A History of Agriculture in India v2.c61.s6: Bengal—A Hell Full of Good Things

v2.c61.s6.1

From Calicut in Kerala, Ibn Battuta reached Bengal. He was impressed by the prosperity of Bengal and the cheapness of commodities. He states, 'Bangala is a vast country, abounding in rice, and nowhere in the world have I seen any land where prices are lower than there; on the other hand it is a gloomy place, and the people of Khurasan call it "A hell full of good things" (*dozakh pur niamat*). I have seen fat fowls sold there at the rate of eight for a single *dirham*, young pigeons at fifteen to the *dirham*, and a fat ram sold for two *dirhams*. I saw too a piece of fine cotton cloth, of excellent quality, thirty cubits long, sold for two dinars, and a beautiful slave-girl for a single gold *dinar*, that is, two and a half gold dinars in Moroccan money.'