GSM paper with NCERT
watermark
Published at the
Publication Division
by the Secretary, National Council of
Educational Research and Training,
Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016
and printed at Amit Printing Press, D-12 and
13, Industrial Area, Site-A, Mathura (UP)0654 – O ur Pasts-I
Textbook for Class VIISBN 81-7450-493-1
Prelims.indd 2 11/18/2022 3:28:56 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
FOrewOrd
The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 recommends
that children’s life at school must be linked to their life outside
the school. This principle marks a departure from the legacy of bookish learning which continues to shape our system and causes a gap between the school, home and community. The syllabi and textbooks developed on the basis of NCF signify an attempt to implement this basic idea. They also attempt to discourage rote learning and the maintenance of sharp boundaries between different subject areas. We hope these measures will take us significantly further in the direction of a child-centred system of education outlined in the National Policy on Education (1986).
The success of this effort depends on the steps that school
principals and teachers will take to encourage children to reflect on their own learning and to pursue imaginative activities and questions. We must recognise that, given space, time and freedom, children generate new knowledge by engaging with the information passed on to them by adults. Treating the prescribed textbook as the sole basis of examination is one of the key reasons why other resources and sites of learning are ignored. Inculcating creativity and initiative is possible if we perceive and treat children as participants in learning, not as receivers of a fixed body of knowledge.
These aims imply considerable change in school routines
and mode of functioning. Flexibility in the daily time-table is
as necessary as rigour in implementing the annual calendar so that the required number of teaching days are actually devoted to teaching. The methods used for teaching and evaluation will also determine how effective this textbook proves to be for making children’s life at school a happy experience, rather than a source of stress or boredom. Syllabus designers have tried to address the problem of curricular burden by restructuring and reorienting knowledge at different stages with greater consideration for child psychology and the time available for teaching. The textbook attempts to enhance this
Prelims.indd 3 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
(iv)
endeavour by giving higher priority and space to opportunities
for contemplation and wondering, discussion in small groups, and activities requiring hands-on experience.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training
(NCERT) appreciates the hard work done by the textbook development committee responsible for this book. We wish to thank the Chairperson of the advisory group in Social Science, Professor Hari Vasudevan and the Chief Advisor for this book, Professor Neeladri Bhattacharya for guiding the work of this committee. Several teachers contributed to the development of this textbook; we are grateful to their principals for making this possible. We are indebted to the institutions and organisations, which have generously permitted us to draw upon their resources, material and personnel. We are especially grateful to the members of the National Monitoring Committee, appointed by the Department of Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development under the Chairpersonship of Professor Mrinal Miri and Professor G. P. Deshpande, for their valuable time and contribution. As an organisation committed to systemic reform and continuous improvement in the quality of its products, NCERT welcomes comments and suggestions which will enable us to undertake further revision and refinement.
Director
National Council of Educational
Research and TrainingNew Delhi
20 December 2005
Prelims.indd 4 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
RATIONALISATION OF CONTENT
IN THE TEXTBOOKS
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to
reduce content load on students. The National Education Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing the content load and providing opportunities for experiential learning with creative mindset. In this background, the NCERT has undertaken the exercise to rationalise the textbooks across all classes. Learning Outcomes already developed by the NCERT across classes have been taken into consideration in this exercise.Contents of the textbooks have been rationalised in view of the following
• Overlapping with similar content included in other subject
areas in the same class
• Similar content included in the lower or higher class
in the same subject
• Dif fi culty level
• Content, which is easily accessible to students without
much interventions from teachers and can be learned by
children through self-learning or peer-learning.
• Content, which is not relevant in the present context.
This present edition, is a reformatted version after carrying
out the changes given above.
Prelims.indd vPrelims.indd v 8/10/2022 12:00:15 PM8/10/2022 12:00:15 PM
Rationalised 2023-24
Prelims.indd 6 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
textbOOk develOPment COmmIttee
ChaIrPersOn, advIsOry COmmIttee FOr textb OOks In sOCIal
sCIenCe at the mIddle level
Hari Vasudevan, Professor, Department of History, University of
Calcutta, Kolkata
ChIeF advIsOr
Neeladri Bhattacharya, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
advIsOr
Kumkum Roy, Associate Professor, Centre for Historical
Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
members
Anil Sethi, Former Professor, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT
Gauri Srivastava, Reader, Department of Women’s Studies,
NCERTJaya Menon, Reader, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh
N.P. Singh, Principal, Rashtriya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya,
New DelhiP.K. Basant, Reader, Department of History and Culture,
Faculty of Humanities and Languages, Jamia Millia Islamia,
New Delhi Ranabir Chakravarti, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Shuchi Bajaj, Post-Graduate Teacher (History), Springdales
School, New DelhiVishwa Mohan Jha, Reader in History , Atma Ram Sanatan
Dharma College, Delhi University, New Delhi
member -COOrdInatOr
Seema S. Ojha, Lecturer, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT.
