THEME 5 . THROUGH THE EYES OF TRAVELLERS (LESSON NOTES)

THEME 5 .

THROUGH THE EYES OF TRAVELLERS

PERCEPTIONS OF SOCIETY

(C.TENTH TO SEVENTEENTH CENTURY)

(LESSON NOTES)

v INTRODUCTION-

Ø The accounts of the travellers provide us lot of information about the local people, their customs, social and religious life. This chapter discusses how travellers’ accounts enriched our understanding about the past. This theme focused on the accounts of three famous travellers:  Al-Beruni, Ibn Battuta,  Francois Bernier.

v TRAVELLERS WHO VISITED INDIA:-

Sr no	Travellers name	Belongs to	Life Span	Visited India	Any other
1	Al- biruni	Uzbekistan	973-1048		Detail described about Indian society
2	Marco-polo	Italy	1254-1323	1271-95
3.	Ibn-Battuta	Morocco	1304-77	1324-1354	Global-trotter
4.	Abdur Razzaq Samarqandi	Samarqand	1413-82		About social system
5	Afanasii Nikitich Nikitin	Russia	1433--72	1466-72	Book-journey beyond three seas. Trader
6	Durate Barbosa	Portugal	1480-1521	1518	Trade and society
7	Seydi Ali Reis	Turkey	1498-1562	1562	Ottoman Admiral
8.	Mahmud Wali Balkhi	Balkh		1626-31
9	Antonio Monserrate	Spain	1536-1600		Visit in Akbar Court
10	Peter Mundi	England	1597-67		Trader and writer, first Britishers to write
11	Jean Baptiste Tavernier	France	1605-89		Jeweller, 6 times to visit India
12	Francois Bernier	France	1620-88	1656-68	A physicians of Dara Sikoh
13	Saikh ali Hazin		1740
14	Pelsaert	Dutch	17 th century
15	Manucci	Italy	1638-1717		Visit Mughal Court
16	Jesuit Roberto Nobili	Italy	1577-1656		Adopt many Indian customs

v ROLE OF TRAVELLERS” ACCOUNT:-

Ø Travel Accounts played a very important role to reconstruct the Indian history from 10th to 17th century –

Ø The accounts of the foreign travellers are helpful in reconstructing the history of India from 10th to 17th century.

Ø Most of the travellers came from vastly different social and cultural environment. Hence they were more attentive to everyday activities and practices. These were taken for granted by indigenous writers.

Ø Their difference in perspective makes their accounts interesting.

Ø Their account deals with affairs of the court, religious issues, architectural features and monuments.

Ø The administrators travelled within the empire and recorded their observation. The outside travellers describe the local traditions, customs and social practice in a very different manner.

v AL-BIRUNI

AL-BIRUNI

Ø Al-Biruni was born in 973, in Khwarizm (present day Uzbekistan).

Ø He was a learnt man and well versed in several languages such as Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew and Sanskrit.

Ø He has learnt the Arabic translation of Greeks philosophers like Plato.

Ø Mahamud Gazni invaded Khwarizm in 1017 and brought Al-Biruni as a hostage with him to Gazni

Ø Al-Beruni settled in Gazni and lived there until his death. Here he came into contact with local Sanskrit scholars and Brahman priests where he learn Sanskrit and  learn Indian texts on Indian religion and philosophy.

v KITAB-UL-HIND

Ø The accounts of Al-Biruni came to be called Kitab-ul-Hind or Tahkik-e-Hind.

Ø The Kitab-ul-Hind was written in Arabic language and was divided into 80 chapters.

Ø It dealt with subjects such as religion and philosophy, festivals, astronomy, alchemy(magic power which things), manners and customs, social life, weights and measures, iconography, laws and metrology(science of measurement).

Ø Al-Biruni has adopted a mathematical approach. He begins each chapter with a question followed up with a description and comparison of cultures.

Ø Scholars viewed this method is result of his mathematical orientation.

v MAKING SENSE OF AN ALIEN WORLD: ALBERUNI

v THE BARRIERS TO UNDERSTAND THE INDIAN SOCIETY

Ø Al-Beruni discussed several barriers that obstructed to understand of Indian society.

Ø The first barrier was the language .To him. Sanskrit was so different from Arabic and Persian and the ideas and concepts could not be easily translated from one language to another.

Ø The second barrier was that Al-Beruni identified was the difference in religious beliefs and practices.

