Class 12 NCERT history part -2 chapter-5

              Through the eyes of 

                travelers

Introduction 

In this chapter we shall see how our knowledge of the past can be enriched through a consideration of descriptions of social life provided by traveler who visited the subcontinent , focusing on the accounts of three men:

1. Al-Biruni who came from Uzbekistan 
2. Ibn Battuta who came from morocco 
3. Frenchman François Bernier  

 Al-Biruni and the Kitab -ul -hind 

 From Khwarizmi to the Punjab

• Al-Biruni was bourn in 973, in Khwarizmi in present day Uzbekistan
• Sultan Mahmud  attacked khawrizm and took Al-Biruni to his capital ghazni.
• Al-Biruni wrote "kitab- ul -hind "also known as "Tahkik -a -hind  "
• Al Biruni spent years in the company of Brahmana priests and scholars , learning Sanskrit, and studying religious and philosophical texts.

The Kitab-ul-hind 

• Al-bruin's -ul-hind, written in Arabic , is simple and lucid .
• It is a voluminous text , divided into 80 chapters on subjects such as religion and philosophy , festivals , astronomy , social life , weight and measures iconography , laws and metrology .
• Al- Biruni , who wrote in Arabi, probably intended his work for peoples living along the frontiers of the subcontinents .
• He was familiar with translations and adaptations of Sanskrit , pali and Prakrit texts into Arabic These ranged from fables to works on astronomy and medicine .

Ibn - Battuta 's Rihla   

An early globe - trotter 

• Ibn-Battuta 's book of travels ,called Rihla written in Arabic , gives very interesting information of social and cultural life of India.
• Moroccan  traveller was born in Tangier 
• Ibn-Battuta received literary and scholastic education when he was quite young .
• Ibn Battuta loved travelling and went to far -off places exploring new worlds and peoples .
• 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 .
• Ibn Battuta reached Sind in 1333 .
• The sultan was impressed by his scholarship , and appointed him the Qazi or judge of Delhi.
• Ibn Battuta proceeded to the Malabar coast through central India .
• He travelled extensively in china , going as far as Beijing , but did not stay for long , deciding to return home in 1347.
• Ibn Battuta was attacked by band of robbers several times .

The "enjoyment of curiosities 

Ibn Battuta was as inveterate traveller who spent several year travelling through north Africa 

Francois Bernier 

A doctor with a difference 

• He was a Frenchman , a doctor , political philosopher and historian
• He came to the Mughal court in search of opportunities 
• He was in India for 12 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   

Company "East "and "west "

He travelled to several parts of the country and wrote accounts of what he saw and comparing India with the situation in Europe .

• Whatever Bernier saw in India compared it with European condition 
• He dedicated his major writing to the king of France

Making sense of an alien world Al- Biruni and the sanskritic tradition . 

Overcoming barriers to understanding 

• The language, Sanskrit was so different from Arabic and Persian that ideas and concept could not be easily translated from one language into another .
• The second barrier he identified was the difference in religions beliefs and practices .
• The self - absorption and consequent insularity of the local population .
• Al-Biruni depended on the works of Brahmanas , often citing passage from the Vedas , the puranas , the Bhagavatd Gita 
• The works of Patanjali , the Manu smriti etc. to provide an understanding of Indian society.

Al- Biruni's description of the caste 

• Al- Biruni's tried to explain the caste system by looking for parallels in other societies 
• He suggest that social divisions were not unique to India .
• He pointed out that with in Islam all men were considered equal , differencing only in their observance of piety 
• He disapproved the notion of pollution .
• he was appointed as the quazi of Delhi in 1333.

The coconut and the paan 

• Two kinds of plants that were unfamiliar to his audience were coconut and paan 
• He describes the paan as a tree which is cultivated in the same manner as the grape wine 

Ibn Battuta and India cities 

• He founded the cities in the subcontinent with full of exciting opportunities for those who had the necessary drive , resources and skills 
• They were densely populated and prosperous 
• Most cities had crowed streets and bright and colorful markets with wide variety of goods 
• He describe Delhi as a vast city , with a great population , the largest in India .
• Daulatabad was equal in size of Delhi 
• Ibn Battuta found Indian agriculture very productive because of the fertility of the soil.

A unique system of communications

• The state evidently took special measures to encourage age merchants 
• All trade routes were well supplied with guest houses 

Bernier and the 'Degenerate 'east  

• Francois Bernier belonged to a difference intellectual tradition 
• barmier's travels in the Mughal empire is marked by detailed observations critical insights and reflection.

The question of landownership 

• According to briners one of the fundamental difference between Mughal India and Europe was the lack of private property in land 
• He believed in the virtues of private property 
• He felt that artisans had no incentive to improve the quality of their manufactures 
• The profit was appropriated by the state .  

A more complex social reality 

• A vast quantities of the world's precious metal flowed into India ,  as manufactures were exported in exchange for gold and silver 
• He also noticed the existence of prosperens , Merchant community , engaged in long distance exchange 
• Merchants often had strong community or king tries and were organized into their own caste - cum occupational bodies .