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Through The Eyes Of Travellers
Examine Bernier’s perceptions about ownership of landed property in Mughal India.
Francois Bernier, a Frenchman, was a doctor, political philosopher and historian. Like many others, he came to the Mughal Empire in search of opportunities. Bernier travelled to several parts of the country and wrote account of what he saw, frequently comparing what he saw in India with the situation in Europe.
The question of land ownership or landed property : (i) According to Bernier, one of the fundamental differences between Mughal India and Europe was the lack of private property in land in the former. He was a firm believer in the virtues of private property, and saw crown ownership of land as being harmful for both the state and its people.
As an extension of this, Bernier described Indian society as consisting of undifferentiated masses of impoverished people, subjugated by a small minority of a very rich and powerful ruling class.
(ii) Bernier’s descriptions influenced Western theorists from the eighteenth century onwards. The French philosopher Montesquieu, for instance, used this account to develop the idea of oriental despotism, according to which rulers in Asia (the Orient or the East) enjoyed absolute authority over their subjects, who were keptin conditions of subjugation and poverty, arguing that all land belonged to the king and that private property was non-existent.
As in the case of the question of landownership, Bernier was drawing an oversimplified picture. There were all kinds of towns : manufacturing towns, trading towns, port towng sacred centres, pilgrimage towns etc.
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Discuss the extent to which Bernier’s account enables historians to reconstruct contemporary rural society.
Read this excerpt from Bernier:
“Numerous are the instances of handsome pieces of workmanship made by persons destitute of tools, and who can scarcerly be said to have received instruction from a master. Sometimes they imitate so perfectly articles of European manufacture that the difference between the original and copy can hardly be discerned. Among other things, the Indians make excellent muskets, and gold fowling-pieces, and such beautiful gold ornaments that it may be doubted if the exquisite workmanship of those articles can he exceeded by any European goldsmith. I have often admired the beauty, softness and delicacy of their paintings.”
List the crafts mentioned in the passage. Compare those with the descriptions of artisanal activity in the chapter.
On an outline map of the world mark the countries visited by Ibn Battuta. What are the seas that he may have crossed?
For any one of the travellers mentioned in the chapter, find out more about his life and writings. Prepare a report on his travels, noting in particular how he described society, and comparing these descriptions with the excerpts included in the chapter.
How had Bernier described a complex social reality of the artisans under the Mughals. Give any one reason.
Name the book written by Al-Biruni. Mention its language and content.
Give a brief introduction of Francois Bernier. How long he remained in India?
Name the two women poet-saints of Tamil Nadu. Whom did they worship?
Mention Bernier’s views about private property and crown ownership of land.
Mention any two characteristics of the cities in the Indian sub-continent, as described by Ibn-Battuta.
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