Through the eyes of Travellers

1. Who was Al- Biruni? Write his brief description?

Ans (i) Al-Biruni was born in Khwarizm in present day Uzbekistan.
(ii) He was well versed in several languages: Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew and Sanskrit.
(iii) In 1017, when Sultan Mahmud invaded Khwarizm, he took several scholars and poets
back to his capital, Ghazni; Al-Biruni was one of them.
(iv) It was in Ghazni that Al-Biruni developed an interest in India.

2. Write a brief description of Kitab Ul-Hind?

Ans (i) Al-Biruni’s Kitab-ul-Hind written in Arabic.

(ii) It is simple, lucid and voluminous text, divided into 80 chapters on subjects such as religion
and philosophy, festival, astronomy, manners and customs, social life, weights and measures,
iconography, laws and metrology.
(iii) Al-Biruni adopted a distinctive structure in each chapter, beginning with a question,
following this up with a description based on Sanskritic traditions, and concluding with a
comparison with other cultures.

3. What are the problems/ Barriers faced by Al-Biruni when he came to India?

Ans (i) The first problem was of Language. According to him, Sanskrit was so
different from Arabic and Persian that ideas and concepts could not be easily translated from one
language into another.
(ii) The second barrier was difference in religious beliefs and practices.
(iii) The self-absorption and consequent insularity of the local population according to him,
constituted the third barrier.

4. Write Al-Biruni’s description of the caste system

(i) Al-Biruni tried to explain the caste system by looking for parallels in other societies.
(ii) He noted that in ancient Persia, four social categories were recognised.
(iii) He suggested that social divisions were not unique to India.
(iv) He pointed out that within Islam all men were considered equal, differing only in
their observance of piety.
(v) He accepted the Brahmanical description of the caste system but disapproved of the
notion of pollution.
(vi) He remarked that everything that falls into a state of impurity strives and succeeds in
regaining its original condition of purity.
(vii) The conception of social pollution, intrinsic to the caste system, was according to
him, contrary to the laws of nature.
(viii) Al-Biruni’s description of the caste system was deeply influenced by his study of
normative Sanskrit.

5. Who was Ibn Battuta? Why he is known as globe trotter?

Ans(i) Ibn Battuta was a Moroccan traveller was born in Tangier into a family known for their
expertise in Islamic religious law or shari‘a.
(ii) Ibn Battuta’s book of travels, called Rihla, written in Arabic, provides extremely rich and
interesting details about the social and cultural life in the subcontinent in the fourteenth century.
(iii) He just loved travelling, and went to far-off places, exploring new worlds and peoples.
(iv) Before he set off for India in 1332-33, he had made pilgrimage trips to Mecca, and had
already travelled extensively in Syria, Iraq, Persia, Yemen, Oman and a few trading ports on the
coast of East Africa.
(v) Battuta reached Sind in 1333 travelling through Central Asia.

6. How and why did Ib Battuta describe the Indian cities as full of Exciting Opportunities?

1. He found the cities in the subcontinent with full of exciting opportunities for those who
had the necessary drive, resources and skills.
2. They were densely populated and prosperous.
3. Most cities had crowed streets and bright and colourful markets with wide variety of
goods.
4. He describes Delhi as a vast city, with a great population, the largest in India.
5. Daulatabad was equal in size of Delhi.
6. The bazaars were not only places of economic transactions, but the hub of social and
cultural activities.
7. Most bazaars had a mosque and a temple and space were marked for public performances
by dancers, musicians and singers.
8. He found Indian agriculture very productive because of the fertility of soil.

7. Who was FRANCOIS BERNIER?

Ans.
1. He was a Frenchman, a doctor, political philosopher and historian.
2. He came to the Mughal court in search of opportunities.
3. He was in India for twelve years from 1656 to 1668. He was closely associated to the
Mughal court as a physician to Prince Dara Shukoh, the eldest son of Shah Jahan.
Comparing “East” and ‘West”
1. He travelled to several parts of the country and wrote accounts of what he saw and
comparing India with the situation in Europe.
2. He dedicated his major writing to the king of France Louis XIV.

8. Why he considered as Landownership of Land as disasterous for both the state and
economy?

 According to Bernier, one of the fundamental differences between Mughal India and
Europe was the lack of private property in land in the former.
 He was a firm believer in the virtues of private property, and saw crown ownership of
land as being harmful for both the state and its people.
 He thought that in the Mughal Empire the emperor owned all the land and distributed it
among his nobles, and that this had disastrous consequences for the economy and society.
 The absence of private property in land had, therefore, prevented the emergence of the
class of “improving” landlords.
 It had led to the uniform ruination of agriculture, excessive oppression of the peasantry
and a continuous decline in the living standards of all sections of society, except the
ruling aristocracy.

9. How did Ibn Battuta describes the condition of women in medieval India?

Ans (i) slaves were openly sold in markets, like any other commodity, and were regularly
exchanged as gifts.

(ii) Some female slaves in the service of the Sultan were experts in music and dance,
and Ibn Battuta enjoyed their performance at the wedding of the Sultan’s sister.
(iii) Female slaves were also employed by the Sultan to keep a watch on his nobles.
(iv) Slaves were generally used for domestic labour.
(v) Ibn Battuta found their services particularly indispensable for carrying women and men on
palanquins or dola.