The NCERT Class 8 Social Science book Our Pasts III is the history textbook of the Class 8 NCERT set, and this page puts all eight chapter PDFs from ncert.nic.in into one table. The book runs to 8 chapters across 112 printed pages.
The PDF table below gives you the file quickly; the rest of the page says what is actually inside each chapter — the topics, page length and activity load — so you can tell which chapter answers the question you came with.
Download the NCERT Class 8 Social Science Book Our Pasts III PDFs
This table holds all eight chapter PDFs, and every one of them is NCERT’s own file hosted on ncert.nic.in rather than a re-upload. You can also open Chapter 1’s official PDF directly at https://ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/hess201.pdf to confirm the edition before you read.
| Ch. | Chapter | Pages | Official PDF |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction: | 8 | |
| 2 | From Trade to Territory | 17 | |
| 3 | Ruling the Countryside | 13 | |
| 4 | Tribals, Dikus and the Vision of a Golden Age | 12 | |
| 5 | When People Revolt | 14 | |
| 6 | Civilising the “Native”, Educating the Nation | 13 | |
| 7 | Women, Caste and Reform | 15 | |
| 8 | The Making of the National Movement: 1870s–1947 | 20 |
The book, measured
The index below is taken from the book itself. Headline numbers first, exactly as counted:
- 8 chapters from “Introduction:” to “The Making of the National Movement: 1870s–1947.”
- 112 printed pages of textbook text across those eight chapters.
- 27 activities inside the chapters, counting every boxed Activity task plus the Let’s recall, Let’s discuss and Let’s do blocks.
| Ch. | Chapter | Sections | Activities | Figures | Questions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction: | — | 3 | — | — |
| 2 | From Trade to Territory | — | 3 | — | — |
| 3 | Ruling the Countryside | — | 3 | — | — |
| 4 | Tribals, Dikus and the Vision of a Golden Age | — | 2 | — | — |
| 5 | When People Revolt | — | 4 | — | — |
| 6 | Civilising the “Native”, Educating the Nation | — | 2 | — | — |
| 7 | Women, Caste and Reform | — | 5 | — | — |
| 8 | The Making of the National Movement: 1870s–1947 | — | 5 | — | — |
What the directory’s columns count matters. An activity means one of the boxed activity tasks printed in the book: the Activity boxes, or one of the Let’s recall, Let’s discuss and Let’s do blocks.
A section would mean a numbered heading inside a chapter — this book organises chapters with activities and source boxes rather than numbered sections, so that column reads 0.
The figure column is not published for this edition because the diagrams print without captions, and the question column reads 0 because end-of-chapter questions were not recorded for this book; that is not a statement that the chapters have no exercises.
Where the weight sits: Chapter 8 is the longest at 20 pages, followed by Chapter 2 at 17 pages and Chapter 7 at 15 pages. Activity load is uneven — Chapters 7 and 8 carry five activity blocks each, Chapter 5 has four, Chapters 1 to 3 have three each, and Chapters 4 and 6 have two each.
If you are planning revision, the two chapters with the most activity blocks are Chapter 7, Women, Caste and Reform, and Chapter 8, The Making of the National Movement: 1870s–1947.
Chapter 1: Introduction: (8 pages)
Chapter 1 sets up the method of the whole book by showing how the British administration produced records, how officials sent reports to the Home Department were sent, and why surveys become important, before moving into the book’s first Let’s recall, Let’s discuss and Let’s do activities — read it first if you are unsure why historians rely on official records and surveys.
Chapter 2: From Trade to Territory (17 pages)
Chapter 2 follows how the East India Company came east, began trade in Bengal, won the Battle of Plassey, watched company officials become ‘nabobs’, and saw Company rule expand — read it to trace how a trading company became a ruling power.
Chapter 3: Ruling the Countryside (13 pages)
Chapter 3 explains what changed when the Company became Diwan, how the Company collected revenue, why new revenue systems including the Munro system were devised, and how crops were grown for Europe — read it if you want to understand what becoming Diwan meant for peasants.
Chapter 4: Tribals, Dikus and the Vision of a Golden Age (12 pages)
Chapter 4 shows how jhum cultivators, hunters and gatherers, herders, settled cultivation, forest laws, the problem with trade and the search for work changed tribal lives — read it to understand why tribal communities resisted colonial rule.
Chapter 5: When People Revolt (14 pages)
Chapter 5 covers policies and the people, nawabs losing power, peasants and sepoys, responses to reforms, and a mutiny becoming a popular uprising — read it when preparing answers on the revolt of 1857 from Meerut to Delhi.
