Themes in Indian History Part II: Medieval and Early Modern India
Part II covers travellers' accounts, bhakti and Sufi traditions, Vijayanagara, the Mughal court, and agrarian society under the Mughals. The exam tests source criticism: who wrote, for whom, and with what limits.
Reading travellers
- Al-Biruni, in the eleventh century with Mahmud of Ghazni, wrote Kitab-ul-Hind in Arabic; he learned Sanskrit and used Brahmanical texts, so his picture of caste and ritual is text-based, not ethnographic.
- Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan qazi in Delhi from 1333, wrote the Rihla; he describes court ritual, markets and women's lives, but relies on memory and hearsay.
- Bernier, a French physician in India 1656-68, wrote Travels in the Mogul Empire; his claim that the Mughal state owned all land and was 'despotic' became a colonial commonplace and must be tested, not repeated.
Court and countryside
- The Ain-i-Akbari (Abul Fazl, third volume of the Akbarnama) supplies statistics on revenue assessment, zamindars and rates - administrative in purpose, not neutral, and incomplete.
- Vijayanagara (Hampi, on the Tungabhadra, 1336-1565) is known from inscriptions, travellers and temple architecture; note Krishnadeva Raya's amara-nayaka system and the 1565 battle of Rakshasi-Tangadi.
Worked example
Given Bernier's statement that there was no private property, a strong answer notes his position as a foreign physician dependent on patronage, his lack of access to village records, and the Ain-i-Akbari evidence of zamindar rights - then concludes that 'despotic' is a European frame applied to unfamiliar arrangements.
Traps
- Treating a traveller's anecdote as statistical evidence.
- Assuming Mughal chronicles record defeats or dissent.
- Confusing the Akbarnama with the Badshahnama of Shah Jahan's reign.
- Describing Vijayanagara without distinguishing inscriptions from later travellers' reports.