Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c4.s2.t4.1

Language: English

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In some respects, the most valuable source for the contemporary social history of India is to be found in the accounts of the foreign travellers. They come from different countries at different periods and move about with an admirable detachment and with intellectual curiosity. Unfortunately, with a few exceptions their sphere of movement was confined to a few coastal towns and a little belt of inland territory adjoining the sea-costs, and perhaps with the single exception of Varthema they were all totally ignorant of the language of the country. Within these limitations their accounts are extremely valuable, especially in one respect, namely, that the foreign travellers alone expose what are commonly considered as ugly social institutions of India¹. It is a curious fact, but none the less true, that some of the most inhuman social practices of the land have never appeared to the Indian writers, poets, and religious reformers, either Hindu or Muslim, as worthy of their notice and comment. If one wishes to gather the records of slavery, widow burning, untouchability, child-marriage, extreme sexual indulgence and sexual perversion, one would search for these facts in Indian books almost in vain.

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Great social reformers like Nanak, and saints and prophets like Kabir, Chaitanya or Nizam-ud-din Awliya, pass over them without much comment, and though rebelling against priesthood in no uncertain terms, they do not strive against these graver evils in the same characteristic and militant manner. The Muslims who could perhaps have taken a healthier and more detached view of the situation found no particular cause for complaint in the suppression of human personality through these glaring social evils, for it was not uncongenial to the whole of their outlook on life, as will be explained later. In other words, these social evils had become the normal features of their social organism in the eyes of both the Hindus and Muslims. There is a continuous series of these travellers from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. In the 13th century came the famous Marco Polo who started about 1273 on his long tour in Eastern Countries. In the 14th century followed the equally famous and for us the most important traveller, the famous Ibn Batuta who spent his whole life (1325-1354) in travelling throughout the Muslim world of that day. In the 15th century came at least five travellers whose accounts have come down to us. The century opens with a Chinese naval mission in 1405, the Muslim secretary of which, named Mahuan, recorded his observations on Bengal and Malabar. Sometime later followed Nicolo Conti (1419-1444).

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About the middle of the century, in 1662, the learned Persian ambassador, ‘Abd-ur-Razzaq, came to the court of Vijayanagar. Nikitin and Stephano followed at the close of the century. During the early part of the 16th century came Varthema (1503-1508); Barbosa came about 1518, and the Turkish Admiral Sidi ‘Ali Reis at the close of our period (1553-1556). It would not be surprising if indefatigable search brings to light some fresh accounts of travellers to India.¹ By far the most learned of these travellers were Ibn Batuta ‘Abd-ur-Razzaq, and Sidi ‘Ali Reis.² The account of ‘Abd-ur-Razzaq is more or less confined to Vijayanagar and thus does not concern us directly. By far the best and the most complete account comes from Ibn Batuta. Before him, and even after him, nobody ventured so far island, stayed for such a long period, or gave an account of so many and varied social phenomena. His evidence is direct and personal; his experiences are so close and intimate; his opportunities of association are so wide and frequent; and finally, he dictates his observations thousands of miles away from the scene, in the security of his own native land, so that there is little likelihood of his concealing facts or misrepresenting them. His account is thus a life-like picture of the Hindustan of his day, where the traveller moves about as one of the Indians themselves. He marries in the country (as he did in so many others) and has children; he is in the employment of the State;

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he is even appointed as the accredited envoy of the Sultan of Delhi to the court of the Chinese Emperor; he even leads the life of an acsetic, the popular rage of the times, and also goes about as a refugee in hiding. However, Ibn Batuta, as every body else, has his intellectual limits. He is sometimes over-anxious as a true Berber to believe in the marvels and miracles of saints. The fact that he never kept any record or notes of his long travels, or made a careful and systematic study of the broad facts of Indian political life, leads him into many errors of observation and sometimes into amusing mis-statements of facts¹. The account of Sidi ‘Ali Reis, though brief, is full of interest. He brought a more cultivated brain to understand the facts of national and international politics and to appreciate the culture of a people. Unfortunately, the unsettled political conditions of India, no less than his devotion to and love of the Ottoman Empire, persuaded him to return too soon.