India, May 7 -- The removal of a map of the erstwhile Maratha empire from social science textbooks has left descendants of royal Maratha families in a huff. So peeved are they at the omission that they have moved the Bombay high court, challenging the decision of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to remove the map from Class 8 social science textbooks.

The public interest litigation (PIL), filed on Monday, called NCERT's action "unilateral, arbitrary and non-transparent", and said that it had been taken without examining historical records, archival material, or scholarly evidence.

Being "profoundly aggrieved" and "personally affected" by the decision, the descendants, including Raje Mudhojiraje Ajitsingh...