India Through Alien Eyes

By Narottam Mishra and Mohan Mishra

Many foreigners have written about India in the distant past. What had they expected and what did they actually fi nd? Indians have never ceased to wonder at the obsession of the western mind with India since antiquity. If you look east it is East Indies; if you look west it is West Indies. On the North American landmass there are Red Indians and there are numerous Indian tribes in South America too.

Across a vast unwelcoming land mass, and across choppy seas, people from other lands set out for India. What brought them here and what picture did they have of India before coming and after they had actually come here?

This book is based on writings of foreigners, both Western and non-Western, since ancient times. It should be of interest to all those who are interested in learning about this land and its people. It should be of interest to native Indians too who would be enlightened and, sometimes amused, at how people from alien lands looked at them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: Mar 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781452504520

Narottam Mishra

Dr Mohan Mishra, born in 1937, is a retired professor of medicine. He has published many research papers in medicine. He has also written a number of both medical and non-medical books. Co-Author, Narottam Mishra is working as an Information Scientist at the KSDS University Darbhanga, Bihar, INDIA

Book preview

Contents

Dedication

Epigraph

Foreword

Preface

Chapter 1

Introduction

Chapter 2

Strabo

63/64 BC-c 24 AD

Chapter 3

Hiuan Tsang

c 602-664 AD

Chapter 4

Muslim Travellers/Writers

Chapter 5

Non-English European Travellers

Chapter 6

First Englishmen

Chapter 7

Sundry Lesser

Known Travellers

Chapter 8

Sleeman

1788-1856 AD

About the Authors

Further Reading

Dedication

for

Manjula Mishra

Epigraph

If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India.

Romain Rolland

Foreword

An attempt to write a Foreword to this work is quite a daunting task. The historiography of the writings about India by alien travellers, since the distant past to the period of British rule over this vast land has not been explored much till date. I am neither a serious student of Indian history nor have had sufficient access to the literature coming out from the pens of foreigners, both Western and non-Western.

This book begins from about the writings of the ‘father of history’, Herodotus of the 5th century B.C. The last alien writer is Sir William Henry Sleeman, a British soldier and administrator in India in the mid-nineteenth century. In between the two many foreign writers have written about their impressions regarding India; some of them visited India themselves and others wrote on the basis of another group of travellers. The foremost visitors to India were the Greeks. Herodotus, however, never came to India, nor did he ever meet any person who had visited this land.

Among the other important and notable persons are Hiuan Tsang, Al Beruni, Kazvini, Ibn Batuta and Abd-er-Razzac. As far as the non-English Europeans are concerned, Marco Polo, Vasco da Gama, Tavernier and Bernier are famous and are known to the intelligentsia of the world. Among the Englishmen Ralf Fitch, Newberry, Leades and Sir Henry Sleeman have been discussed in this book with special admiration.

The historian Herodotus knew only a few things about India. In his eyes India was then the wealthiest country in the world and that attracted the aliens. The Greek travellers differed from one another in their descriptions. Their reports are mainly based on hearsay and not on observed facts. Strabo and other Greek observers were in agreement in only one thing, that the Ganga was the largest river in all the three continents of Asia, Europe and Africa. Till then they had no knowledge of the rest of the continents. They also believed that Pataliputra, modern Patna, was situated on the confluence of Ganga and Son.

Megasthenes, another important historical traveler, had visited India during the reign of Chandragupta. He found Indians well-disciplined and at that time theft was very rare there.

It is a historical fact that China remained cut off from the rest of the world for thousands of years. But like India China’s civilization also remained unchanged without any modification up to the modern times. The first contact between China and other parts of the world began with the travelers like Hiuan Tsang. He came to India as the first traveller from China. He saw here the rise of Brahminism and decay of Buddhism. After touring through many small states he came to Kannauj, where a Viasya, Harsha was ruling.

At that time Nalanda was the most famous seat of learning in the whole world. He spent five years in his studies and later visited Gaya, Patna and Bhagalpur. He had left China in 629 A.D. and spent more than ten years in wandering through India. He had come to India for religious enlightenment.

Among the Muslim writers and visitors Al Beruni, Kazvini and Ibn Batuta are notable. Al Beruni was a Persian Muslim scholar. He is important for his scientific work entitled ‘Chronology of Ancient nations’. He had dedicated that to King Mahmud Ghazani. Mahmud visited India for acquiring gold and wealth to fill his treasury. With this ambition and greed he visited the richest temples of India, such as Thanesvara, Mathura, Kannauj and Somnath. Al Beruni saw Hindus as excellent philosophers, astrologers and mathematicians.

He was a Muslim and naturally believed in the superiority of Islam over Brahminism. He authored about twenty books on India, both translations and originals. His writings also include many tales derived from the ancient lore of Iran and India. He was perhaps the first Muslim who introduced, for the first time, Bhagwadgita to his Muslim readers. He was also the first learned Muslim who studied the Puranas. He was aware of Panchatantra through an Arabic translation. His description of Indian philosophy is unparalleled.