Prelims.indd 7 22 April 2022 12:02:37
Rationalised 2023-24
Prelims.indd 8 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
why study hIstOry ?
This year, in Class VI, you will read history. It is part of a bigger
group of subjects known as Social Science. Social Science helps
us understand the working of our social world. It tells us about geography, the way the economy works, and the manner in which social and political life is organised. Most parts of Social Science other than history tell you about the world in the present. History will help you understand how this present evolved. It will tell you about the past of the present.
When we live in a society, we become used to the world
around us. We begin to take that world for granted. We forget that life was not always the way we see it. Can you, for instance, imagine a life without fire? Can you think of what it is to live in a society where the cultivation of crops was unknown? Or, what it was to live at a time when roads and railways did not exist, and yet people travelled long distances? History can take us into these pasts.
History in this sense is an adventure. It is a journey across
time and space. It transports us into another world, another age, in which people lived differently. Their economy and society, their beliefs and faiths, their clothes and food, their settlements and buildings, their arts and crafts – everything was different. History can open doors into such worlds.
You may shrug your shoulders and say “Why should we
bother about pasts that are no longer with us, pasts that have gone by?”
But history is not just about the past. It is about the present.
The society we live in has been fashioned by those who came before us. The joys and sorrows of their daily lives, their attempt to grapple with the problems of their time, their discoveries and inventions, slowly transformed human societies. These changes were often so gradual, so seemingly small, that their impact was not noticed by people at that time. Only later, when we return to the past, when we study history, can we begin to see how these changes happened, and we can observe their long-term effect. By reading history we can understand how the modern world has emerged over long centuries of development.
Prelims.indd 9 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
(x)
The book that you will study this year will take you back to
our ancient pasts. Over the next two years you will continue your
journey through the history of subsequent periods.
In this book you will read not just about the kings and queens
who lived in ancient India, and about their conquests and policies. You will learn about hunters and peasants, crafts people and traders. You will see how fire came to be used, and iron tools were discovered; how wheat and rice began to be cultivated, and villages and towns developed. You will read about pilgrims and saints, buildings and paintings, religions and beliefs. You will find out that history is not only about great men. It is also about the lives and activities of ordinary women, men and children. History is not only about political events, it is about everything that happens in society.
The book will also help you understand how historians come
to know about the past. Somewhat like detectives, historians follow clues and traces left by people who lived in the past. Everything that survives from earlier times – stone tools, traces of plants, bones, written material and pictures, ornaments and implements, inscriptions and coins, buildings and sculpture, pots and pans — can tell us something about the past. Historians and archaeologists study these sources and try and understand them. In this book, you will see many of these sources and find out how historians study these.
But studying history can help us understand more than the
past. It enables us to develop important skills and qualities. When we try and enter another world, we have to learn how to do this — to understand people whose lives were different. As we do this, we open up our minds and break out of our small present-day worlds. We begin to see how other people may think and act. This can become a learning experience that enriches us in many different ways.
So, before you shrug your shoulders, ask yourself one
question: Do I want to know who I am? Do I want to understand how this society works? Do I want to understand the world in which I live? If you do, then you will need to know how our societies
have evolved. And how our pasts have shaped the present.
neeladri bHaTTaCHarya
Chief Advisor
History
Prelims.indd 10 22 April 2022 12:02:40
Rationalised 2023-24
Acknowledgements
This book has been in the making for several months. The team
that developed this book included school teachers, subject
experts from colleges and universities, and NCERT faculty. All the members of the team have worked to write the text, select visuals and design exercises. We have had long and intense discussions on all these aspects.
