Al-Biruni and Ibn Battuta were two notable travelers to India in the 11th-14th centuries who wrote extensively about their experiences. Al-Biruni spent years studying Indian languages, texts, and culture. Ibn Battuta undertook a 29-year journey through Africa and Asia, including time spent in India under the emperor Muhammad bin Tughlaq. Bernier traveled in the late 16th century and provided critical observations about India, comparing it unfavorably to Europe and highlighting the lack of private land ownership. All three travelers provided insights into Indian society, culture, economics, and the treatment of women.

1. THROUGHS THE EYES OF
THE TRAVELLERS
DONE BY- AMAL ZAHEER
AND SUSHMITA KOHLI.

2. 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.

3. Al- Biruni

4. 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.

6. 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.

7. • 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.

8. The „enjoyment of curiosities‟
• Several year travelling through north
Africa, west Africa, west Asia and
central Asia.
• India and china.
• His stories were recorded.

9. Related links-
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEzC8NB-
AVk
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwHkR_b
V3gk

10. IBN BATTUTA
AND THE
EXCITEMENT OF
THE
UNFAMILIAR.
DONE BY AMAL
ZAHEER.

11. • India part of the global
network of
communication in the 14th
century.
• Spend much of his time
with learned men and
enjoyed the cosmopolitan DID YOU KNOW?
culture.
• Interaction between
Ibn Battuta travelled
75,000 miles for about
various multi-linguists. 29 years and visited
around 60 rulers.
• Highlighted anything
which he found
unfamiliar to impress his
readers.

12. The coconut and paan- One of the
best examples of Ibn Battuta‟s
representation.

13. Ibn Battuta and Indian Cities.
Crowded streets
Cities full of Densely
with bright and
exciting populated and
colourful
opportunities. prosperous.
markets.
He found Indian
Bazaars- hub of agriculture very
social and productive.
cultural India- well integrated with
activities.Had Inter Asian networks of
mosque and trade and commerce.
temples.Public Rich in
textiles, silk, muslin, satin
Performances. and were in demand.

14. SYSTEM OF COMMUNICATION.
• State evidently took
measures to encourage
merchants.
• Trade routes supplied with
DID YOU KNOW?
inns and guest houses.
• Amazed by the efficiency of The postal system
was so efficient
the postal system. that the news
• Allowed merchants to send reports of the
spies would reach
information and also remit in 5 days from
credit across long distance. Delhi to Sind.

15. 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.

16. BERNIERS TRAVELS IN THE
MUGHAL EMPIRE.
Marked by detailed observations, critical
insights and reflection.
His account contains discussions trying to Compared Mughal
place the history of the Mughals within India to that of
the same sort of a universal framework. Europe.
Representation India presented as India appeared to be
works on the model the universe of inferior in the
of binary opposition. Europe. Western World.

17. 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 DID YOU KNOW?
society. Bernier, a son of a
• This perception not unique to farmer was an orphan
Bernier. at a very young age
and he wad cared by
• Land could not be inherited- his uncle.
crown ownership.
• Averse to long- term investments.

18. • 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.”

19. 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.

20. • 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.

21. • Berniers description SPECTRUM- RURAL SOCIETY.
influenced Western
theorists from the 18th
century.
• French BIG ZAMINDARS
Philosopher, Montesquie
u- oriental despotism. BIG PEASANTS
• Asiatic mode of
production- Karl Marx.
• Rural society UNTOUCHABLE
LANDLESS LABOURERS
characterized by social
and economic
differentiation.

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. URBAN GROUP
Physicians ( hakim Teachers(pundit or
Lawyers( wakil)
or vaid) mulla)
Painters, architects. Calligraphers.

25. 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.

26. Differentiation among 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
SLAVES men or woman on Dola’s.
• Price of slaves especially women for domestic labor were
very low.
SLAVES • Affordable by most families.

27. A palanquin or a Dola.

28. SATI

29. 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."

30. 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.

31. THE END