Through the eyes of the traveller

THROUGHS THE EYES OF THE TRAVELLERS

DONE BY- AMAL ZAHEER AND SUSHMITA KOHLI.

Al Biruni and the Kitab-ul-hind.

• Al biruni was born in 973 in present day Uzbekistan.

• He was well knowledgeable in various languages.

• He was captivated and taken to ghazni and died there at the sage of 70.

• He spent years in the company with the local of pujab and the Brahman priest.

• He studied Sanskrit and religious and philosophical texts.

Al- Biruni

The kitab-ul-hind

• It is written in Arabic. It is simple, lucid and voluminous. It talks about various subjects in India.

• The book has a district structure, it begins with a question, the description based on sanskritic tradition, and the conclusion with a comparison with other cultures.

• He translated text from sanskrit, pali and prakrit into arabic.

• He was Critical about the way text was written and wanted to approve them.

Ibn-battuta’s Rihala

• Origin: morocco, born in tangier and educated in sharia law• The book ‘Rihal’ is written in Arabic, it is rich in detail of

social and cultural like in the subcontinent in the 14th century.

• He left his family and friends behind to travel. He reached sind in 1333.

• Muhammad bin tughlaq appointed as a qazi or a judge at delhi.

• He remained in this position for many years, then due to a misunderstanding he was imprisoned. Once the misunderstanding was cleared he was restored to his imperial services.

• He was ordered by muhamma bin tuglaq in 1342 to proceed to china as the sultan’s envoy to the Mongol rulers.

• He went to the Malabar coast through central india then to thre Maldives (stayed there for 18 months) then he went to srilanka back to Malabar Maldives then he resumed his mission to china then back to home in 1347.

• his accounts are compared to that of Marco polo ( who has also visited china and India) .

• He has recorded his observation of people, culture, belief and values etc.

• He also noted that travelling from one place to the other took a long time and was insecure.

The ‘enjoyment of curiosities’

• Several year travelling through north Africa, west Africa, west Asia and central Asia.

• India and china.• His stories were recorded.

Related links-

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEzC8NB-AVk

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwHkR_bV3gk

IBN BATTUTA AND THE

EXCITEMENT OF THE

UNFAMILIAR.

DONE BY AMAL ZAHEER.

• India part of the global network of communication in the 14th century.

• Spend much of his time with learned men and enjoyed the cosmopolitan culture.

• Interaction between various multi-linguists.

• Highlighted anything which he found unfamiliar to impress his readers.

DID YOU KNOW? Ibn Battuta travelled 75,000 miles for about 29 years and visited around 60 rulers.

The coconut and paan- One of the best examples of Ibn Battuta’s

representation.

Ibn Battuta and Indian Cities.

Cities full of exciting

opportunities.

Densely populated and

prosperous.

Crowded streets with bright and

colourful markets.

Bazaars- hub of social and

cultural activities.Had mosque and

temples.Public Performances.

He found Indian agriculture very

productive.India- well integrated with

Inter Asian networks of trade and commerce.Rich in textiles, silk,

muslin, satin and were in demand.

SYSTEM OF COMMUNICATION.

• State evidently took measures to encourage merchants.

• Trade routes supplied with inns and guest houses.

• Amazed by the efficiency of the postal system.

• Allowed merchants to send information and also remit credit across long distance.

DID YOU KNOW?

The postal system was so efficient that the news reports of the spies would reach in 5 days from Delhi to Sind.

BERNIER AND THE “DEGENERATE” EAST.

• Francois Bernier belonged to a different intellectual tradition.

• Preoccupied with comparing and contrasting what he saw in India in particular to that of europe.

• His aim was to influence the policy-makers to ensure that they made the right decisions.

BERNIERS TRAVELS IN THE MUGHAL EMPIRE.

Marked by detailed observations, critical insights and reflection.

His account contains discussions trying to place the history of the Mughals within the same sort of a universal

framework.

Representation works on the model of binary opposition.

India presented as the universe of

Europe.

Compared Mughal India to that of

Europe.

India appeared to be inferior in the Western World.

The question of landownership.

• Fundamental differences- lack of private property among Indians compared to Europe.

• Firm believer of the virtues of private property.

• Crown ownership- harmful to society.

• This perception not unique to Bernier.

• Land could not be inherited- crown ownership.

• Averse to long- term investments.

DID YOU KNOW?Bernier, a son of a farmer was an orphan at a very young age and he wad cared by his uncle.

• Absence of property in land denied the emergence of “improving” landlords to maintain or improve lands.

• Uniform ruination of agriculture and excessive oppression of peasantry.

• Decline in the living standards.• Bernier on India- undifferentiated

masses of impoverished people subjugated by a small minority of rich.

• Confidently asserted, “ there is no middle state in India.”

Bernier described the Mughal Empire as:

Its king was the king of “beggars and barbarians”; it’s cities and

towns were ruined and contaminated with “ill air”; and

its fields, “ overspread with bushes” and full of pestilential

marshes.

• Abul Fazl, the Mughal chronicler described the land revenue as ‘remunerations of sovereignty’.

• Possible that European Travelers regarded such claims as rent because land revenue demands was very high.

• This was actually a rent on the crop.

• Berniers description influenced Western theorists from the 18th century.

• French Philosopher, Montesquieu- oriental despotism.

• Asiatic mode of production- Karl Marx.

• Rural society characterized by social and economic differentiation.

BIG ZAMINDARS

BIG PEASANTS

UNTOUCHABLE LANDLESS LABOURERS

SPECTRUM- RURAL SOCIETY.

A more complex rural society.

• Berniers preoccupation hint at a complex reality.

• Artisans had no incentives to improve the life of their manufactures.

• Manufactures were already in decline.• Precious metals flowed into India.• Also noted the existence of a

prosperous merchant community engaged in trade.

Cities and towns

• 15% of the population lived in towns compared to that of proportion in Europe.

• Mughal cities – “camp towns”.• All kinds of towns- port towns,

trading towns, pilgrimage towns etc. Their existence- index of prosperity of merchant communities.

• Merchants- strong community organised into caste-cum occupational bodies.

URBAN GROUP

Physicians ( hakim or vaid)

Teachers(pundit or mulla)

Lawyers( wakil)

Painters, architects.

Calligraphers.

Women- Slaves, Sati and Labourers.

• Travelers interested in the condition of women in the subcontinent.

• Took inequities as a ‘natural state of affairs’.

• Women openly sold in the markets like any other commodity even exchanged as gifts.

• Differentiation among slaves.• Slaves generallly used for domestic

labour.

Differentiation among slaves.

SLAVES •Female slaves in service of sultans.•Experts in dance and music.

SLAVES •Slaves also employed as spies to keep watch on the nobles.•Ibn battuta found their service indispensible for carrying men or woman on Dola’s.

SLAVES •Price of slaves especially women for domestic labor were very low.•Affordable by most families.

A palanquin or a Dola.

SATI

PRACTICE OF SATI• Satī was a social funeral practice among some

Indian communities in which a recently widowed woman would immolate herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. The practice had been banned several times, with the current ban dating to 1829 by the British.

• The term is derived from the original name of the goddess Sati, also known as Dakshayani, who self-immolated because she was unable to bear her father Daksha's humiliation of her (living) husband Shiva. The term may also be used to refer to the widow. The term sati is now sometimes interpreted as "chaste woman."

CONCLUSION• Contemporary European travelers and

writers often highlighted the treatment of women as a crucial marker of difference between Western and Eastern societies.

• Women's lives not only revolved around sati. They were also crucial in both agricultural and non-agricultural production.

• They even participated in commercial activities.

THE END