We have greatly benefited from the insightful and incisive
comments and suggestions offered by young readers — Apoorv Avram, Mallika Visvanathan and Meera Visvanathan. We have tried to incorporate the comments and suggestions offered by all those who read drafts of the book as it took shape. We would like to thank in particular the members of the National Monitoring Committee who offered detailed suggestions. We are also grateful to Professor Romila Thapar, Uma Chakravarti, Jairus Banaji, Upinder Singh, C. N. Subrahmaniam of Eklavya, and Mary John
for reading and offering critical comments on drafts. Professor B.D. Chattopadhyaya, Professor Kunal Chakrabarti, Vijaya Ramaswamy, Professor S.R. Walimbe and Naina Dayal advised us on specific sections. Professor Narayani Gupta provided constant support.
We are also grateful to the Director General, Archaeological
Survey of India, Surendra Kaul, Director General, Centre for
Cultural Resources and Training, New Delhi, Purnima Mehta and the staff of the Photo Archives, American Institute of Indian Studies, Gurgaon, Haryana, K.P. Rao, University of Hyderabad, and Bharati Jagannathan for providing photographs of inscriptions, coins, monuments, sculpture, painting, including illustrations of archaeological and historical sites and artefacts, such as pottery, tools and associated finds. We would like to thank Geetanjali Surendran and the members of the National Manuscript Mission, New Delhi for photographs of manuscripts. Catherine Jarrige kindly granted us permission to reproduce the sketches of Mehrgarh. We would also like to thank those who provided us with pictures of children — Umesh Matta of UNICEF, New Delhi, R.C. Das of CIET, NCERT, and Springdales School, New Delhi.
Prelims.indd 11 28 April 2022 02:16:49
Rationalised 2023-24
(xii)
The maps in the book have been drawn by K. Varghese of
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and Shyam Narain
Lal, Department of History, Jammu University. Subhadra Sengupta copyedited and proofread the manuscript. Animesh Roy and Ritu Topa of Arrt Creations, New Delhi, designed and typeset the book. We would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation of their efforts.
While every effort has been made to acknowledge the source
of illustrations, we apologise for any omissions that may have inadvertently taken place.
We look forward to more feedback on the book, and hope
to improve on it in future editions.
Special thanks are due to Savita Sinha, Professor and Head,
DESSH, NCERT for her support during the development of this book.
Thanks are due to Shveta Uppal, Chief Editor, NCERT and
Vandana R. Singh, Consultant Editor for going through the manuscript and suggesting relevant changes.
The Council also gratefully acknowledges the contributions
of Arvind Sharma, DTP Operator; during the preparation of the book and Incharge DTP Cell, Bijnan Sutar in shaping this
book. The efforts of the Publication Department, NCERT are also highly appreciated.
The Council acknowledges the valuable inputs for
analysing syllabi, textbooks and the content, proposed to be rationalised for this edition by Umesh Ashok Kadam, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Sunil Kumar Singh, PGT History ,
Kendriya Vidyalaya, AFS, Tughlakabad, New Delhi; Krishna Ranjan, PGT History , Kendriya Vidyalaya, Vikaspuri; Archana
Verma, Department of History, Hindu College, University of Delhi, Delhi; Shruti Mishra, PGT History and HoD,
History, Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram, New Delhi; Gouri Srivastava, Professor and Head, Pratyusa K. Mandal, Professor;
Seema S. Ojha, Professor, DESS; Mily Roy Anand, Professor,
DGS and Sharad Kumar Pandey, Associate Professor, DCS&D,
NCERT.
Prelims.indd 12 09 June 2022 05:28:03
Rationalised 2023-24
C O n t e n t s
Foreword iii
Rationalisation of Content in the Textbooks v
Why Study History? ix
1. INTRODUCTION: WHAT, WHERE, HOW AND WHEN? 1
2. FROM HUNTING–GATHERING TO GROWING FOOD 10
3. IN THE EARLIEST CITIES 22
4. WHAT BOOKS AND BURIALS TELL US 33
5. KINGDOMS, KINGS AND AN EARLY REPUBLIC 43
6. NEW QUESTIONS AND IDEAS 52
7. FROM A KINGDOM TO AN EMPIRE 62
8. VILLAGES, TOWNS AND TRADE 73
9. NEW EMPIRES AND KINGDOMS 85
10. BUILDINGS, PAINTINGS AND BOOKS 96
Prelims.indd 13 22 April 2022 12:02:42
Rationalised 2023-24
In thIs bOOk
• You will find that each chapter is introduced by a young
girl or a boy.
