Page 2 - Notes

 Francois Bernier was a great French doctor, philosopher and an historian who
remained in India from 1656 to 1688 and wrote his famous book entitled. “Travels
in the Mughal court”.
 Francois has given great detail about Indian Kharkhenas. Town, land ownership
system and social evil, i.e. sati system.
 Abdur Razzaq the great Iranian scholar came to India in 15th century. He was
born in 1413 and was appointed the Qazi of Samarqand under Shah Rokh Khan.
 Abdur Razzaq stayed in the court of VijayanagaraempireDeva Raya II from 1442-
1443 and gave a vind description about the Vijayanagara kingdom.
 Duarte Barbosa was a Portugese official in south India, who travelled
Vijayanagara Empire during the reign of Krishna Deva Raya in 1518.
 Among the other important travellers who came to India in medieval period were
Antonio Monserrate, Peter Mundy, Jean Baptisite Tavernier, FrancisoPelesart and
NikoloMuncci.

Our knowledge of the past can be enriched through the‟descriptions of social life
provided by travellers who visited the sub-continent. Generally, they recorded everyday
activities and practices of common men along with the descriptions of the kings. Al-
Biruni, Ibn Battuta and Francois Bernier were three famous travelers who visited the
sub-continent from 11th century to 17th century.

Al-Biruni and the Kitab-ul-Hind:

 Al-Biruni was born in 973 at Khwarizm in present day Uzbekistan.
 He was well-versed in different languages like Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew
and Sanskrit.
 In 1017 with the invasion of Khwarizm, he arrived in Ghazni as a hostage. But
gradually developed a liking for the city and interest for India.
 When the Punjab became a part of the Ghaznavid empire, he travelled widely in
the Punjab and other parts of Northern India.
 He spent years in the company of Brahmana priests and scholars by learning
Sanskrit and studying religions and philosophical texts.
 Al-Biruni wrote „Kitab-ul-Hind‟ in Arabic, in a simple and lucid manner.
 It is a voluminous text including 80 chapters covering subjects like religion,
philosophy, festivals, astronomy, alchemy, manners and customs, social life,
weights and measures, iconography, laws and metrology.
 Al-Biruni was familiar with translations and adaptations of Sanskrit, Pali and
Prakrit texts into Arabic. However, he was also critical about the ways in which
these texts were written, and clearly wanted to improve on them.

Al-Biruni‟s View About Indian Society:

 According to Al-Biruni, Sanskrit was so different from Arabic and Persian that
ideas and concepts could not be translated easily from one language to another.