SOCIAL SCIENCE

OUR PASTS – III

Textbook in History
for Class VIII

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 0864 – Our Pasts – III ISBN 978-93-5292-113-3
Textbook in History for Class VIII

First Edition
March 2008 Chaitra 1929 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Reprinted  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,
January 2009, 2010, November 2010, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
January 2012, 2013, 2014, December 2014  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade, be
January 2016, December 2016 and 2017 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.
Revised Edition
 The correct price of this publication is the price printed on this page, Any revised
January 2019 Pausha 1940 price indicated by a rubber stamp or by a sticker or by any other means is
incorrect and should be unacceptable.
Reprinted
October 2019, March 2021, October 2021,
November 2021
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 foreword

The National Curriculum Framework, 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 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 endeavor by giving
higher priority and space to opportunities for contemplation and wondering,
discussion in small groups, and activities requiring hands-on experience.
NCERT appreciates the hard work done by the textbook development
committee responsible for this book. We wish to thank the Chairperson
of the Advisory Committee for Textbook 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

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 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
New Delhi  National Council of Educational
30 November 2007 Research and Training

iv

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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
• Difficulty 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 irrelevant 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 Textbooks in Social Science

Hari Vasudevan, Professor, Department of History, University of Calcutta,
Kolkata

Chief Advisor
Neeladri Bhattacharya, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi

Members
Anil Sethi, Professor, Department of Education in Social Sciences,
NCERT, New Delhi
Anjali Khullar, PGT, History, Cambridge School, New Delhi
Archana Prasad, Associate Professor, Centre for Jawaharlal Nehru Studies,
Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi
Janaki Nair, Professor, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Kolkata
Prabhu Mohapatra, Associate Professor, University of Delhi, Delhi
Ramachandra Guha, Freelance Writer, Anthropologist and Historian,
Bangalore
Rashmi Paliwal, Eklavya, Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh
Sanjay Sharma, Associate Professor, Zakir Husain College, University of
Delhi, New Delhi
Satwinder Kaur, PGT, History, Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1, Jalandhar,
Punjab
M. Siraj Anwar, Professor, PPMED, NCERT, New Delhi
Smita Sahay Bhattacharya, PGT, History, Blue Bells School, New Delhi
Tanika Sarkar, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru
University, New Delhi
Tapati Guha-Thakurta, Professor, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences,
Kolkata

Member-coordinator
Reetu Singh, Assistant Professor, History, Department of Education in Social
Sciences, NCERT, New Delhi

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 acknowledgements

The book is the product of a collective effort of a large number of historians,

educationists and teachers. The chapters were written and revised over
several months. They evolved through discussions in workshops, and
exchange of ideas through emails, with each member contributing their
skill in many different ways. All of us learnt a lot in the process.
Many individuals and institutions helped in the production of the
book. Professor Muzaffar Alam and Dr Kumkum Roy read drafts and offered
suggestions for change. We drew upon the image collections of several
institutions in illustrating the book. A number of photographs of the city
of Delhi and of the events of 1857 are from the Alkazi Foundation for the
Arts. Many of the nineteenth-century illustrated books on the British Raj
are to be found in the valuable India Collection of the India International
Centre. We are particularly glad that Sunil Janah, now 90 years of age, has
given us permission to reproduce his photographs. From the early 1940s,
he has explored the tribal areas and recorded with his camera the daily life
of different communities. Some of these photographs are now published
(The Tribals of India, Oxford University of Press, 2003), and many are at
the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts.
Shalini Advani and Shyama Warner have done several rounds of
editing with care and understanding, suggesting changes, tracking mistakes
and improving the text in innumerable ways. We thank them both for their
involvement in the project.
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, Associate Professor,
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.
We have made every effort to acknowledge credits, but we apologise
in advance for any omission that may have inadvertently taken place.

For Extended Learning

You may access the following chapters through QR Code.
 Colonialism and the City
 The Changing World of Visual Arts.
These chapters were printed in the previous textbooks, the
same are being provided in digital mode for extended learning.

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 credits

Individuals
Sunil Janah (Ch. 4, Figs. 4, 8, 9, 10)

Institutions
Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi (Ch. 6, Figs. 4, 5, 7, 13)
Photo Division, Government of India, New Delhi (Ch. 8, Fig. 20)
The Alkazi Foundation for the Arts (Ch. 5, Fig. 11)
Victoria Memorial Museum (Ch. 5, Fig. 1)

Journals
The Illustrated London News (Ch. 6, Fig. 15)

Books
Andreas Volwahsen, Imperial Delhi: The British Capital of the
Indian Empire (Ch. 1, Fig. 4)
C.A. Bayly, ed., An Illustrated History of Modern India,1600 -1947
(Ch. 1, Fig.1; Ch. 2, Figs. 5, 12; Ch. 3, Fig. 1, Ch. 7,
Figs. 3, 4, 5, 10)
Colesworthy Grant, Rural Life in Bengal (Ch. 3, Figs. 8, 9, 11, 12, 13)
Colin Campbell, Narrative of the Indian Revolt from its Outbreak to
the Capture of Lucknow (Ch. 5, Figs. 3, 5, 6, 7, 8)
Gautam Bhadra, From an Imperial Product to a National Drink:
The Culture of Tea Consumption in Modern India (Ch. 1, Fig. 2)
Jan Breman, Labour Bondage in Western India (Ch. 6, Fig. 11)
Malavika Karlekar, Re-visioning the Past (Ch. 6, Figs. 6, 8)
Marina Carter, Servants, Sirdars and Settlers (Ch. 6, Fig. 9)

Matthew H. Edney, Mapping an Empire: The Geographical Construction of

British India, 1765-1843 (Ch. 1, Fig. 1)
Peter Ruhe, Gandhi (Ch. 8, Figs. 1, 6, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21)

R.H. Phillimore, Historical Records of the Survey of India (Ch. 1, Fig. 6)

Robert Montgomery Martin, The Indian Empire (Ch. 1, Fig. 7; Ch. 2,
Fig. 1; Ch. 5, Figs. 7, 9)

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 Rudrangshu Mukherji and Pramod Kapoor, Dateline –1857: Revolt
Against the Raj (Ch. 5, Figs. 2, 7)
Susan S. Bean, Yankee India: American Commercial and Cultural
Encounters with India in the Age of Sail, 1784-1860 (Ch. 2,
Fig. 8; Ch. 3, Fig. 2, Ch. 6, Figs. 3, 7)
Susan Stronge, ed., The Arts of the Sikh Kingdom (Ch. 2, Fig. 11)
Tiziana and Gianni Baldizzone, Hidden Tribes of India
(Ch. 4, Figs. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7)

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 Contents

Foreword iii

Rationalisation of Content in the Textbooks v

1. Introduction: How, When and Where 1

2. From Trade to Territory The Company Establishes Power 9
3. Ruling the Countryside 26
4. Tribals, Dikus and the Vision of a Golden Age 39
5. When People Rebel 1857 and After 51

6. Civilising the “Native”, Educating the Nation 65

7. Women, Caste and Reform 78

8. The Making of the National Movement: 1870s-–1947 93

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 The British Resident at the court of Poona concluding a treaty, 1790

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