CHAPTER 5

Through the Eyes of Travellers (c. tenth to seventeenth century)

Accounts of three men: Al-Biruni who came from Uzbekistan (eleventh century), Ibn Battuta who
came from Morocco, in northwestern Africa (fourteenth century) and the Frenchman François
Bernier (seventeenth century).

Al-BIRUNI AND THE KITAB-UL-HIND

From Khwarizm to the Punjab
 Born in 973 in Khwarizm in present uzbekistan, it was an important centre of learning, he
was well versed in Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew and Sanskrit.
 In 1017 Sultan mahmud invaded khwarizm, took several scholars and poets to his capital
Ghazi, he liked the city and spended his life until death at age of 70.
 It was in Ghazni that Al-Biruni developed an interest in India. Sanskrit works on astronomy,
mathematics and medicine had been translated into Arabic from the eighth century
onwards.
 After punjab became part of Ghaznavid emoire, contacts with locals helped in creating
mutual environment and trust.
 This literature dealt with lands as far apart as the Sahara desert in the west to the River
Volga in the north.

The Kitab-ul-Hind
 Al-Biruni’s Kitab-ul-Hind, written in Arabic, is simple and lucid, divided into 80 chapters on
subjects such as religion and philosophy, festivals, astronomy, alchemy, manners and
customs, social life, weights and measures, iconography, laws and metrology.
 He adopted a different structure in each chapter, starting with a question, following with a
description based on sanskrit traditions and a conclusion with a comparison with other
cultures.
 Scholars argue that this almost geometric structure, remarkable for its precision and
predictability, owed much to his mathematical orientation.

INB BATTUTA’S RIHLA

An Early Globe-Trotter
 Battuta’s book called Rihla, written in Arabic, providing details about the social and cultural
life in 14th century. He was born in Tangier, a family well known for expertise in islamic
religious law or sharia.
 Unlike most other members of his class, Ibn Battuta considered experience gained through
travels to be a more important source of knowledge than books.
 He reached Sind in 1333, had heard about Muhammad bin Tughlaq delhi sultan, lured by his
repution sets off for delhi passing Multan and Uch.
 The sultan was impressed and appointed him as the qazi or judge of delhi, when politics
changed was thrown in prison and again restrored imperial service after the
misunderstanding clreared and wes sent as envoy to china Mongol ruler in 1342.
  His account is often compared with that of Marco Polo, who visited China (and also India)
from his home base in Venice in the late thirteenth century.

The “Enjoyment of Curiosities”

 Spent several years travelling through north Africa, West Asia and parts of Central Asia (he
may even have visited Russia), the Indian subcontinent and China,
 When he returned, the local ruler issued instructions that his stories be recorded.

FRANCOIS BERNIER A DOCTOER WITH A DIFFERENCE

 Potuguese arrived in 1500, wrote detailed accounts about social and religious practices, such
as the Jesuit Roberto Nobili, even translated texts into european languages.
 Duarte Barbosa, who wrote a detailed account of trade and society in south India.
 François Bernier, a Frenchman, was a doctor, political philosopher and historian. He was in
India for twelve years, 1656 - 1668, and associated with the Mughal court, as a physician to
Prince Dara Shukoh, the eldest son of Emperor Shah Jahan.
 Later as an intellectual and scientist, with Danishmand Khan, an Armenian noble at the
Mughal court.

Comparing “East” and “West”

 He frequently compared evrything what he saw in india with europe, he saw in India as a
bleak situation in comparison to developments in Europe, his assessments were always not
accurate but became extremly popular.

MAKING SENSE OF AN ALIEN WORLD AL- BIRUNI AND THE SANSKRITIC

TRADITION
Overcoming Barriers To Understanding
 He discussed several “barriers” that he felt obstructed understanding:
Language: Sanskrit was so different from Arabic and Persian that ideas and concepts could
not be translated from one language to another.
Religion: Difference in religious beliefs and practices.
Self absorbtion: The self-absorption and consequent insularity of the local population.
 Al-Biruni depended almost exclusively on the works of Brahmanas, often citing passages
from the Vedas, the Puranas, the Bhagavad Gita, the works of Patanjali, the Manusmriti,
etc., to provide an understanding of Indian society.
 Al-Biruni’s Description Of The Caste System
 He tried to explain the caste system be looking parallel in other societies.
 Noted that in ancient persia four categories were recoganised, kings and princes; monks, fire
priests and lawyers; physicians, astronmers and other scientists; and peasants and artisants.
 He suggested that social division in not unique to India. He pointed out that within islam all
men are considered equal differing only in the observance of piety.
 Despite ccepting the brahmanical description of caste system he disapproved the notion of
untouchability.
 His description of caste system was deeply influenced by his studies of normative sanskrit
texts written by brahmanas however in real the rules were not as rigid. For instance,
Antyaja, people born outside the system were expected to provide cheap labour to
zamendars and peasants and were included in economic network.
IBN BATTUTA AND THE EXCITMENT OF THE UNFAMILIAR
 Anything that was unfamiliar was particularly highlighted in order to ensure that the listener
or the reader was suitably impressed by accounts of distant yet accessible worlds.
 The Coconut and The Paan
 The coconut and the paan, two kinds of plant produce that were completely unfamiliar to his
audience.
 Coconut = The nut of a coconut tree resembles a man’s head, for in it are what look like two
eyes and a mouth, and the inside of it when it is green looks like the brain, and attached to it
is a fibre which looks like hair.
 Paaan= The manner of its use is that before eating it one takes areca nut; this is like a
nutmeg but is broken up until it is reduced to small pellets, and one places these in his
mouth and chews them. Then he takes the leaves of betel, puts a little chalk on them, and
masticates them along with the betel.

