NCERT · Class 12
NCERT Class 12 History: Chapter List and Official PDFs
All 12 chapters of the NCERT Class 12 History textbook(s), with the section headings of each chapter and a link to the official PDF on ncert.nic.in. Open a chapter to see what it covers.
12 chapters3 books
Themes in Indian History-I
Chapter 1: Bricks, Beads and Bones: The Harappan CivilisationThemes in Indian History Part I
- Introduction (the Harappan seal; Terminologies, Places and Time)
- 1. Beginnings
- 2. Subsistence Strategies
- 3. Mohenjodaro: A Planned Urban Centre
- 4. Tracking Social Differences
- 5. Finding Out About Craft Production
- 6. Strategies for Procuring Materials
- 7. Seals, Script, Weights
- 8. Ancient Authority
- 9. The End of the Civilisation
- 10. Discovering the Harappan Civilisation
- 11. Problems of Piecing Together the Past
- Timeline 1 (Major Periods in Early Indian Archaeology) and Timeline 2 (Major Developments in Harappan Archaeology)
- Exercises: Answer in 100-150 words; Short essay; Map work; Project
Chapter 2: Kings, Farmers and Towns: Early States and Economies (c. 600 BCE-600 CE)Themes in Indian History Part I
- 1. Prinsep and Piyadassi
- 2. The Earliest States
- 3. An Early Empire
- 4. New Notions of Kingship
- 5. A Changing Countryside
- 6. Towns and Trade
- 7. Back to Basics: How Are Inscriptions Deciphered?
- 8. The Limitations of Inscriptional Evidence
- Timeline 1 (Major Political and Economic Developments) and Timeline 2 (Major Advances in Epigraphy)
- Exercises: Answer in 100-150 words; Short essay; Map work; Project
Chapter 3: Kinship, Caste and Class: Early Societies (c. 600 BCE-600 CE)Themes in Indian History Part I
- 1. The Critical Edition of the Mahabharata
- 2. Kinship and Marriage: Many Rules and Varied Practices
- 3. Social Differences: Within and Beyond the Framework of Caste
- 4. Beyond Birth: Resources and Status
- 5. Explaining Social Differences: A Social Contract
- 6. Handling Texts: Historians and the Mahabharata
- 7. A Dynamic Text
- Timeline 1 (Major Textual Traditions) and Timeline 2 (Major Landmarks in the Study of the Mahabharata)
- Exercises: Answer in 100-150 words; Short essay; Map work; Project
Chapter 4: Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings: Cultural Developments (c. 600 BCE-600 CE)Themes in Indian History Part I
- 1. A Glimpse of Sanchi
- 2. The Background: Sacrifices and Debates
- 3. Beyond Worldly Pleasures: The Message of Mahavira
- 4. The Buddha and the Quest for Enlightenment
- 5. The Teachings of the Buddha
- 6. Followers of the Buddha
- 7. Stupas
- 8. 'Discovering' Stupas: The Fate of Amaravati and Sanchi
- 9. Sculpture
- 10. New Religious Traditions
- 11. Can We 'See' Everything?
- Timeline 1 (Major Religious Developments) and Timeline 2 (Landmarks in the Discovery and Preservation of Early Monuments and Sculpture)
- Exercises: Answer in 100-150 words; Short essay; Map work; Project
Themes in Indian History-II
Chapter 5: Through the Eyes of Travellers: Perceptions of Society (c. tenth to seventeenth century)Themes in Indian History Part II
- 1. Al-Biruni and the Kitab-ul-Hind
- 2. Ibn Battuta's Rihla
- 3. Francois Bernier: A Doctor with a Difference
- 4. Making Sense of an Alien World: Al-Biruni and the Sanskritic Tradition
- 5. Ibn Battuta and the Excitement of the Unfamiliar
- 6. Bernier and the 'Degenerate' East
- 7. Women: Slaves, Sati and Labourers
- Timeline
- Exercises: Answer in 100-150 words; Short essay; Map work; Project
Chapter 6: Bhakti-Sufi Traditions: Changes in Religious Beliefs and Devotional Texts (c. eighth to eighteenth century)Themes in Indian History Part II
- 1. A Mosaic of Religious Beliefs
- 2. Poems of Prayer: Early Traditions of Bhakti
- 3. The Virashaiva Tradition
- 4. Religious Ferment in North India
- 5. New Strands in the Fabric: Islamic Traditions
- 6. The Growth of Sufism
- 7. The Chishtis in the Subcontinent
- 8. New Devotional Paths: Dialogue and Dissent in Northern India
- 9. Reconstructing Histories of Religious Traditions
- Timeline
- Exercises: Answer in 100-150 words; Short essay; Map work; Project
Chapter 7: An Imperial Capital: Vijayanagara (c. fourteenth to sixteenth century)Themes in Indian History Part II
- 1. The Discovery of Hampi
- 2. Rayas, Nayakas and Sultans
- 3. Vijayanagara: The Capital and its Environs
- 4. The Royal Centre
- 5. The Sacred Centre
- 6. Plotting Palaces, Temples and Bazaars
- 7. Questions in Search of Answers
- Timeline 1 and Timeline 2
- Exercises: Answer in 100-150 words; Short essay; Map work; Project
Chapter 8: Peasants, Zamindars and the State: Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire (c. sixteenth-seventeenth centuries)Themes in Indian History Part II
- 1. Peasants and Agricultural Production
- 2. The Village Community
- 3. Women in Agrarian Society
- 4. Forests and Tribes
- 5. The Zamindars
- 6. Land Revenue System
- 7. The Flow of Silver
- 8. The Ain-i Akbari of Abu'l Fazl Allami
- Timeline
- Exercises: Answer in 100-150 words; Short essay; Map work; Project
Themes in Indian History-III
Chapter 9: Colonialism and the Countryside: Exploring Official ArchivesThemes in Indian History Part III
- 1. Bengal and the Zamindars
- 2. The Hoe and the Plough
- 3. A Revolt in the Countryside: The Bombay Deccan
- 4. The Deccan Riots Commission
- Timeline
- Exercises: Answer in 100-150 words; Short essay; Map work; Project
Chapter 10: Rebels and the Raj: The Revolt of 1857 and Its RepresentationsThemes in Indian History Part III
- 1. Pattern of the Uprising
- 2. Awadh in Revolt
- 3. What the Rebels Wanted
- 4. Repression
- 5. Images of the Revolt
- Timeline (the Revolt of 1857, month by month)
- Exercises: Answer in 100-150 words; Short essay; Map work; Project
Chapter 11: Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement: Civil Disobedience and BeyondThemes in Indian History Part III
- 1. A Leader Announces Himself
- 2. The Making and Unmaking of Non-cooperation
- 3. The Salt Satyagraha: A Case Study
- 4. Quit India
- 5. The Last Heroic Days
- 6. Knowing Gandhi
- Timeline
- Exercises: Answer in 100-150 words; Short essay; Map work; Project
Chapter 12: Framing the Constitution: The Beginning of a New EraThemes in Indian History Part III
- 1. A Tumultuous Time
- 2. The Vision of the Constitution
- 3. Defining Rights
- 4. The Powers of the State
- 5. The Language of the Nation
- Timeline
- Exercises: Answer in 100-150 words; Short essay; Map work; Project
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Chapter lists follow the NCERT textbooks as available to us; textbooks are revised from time to time, so confirm on ncert.nic.in.
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