What did Ibn Battuta see in Bengal?
Ibn Battuta describes Bengal's cheapness and abundance, its rivers, and the shaykh he travelled to meet in the hills of Sylhet.
5 passages from 2 books in the library
The first city Ibn Battuta entered in Bengal was Sudakawan, a great city on the shore of the greatest sea, where the Ganges, venerated by Hindus, and the Jumna meet and flow into the sea. He records what things cost: he bought a maid named Ashura, and a companion bought a young slave boy, Lulu, for two gold dinars. He tells of the war between Fakhr al-Din, ruling from Sudakawan, and Ali Shah: in the winter mud season Fakhr al-Din attacked Lakhnawati by sea, and in the dry season Ali Shah raided Bengal by land.
Drawn from the classical sources below — in the scholars' own words.
The classical approach.
These passages are drawn from 2 books by Ibn Battuta — part of the classical Sunni tradition that carries over a thousand years of reflection on the Qurʾān, the authentic Sunnah, and the consensus of the early community. Nothing below is a paraphrase. The words are the scholars' own, translated from the original Arabic manuscripts.
14th century · Tangier, Morocco
The Riḥlah — a 30-year, 75,000-mile journey across three continents, and the most important travel account of the pre-modern world.
More on Ibn Battuta →
· Provenance →
-
"loyalty under night's cover. By morning, the entire populace acknowledged his rule. Though still alive, Nasruddin remained in Bengal and Lakhnati, seething over how his son had assumed independent authority over the kingdom during his lifetime. He mustered his troops and set out for Delhi, preparing for confrontation. His son, Muzuddin, assembled his own forces to defend against his father. They met at the city of Kara, on the banks of the Ganges River, which Hindus revere as sacred. Nasruddin encamped along one bank while Muzuddin settled across on the opposite side. Tensions rose towards battle readiness,"
-
"I bought for around this price a maid named Ashura who had exceptional beauty. One of my companions bought a fine young slave boy named Lulu for two gold dinars. The first city we entered in the lands of Bengal was the city of Sudakawan, pronounced with an S, a silent D, and an open K and W, ending in N. It is a great city on the shore of the greatest sea, where the river Ganges, venerated by Hindus, and the river Jumna meet and flow into the sea."
-
"Sultan Nasir al-Din, acting as a patron for them, he opposed him from Sudakawan and the lands of Bengal, establishing his own rule. A severe conflict arose between him and Ali Shah. In winter and mud season, Fakhr al-Din attacked Lakhnawati by sea due to his strength. In dry seasons, Ali Shah raided Bengal by land due to his strength."
-
"from him excellent horses when he distributed them to his close aides, and he included me among them. I witnessed his confrontation with the King's aid, his capture, and I crossed the rivers Ganges and Saranj with him to visit the tomb of the pious hero Salar Arud. I described it all before returning with him to the residence in Delhi when he returned. The Sultan was intent on punishing me, but Allah, the Glorious and Exalted, shielded me with His grace and rescued me. The reason for this was my visit one day to Sheikh Shihab al-Din, the son of Sheikh al-Jam, at the cave he had excavated outside Delhi, with the intention of seeing that cave. When the Sultan captured it,"
14th century · Tangier, Morocco
The Riḥlah — a 30-year, 75,000-mile journey across three continents, and the most important travel account of the pre-modern world.
More on Ibn Battuta →
· Provenance →
-
"along with the Euphrates, Tigris, Sahan, and Jehun. Similarly, there are five resembling rivers, the Indus, known as Punjab, the River of India, called the Ganges, which is a pilgrimage site for the Hindus, who scatter the ashes of their dead in it, claiming it is from paradise, the Jumna River in India, the Ural River in the desert of Chipchak, with the city of Saratva on its bank, and the Sir Darya in the land of Khwarezm, descending to the city of Khansar, and then to Guangzhou in China. All this will be mentioned in its places, God-willing."
Want a different angle?
Type your question below — the answer is built from the same sources, and cited.
Every stop of the thirty-year journey, on one map — with the passage from the Riḥla for each: Ibn Baṭṭūṭa's route, mapped →