Ayesha, a student in Multan, is reading about a fourteenth-century traveller who journeyed for many years through north Africa, West Asia, parts of Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent and China. When he finally went back to his native land, the local ruler issued instructions that his stories be recorded. In one of these stories, the traveller describes his journey from Ayesha's own city to Delhi, and she marks the time it took him on a sketch map of his routes.
According to the traveller, how long did the journey that Ayesha marks take?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Forty days
Option (1) About fifty days — Incorrect. About fifty days was the time from Sind to Delhi, a longer route.
Option (2) Ten days — Incorrect. Ten days was the time from Gwalior to Delhi, a much shorter stretch.
Option (3) About twenty days — Incorrect. About twenty days is not a time he gives for any route to Delhi.
Option (4) Forty days — Correct. Ibn Battuta records that it took forty days to travel from Multan to Delhi, a sign of how slow and hard travel was.
NCERT (2026-27): “2.1 An early globe-trotter … |