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Through The Eyes Of Travellers
According to Bernier, “Crown ownership of land had disastrous consequences for the state and the society.” Justify the statement.
According to Bernier, the Mughal India did not have private ownership of land. He believed that private property had many virtues. But he regarded the crown ownership of land as harmful to both the state and its people. In the Mughal Empire, the emperor owned all the land. He distributed this land among his nobles. Bernier felt that this principle had disastrous consequences for the economy as well as society. Because of the crown ownership of land, the land holders could not pass on their land to their children. Besides they could not make any long-term investment to sustain and increase production. The crown ownership of land has also prevented the emergence of an improved class of landlords as in the Western Europe. It had ruined the agriculture. It had increased oppression of the peasantry. It brought a continuous decline in the living standard of all sections of society. That is why, Bernier considered crown ownership of land as disastrous.
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Discuss the picture of urban centres that emerges from Bernier’s account.
Analyse the evidence for slavery provided by Ibn-Battuta.
What were the elements of the practice of sati that drew the attention of Bernier?
Discuss Al-Biruni’s understanding of the caste system.
Do you think Ibn Battuta’s account is useful in arriving at an understanding of life in contemporary urban centres? Give reasons for your answer.
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.
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