Al-Biruni's Travels to India MCQs

Questions and Answers

Highly sophisticated manufacturing sector

As having a unique Asiatic mode of production

Ibn Battuta

They emerged purely due to imperial camps and patronage Signup and view all the answers

Both b and c Signup and view all the answers

Spaces for musical and dance performances Signup and view all the answers

He wanted to criticize Indian practices based on his religion Signup and view all the answers

Critique Indian practices from his religious standpoint Signup and view all the answers

Availability of detailed historical documentation Signup and view all the answers

They did not have spaces for public performances like music and dance Signup and view all the answers

It was not utilized by the local population Signup and view all the answers

Flee religious persecution in his homeland Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Al-Biruni traveled to India to study Sanskrit texts and learn from Brahmin scholars
He was interested in comparing Indian society with other societies

He started each chapter with a question, described based on Sanskrit texts, and compared with other cultures

Al-Biruni cited difference in religious beliefs, insularity of local population, and language differences as barriers to understanding Indian society
Lack of historical documentation was also a barrier

Ibn Battuta found Indian cities to have crowded streets, prosperous markets, and spaces for public performances like music and dance
He noted that Indian cities derived wealth from appropriation of rural surplus
He did not find that Indian cities existed entirely due to imperial patronage

Ibn Battuta found the imperial postal system in India to be highly sophisticated and efficient

Ibn Battuta described Indian cities as having detailed accounts of their architectural grandeur, prosperous merchant communities engaged in long-distance trade, crowded markets and bazaars, and spaces for musical and dance performances

Bernier believed that the Mughal claim to ownership over all land led to a lack of incentive for agricultural investment, decline of manufacturing, and uniform ruination of agriculture
Bernier did not believe that the Mughal system led to the emergence of a class of improving landlords

Bernier represented Indian society as lacking a middle class, with widespread poverty among peasantry, and without a highly sophisticated manufacturing sector
Bernier believed in the virtues of private property and was apprehensive about the formation of an aristocratic class
Bernier contrasted Mughal India with contemporary Europe and promoted the idea of an investor landowner class