Rihla

Also called: Rihla of Ibn Battuta · Topic: Medieval India through Travellers' Eyes · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 1 "Through the Eyes of Travellers"

Meaning

The Rihla is Ibn Battuta's Arabic book of travels. "Rihla" simply means "journey" [2]. He did not write it himself. He dictated it to a scribe, Ibn Juzayy, on the ruler's orders after he came home in 1354. It matters because it gives a detailed outsider's view of 14th-century India under Muhammad bin Tughlaq. It records roads, travel times, dangers on the way and everyday things like the coconut, paan and the postal system, which Indian court writers rarely bothered to note.

Explanation

Background: who wrote it and why he travelled

• Ibn Battuta (1304–77) was born in Tangier, Morocco, on 24 February 1304 [2].
• His family was known for expertise in shari'a (Islamic law). He got a good literary education when young.
• He trained as a qadi, a Muslim judge who decided both religious and civil cases [2]. Indian records spell this qazi.
• He believed travel gave better knowledge than books.
• He left home at 22 (NCERT). Britannica says 21 [2]. Keep 22 for the exam.
• His first aim was the hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca [2].
• In Egypt he made a personal rule: "never to travel any road a second time" [2].
• Over his life he covered about 75,000 miles (120,000 km) [2].

The journey the book describes (sequence)

• Before India: Mecca, then Syria, Iraq, Persia, Yemen, Oman and the East African trading ports.
• 1333: reached Sind, coming overland through Central Asia.
• Into Delhi: came via Multan and Uch.
• He was drawn by Muhammad bin Tughlaq's fame as a generous patron (supporter) of arts and learning.
• The Sultan made him qazi of Delhi.

• He served for several years. Then he fell out of favour and was imprisoned. Later the Sultan trusted him again.

• 1342: sent as envoy (official messenger) to the Mongol ruler of China.

• After Delhi:
• Central India, then the Malabar coast.
• Maldives, where he spent 18 months as qazi.
• Sri Lanka, then back to Malabar and the Maldives.
• Bengal and Assam.
• By ship to Sumatra.

• By ship to Zaytun (Quanzhou) in China, and inland as far as Beijing.

• 1347: turned back. 1354: reached home, about 30 years after he first left [2].

How the book was made

• Full title: Tuhfat al-anzar fi gharaib al-amsar wa ajaib al-asfar, meaning "A gift to those who contemplate the wonders of cities and the marvels of travelling" [2].
• Dictated, not written by him: on the ruler's orders he told his stories to the scribe Ibn Juzayy.
• The scribe changed the style:
• Ibn Juzayy rewrote Ibn Battuta's plain prose in an ornate (fancy) style.
• He also added bits of poetry [2].

• So the facts are Ibn Battuta's, but some of the voice is the scribe's.

• Twin purpose: to educate and to entertain. That is why the book keeps the strange, the shocking and the funny.

• A manuscript copy of the Rihla is kept in the Library of Congress [3].

What it records: travel as evidence

• Journey times to Delhi:
• Multan → Delhi: 40 days
• Sind → Delhi: about 50 days
• Daulatabad → Delhi: 40 days

• Gwalior → Delhi: 10 days

• Dangers on the road:

• Highway robbers attacked his caravan between Multan and Delhi. Many travellers were killed, and he was wounded.
• Illness: once, while he had a fever, he tied himself to his saddle so he would not fall off.

• Loneliness, far from family and from a familiar language.

• Daily life: he noticed things Indians took for granted, such as the coconut, paan and the postal system.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: 14th century. Ibn Battuta was in India from 1333 until he left on the China mission in 1342, and later passed through again.
• Ruler and dynasty: Muhammad bin Tughlaq of the Tughlaq dynasty, Delhi Sultanate.
• Places in India: Sind, Multan, Uch, Delhi, Daulatabad, Gwalior, Malabar coast, Bengal, Assam.
• Places beyond India: Tangier, Mecca, Egypt, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Sumatra, Zaytun (Quanzhou), Beijing.
• Key people: Ibn Battuta (traveller), Ibn Juzayy (scribe), Muhammad bin Tughlaq (patron).
• How we know:
• The Rihla itself.
• A manuscript copy held by the Library of Congress [3].

• NCERT Class 12, Ch 1 "Through the Eyes of Travellers".

• Dates historians disagree on: Britannica gives his death as 1368/69 or 1377 [2]. NCERT fixes it at 1377.

Don't confuse with

• Marco Polo's Il Milione (The Million): this is the Venetian traveller's book on China and India from the late 13th century. He dictated it in a Genoese prison to Rustichello, a writer of romances [4]. The Rihla is 14th-century and was dictated to Ibn Juzayy.
• Ibn Juzayy vs Rustichello: both were scribes who wrote down a traveller's stories. Ibn Juzayy wrote the Rihla (Ibn Battuta). Rustichello wrote Il Milione (Marco Polo) [4].
• Al-Biruni's Kitab-ul-Hind: also written in Arabic, but in the 11th century, by a scholar from Khwarizm who came with Mahmud of Ghazni. It is a scholarly study of Indian religion and society. The Rihla is a 14th-century travel story.
• "Rihla" as a genre vs the book: "rihla" is the Arabic word for "journey" [2]. In the exam, it usually means Ibn Battuta's book. Its formal title is Tuhfat al-anzar….

Prelims Hooks

• The Rihla was dictated by Ibn Battuta to Ibn Juzayy. Its full title is Tuhfat al-anzar… [2].
• Ibn Battuta → Tangier, Morocco. Born 1304, died 1377 (NCERT). He left home at 22.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq made him qazi of Delhi. In 1342 he was sent as envoy to the Mongol ruler of China.
• He worked 18 months as qazi in the Maldives. He entered China at Zaytun (Quanzhou).
• Order of events: reached Sind (1333) → China mission (1342) → turned back (1347) → home (1354).
• Trap: Il Milione belongs to Marco Polo, who returned to Venice in 1295 after 24 years away [4]. It is not Ibn Battuta's book.

Mains Points

• An outsider's view keeps the ordinary on record.
• Ibn Battuta wrote about what surprised him: the coconut, paan, the postal system and the speed of caravans.
• Indian court chronicles left out such everyday things.

• So the Rihla fills gaps in our knowledge of 14th-century social and economic life.

• Its reliability has a specific limit.

• He dictated from memory, years after the events.
• Ibn Juzayy rewrote the plain prose in an ornate style and added poetry [2].
• Marco Polo's book has the same problem, because it was dictated to a romance writer in prison [4].

• So travel accounts must be checked against inscriptions and court records.

• It shows a connected Islamic world and the reach of the state.

• Ibn Battuta's skills in shari'a and Arabic got him work as judge in Delhi, judge in the Maldives and envoy to China. This shows how ideas and scholars moved across the medieval Indian Ocean.
• His travel times (Multan–Delhi in 40 days, Gwalior–Delhi in 10 days) show how far the Sultanate's roads reached.
• The robber attack on his caravan shows how weakly the Sultanate controlled the land between towns.

Related concepts

• Ibn Battuta
• Ibn Juzayy
• Marco Polo

Read more

• Ibn Battuta and the Rihla: the itinerary of a globe-trotter