Why did travellers, who came to India, sometimes took social inequalities for granted as a natural state of affairs?

Solution

(i) Medieval society was a society of “great inequalities.” This was reflected in the Muslim society even more than in the Hindu, the latter being predominantly rural where inequalities were less marked.
(ii) In towns the Muslim nobility led a life of great ostentation. Some of the wealthy merchants, Hindu and Muslim, also led lives of ostentation. The great mass of people, in towns as well as in the countryside, lived a simple life, and often had to face many hardships. It was however, not a life without joy, as numerous festivals, fairs etc. relieved to some extent, the monotony of their lives.
(iii) Level of income of the people belonging to different sections, classes and castes of the society was having surprising disparities and inequalities.
(iv) The use of food stuff, vegetables, fruits, milk, ghee, good quality garments, ornaments, households, furniture, means of transport etc was definitely indicated that there was great ineqnalities in medieval society of India.

Some More Questions From Through The Eyes Of Travellers Chapter

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.

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Through The Eyes Of Travellers

Why did travellers, who came to India, sometimes took social inequalities for granted as a natural state of affairs?

Some More Questions From Through The Eyes Of Travellers 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.

Give two examples to show that Indian cotton textiles were in great demand in West and South Asia.

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