• Each chapter is divided into sections. Read, discuss
and understand each section before proceeding to the next.
• Some chapters contain definitions.
• Many chapters contain a portion from a source ,
clues from which historians write history. Read these carefully, and discuss the questions they contain.
• Many of our sources are visual. Each illustration has a
story to tell.
• You will also find maps. Look at these and try to locate
the places mentioned in the lessons.
• Many chapters contain boxes with interesting, additional information .
• At the end of each chapter, you will find a list of keywords . These are to remind you of important ideas/
themes introduced in the lesson.
• You will also find some dates listed at the end of each
chapter.
• In each chapter there are intext questions and activities
that are highlighted. Spend some time discussing these as you go along.
• And there is a small section titled Imagine. This is your
chance to go back into the past and figure out what life would have been like.
• You will also find three kinds of activities listed at the end of each chapter — Let’s recall, Let’s discuss and
Let’s do.
So, you will find that there is a lot to read, see, think about and do. We do hope you enjoy it.Definitions
Additional
information
KEYWORDS
SOME IMPORTANT
DATES
Imagine
Let’s recall
Let’s discuss Let’s do
SourceLOOK OUT FOR THESE
Prelims.indd 14 22 April 2022 12:02:43
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| What is the goal of the textbook? | {
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TexTbook in HisTory for Class Vi
OUR PASTS-ISocial Science
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, be lent,
re-sold, hired out or otherwise disposed of without the publisher’s consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published.
The correct price of this publication is the price printed on this page, Any revised price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any other means is incorrect and should be unacceptable.
OFFICES OF THE PUBLICATION DIVISION, NCERT
NCERT CampusSri Aurobindo MargNew Delhi 110 016
Phone : 011-26562708
108, 100 Feet Road Hosdakere Halli ExtensionBanashankari III StageBengaluru 560 085
Phone : 080-26725740
Navjivan Trust BuildingP.O.Navjivan Ahmedabad 380 014
Phone : 079-27541446
CWC CampusOpp. Dhankal Bus StopPanihatiKolkata 700 114
Phone : 033-25530454
CWC ComplexMaligaon Guwahati 781 021
Phone : 0361-2674869
Publication Team
Head, Publication : Anup Kumar Rajput
Division
Chief Production : Arun Chitkara
OfficerChief Business
: Vipin Dewan
ManagerChief Editor (In ch
arge) : Bijnan Sutar
Editor : Benoy Banerjee
Production Assistant : Om Prakash
Cover, Layout and Illustrations
Arrt Creations, New DelhiFirst Edition
February 2006 Phalguna 1927Reprinted
October 2006, November 2007
January 2009, January 2010January 2011, January 2012January 2013, October 2013December 2014, February 2016December 2016, November 2017January 2019, August 2019March 2021, August 2021 and November 2021
Revised Edition
July 2022 Ashadha 1944November 2022 Kartika 1944
PD 360T BS
© National Council of Educational
Research and Training, 2006, 2022
` 65.00
Printed on 80 GSM paper with NCERT
watermark
Published at the
Publication Division
by the Secretary, National Council of
Educational Research and Training,
Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110 016
and printed at Amit Printing Press, D-12 and
13, Industrial Area, Site-A, Mathura (UP)0654 – O ur Pasts-I
Textbook for Class VIISBN 81-7450-493-1
Prelims.indd 2 11/18/2022 3:28:56 PM
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FOrewOrd
The National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 recommends
that children’s life at school must be linked to their life outside
the school. This principle marks a departure from the legacy of bookish learning which continues to shape our system and causes a gap between the school, home and community. The syllabi and textbooks developed on the basis of NCF signify an attempt to implement this basic idea. They also attempt to discourage rote learning and the maintenance of sharp boundaries between different subject areas. We hope these measures will take us significantly further in the direction of a child-centred system of education outlined in the National Policy on Education (1986).
The success of this effort depends on the steps that school
principals and teachers will take to encourage children to reflect on their own learning and to pursue imaginative activities and questions. We must recognise that, given space, time and freedom, children generate new knowledge by engaging with the information passed on to them by adults. Treating the prescribed textbook as the sole basis of examination is one of the key reasons why other resources and sites of learning are ignored. Inculcating creativity and initiative is possible if we perceive and treat children as participants in learning, not as receivers of a fixed body of knowledge.