Ø The third barrier was the self observation and consequent insularity of the local population. He depended mainly on the works of Brahmansa and often quoted from the Vedas,the Puranas,the Bhagavad Gita,the works of Patanjali,and the Manusmriti.

v AL-BERUNI’S DESCRIPTION OF THE CASTE SYSTEM

Ø Al-Biruni tried to explain the caste system by comparing it with other societies.

Ø He said that in ancient Persia, there were four social categories:

§  Knights and princes,

§  Monks, fire-priests and lawyers,

§  Physicians, astronomers and other scientists.

§  Peasants and artisans

Ø He described about the four varnas such as Brhamana,Kshatriya,Vaishya and Shudra.

Ø He tried to understand that social divisions were not unique to India.

Ø He pointed out that within Islam all men were considered equal and difference was based on only the observance of piety.

Ø But he did not accept the Brahmanical notion of pollution.

Ø He said that everything which falls into a state of impurity strives and succeeds in regaining its original condition of purity. Like the sun cleanses the air, and the salt in the sea prevents the water from becoming polluted.

Ø According to him, the notion of pollution which was intrinsic to caste system was against the laws of nature.

Ø Al-Biruni’s description of the caste system was deeply influenced by his familiarity with normative Sanskrit texts which laid down the rules governing the system from the point of view of the Brahmans.

Ø Although in real life the system was not quite as rigid .For example antyaja were often expected to provide cheap labour to zamindars. They were social oppressed even than they were included in the economic network.

v IBN BATTUTA (AN EARLY GLOBE-TROTTER)

IBN BATTUTA

Ø Ibn Battuta was an African traveller who came from Morocco.

Ø He was born in Tangier. He learnt literature and other scholarly works at his young age.

Ø He considered that knowledge gained through travels is more important source than books.

Ø  He loved travelling, and went far off places, exploring new worlds and peoples.                           

Ø Before his visit to India in 1332-33 ,he had made pilgrimage trip to Mecca and travelled extensively in Syria,Iraq,Persia,Yemen,Oman and a few trading ports on the coast of East Africa.

v IBN BATTUTA’S VISIT TO INDIA.

Ø He set off his travel to India in 1332-33 and reached Sind in 1333.

Ø He had heard about Muhammed bin Tughlaq, sultan of Delhi was generous patron of arts and letters so set off for Delhi.

Ø The sultan was impressed by the scholarship of Ibn Battuta and appointed him as the qazi or judge of Delhi.

Ø He remained judge for many years. The sultan appointed him as his ambassador to China.

Ø During his journey to China, he also visited Malabar Coast, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bengal, Assam and Sumatra and than china (port-Zaytun, Now Quanzhou). He decide d  to return his home in 1347 from China. He returned to his home in 1354.

v RIHLA

Ø Ibn Battuta’s book of travels called Rihla was written in Arabic provides the social and cultural life in the subcontinent in the 14th century.

Ø He carefully recorded his observations about new cultures, peoples, beliefs, values etc.

Ø He describe the Indian cities ,markets,  wars, invasions, and unique communication  system etc.

Ø When he returned to his home, local rulers issue the instructions that his stories to be recorded. Ibn Juzavy was deputed to write what Ibn Battuta dictated.

v THE COCONUT AND THE PAAN (Excitement of the unfamiliar)

Ø The best example of Ibn Battuta’s strategies of representation are clear in the ways in which he described the coconut and the paan ,two kinds of plant produce that were completely unfamiliar to his audience.

Ø The two kinds of plant produce that Ibn Battuta mentions were the paan and the coconut. He describes the coconut as resembling a man’s head because in it are what looks like two eyes and a mouth and inside of it when it is green looks like the brain. Attached to it are the fibres that look like hair. He describes about paan that the betel has no fruit and is grown only for the sake of its leaves.

v IBN BATTUTA AND INDIAN CITIES

Ø Ibn Battuta found cities in the subcontinent full of exciting opportunities for those who are able and have resources and skills.

Ø The cities were densely populated and prosperous. Cities were disrupted during wars and invasions.

Ø His account said that streets in many cities were crowded and have  bright and colourful markets  with full of many varieties of goods.

Ø He described Delhi as a vast city, with a great population, the largest in India and Daulatabad (in Maharashtra ) was also large like Delhi.

Ø The Bazaars were not only places of economic transaction but also the hub of social and cultural activities.

Ø Many bazaars had mosque and temple with spaces for public performances by dancers and singers.

