,CONTENTS
PART II
THEME FIVE
THROUGH THE EYES OF TRAVELLERS 115
Perceptions of Society
(c. tenth to seventeenth century)
THEME SIX
BHAKTI-SUFI TRADITIONS 140
Changes in Religious Beliefs
and Devotional Texts
(c. eighth to eighteenth century)
THEME SEVEN
AN IMPERIAL CAPITAL: VIJAYANAGARA 170
(c. fourteenth to sixteenth century)
THEME EIGHT
PEASANTS, ZAMINDARS AND THE STATE 196
Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire
(c. sixteenth-seventeenth centuries)
THEME NINE
KINGS AND CHRONICLES 224
The Mughal Courts
(c. sixteenth-seventeenth centuries)
PART III*
THEME T EN
COLONIALISM AND THE COUNTRYSIDE
Exploring Official Archives
THEME E LEVEN
REBELS AND THE RAJ
1857 Revolt and Its Representations
* Part III will follow
, xii
THEME TWELVE
COLONIAL CITIES
Urbanisation, Planning
and Architecture
THEME THIRTEEN
MAHATMA GANDHI AND THE
NATIONALIST MOVEMENT
Civil Disobedience and Beyond
THEME FOURTEEN
UNDERSTANDING PARTITION
Politics, Memories, Experiences
THEME FIFTEEN
FRAMING THE CONSTITUTION
The Beginning of a New Era
PART I
(Pages 1-114)
THEME ONE
BRICKS, BEADS AND BONES
The Harappan Civilisation
THEME TWO
KINGS, FARMERS AND TOWNS
Early States and Economies
(c. 600 BCE - 600 CE)
THEME THREE
KINSHIP, CASTE AND CLASS
Early Societies
(c. 600 BCE - 600 CE)
THEME FOUR
THINKERS, BELIEFS AND BUILDINGS
Cultural Developments
(c. 600 BCE -600 CE)
, THEME
Through the Eyes of Travellers
FIVE erce o
Perceptions
erce o f Society
of ci et
ciet
t h to
( c . tenth o seventeenth
e nt nt century)nt )
Women and men have travelled in search of work, to escape
from natural disasters, as traders, merchants, soldiers,
priests, pilgrims, or driven by a sense of adventure.
Those who visit or come to stay in a new land
invariably encounter a world that is different:
in terms of the landscape or physical
environment as well as customs, languages,
beliefs and practices of people. Many of them
try to adapt to these differences; others,
somewhat exceptional, note them carefully in
Fig. 5.1a
accounts, generally recording what they find Paan leaves
unusual or remarkable. Unfortunately, we have
practically no accounts of travel left by women, though
we know that they travelled.
The accounts that survive are often varied in terms of
their subject matter. Some deal with affairs of the court,
while others are mainly focused on religious issues, or
architectural features and monuments. For example, one
of the most important descriptions of the city of
Vijayanagara (Chapter 7) in the fifteenth century comes
from Abdur Razzaq Samarqandi, a diplomat who came
visiting from Herat.
In a few cases, travellers did not go to distant lands. For
example, in the Mughal Empire (Chapters 8 and 9),
administrators sometimes travelled within the
empire and recorded their observations. Some
of them were interested in looking at popular
customs and the folklore and traditions of
their own land.
In this chapter we shall see how our
knowledge of the past can be enriched
through a consideration of descriptions of
social life provided by travellers who visited
the subcontinent, focusing on the accounts of three Fig. 5.1b
men: Al-Biruni who came from Uzbekistan (eleventh A coconut
century), Ibn Battuta who came from Morocco, in The coconut and the paan
northwestern Africa (fourteenth century) and the were things that struck many
travellers as unusual.
Frenchman François Bernier (seventeenth century).
PART II
THEME FIVE
THROUGH THE EYES OF TRAVELLERS 115
Perceptions of Society
(c. tenth to seventeenth century)
THEME SIX
BHAKTI-SUFI TRADITIONS 140
Changes in Religious Beliefs
and Devotional Texts
(c. eighth to eighteenth century)
THEME SEVEN
AN IMPERIAL CAPITAL: VIJAYANAGARA 170
(c. fourteenth to sixteenth century)
THEME EIGHT
PEASANTS, ZAMINDARS AND THE STATE 196
Agrarian Society and the Mughal Empire
(c. sixteenth-seventeenth centuries)
THEME NINE
KINGS AND CHRONICLES 224
The Mughal Courts
(c. sixteenth-seventeenth centuries)
PART III*
THEME T EN
COLONIALISM AND THE COUNTRYSIDE
Exploring Official Archives
THEME E LEVEN
REBELS AND THE RAJ
1857 Revolt and Its Representations
* Part III will follow
, xii
THEME TWELVE
COLONIAL CITIES
Urbanisation, Planning
and Architecture
THEME THIRTEEN
MAHATMA GANDHI AND THE
NATIONALIST MOVEMENT
Civil Disobedience and Beyond
THEME FOURTEEN
UNDERSTANDING PARTITION
Politics, Memories, Experiences
THEME FIFTEEN
FRAMING THE CONSTITUTION
The Beginning of a New Era
PART I
(Pages 1-114)
THEME ONE
BRICKS, BEADS AND BONES
The Harappan Civilisation
THEME TWO
KINGS, FARMERS AND TOWNS
Early States and Economies
(c. 600 BCE - 600 CE)
THEME THREE
KINSHIP, CASTE AND CLASS
Early Societies
(c. 600 BCE - 600 CE)
THEME FOUR
THINKERS, BELIEFS AND BUILDINGS
Cultural Developments
(c. 600 BCE -600 CE)
, THEME
Through the Eyes of Travellers
FIVE erce o
Perceptions
erce o f Society
of ci et
ciet
t h to
( c . tenth o seventeenth
e nt nt century)nt )
Women and men have travelled in search of work, to escape
from natural disasters, as traders, merchants, soldiers,
priests, pilgrims, or driven by a sense of adventure.
Those who visit or come to stay in a new land
invariably encounter a world that is different:
in terms of the landscape or physical
environment as well as customs, languages,
beliefs and practices of people. Many of them
try to adapt to these differences; others,
somewhat exceptional, note them carefully in
Fig. 5.1a
accounts, generally recording what they find Paan leaves
unusual or remarkable. Unfortunately, we have
practically no accounts of travel left by women, though
we know that they travelled.
The accounts that survive are often varied in terms of
their subject matter. Some deal with affairs of the court,
while others are mainly focused on religious issues, or
architectural features and monuments. For example, one
of the most important descriptions of the city of
Vijayanagara (Chapter 7) in the fifteenth century comes
from Abdur Razzaq Samarqandi, a diplomat who came
visiting from Herat.
In a few cases, travellers did not go to distant lands. For
example, in the Mughal Empire (Chapters 8 and 9),
administrators sometimes travelled within the
empire and recorded their observations. Some
of them were interested in looking at popular
customs and the folklore and traditions of
their own land.
In this chapter we shall see how our
knowledge of the past can be enriched
through a consideration of descriptions of
social life provided by travellers who visited
the subcontinent, focusing on the accounts of three Fig. 5.1b
men: Al-Biruni who came from Uzbekistan (eleventh A coconut
century), Ibn Battuta who came from Morocco, in The coconut and the paan
northwestern Africa (fourteenth century) and the were things that struck many
travellers as unusual.
Frenchman François Bernier (seventeenth century).
