Ibn Battuta’s Rihla

Ibn Battuta’s Rihla is one of the richest sources we have for understanding life in the Indian subcontinent during the fourteenth century. Unlike Al-Biruni, who wrote as a scholar from outside, Ibn Battuta wrote as a traveller who lived inside the societies he visited, serving as a judge and royal envoy. His account is personal, vivid, and full of the kind of everyday detail that formal histories often miss.

An early globe-trotter

Ibn Battuta was born in Tangier, Morocco, into a highly respected family known for their expertise in Islamic religious law (shari‘a). He received a thorough literary and scholastic education from a young age. But unlike most men of his class, he believed that experience gained through travel was a more important source of knowledge than books. He simply loved travelling, exploring new worlds and peoples.

Before he ever set foot in India, Ibn Battuta had already travelled extensively. He had made pilgrimage trips to Mecca and journeyed through Syria, Iraq, Persia, Yemen, Oman, and several trading ports on the coast of East Africa. He set off for India in 1332–33, travelling overland through Central Asia and reaching Sind in 1333.

He had heard of Muhammad bin Tughlaq, the Sultan of Delhi, and was drawn by the Sultan’s reputation as a generous patron of arts and letters. He travelled to Delhi via Multan and Uch. The Sultan was impressed by his scholarship and appointed him qazi (judge) of Delhi. Ibn Battuta held this position for several years, until he fell out of favour and was imprisoned. Once the misunderstanding was cleared, he was restored to imperial service. In 1342, the Sultan ordered him to proceed to China as his envoy to the Mongol ruler.

On his way to China, Ibn Battuta travelled through central India to the Malabar coast. From there he went to the Maldives, where he stayed for eighteen months as qazi. He then went to Sri Lanka, returned to the Malabar coast and the Maldives, and before resuming his mission to China, visited Bengal and Assam as well. He took a ship to Sumatra, and from there another ship to the Chinese port of Zaytun (now Quanzhou). He travelled extensively in China, going as far as Beijing, but did not stay long, deciding to return home in 1347. He finally returned to Morocco in 1354, about thirty years after he had set out.

His account is often compared with that of Marco Polo, who visited China and India from Venice in the late thirteenth century.

The hazards of travel in the fourteenth century

Ibn Battuta meticulously recorded his observations about new cultures, peoples, beliefs, and values. But we must remember that he was travelling in the fourteenth century, when travel was far more arduous and hazardous than it is today.

Travel times recorded by Ibn Battuta:

• Multan to Delhi: 40 days
• Sind to Delhi: about 50 days
• Daulatabad to Delhi: 40 days
• Gwalior to Delhi: 10 days

Robbers were a constant threat. Ibn Battuta was attacked by bands of robbers several times. He preferred travelling in a caravan with companions, but this did not deter highway robbers. While travelling from Multan to Delhi, his caravan was attacked and many of his fellow travellers lost their lives. Those who survived, including Ibn Battuta, were severely wounded.

There were other hazards too. The traveller could feel homesick or fall ill. Ibn Battuta once wrote that he was attacked by fever and had to tie himself to his saddle with a turban-cloth so he would not fall off due to weakness. When he reached Tunis, the townsfolk came out to welcome the local dignitaries, but no one greeted him because he knew no one there. He wept bitterly from loneliness until a fellow pilgrim comforted him.

The “enjoyment of curiosities”

Ibn Battuta was an inveterate traveller who spent years travelling through north Africa, West Asia, parts of Central Asia (he may even have visited Russia), the Indian subcontinent, and China before returning to Morocco. When he returned, the local ruler ordered that his stories be recorded.

Ibn Juzayy, who was deputed to write what Ibn Battuta dictated, explained the purpose in his introduction. The ruler instructed that Ibn Battuta should dictate an account of the cities he had seen, the interesting events he remembered, the rulers he had met, the distinguished men of learning, and the pious saints. The narrative was meant to give entertainment to the mind and delight to the ears and eyes, with a variety of curious particulars that provided edification and marvellous things that aroused interest.

The tradition of travel writing

In the centuries between 1400 and 1800, many visitors to India wrote travelogues in Persian. Indian visitors to Central Asia, Iran, and the Ottoman empire also sometimes wrote about their experiences. These writers followed in the footsteps of Al-Biruni and Ibn Battuta, and had sometimes read these earlier authors. …