These aims imply considerable change in school routines
and mode of functioning. Flexibility in the daily time-table is
as necessary as rigour in implementing the annual calendar so that the required number of teaching days are actually devoted to teaching. The methods used for teaching and evaluation will also determine how effective this textbook proves to be for making children’s life at school a happy experience, rather than a source of stress or boredom. Syllabus designers have tried to address the problem of curricular burden by restructuring and reorienting knowledge at different stages with greater consideration for child psychology and the time available for teaching. The textbook attempts to enhance this
Prelims.indd 3 22 April 2022 12:02:37
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(iv)
endeavour by giving higher priority and space to opportunities
for contemplation and wondering, discussion in small groups, and activities requiring hands-on experience.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training
(NCERT) appreciates the hard work done by the textbook development committee responsible for this book. We wish to thank the Chairperson of the advisory group in Social Science, Professor Hari Vasudevan and the Chief Advisor for this book, Professor Neeladri Bhattacharya for guiding the work of this committee. Several teachers contributed to the development of this textbook; we are grateful to their principals for making this possible. We are indebted to the institutions and organisations, which have generously permitted us to draw upon their resources, material and personnel. We are especially grateful to the members of the National Monitoring Committee, appointed by the Department of Secondary and Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development under the Chairpersonship of Professor Mrinal Miri and Professor G. P. Deshpande, for their valuable time and contribution. As an organisation committed to systemic reform and continuous improvement in the quality of its products, NCERT welcomes comments and suggestions which will enable us to undertake further revision and refinement.
Director
National Council of Educational
Research and TrainingNew Delhi
20 December 2005
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RATIONALISATION OF CONTENT
IN THE TEXTBOOKS
In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative to
reduce content load on students. The National Education Policy 2020, also emphasises reducing the content load and providing opportunities for experiential learning with creative mindset. In this background, the NCERT has undertaken the exercise to rationalise the textbooks across all classes. Learning Outcomes already developed by the NCERT across classes have been taken into consideration in this exercise.Contents of the textbooks have been rationalised in view of the following
• Overlapping with similar content included in other subject
areas in the same class
• Similar content included in the lower or higher class
in the same subject
• Dif fi culty level
• Content, which is easily accessible to students without
much interventions from teachers and can be learned by
children through self-learning or peer-learning.
• Content, which is not relevant in the present context.
This present edition, is a reformatted version after carrying
out the changes given above.
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textbOOk develOPment COmmIttee
ChaIrPersOn, advIsOry COmmIttee FOr textb OOks In sOCIal
sCIenCe at the mIddle level
Hari Vasudevan, Professor, Department of History, University of
Calcutta, Kolkata
ChIeF advIsOr
Neeladri Bhattacharya, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
advIsOr
Kumkum Roy, Associate Professor, Centre for Historical
Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
members
Anil Sethi, Former Professor, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT
Gauri Srivastava, Reader, Department of Women’s Studies,
NCERTJaya Menon, Reader, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh
N.P. Singh, Principal, Rashtriya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya,
New DelhiP.K. Basant, Reader, Department of History and Culture,
Faculty of Humanities and Languages, Jamia Millia Islamia,
New Delhi Ranabir Chakravarti, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
Shuchi Bajaj, Post-Graduate Teacher (History), Springdales
School, New DelhiVishwa Mohan Jha, Reader in History , Atma Ram Sanatan
Dharma College, Delhi University, New Delhi
member -COOrdInatOr
Seema S. Ojha, Lecturer, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT.
Prelims.indd 7 22 April 2022 12:02:37
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Prelims.indd 8 22 April 2022 12:02:40
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why study hIstOry ?
This year, in Class VI, you will read history. It is part of a bigger
group of subjects known as Social Science. Social Science helps
us understand the working of our social world. It tells us about geography, the way the economy works, and the manner in which social and political life is organised. Most parts of Social Science other than history tell you about the world in the present. History will help you understand how this present evolved. It will tell you about the past of the present.
When we live in a society, we become used to the world
around us. We begin to take that world for granted. We forget that life was not always the way we see it. Can you, for instance, imagine a life without fire? Can you think of what it is to live in a society where the cultivation of crops was unknown? Or, what it was to live at a time when roads and railways did not exist, and yet people travelled long distances? History can take us into these pasts.