Ø Ibn Battuta noted that the cities obtained its wealth from villages. This was because of the agricultural production with two crops a year. He says that there was a great demand for Indian textiles like cotton cloth, fine muslins, silks, brocade and satin.

Ø He further says that certain varieties of fine muslin were so expensive that could be worn only by the nobles and the very rich.

v A UNIQUE SYSTEM OF COMMUNICATION

Ø Ibn Battuta describe that the state took special measure to encourage the trade so there were the unique postal system was there.

Ø Almost all trade routes were well supplied with inns and guest houses. The Postal system was of two kinds.

Ø One was called uluq(horse post) and the other was dawa(foot post)

Ø Ibn Battuta was amazed by the efficiency of the postal system which not only send the information but dispatch the good on short notice.

v DIFFERENCE IN THE POSTAL SYSTEM

	Horse post	Foot post
	1. It was known as Uluq.	1.It was known as Dawa.
	2.In this post there were royal horses stationed at a distance of every 4 miles.	2.In this post there were three station per miles.
	3. It is slower than the Dawa.	3. It is quicker than the Uluq.

v PROBLEMS FACED BY IBN BATTUTA DURING JOURNEY

Ø Travelling was more insecure. He was attacked by bands of robbers several times.

Ø The travellers could feel homesick or fall ill. He was attacked by fever.

v FRANCOIS BERNIER(A DOCTOR WITH A DIFFERENCE)

Ø Francois Bernier was French by birth and doctor by profession. He was a political philosopher and historian.

Ø He came to the Mughal Empire in search of opportunities.

Ø He lived in India for twelve years from 1656 to 1668.

Ø He was a physician to Prince Dara Shukoh, the eldest son of Emperor Shah Jahan and intellectual and scientist with Danishmand Khan, an Armenian noble at the Mughal court.

v TRAVELS IN THE MUGHAL EMPIRE

Ø Bernier’s Travels in the Mughal Empire provides a detailed observations and critical insights.

Ø He constantly compared Mughal India with contemporary Europe.

Ø He emphasized the superiority of the European society and describe India as inferior to the western world.

Ø  Bernier travelled to different parts of the country and wrote accounts based on his own observations and compared the social conditions in India with the situations in Europe.

Ø He dedicated his works to Louis XIV, the king of France.

Ø His works were published in France in 1670-71 and translated into English, Dutch, German and Italian. Later his account was reprinted number of times.

v THE QUESTION OF LANDOWNERSHIP

Ø According to Bernier, one of the fundamental differences between Mughal India and Europe was the lack of private property in the Indian society.

Ø He had a firm belief in the virtues of private property.

Ø Crown ownership of land was harmful for both state and its people.

Ø He thought that the Mughal Emperor owned all land and distributed it among the nobles.

Ø He argued that lands under the crown ownership could not be passed on to their children.

Ø So they were averse to any long-term investment in the sustenance and expansion of production.

Ø The absence of private property prevented the emergence of the class of ‘improving’ landlords as it was in Western Europe to maintain and improve the land.

Ø It had ruined the agriculture and oppressed the peasants and the living standards of all sections in the society declined except the ruling aristocracy.

v BERNIER’S DESCRIPTION ON THE SOCIAL CONDITION OF INDIA

Ø Bernier described Indian society as consisting of undifferentiated masses of a very rich and powerful ruling class.

Ø There was a wide gape between the poorest of poor and richest of the rich. He says “There is no middle state in India.”

v BERNIER’S DESCRIPTION ON THE MUGHAL EMPEROR AND HIS SUBJECTS.

Ø Bernier described the Mughal Empire as the king of “beggars and barbarians”.

Ø Its cities and towns were ruined and contaminated with “ill air” and its fields “overspread with bushes “and full of “pestilential marishes”.

Ø He attributed all these problems to the crown ownership of land. Bernier says that there was the practice of crown ownership of land and no private ownership of land or private property.

Ø But none of the Mughal official documents show that the state was the sole owner of land.

Ø According to the official chronicler of Akbar’s reign Abul Fazl, the Mughal Emperor collected only the remunerations from the people for the protection given by the state and no rent was collected.

Ø Bernier regarded the remuneration as land revenue since it was very high sometimes. But actually it was the tax on the the crop not the rent of land.

v The idea of oriental despotism

Ø Bernier’s descriptions of landownership influenced western theorists from the 18th century onwards.

