Arjun, a history teacher, is planning a lesson on how the writings of travellers help us know the past. He gathers several accounts. One, written in the fifteenth century, describes a great city of south India as seen by an envoy sent by a Persian-speaking ruler. Another is by an official of a large empire, who wrote down what he saw of village life during his tours. Arjun also wants his class to place three famous foreign visitors to the subcontinent in time and trace where each came from.
Arjun adds the envoy of his first account, Abdur Razzaq Samarqandi, to the three famous foreign visitors. Which of the following arranges all four in the order in which they came to the subcontinent?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Al-Biruni, Ibn Battuta, Abdur Razzaq Samarqandi, Francois Bernier
Option (1) Ibn Battuta, Al-Biruni, Abdur Razzaq Samarqandi, Francois Bernier — Incorrect. Ibn Battuta came in the fourteenth century, after Al-Biruni of the eleventh century, so these two are swapped.
Option (2) Al-Biruni, Abdur Razzaq Samarqandi, Ibn Battuta, Francois Bernier — Incorrect. Abdur Razzaq visited Vijayanagara in the fifteenth century, after Ibn Battuta of the fourteenth, so these two are swapped.
Option (3) Al-Biruni, Ibn Battuta, Abdur Razzaq Samarqandi, Francois Bernier — Correct. Al-Biruni came in the eleventh century, Ibn Battuta in the fourteenth, Abdur Razzaq in the fifteenth and Bernier in the seventeenth.
Option (4) Al-Biruni, Ibn Battuta, Francois Bernier, Abdur Razzaq Samarqandi — Incorrect. Bernier came in the seventeenth century, two centuries after Abdur Razzaq, so he must come last.
NCERT (2026-27): “Perceptions of Society FIVE (c. tenth to seventeenth century) … “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.” |