Big picture
Travellers from distant lands often noticed things that local writers took for granted. Their accounts of India, written for readers back home, are valuable sources on everyday life: food, cities, customs, rulers and social order.
But travellers also saw India through the lens of their own cultures. They compared, judged and sometimes misunderstood. This chapter studies three famous travellers, Al-Biruni (eleventh century), Ibn Battuta (fourteenth century) and François Bernier (seventeenth century), and asks what their accounts reveal and where we must read them critically.
Learning goals
Describe the background and works of Al-Biruni, Ibn Battuta and Bernier.
Explain the obstacles Al-Biruni faced and his account of the caste system.
Describe Ibn Battuta's observations on coconut, paan, cities, markets, communication and slavery.
Explain Bernier's comparison of India and Europe, his views on land ownership and their influence.
Discuss travellers' accounts of women, slaves and sati.
Evaluate travellers' accounts as historical sources.
Core ideas
1. Al-Biruni and the Kitab-ul-Hind
Al-Biruni was born in Khwarizm (present-day Uzbekistan) in 973. He was a scholar of several languages (Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew and Sanskrit).
When Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni invaded Khwarizm in 1017, he took Al-Biruni to Ghazni, where he learnt Sanskrit and studied Indian texts. He travelled to the Punjab and parts of north India.
His book *Kitab-ul-Hind, written in Arabic, has 80 chapters on religion and philosophy, festivals, astronomy, alchemy, manners and customs, social life, weights and measures, iconography, laws and metrology. Each chapter typically began with a question, followed by a description based on Sanskritic traditions*, and ended with a comparison with other cultures.
Obstacles to understanding (as identified by Al-Biruni):
Language: Sanskrit was very different from Arabic and Persian, and ideas couldn't easily be translated.
Differences in religious beliefs and practices.
The self-absorption and insularity of the local population.
Account of the caste system:
Al-Biruni tried to explain the caste system by looking for parallels in other societies: he noted that ancient Persia also recognised four social categories (knights and princes; monks, fire-priests and lawyers; physicians, astronomers and scientists; peasants and artisans).
He accepted the Brahmanical description of the system based on Sanskrit texts, but disapproved of the notion of pollution, arguing that everything that becomes impure strives to regain purity, and that the social system, based on pollution, was contrary to the laws of nature.
His account was shaped by his dependence on Brahmanical texts, so it reflected norms rather than everyday practice. He also mentioned people outside the system (antyaja), who were expected to provide labour.
2. Ibn Battuta and the Rihla
Ibn Battuta was born in Tangier, Morocco. He considered travel an important source of knowledge and set out on pilgrimage to Mecca in 1325, travelling through Syria, Iraq, Persia, Yemen, Oman and East Africa.
He reached Sind in 1333 and went to Delhi, where Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq, impressed by his scholarship, appointed him qazi (judge) of Delhi. In 1342 he was sent as the Sultan's envoy to China; he also visited the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Bengal and Southeast Asia.
After returning to Morocco in 1354, his experiences were recorded as the *Rihla (travels), written in Arabic*. It gives rich details of social and cultural life in fourteenth-century India.
Observations:
Topic | Ibn Battuta's account |
|---|---|
The coconut | He described it vividly, comparing the nut to a man's head with a face-like appearance and fibre like hair |
The paan | A betel leaf, eaten with areca nut, which he described as having no fruit, grown only for its leaves |
Cities | He described Delhi as a vast, magnificent city, the largest in India, with a great wall; and Daulatabad (in Maharashtra) as equally large. Cities were densely populated, with crowded streets and bright, colourful markets with a wide variety of goods |
Markets | Markets were places of economic exchange and social and cultural activity, with mosques and temples, and spaces for music and dance performances |
Trade and goods | Indian textiles, especially cotton cloth, fine muslins, silks, brocade and satin, were in great demand in West and Southeast Asia |
Communication: the postal system | The state encouraged merchants and kept a remarkably efficient postal system. Uluq was the horse post, run by royal horses stationed every four miles. Dawa was the foot post, with three stations every mile; a runner carrying letters ran to the next station. The foot post was often quicker than the horse post. News from Sind could reach Delhi in five days |
Slavery | Slaves were openly sold in markets and were regularly exchanged as gifts. Female slaves were employed in the Sultan's service, some skilled in music and dance; some were used to keep a watch on nobles. Slaves were also used for domestic labour, such as carrying people in palanquins |
3. François Bernier and his comparisons
François Bernier, a French doctor, political philosopher and historian, came to the Mughal Empire in 1656 and stayed for twelve years. He was physician to Prince Dara Shukoh, and later attached to an Armenian noble, Danishmand Khan.