History in this sense is an adventure. It is a journey across
time and space. It transports us into another world, another age, in which people lived differently. Their economy and society, their beliefs and faiths, their clothes and food, their settlements and buildings, their arts and crafts – everything was different. History can open doors into such worlds.
You may shrug your shoulders and say “Why should we
bother about pasts that are no longer with us, pasts that have gone by?”
But history is not just about the past. It is about the present.
The society we live in has been fashioned by those who came before us. The joys and sorrows of their daily lives, their attempt to grapple with the problems of their time, their discoveries and inventions, slowly transformed human societies. These changes were often so gradual, so seemingly small, that their impact was not noticed by people at that time. Only later, when we return to the past, when we study history, can we begin to see how these changes happened, and we can observe their long-term effect. By reading history we can understand how the modern world has emerged over long centuries of development.
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(x)
The book that you will study this year will take you back to
our ancient pasts. Over the next two years you will continue your
journey through the history of subsequent periods.
In this book you will read not just about the kings and queens
who lived in ancient India, and about their conquests and policies. You will learn about hunters and peasants, crafts people and traders. You will see how fire came to be used, and iron tools were discovered; how wheat and rice began to be cultivated, and villages and towns developed. You will read about pilgrims and saints, buildings and paintings, religions and beliefs. You will find out that history is not only about great men. It is also about the lives and activities of ordinary women, men and children. History is not only about political events, it is about everything that happens in society.
The book will also help you understand how historians come
to know about the past. Somewhat like detectives, historians follow clues and traces left by people who lived in the past. Everything that survives from earlier times – stone tools, traces of plants, bones, written material and pictures, ornaments and implements, inscriptions and coins, buildings and sculpture, pots and pans — can tell us something about the past. Historians and archaeologists study these sources and try and understand them. In this book, you will see many of these sources and find out how historians study these.
But studying history can help us understand more than the
past. It enables us to develop important skills and qualities. When we try and enter another world, we have to learn how to do this — to understand people whose lives were different. As we do this, we open up our minds and break out of our small present-day worlds. We begin to see how other people may think and act. This can become a learning experience that enriches us in many different ways.
So, before you shrug your shoulders, ask yourself one
question: Do I want to know who I am? Do I want to understand how this society works? Do I want to understand the world in which I live? If you do, then you will need to know how our societies
have evolved. And how our pasts have shaped the present.
neeladri bHaTTaCHarya
Chief Advisor
History
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Acknowledgements
This book has been in the making for several months. The team
that developed this book included school teachers, subject
experts from colleges and universities, and NCERT faculty. All the members of the team have worked to write the text, select visuals and design exercises. We have had long and intense discussions on all these aspects.
We have greatly benefited from the insightful and incisive
comments and suggestions offered by young readers — Apoorv Avram, Mallika Visvanathan and Meera Visvanathan. We have tried to incorporate the comments and suggestions offered by all those who read drafts of the book as it took shape. We would like to thank in particular the members of the National Monitoring Committee who offered detailed suggestions. We are also grateful to Professor Romila Thapar, Uma Chakravarti, Jairus Banaji, Upinder Singh, C. N. Subrahmaniam of Eklavya, and Mary John
for reading and offering critical comments on drafts. Professor B.D. Chattopadhyaya, Professor Kunal Chakrabarti, Vijaya Ramaswamy, Professor S.R. Walimbe and Naina Dayal advised us on specific sections. Professor Narayani Gupta provided constant support.
We are also grateful to the Director General, Archaeological
Survey of India, Surendra Kaul, Director General, Centre for
Cultural Resources and Training, New Delhi, Purnima Mehta and the staff of the Photo Archives, American Institute of Indian Studies, Gurgaon, Haryana, K.P. Rao, University of Hyderabad, and Bharati Jagannathan for providing photographs of inscriptions, coins, monuments, sculpture, painting, including illustrations of archaeological and historical sites and artefacts, such as pottery, tools and associated finds. We would like to thank Geetanjali Surendran and the members of the National Manuscript Mission, New Delhi for photographs of manuscripts. Catherine Jarrige kindly granted us permission to reproduce the sketches of Mehrgarh. We would also like to thank those who provided us with pictures of children — Umesh Matta of UNICEF, New Delhi, R.C. Das of CIET, NCERT, and Springdales School, New Delhi.