Ibn Battuta and Indian Cities

 They were populated and prosperous except the disruptions caused by the wars and
invasions, described that cities had crowded streets and bright colourful markets sacked
with a variety of goods.
 Ibn Battuta described Delhi as a vast city, with a great population, the largest in India.
Daulatabad (in Maharashtra) was no less, and easily rivalled Delhi in size.
 The bazaars were not only places of economic transactions, but also the hub of social and
cultural activities.
 Most bazaars had a mosque and a temple, and in some of them at least, spaces were
marked for public performances by dancers, musicians and singers.
 His account to suggest that towns derived a significant portion of their wealth through the
appropriation of surplus from villages, agriculture was very productive due to fertile soil.
 Well-intigrated with inter asian networks of trade and commerce, Indian manufactures in
great demand in west asia and southeast asia, fetching huge profits.
 Indian textile like cotton, fine muslin, silk brocade nd satin were in high demand and muslin
was so expensive could be worn by nobles and very rich only.

A Unique System of Communication

 State took special mesaures to encourage merchants, almost all routes had inns and guest
house.
 He was amazed by the postal system, allowing mechants to not only send information but
also dispatch goods on short notices.
 Uluq = Run by royal horses present at every four miles.
 Dawa = Has three stations per mile, it was one third of a mile.

BERNIER AND THE “DEGENERATE“ EAST

 Bernier’s Travels in the Mughal Empire is marked by detailed observations, critical insights
and reflection.
 He constantly compared Mughal India with contemporary Europe, and emphasising europe
as superior.
 He also ordered the perceived differences hierarchically, so that India appeared to be
inferior to the Western world.
The Question of Landownership
 Acoording to bernier fundamentak difference was lack of private property, he believed it
was harmful for state and its people, the king distributed the land to his nobles which had
disastrous effect on economy and society.
 He argued that the landowners could not pass the land to their children.
 The absence of private property in land had, therefore, prevented the emergence of the
class of “improving” landlords (as in Western Europe) with a concern to maintain or improve
land.
 This led to ruination of griculture, excessive oppression of the peasantry and decline in the
living standard of all except aristrocrates.
 Bernier said that there is no middle class in india, there are just poor and the rich.
 This, then, is how Bernier saw the Mughal Empire – its king was the king of “beggars and
barbarians”; its cities and towns were ruined and contaminated with “ill air”.
 Its fields, “overspread with bushes” and full of “pestilential marishes”. And, all this was
because of one reason: crown ownership of land.
 Oriental despotism, given by Montesquieu according to which rulers in Asia (the Orient or
the East) enjoyed absolute authority over their subjects.
 Asiatic mode of production by Karl marx, argued that the surplus was appropriated by the
state, leading to the mergence of a society that was composed of large number of
autonomous and egalitarian villagers.
 During 16th and 17th century, rural society was characterised by socio economic differences,
one end there were big zamindars and on other the untouchable landless loubers in
between there were big peasants.

A More Complex Social Reality

 He felt that artisans had no incentive to improve theirquality as all profit was taken by the
state, mnufacturers were in decline everywhere.
 Bernier described Mughal cities as “camp towns”, by which he meant towns that owed their
existence, and depended for their survival, on the imperial camp.
 They did not have viable social and economic foundations but were dependent on imperial
patronage.

WOMEN SLAVES, SATI AND LABOURERS

 Slaves were sold openly in markets and were given as gifts, there was difference in slaves,
some femae slaves were expert in music and dance in the service of sultan.
 Slaves were also hired by sultan to watch his nobles, and were generallly used for domestic
work, carryring palanquins or dola and the price was very low.
 Travellers and writers often highlighted the treatment of women as a crucial marker of
difference between Western and Eastern societies.
 Bernier chose the practice of sati for detailed description. He noted that while some women
seemed to embrace death cheerfully, others were forced to die.
 Their labour was crucial in both agricultural and non-agricultural production. Women from
merchant families participated in commercial activities, sometimes even taking mercantile
disputes to the court of law.