His book, *Travels in the Mogul Empire, was dedicated to King Louis XIV of France. He consistently compared India with Europe*, generally presenting India as inferior.
Views on land ownership:
Bernier believed that in Mughal India there was no private property in land; all land belonged to the emperor, who distributed it to nobles and could take it back.
He argued that this was harmful: landholders couldn't pass land to their children, so they had no incentive to invest in or improve it. This led to the ruin of agriculture, oppression of peasants, decline in living standards (except for the ruling elite) and the absence of a middle class.
He saw Indian society as consisting of a small, rich ruling class and a mass of impoverished people.
Influence and criticism:
Bernier's ideas influenced Montesquieu, who developed the idea of oriental despotism, and later Karl Marx, who described the Asiatic mode of production, in which the state appropriated surplus from village communities.
However, Mughal records show that land rights existed: zamindars held rights, and peasants had hereditary rights. Bernier's view was a misunderstanding, perhaps shaped by his wish to warn European rulers about the dangers of absolute power.
Bernier also described Mughal cities as "camp towns", dependent on the imperial camp and moving with it. Yet there were many types of towns: manufacturing towns, trading towns, port towns, sacred centres and pilgrimage towns, with merchants organised into groups (mahajans) and headed by a chief (seth).
4. Women, slaves and sati
Sati, the immolation of widows on their husbands' funeral pyres, drew the attention of many European travellers. Bernier described the case of a child widow forced onto the pyre, considering it cruel. Not all women were forced; some were praised for their courage, though travellers usually saw it as oppression.
Women's lives were not confined to sati: women worked in agriculture, crafts and commercial activities, and some, such as wives of merchants, participated in trade.
Ibn Battuta described female slaves as part of domestic and royal households.
5. Evaluating travellers' accounts
Strengths: they describe everyday life, customs and practices that local writers didn't record; offer comparisons with other societies; and give a different perspective.
Limitations: travellers often didn't know local languages well; their accounts were shaped by their own beliefs, interests and readers' expectations; they sometimes exaggerated or generalised from limited observations; and they often relied on texts or informants instead of direct experience (Al-Biruni's reliance on Sanskrit texts; Bernier's preconceived comparison with Europe).
A reliable approach to questions
For Al-Biruni, mention his background, the Kitab-ul-Hind, the three obstacles, and his account of caste and pollution.
For Ibn Battuta, mention his background, the Rihla, and his observations on coconut, paan, cities, markets, the postal system and slavery.
For Bernier, explain his comparison with Europe, his land ownership argument, its influence, and why historians question it.
For evaluation, give both the value and the limitations of travellers' accounts.
Connections that matter
Kinship, caste and class discussed the caste system that Al-Biruni described.
Peasants, zamindars and the state explains Mughal land rights, which challenge Bernier's view.
An imperial capital: Vijayanagara includes descriptions by other foreign travellers.
Common mistakes
Saying Al-Biruni wrote in Sanskrit. He wrote the Kitab-ul-Hind in Arabic.
Mixing up uluq and dawa. Uluq was the horse post; dawa was the foot post.
Accepting Bernier's claim of no private property as fact.
Saying Ibn Battuta came during the Mughal period. He came under Muhammad bin Tughlaq in the fourteenth century.
Revision checklist
I can describe Al-Biruni's work, obstacles and account of caste.
I can describe Ibn Battuta's observations, including the postal system and slavery.
I can explain Bernier's views on land and their influence and criticism.
I can discuss accounts of women, sati and slaves.
I can evaluate travellers' accounts as sources.