Through the Eyes of Travellers — Perceptions of Society (c. tenth to seventeenth century)
Class 12 History · Themes in Indian History Part II · Chapter 1
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Summary
Travellers who came to the subcontinent recorded what they found unusual, giving historians a valuable outside view of medieval society. This chapter focuses on three men. Al-Biruni, an eleventh-century scholar from Uzbekistan, came in the wake of Mahmud of Ghazni; deeply learned in Sanskrit, philosophy and science, he wrote the Kitab-ul-Hind, comparing Indian ideas with Greek and Islamic ones and describing the caste system, which he criticised while also trying to explain through Brahmanical texts. Ibn Battuta, a fourteenth-century traveller from Morocco, reached India during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq and served as a qazi in Delhi; his Rihla records cities, markets, the postal system, the coconut and paan, and the practice of sati, conveying his fascination with the unfamiliar. Francois Bernier, a seventeenth-century French doctor at the Mughal court, wrote comparatively, contrasting India with Europe and often judging it inferior; his influential idea that there was no private property in land in the East shaped later European thinking, even though it oversimplified reality. The chapter shows how each traveller's background, purpose and audience shaped what he noticed and how he interpreted it — caste, towns, agriculture, artisans and the position of women — and why such accounts must be read critically rather than as neutral descriptions.
Al-Biruni and the Kitab-ul-HindIbn Battuta and the RihlaBernier and comparative judgementsCities, crafts and trade through outside eyesReading travel writing critically
Key terms
Al-Biruni
An eleventh-century scholar from Uzbekistan who wrote the Kitab-ul-Hind about Indian society and ideas.
Kitab-ul-Hind
Al-Biruni's detailed account of Indian religions, philosophy, sciences and social customs.
Ibn Battuta
A fourteenth-century Moroccan traveller whose Rihla describes the cities and customs of Tughlaq India.
Rihla
Ibn Battuta's travelogue recording his journeys, including his observations of India.
Francois Bernier
A seventeenth-century French physician whose writings compared Mughal India unfavourably with Europe.
Sati
The practice of a widow immolating herself on her husband's pyre, noted with horror by Ibn Battuta and Bernier.
Extra questions & answers
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Who wrote the Kitab-ul-Hind describing Indian society and ideas?