Match List I with List II:
| List I (Traveller) | List II (Description) | ||
| (A) | Al-Biruni | (I) | Kerala as a strange nation |
| (B) | Ibn Battuta | (II) | Widespread poverty |
| (C) | Abdur Razzaq | (III) | Caste system |
| (D) | Pelsaert | (IV) | Coconut and Paan |
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → A-III, B-IV, C-I, D-II
(A) Al-Biruni — this matches (III) Caste system. Al-Biruni described the caste system as he found it in the normative Sanskrit texts, which laid down its rules from the point of view of the Brahmanas.
(B) Ibn Battuta — this matches (IV) Coconut and Paan. He described the coconut and the paan, two kinds of plant produce wholly unfamiliar to his audience.
(C) Abdur Razzaq — this matches (I) Kerala as a strange nation. In his travelogue of the 1440s he described the people of the port of Calicut in Kerala as “a strange nation”.
(D) Pelsaert — this matches (II) Widespread poverty. This Dutch traveller of the early seventeenth century was shocked to see the widespread poverty of the people.
NCERT (2026-27): “4.2 Al-Biruni’s description of the caste system … Al-Biruni tried to explain the caste system by looking for parallels in other societies. He noted that in ancient Persia, four social categories were recognised: those of knights and princes; monks, fire-priests and lawyers; physicians, astronomers and other scientists; and finally, peasants and artisans.… 5.1 The coconut and the paan … Some of the best examples of Ibn Battuta’s strategies of representation are evident in the ways in which he described the coconut and the paan, two kinds of plant produce that were completely unfamiliar to his audience.… A strange nation? … The travelogue of Abdur Razzaq written in the 1440s is an interesting mixture of emotions and perceptions. On the one hand, he did not appreciate what he saw in the port of Calicut (present-day Kozhikode) in Kerala, which was populated by ‘a people the likes of whom I had never imagined’, describing them as ‘a strange nation’.… Widespread poverty … Pelsaert, a Dutch traveller, visited the subcontinent during the early decades of the seventeenth century. Like Bernier, he was shocked to see the widespread poverty, ‘poverty so great and miserable that the life of the people can be depicted or accurately described only as the home of stark want and the dwelling place of bitter woe’.…” |