He was sent by the Persian ruler as anemissary to Vijayanagar. He wrot...
Answer:
The passage describes a traveler who was sent by the Persian ruler as an emissary to Vijayanagar and wrote about his travels in a book called Matla-us-Sadain wa Majma-ul-Bahrain, or The Rise of Two Auspicious Constellations and the Confluence of Two Oceans.
Identification of the traveler:
To identify the traveler, we need to analyze the options given:
a) Ibn Battuta: Ibn Battuta was a Moroccan traveler and explorer who is known for his extensive travels throughout the Islamic world in the 14th century. However, he did not travel to Vijayanagar or write a book with the mentioned title. Therefore, option a) is incorrect.
b) Abdur Razzak: Abdur Razzak was a 15th-century Persian traveler who was sent as an emissary to India by the Persian ruler Shah Rukh. He visited the Vijayanagara Empire and wrote a book called Matla-us-Sadain wa Majma-ul-Bahrain, which matches the description given in the passage. Therefore, option b) is the correct answer.
c) Ferishta: Ferishta, also known as Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah, was a Persian historian who wrote a book called Tarikh-i-Ferishta, which is a history of medieval India. He was not a traveler and did not write a book with the mentioned title. Therefore, option c) is incorrect.
d) Al-Biruni: Al-Biruni was a Persian scholar and polymath who lived in the 11th century. While he traveled extensively and wrote several books, including Kitab al-Hind, he did not visit Vijayanagar or write a book with the mentioned title. Therefore, option d) is incorrect.
Conclusion:
Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that the traveler described in the passage is Abdur Razzak. He was sent as an emissary by the Persian ruler to Vijayanagar and wrote about his travels in the book Matla-us-Sadain wa Majma-ul-Bahrain.
He was sent by the Persian ruler as anemissary to Vijayanagar. He wrot...
- Abdur Razzak, like Nicolo di Conti, visited the city during the reign of Deva Raya II, but about twenty years later than Conti. He was entrusted with an embassy from Persia, and set out on his mission on January 13, A.D. 1442.
- Abdur Razzaq was a reluctant traveller, who left Herat only at the order of his monarch, and who swore in his travelogue that he would never make a voyage again.
- In 1441, Shah Rukh of Persia sent Kamal-ud-din Abdur Razzaq as an emissary to Vijayanagar. Abdur Razzaq wrote his travels in the Matla-us-Sadain wa Majma-ul-Bahrain, or The Rise of Two Auspicious Constellations and the Confluence of Two Oceans, which was translated into French— and then, in 1855, the translation was translated into English by R.H. Major. Hence option (b) is the correct answer.
- His views about the Vijaynagar Empire are given below:
- Abdur Razzaq who had travelled widely in and outside India, and was an ambassador at the court of Deva Raya II (1423-46), says: “This latter prince has in his dominions three hundred ports, each of which is equal to Calicut, and his territories comprise a space of three months journey.”
- “The country is for the most part well cultivated, very fertile. The troops amount in number to eleven lakhs.”
- He mentioned about the fortification of the city. He wrote that ''the city of Bijanagar is such that eye has not seen nor ear heard of any place resembling it upon the whole earth. It is so built that it has seven fortified walls, one within the other.”
- The wealth of the Vijayanagar city and its kings are attested by another Persian historian, Ferishta, the author of Tarikh-i Ferishta, “The princes of the Bahmani maintained their superiority by valour only; for in power, wealth and extent of the country, the Rayas of Bijarnagar (Vijayanagar) greatly exceeded them.” Ferishta had joined the service of King Ibrahim Adil II of Bijapur in 1589.
- Al-Biruni was born in 973 AD, in Khwarizm in present-day Uzbekistan. In 1017, when Sultan Mahmud invaded Khwarizm, he took several scholars and poets back to his capital, Ghazni; Al-Biruni was one of them. He arrived in Ghazni as a hostage, but gradually developed a liking for the city, where he spent the rest of his life until his death at the age of 70.
- Al-Biruni spent years in the company of Brahmana priests and scholars, learning Sanskrit, and studying religious and philosophical texts. While his itinerary is not clear, it is likely that he travelled widely in the Punjab and parts of northern India.
- Al-Biruni’s Kitab-ul-Hind, written in Arabic, is a voluminous text, divided into 80 chapters on subjects such as religion and philosophy, festivals, astronomy, alchemy, manners and customs, social life, weights and measures, iconography, laws and metrology. Generally (though not always), Al-Biruni adopted a distinctive structure in each chapter, beginning with a question, following this up with a description based on Sanskritic traditions, and concluding with a comparison with other cultures.
- He was familiar with translations and adaptations of Sanskrit, Pali and Prakrit texts into Arabic – these ranged from fables to works on astronomy and medicine. By the time Ibn Battuta arrived in Delhi in the fourteenth century, the subcontinent was part of a global network of communication that stretched from China in the east to north-west Africa and Europe in the west.
- Travelling overland through Central Asia, Ibn Battuta reached Sind in 1333. He had heard about Muhammad bin Tughlaq, the Sultan of Delhi, and lured by his reputation as a generous patron of arts and letters, set off for Delhi, passing through Multan and Uch. The Sultan was impressed by his scholarship, and appointed him the qazi or judge of Delhi.
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