3. ● Francois Bernier belonged to a different intellectual
tradition.
● Preoccupied with comparing and contrasting what
he saw in India in particular to that of Europe.
● He dedicated his major works to Louis XIV, the
king of france.
BERNIER comparing East with
West:
4. BERNIERS TRAVELS IN THE
MUGHAL EMPIRE
He wrote ‘Travels in
the Mogul Empire’.
5. ● Fundamental differences- lack of private property
among Indians compared to Europe.
● Firm believer of the virtues of private property.
● This perception not unique to Bernier.
● • Averse to long- term investments.
Question of landownership.
6. Its king was the king of “beggars and barbarians”; it‟s
city towns were ruined and contaminated with “ill
air”; and its fields, “ overspread with bushes” and full
of pestilential marshes.
Bernier described the Mughal
Empire as:
9. ● Bernier chose the practice of sati for his detailed
description.
● He noted that widows were sacrificed.
● He noticed elderly women take part in it.
● In Lahor he saw a young most beautiful widow
sacrificed , And he said she was just 12yr of age.
● Forcefully burnt her alive.
Sati