Ø For instance, the French philosopher Montesquieu used Bernier’s account and developed the idea of Oriental despotism.

Ø According to this idea in Asia (the Orient or the East) the kings enjoyed absolute authority over his subjects and owned all lands.

Ø There was no private property. All people except King and nobles struggled for survival.

v The concept of asiatic mode of production

Ø Karl Marx further developed the idea of Oriental despotism as Asiatic mode of production.

Ø Marx observes that before colonialism, surplus production was appropriated by the state.

Ø This led to the emergence of a society that was composed of a large number of autonomous and egalitarian village communities.

Ø The imperial court respected these villages as long as the flow of surplus was continued. Marx regarded this as a stagnant system

Ø But in reality this picture of rural society was far from true. During 16-17 century rural society was characteristics by social and economic differentiation. At one end of spectrum was big Zamindar who enjoy right on land and at other side landless labourers and in between the big peasants who used hire labourers.

v A MORE COMPLEX SOCIAL REALITY (contradiction)

Ø Bernier’s descriptions occasionally hint at a more complex social reality.

Ø Artisans had no incentive to improve the quality of their manufactures.

Ø All profits were appropriated by the state. Manufactures were everywhere declining.

Ø At the same time he agreed that vast quantities of the world’s precious metals flowed into India, as manufactures were exported in exchange for gold and silver.

Ø He also mentioned that there were  a prosperous merchant community engaging in long distance trade.

v MUGHAL CITIES

Ø During the 17th century about 15 percent of the population lived in towns.

Ø Bernier described Mughal cities as “camp towns”, which were dependent upon imperial patronage. They came into existence when imperial court moved in and decline when imperial court moved out.

Ø There were all kinds of towns: manufacturing towns, trading towns, port-towns, sacred centers, pilgrimage towns etc.

Ø The existence of towns indicates the prosperity of merchant communities and professional classes.

Ø Merchants had a strong community or kin ties and were organized into their own caste –cum- occupational groups.

Ø In western India these groups were called Mahajans,and their chief, the Sheth.

Ø In urban centres such as Ahmedabad the chief of the merchant community who was called nagarsheth collectively represented the Mahajans.

v URBAN PROFESSIONAL CLASSES

·        Urban groups included professional groups such as physicians(hakin or vaid),teachers(pundit or mulla ),lawyers(wakil),painters,architects,musicians,calligraphers,etc.

·        While some depended on imperial patronage ,many made their living by serving other patrons while still others served ordinary people in crowded markets and bazaars

v WOMEN: SALVES, SATI AND LABOURESRS

v USE OF SLAVES

Ø Slaves were openly sold in markets. Like any other commodity, slaves were exchanged as gifts.

Ø When Ibn Battuta reached Sind he purchased “horses, camels and slaves” as gifts for sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq.

Ø There was considerable differentiation among slaves.

Ø Some female slaves in the service of the Sultan were experts in music and dance.

Ø Female slaves were also used to keep a watch on his nobles by the sultan.

Ø Slaves were used for domestic labour. Ibn Battuta noted that men and women slaves carried palanquins or dola.

Ø The price of slaves particularly female slaves required for domestic labour, was very low.

v THE PRACTICE OF SATI

Ø Bernier has provided a detailed description of sati in his account.

Ø He mentioned that while some women seemed to embrace death cheerfully, others were forced to death.

Ø He also noticed the child sati at At Lahore which a twelve year old young widow sacrificed.

v WOMEN LABOURERS

Ø Women labour was crucial in both agricultural and non-agricultural production.

Ø Women from merchant families participated in commercial activities.

Ø Therefore it seems unlikely that women were confined to the private spaces of their homes

v COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TRAVELLERS

Name of Travellers	Al biruni	Ibn Battuta	Francois Bernier
1.Country	Uzbekistan	Morocco	France
2. Period	11 th century	14 century	17 century
3. Book	Kitab-ul-Hind	Rihla	Travels in Mughal Empire
4.Language	Arbic	Arabic	English
5.Reign Of King	Sultan Mahmud Of Ghazni	Muhammad Bin Tughlaq	Mughal Emperor Shahjahan And Aurangzeb
6. Subject	Social and religious conditions, philosophy, Astronomy, Metrology, Caste system	Indian cities agriculture, coconut, paan, trade, communication system slavery, postal system	Sati system, ownership of land, Imperial Karkhana, Mughal artisans, slaves, Indian cities camp towns,

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