India's ancient past from early humans to the Gupta period — sources of history, early cities, kingdoms, Buddhist ideas, and cultural achievements. Each chapter uses a specific type of historical evidence.

• What, Where, How and When?
• From Hunting-Gathering to Growing Food
• In the Earliest Cities
• What Books and Burials Tell Us
• Kingdoms, Kings and an Early Republic
• New Questions and Ideas
• Ashoka, the Emperor Who Gave Up War
• Vital Villages, Thriving Towns
• Traders, Kings and Pilgrims
• New Empires and Kingdoms
• Buildings, Paintings and Books

From the solar system to India's geography — how the Earth moves, how we read maps, the four major domains (land, water, air, life), landforms, and India's climate zones and wildlife.

• The Earth in the Solar System
• Globe: Latitudes and Longitudes
• Motions of the Earth
• Maps
• Major Domains of the Earth
• Major Landforms of the Earth
• Our Country — India
• India: Climate, Vegetation and Wildlife

What makes India diverse, how discrimination arises, how governments are structured from village panchayat to national parliament, and how rural and urban communities earn their livelihoods.

• Understanding Diversity
• Diversity and Discrimination
• What is Government?
• Key Elements of a Democratic Government
• Panchayati Raj
• Rural Administration
• Urban Administration
• Rural Livelihoods
• Urban Livelihoods