Prelims.indd 11 28 April 2022 02:16:49
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(xii)
The maps in the book have been drawn by K. Varghese of
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and Shyam Narain
Lal, Department of History, Jammu University. Subhadra Sengupta copyedited and proofread the manuscript. Animesh Roy and Ritu Topa of Arrt Creations, New Delhi, designed and typeset the book. We would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation of their efforts.
While every effort has been made to acknowledge the source
of illustrations, we apologise for any omissions that may have inadvertently taken place.
We look forward to more feedback on the book, and hope
to improve on it in future editions.
Special thanks are due to Savita Sinha, Professor and Head,
DESSH, NCERT for her support during the development of this book.
Thanks are due to Shveta Uppal, Chief Editor, NCERT and
Vandana R. Singh, Consultant Editor for going through the manuscript and suggesting relevant changes.
The Council also gratefully acknowledges the contributions
of Arvind Sharma, DTP Operator; during the preparation of the book and Incharge DTP Cell, Bijnan Sutar in shaping this
book. The efforts of the Publication Department, NCERT are also highly appreciated.
The Council acknowledges the valuable inputs for
analysing syllabi, textbooks and the content, proposed to be rationalised for this edition by Umesh Ashok Kadam, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Sunil Kumar Singh, PGT History ,
Kendriya Vidyalaya, AFS, Tughlakabad, New Delhi; Krishna Ranjan, PGT History , Kendriya Vidyalaya, Vikaspuri; Archana
Verma, Department of History, Hindu College, University of Delhi, Delhi; Shruti Mishra, PGT History and HoD,
History, Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram, New Delhi; Gouri Srivastava, Professor and Head, Pratyusa K. Mandal, Professor;
Seema S. Ojha, Professor, DESS; Mily Roy Anand, Professor,
DGS and Sharad Kumar Pandey, Associate Professor, DCS&D,
NCERT.
Prelims.indd 12 09 June 2022 05:28:03
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C O n t e n t s
Foreword iii
Rationalisation of Content in the Textbooks v
Why Study History? ix
1. INTRODUCTION: WHAT, WHERE, HOW AND WHEN? 1
2. FROM HUNTING–GATHERING TO GROWING FOOD 10
3. IN THE EARLIEST CITIES 22
4. WHAT BOOKS AND BURIALS TELL US 33
5. KINGDOMS, KINGS AND AN EARLY REPUBLIC 43
6. NEW QUESTIONS AND IDEAS 52
7. FROM A KINGDOM TO AN EMPIRE 62
8. VILLAGES, TOWNS AND TRADE 73
9. NEW EMPIRES AND KINGDOMS 85
10. BUILDINGS, PAINTINGS AND BOOKS 96
Prelims.indd 13 22 April 2022 12:02:42
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In thIs bOOk
• You will find that each chapter is introduced by a young
girl or a boy.
• Each chapter is divided into sections. Read, discuss
and understand each section before proceeding to the next.
• Some chapters contain definitions.
• Many chapters contain a portion from a source ,
clues from which historians write history. Read these carefully, and discuss the questions they contain.
• Many of our sources are visual. Each illustration has a
story to tell.
• You will also find maps. Look at these and try to locate
the places mentioned in the lessons.
• Many chapters contain boxes with interesting, additional information .
• At the end of each chapter, you will find a list of keywords . These are to remind you of important ideas/
themes introduced in the lesson.
• You will also find some dates listed at the end of each
chapter.
• In each chapter there are intext questions and activities
that are highlighted. Spend some time discussing these as you go along.
• And there is a small section titled Imagine. This is your
chance to go back into the past and figure out what life would have been like.
• You will also find three kinds of activities listed at the end of each chapter — Let’s recall, Let’s discuss and
Let’s do.
So, you will find that there is a lot to read, see, think about and do. We do hope you enjoy it.Definitions
Additional
information
KEYWORDS
SOME IMPORTANT
DATES
Imagine
Let’s recall
Let’s discuss Let’s do
SourceLOOK OUT FOR THESE
Prelims.indd 14 22 April 2022 12:02:43
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| What is the name of the book that was developed by the committee? | {
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"TexTbook in HisTory for Class Vi\nOUR PASTS-ISocial Science\nPrelims.indd 1 22 April 2022 12:(...TRUNCATED) | What is the National Monitoring Committee's contribution to the education system? | {
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