A History of Agriculture in India v2.c58.s1: Ibn Battuta (The Traveller of Islam)

A History of Agriculture in India v2.c58.s1

Language: English

Ibn Battuta (The Traveller of Islam)

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EXPERIMENTS IN CHANGE OF CAPITAL, PAPER MONEY

ULUGH KHAN, the parricide, ascended the throne in A.D. 1325 and assumed the name of Muhammad-bin-Tughlak, as he is known in history books. He was a most extra-ordinary man, a keen student of Persian poetry, a philosopher and a mathematician. He had good knowledge of logic and the philosophy of the Greeks. He had a scientific mind and he used to attend sick persons for the purpose of watching the symptoms of extraordinary diseases. At the same time he was cruel and recklessly spilled human blood. Ibn Battuta describing the character of the Sultan, says, ‘This king is of all men the most addicted to the making of gifts and the shedding of blood. His gate is never without some poor man enriched or some living man executed, and there are current amongst the people many stories of his generosity and courage and of his cruelty and violence towards criminals. He slew both small and great, and spared not the learned, the pious, or the noble. Daily there were brought to the council-hall men in chains, fetters, and bonds, and they were led away, some to execution, some to torture, some to scourging. May God preserve us from such calamities!’¹ Some of his schemes indicates that he was a megalomaniac and not fully sane, e.g. plan for conquest of China by sending an expedition across the Himalayas and transfer of capital from Delhi to Deogir in Deccan. On his return from Deogir on one occasion he caused a tooth which he had lost to be interred in a magnificent stone mausoleum, which is still in existence at Bhir.

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¹ Gibb, H.A.R., *The Travels of Ibn Battuta*, p. 657

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Our knowledge of the state of India in early half of the fourteenth century is largely due to the visit paid by Ibn Battuta, a traveller with keen power of observation. He had an insatiable lust for travel and was always on the move. He calls himself ‘The Traveller of Islam’, and his ambition was to see all countries under Islamic domination. He was a native of Tangiers in Morocco. He travelled over the greater part of Asia, and visited India in the reign of Muhammad-bin-Tughlak, about whose generosity to learned Moslems from foreign countries he had heard many accounts. After journeying through the Central Asian desert, he arrived at Khwarizm, the largest city of the Turks, known for the quality of its melons. Passing through Bukhara and Samarqand he reached Balkh. From Balkh he travelled through the mountainous country of Kohistan. He crossed into Afghanistan over the Hindukush, which, he explains, means ‘Slayer of Indians’, because the Hindu slave boys and girls who were brought from India died there in large numbers as a result of the extreme cold and the quantity of snow. He joined a caravan and entered Punjab. A great caravan which preceded him lost many camels and horses, but he arrived safely at the Indus, which he describes as the river of Sind. He reached this river on the night of 12 September 1333. After crossing the Indus he passed through a forest of reeds, in which he saw a rhinoceros for the first time. The heat was intense, and his companions used to sit naked except for a cloth round the waist and another soaked with water on their shoulders; this dried in a very short time and they had to keep constantly wetting it again. He ultimately reached the city of Multan. From Multan he reached the town of Ajudh-an (Pakpatan), where he met the saint Sheikh Farid. From Ajudh-an he reached the city of Abohar, now in Ferozepur district of the Punjab. From Abohar, he reached Sarsati, the modern Sirsa in Hissar district, which was known for its excellent rice. From Sarsati he reached Hansi, and ultimately Palam, the suburb of Delhi.

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After a long stay during which he was sustained by gifts of money given by the Wazir and the Queen mother he had an audience with the Sultan, who gave orders to assign him the villages of Badali, Basahi and half of Balara, which yielded a total revenue of 5,000 dinars a year. In A.D. 1334 he had another audience with the Sultan. Every time the Sultan said an encouraging word to him, he kissed his hand. He recalls that he kissed it seven times. He was given a gold embroidered robe of honour by the Sultan. In addition to the three villages he had, he was given the villages of Jawza and Malikpur. In all, he received a revenue of 12,000 dinars a year from these villages. Eventually he was appointed qadi of the royal city of Delhi.

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The Travels of Ibn Battuta illumine a dark century of Indian history. It informs us of the history of the early Moslem rulers of India from Sultan Kutb-ud-din Aibak onwards to Sultan Muhammad-bin-Tughlak. As he dictated his travels on return to his native Morocco, he could write fearlessly. It tells us about the Sultan’s character, his idiosyncracies, palace ceremonial, public audiences, festival ceremonies, as well as of tortures and executions ordered by him. We also learn about the conditions of the city of Delhi, its mosques, hospices and tanks. In the following account Ibn Battuta describes the Palace of the Sultan, his public audience and court ceremonial.

