NCERT Class 9 book describes Sengol as symbol of good governance

The Sengol installed in the new Parliament building has been included in NCERT's Class 9 Social Science textbook. The book describes it as a marker of righteous governance, links its tradition to the Chola period and refers to its 1947 association

New Delhi: The “Sengol”, installed in the new Parliament building in 2023, is now part of the NCERT’s Class 9 Social Science textbook, which describes it as a “cultural marker of rulership and good governance” and links its tradition to the Chola period.

The book, titled “Understanding Society: India and Beyond — Part 2”, was released on Tuesday, six months after the new academic session began. The first part of the textbook was released in June.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi installed the historic Sengol sceptre in a glass enclosure next to the Lok Sabha Speaker’s podium inside the new Parliament building on May 28, 2023.

“The Sengol, a cultural marker of rulership and good governance, was placed in India’s newly inaugurated Parliament building in the year 2023 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The tradition of using the Sengol as a mark of righteous governance began more than a thousand years ago during the reign of the Chola dynasty,” the textbook reads.

The chapter also refers to the Sengol’s association with the transfer of power during Independence.

“To mark the occasion of India’s Independence, at the stroke of midnight on 15 August 1947, the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, received the Sengol from the Adheenam Saints (an old Shaivite tradition) of Tamil Nadu,” it states.

In his address in the Lok Sabha chamber of the new Parliament to mark the inauguration of the building in 2023, Modi had said that the Sengol in 1947 symbolised the transfer of power under the guidance of Rajaji and the Adheenams.

However, the Congress has claimed that there is no documented evidence of Lord Mountbatten, C Rajagopalachari and Jawaharlal Nehru describing the sceptre as a symbol of the transfer of power by the British to India. The claim was also made by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh in 2023, when the government announced the installation of the Sengol in the new Parliament building.

According to the Ministry of Culture, the Sengol, an august sceptre steeped in the spiritual and cultural traditions of ancient Tamil civilisation, stands as a resplendent symbol of India’s enduring values, where temporal power is guided by the principles of dharma (righteousness).

“Once integral to the coronation rites of Tamil monarchs, the Sengol was not merely a ceremonial object but a profound testament to the ethical responsibilities bestowed upon a ruler. This sacred tradition was momentously revived on the eve of India’s independence in 1947, when a Sengol was solemnly presented to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,” the ministry said in a description.

Handcrafted by Vummidi Bangaru Chetty and sanctified by the revered seers of the Thiruvaduthurai Adheenam, the Sengol marked the “civilisationally rooted” transfer of authority from colonial rule to a sovereign Indian state, it said.

“It carried with it the blessings of spiritual guardianship and the timeless wisdom of India’s sacred legacy,” it added.