The India They Saw- Foreign Accounts: 8th-15th Centuries (Volume 2)

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The classical accounts of Greek and Roman writers, and subsequently, the works of Chinese pilgrims portrayed the splendour of civilization in ancient India. By the seventh century, the world scenario had altered significantly with the advent of Islam and the attendant era of Arab expansion. The age of Arab travellers, geographers, merchants and historians commenced with the Islamic ascendancy.

India was then at a high point in her intellectual and cultural attainments. The Arabs transmitted knowledge of Indian numerals, mathematics, philosophy and logic, mysticism, ethics, statecraft, military science, medicine, astronomy and astrology to the outside world. Arab travellers described the grandeur and wealth of the kings of India, singling out for special mention the Palas, the Gurjara Pratiharas and the Rashtrakutas. Politically, while north India was being.

subjected to Arab and Turkish invasions which culminated in the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate in A.D. 1206, the south moved on a different trajectory. In the last quarter of the tenth century, the mighty Cholas on the Coromandel Coast replaced the Rashtrakutas as the paramount.

kings of India. By A.D. 1200, the Chola kingdom had withered away. In A.D. 1336, was established the Vijayanagar kingdom, which stood as a bulwark against Muslim attacks from the north for over two centuries. Meanwhile, several European missions and missionaries undertook the journey to China, visiting India en route, or on their return journey.

European merchants took advantage of the land routes opened by the Mongol conquests and some of them managed to visit India. Besides the works of European travellers, traders and merchants, several Chinese accounts of India are also available from the twelfth century.

The classical accounts of Geek and Roman writers, and subsequently, the works of Chinese pilgrims vividly portrayed the splendour of civilisation in ancient India. The last notable account of that era was by I-tsing, who visited the country towards the close of the seventh century.

The world scenario had by then altered significantly with the advent of Islam and the attendant era of Arab expansion. The Arabs conquered Baghdad in A.D. 634, Syria in A.D. 636, Persia between A.D. 636 and 650, Egypt in A.D. 642 and Carthage on the northern Africa coast in A.D. 698. In A.D. 711, they crossed the Gulf of Gibraltar and entered the Iberian Peninsula. The following year Sindh also came under their control. The string of conquests from Spain to India enabled the Arabs to link the two major economic units of the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean and dominate all the important maritime and caravan routes.

As a consequence of Muslim dominance, direct links between Europe and the East ceased. Europe became pre-occupied with the threat of Islam and fought nine Crusades between A.D. 1096 and 1291, albeit without any notable success. During these centuries, Europe almost wholly lost sight of the East as 'a land of reality.' The Bible increasingly became the primary source of geographical knowledge. The term 'India' was used to denote the subcontinent, the East Indies, indeed everything in the distant East. Many legends grew in Europe about a Christian community and a Christian king in India, who would assist the Crusaders in the fight against Islam. Europe during those centuries had only a hazy and distorted picture of the India known to the Greeks and Romans.