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The Sultan's Palace, Audience Hall and Public Audience

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'The Sultan's palace at Dihli is called *Dar Sarā* and contains many gates. At the first gate there are posted a number of men in charge of it, and beside it sit buglers, trumpeters and pipe-players. When any amir or peson of note arrives, they sound their instruments and say during this fanfare, "So-and-so has come, so-and-so has come." The same takes place also at the second and third gates. Outside the first gate are platforms on which sit the *jallādun*, who are the executioners, for the custom among them is that when the Sultan orders a man to be executed, the sentence is carried out at the gate of the public audience hall, and the body lies there three nights. Between the first and second gates there is a large vestibule with platforms built along with sides, on which sit those troops whose turn of duty it is to guard the gates. At the second gate also there are seated the porters who are in charge of it. Between the second and third gates there is a large platform on which the principal *naqīb*, sits; in front of him there is a gold mace, which he holds in his hand, and on his head he wears a tall jewelled cap of gold, surmounted by peacock feathers. The other *naqībs* stand before him, each wearing a low gilded cap on his head and a girdle round his waist and holding in his hand a whip with a gold or silver handle. This second gate leads to a large and commodious audience hall in which the people sit.

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'At the third gate there are platforms occupied by the scribes of the door. One of their customs is that none may pass through this gate except those whom the Sultan has expressly designated to enter, and for each person he prescribes a number of his companions and men who may enter along with him. Whenever any person comes to this gate the scribes write down "So-and-so came at the first hour" or the second or later hours, until the close of the day, and the Sultan studies this report after the last evening prayer. They also take note of everything of any kind that happens at the gate, and certain of the sons of the *maliks* are appointed to transmit what they write to the Sultan. Another of their customs is that anyone who absents himself from the Sultan's palace for three days or more, with or without excuse, may not enter this door thereafter except by the Sultan's permission. If he has an excuse of illness or otherwise he presents before him a gift such as is suitable (for one of his rank or office) to offer to the Sultan. So also do those who present themselves at the court on return from their journeys; the doctor of the law presents a copy of the Qurān or a book or the like, the faqir presents a prayer-carpet, rosary, toothpick, etc., and the amirs and such present horses, camels and weapons. This third door opens into the immense and vast hall called *Hazār Ustūn*, which means (in Persian) 'a thousand pillars'. The pillars are of painted wood and support a wooden roof, most exquisitely carved. The people sit under this, and it is in this hall that the Sultan sits for public audience.

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*The order of his public audience.* As a rule his audiences are held after the afternoon prayer, although he often holds them early in the day. He sits on a raised seat standing on a dais carpeted in white, with a large cushion behind him and two others as arm-rests on his right and left. His left foot is tucked under him, in the same way that one sits when reciting the creed during prayers; this is the way in which all the people of India sit. When he takes his seat, the vizier stands in front of him, the secretaries behind the vizier, then the chamberlains behind them. The chief of the chamberlains is Firuz Malik, the son of the Sultan's uncle and his deputy, and he is that one of the chamberlains who stands closest to the Sultan. Next to him comes the private chamberlain, then the deputy private chamberlain, then the steward of the palace and his deputy, then (an officer called) 'the honour of the chamberlains', (another officer called) 'the master of the chamberlains', and a group (of officials) under their orders; and next, following the chamberlains, the *naqībs*, of whom there are about a hundred.

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*As the Sultan sits down the chamberlains and naqībs* say, in their loudest voice, *Bismillah*. Then the 'great king' Qabula takes his place behind the Sultan, standing with a fly-whisk in his hand to drive off the flies. A hundred armour-bearers stand on the right of the Sultan and a like number on the left, carrying shields, swords, and bows. To right and left all the way down the hall stand the Grand Qadi, next to him the chief preacher, then the rest of the qadis, then the chief jurists, then the chiefs of the Sharifs (descendants of the Prophet), then the shaikhs, then the Sultan's brothers and relations by marriage, then the principal amirs, then the chiefs of those called *aziz* (that is to say, the foreigners), then the qaids.

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*Then they bring in sixty horses* saddled and bridled with the royal harness, some of them with the trappings of the Caliphate, namely those with bridles and girths of black silk gilded, and some with the same in white silk gilded, which are reserved for the Sultan's exclusive use. Half of these horses are ranged on the right and half on the left, where the Sultan can see them. Next fifty elephants are brought in; these are adorned with silken and gold cloths, and have their tusks shod with iron for service in killing criminals. On the neck of each elephant is its mahout, who carries a sort of iron battle-axe with which he punishes it and directs it to do what is required of it. Each elephant has on its back a sort of large box capable of holding twenty warriors or more or less, according to its bulk and the size of its body. At the corners of (each) such box there are fixed four banners. These elephants are trained to make obeisance to the Sultan and to incline their heads, and when they do so the chamberlains cry, in a loud voice, *Bismillah*. They also are arranged half on the right and half on the left, behind the persons (already) standing there. As each person enters who has an appointed place of standing on the right or left, he makes obeisance on reaching the station of the chamberlains, and the chamberlains say Bismillah, regulating the loudness of their utterance by the height of reputation of the person who is making his obeisance, and who then retires of his appointed place on the right or left, beyond which he never passes. If it is one of the infidel Hindus who makes obeisance, the chamberlains and the naqibs say to him, "God guide thee". The Sultan's slaves stand behind all those in attendance, having in their hands shields and swords, and no one can come in (to the hall) between their ranks, but only by passing before the chamberlains who stand in front of the Sultan.

Cites (1)

تحفة النظار في غرائب الأمصار وعجائب الأسفار — Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, Arabic