Chapter 6: Civilising the “Native”, Educating the Nation (13 pages)
Chapter 6 is the colonial education debate: the tradition of Orientalism, the idea of “grave errors of the East”, education for commerce, the report of William Adam, new routines and rules, and the agenda for a national education — read it for the background of the English-education debate.
Chapter 7: Women, Caste and Reform (15 pages)
Chapter 7 tracks nineteenth-century social reform: working towards change, changing the lives of widows, girls going to school, women writing about women, and the law against child marriage — read it when revising social reform movements, and note that this chapter’s five activity blocks are the most in the book alongside Chapter 8.
Chapter 8: The Making of the National Movement: 1870s–1947 (20 pages)
Chapter 8 closes the book with the emergence of nationalism, a nation in the making, the advent of Mahatma Gandhi, the Rowlatt Satyagraha, and the Khilafat agitation with the Non-Cooperation Movement — read it to revise the stages of the freedom struggle from the 1870s to 1947.
How to use the Our Pasts III book for study
The book is chronological, so the book’s own order is also the best reading order. Follow the sequence below and the later chapters will make more sense.
- Chapter 1 first — records and sources explain why the book reads the way it does. Then move to Company expansion in Chapter 2.
- Chapter 3 next, because Company rule over the countryside follows Company expansion.
- Study Chapters 4 and 5 together as resistance and revolt.
- Then Chapter 6 on the education debate, and Chapter 7 on social reform.
- Finish with Chapter 8, the national movement, which links earlier resentments into the freedom struggle up to 1947.
Textbook contents and the examinable syllabus are not always identical — check the current official syllabus for what is examinable this session before deciding what to revise.
Related NCERT Class 8 pages
This page is part of the wider Class 8 Social Science section, so keep the Class 8 Social Science notes hub in reach for accompanying material. For other Class 8 subjects, use the Class 8 book hub, and to move between classes start from the NCERT books root.
Sources and data verification
This listing is maintained for the 2026-27 academic session using the NCERT textbook information available to us. NCERT remains the authority for confirming the latest edition.
The chapter titles, page counts and activity counts on this page describe the NCERT Class 8 Social Science textbook Our Pasts III, official edition on ncert.nic.in. This page covers that book only; it does not cover the geography or civics volumes of the Class 8 Social Science set.
The listing is maintained for the current academic session using the NCERT information available to us. NCERT settles textbook editions and PDFs; CBSE settles curriculum, syllabus and examinations.
| Ch. | Chapter page |
|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction: (coming soon) |
| 2 | From Trade to Territory (coming soon) |
| 3 | Ruling the Countryside (coming soon) |
| 4 | Tribals, Dikus and the Vision of a Golden Age (coming soon) |
| 5 | When People Revolt (coming soon) |
| 6 | Civilising the “Native”, Educating the Nation (coming soon) |
| 7 | Women, Caste and Reform (coming soon) |
| 8 | The Making of the National Movement: 1870s–1947 (coming soon) |
Reference: NCERT Class 8 Social Science textbook, official edition on ncert.nic.in. Figure captions and section titles quoted from the textbook; page references are to the official PDF.
Frequently asked questions about the NCERT Class 8 Social Science book Our Pasts III
How many chapters are in the NCERT Class 8 Social Science book Our Pasts III?
There are exactly 8 chapters in Our Pasts III, beginning with “Introduction:” and ending with “The Making of the National Movement: 1870s–1947.” The book runs to 112 printed pages, and every chapter PDF is linked in the table above.
Is the Our Pasts III PDF on this page the official NCERT file?
Yes. Every file in the PDF table is NCERT’s own PDF hosted on ncert.nic.in, not a copy hosted elsewhere. You can verify Chapter 1’s file directly at the official ncert.nic.in link on this page.
Which chapter of Our Pasts III covers the Battle of Plassey?
The Battle of Plassey is covered in Chapter 2, “From Trade to Territory,” along with the East India Company’s early trade in Bengal and its expansion of rule.
Which chapter of Our Pasts III covers the revolt of 1857?
The revolt of 1857 is the subject of Chapter 5, “When People Revolt.” It follows the revolt from Meerut to Delhi and shows how a mutiny became a popular uprising.
Which chapter of Our Pasts III deals with women, caste and reform?
Chapter 7, “Women, Caste and Reform,” deals with these issues. It covers widows, girls’ education, women writing about women, and the law against child marriage.