World’s Greatest Traveller: Ibn Battuta & Bollywood

Ever since I stopped watching TV (maybe my loyalty is still with print media), I have become an avid radio fan. I now surf merrily from the BBC and the VOA to local/national FM Indian radio stations. Yesterday a song titled “Ibn Battuta” (from Bollywood film Ishqiya) caught my attention. Wow! Even a Bollywood film/song can revive our interest in forgotten history!!!

So I looked up “Ibn Battuta” on Google and began wondering: Was this the golden period of Islam. One site tells us: “Ibn Battuta (1304–1368 or 1369) was one of the greatest travelers the world has ever seen and hardly ever heard of. Making Marco Polo seem like a casual backpacker, Ibn Battuta was on the road for almost 30 years, covering some 75,000 miles through the length and breadth of the Muslim world.

“He was born in Fez, Morocco and set out to travel at the tender age of 21, intending to win his reputation by going on Hajj to Mecca. This accomplished, instead of turning home he decided to get a job in Delhi, under the Muslim Emperor of India, Muhammad Tughlaq. With some detours along the African coast and up through Turkey and the Crimea, Ibn Battuta finally intrigued his way with various caravans to India…” More here…

“The Delhi Sultanate was a new addition to Dar al-Islam, and Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq had resolved to import as many Muslim scholars and other functionaries as possible to consolidate his rule. On the strength of his years of study while in Mecca, Ibn Battuta was employed as a qazi (“judge”) by the sultan.

“Tughlaq was erratic even by the standards of the time, and Ibn Battuta veered between living the high life of a trusted subordinate, and being under suspicion for a variety of treasons against the government. Eventually he resolved to leave on the pretext of taking another hajj, but the Sultan asked him to become his ambassador to Yuan Dynasty China. Given the opportunity to both get away from the Sultan and visit new lands, Ibn Battuta took the opportunity…” More here…

“In India Ibn Battuta became the chief judge (Qadi) of Delhi under the patronage of Muhammed bin Tughlaq, served in the courts of the king of Calicut, married into the royal family in the Maldives, and went on a pilgrimage to Adam’s Peak in Ceylon. He was a guest of the Jaffna King Marthanda Singai Aryan Pararajasegaram ( Arya Chakravarty) circa 1344…

“Ibn Battuta’s book had a steady readership over the centuries in the Muslim world. European orientalists had heard of the’ Travels’ by about 1800. An abridged Arabic version done in 17th century was translated into English by Reverend Samuel Lee and published in 1829. In the following years, several full texts having been found, it was edited and published in four volumes by Defremery and Sangunetti in Paris.

“A translation into English was commenced by H A R Gibbs in 1929, who completed the first three volumes. The translation of volume 4 was completed by H A R Gibbs and C F Beckingham. The Ceylon branch of the Royal Asiatic Society translated the portion of Ibn Battuta’s travels in the Maldives and Ceylon from the French translation of the same original Arabic version into English in 1882…” More here…

Just who is the world’s greatest traveller? That is the question posed by Wanderlust magazine. While there is some consensus about the greatest movie ever (Citizen Kane) and best pop record (Bohemian Rhapsody), opinion is divided on the top explorer. See here…

To this list, I would like to add the names of Chinese traveller, Heung Tsang (Xuanzang), and the first Sikh Guru Nanak Dev.