India which was known to Al Beruni was Brahminic, pure and simple, and not at all Buddhist. He saw that the traces of Buddhism had disappeared from India in the first half of the eleventh century. He speaks of a building constructed by King Kanishk at Peshawar.

The other Muslim writer Kazvini has given his description of the destruction of the Somnath temple in 1025-26 AD, by Mahmud Ghazani, in Arabic language. He did not travel to India himself, but wrote on the basis of second hand information. Situated on the Gujarat sea-shore Somnath, he writes, was sometimes visited by more than one hundred thousand pilgrims.

Among the non-English European travellers, the names of Marco Polo, Vasco da Gama, Tavernier and Bernier are notable. In the 15th century, the number of Europeans, who visited India was small. But in the following century their numbers increased. The reason was that the Portuguese discouraged travellers to India, except by their own countrymen. But they did not succeed in this effort and more and more Europeans landed on the shores of India through ports like Surat and Goa. Such travelers have left behind their valuable impressions and accounts. Both Vasco da Gama and Columbus tried to discover the sea-route to India. But Columbus failed while Vasco da Gama reached Calicut in 1498 AD. Columbus reached America instead of India. The adventures of Vasco da Gama would not have taken place, but for the imagination fired by Marco Polo’s accounts.

Marco Polo together with his father and uncle embarked on a voyage to Asia in 1271 AD. In China Marco, his father and uncle became important functionaries in the court of the great Kublai Khan. Marco’s book ‘The travels of Marco Polo’ inspired Europeans and they came to know about the far-east, including China, Japan and India, the three important countries in the east even during those days.

Vasco da Gama landed at Calicut during the closing days of the 15th century. Fortunately he was given command of the Portuguese fleet for an expedition to the east by King Manuel of Portugal. He started his voyage from Lisbon in the summer of 1497. The fleet arrived at Calicut in the south-west of India on May 20, 1498. He was well received by the native ruler of that place. After that a series of friendly relations were established leading to trade and commerce with Portugal. It is not possible to say how many travellers actually visited India during the 15th century. But accounts of three among them are important. They are Nicolo de’ Coonti, Afanasy Nikitin and Hieronimo Di Santo Stephano.

Among the other European travelers Tavernier (1605-1689 AD), Bernier (1624-1688 AD) and Niccolao Manucci (1639-1717 AD) are important. They visited India during the seventeenth century. Tavernier talks especially about the oppression, suffered by Hindu idolators at the hands of Muslim fanatics. Bernier was a French physician with a taste for political and speculative philosophy. He spent 12 years in the court of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. At that time there was no rule or convention to determine succession to the throne.

Manucci spent a little time in India. His manuscript could see the light of the day only in the beginning of the twentieth century. He was a native of Venice. After visiting some other places he reached Surat via sea-route in 1656 AD. He visited Agra and Delhi. At that time a fratricidal war was in progress between the sons of Shahjahan. Dara was being chased by the army of Aurangzeb.

Long before the founding of the East India Company on 31 December 1600, an Englishmen, Thomas Stephens came to Goa in 1579 AD. More and more Englishmen came to India later on. They saw here the practice of Sati and the worship of cows. They visited Akbar, the Great and saw the magnificence and style of his living. Stephens was not a traveller in the strict sense of the term.

The first English traveller was Ralf Fitch. He came to India in 1583 AD and returned to England in 1591 after staying here for eight years.

During the British rule in India the first Englishman who took interest in writing his impressions was Sir William Sleeman. He was a British soldier and administrator in India. He joined the Bengal Army in 1809 AD. In 1820 AD he became assistant to the Governor-General’s agent in the Sagar and Narmada territories. He became famous due to his active role in the suppression of thagi in the country which was then a great menace. He resided at Gwalior and Lucknow. He died at sea near Sri Lnka in 1856 AD. It is believed that he opposed the annexation of Awadh, but his advice was disregarded.

In his book Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official he has given a very sympathetic account of India and her people. In the month of kartik Sleeman and his party decided to visit the Marble Rocks of the Narmada at Bhairaghata near modern Jabalpur. The river Narmada was supposed to be very special.

This is just a bird’s eye view of the present work ‘India through Alien eyes’ written by Dr Mohan Mishra. Dr Mishra has written like a professional and accomplished historian. He has written and published many books including A Text Book of Clinical Medicine (OUP). The manuscript of his book ‘An Unfinished Story’ won for him a merit prize by the Delhi Administration in 1985.

Dr Mohan Mishra MD, MRCP(UK), FRCP(London). FRCP (Edin) was born in 1937. He taught medicine at Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital until his retirement in 1995. Having a most brilliant academic career, he has been a renowned doctor of medicine, not only in Bihar, but all over the country. He has been contributing research papers to medical journals like the British Medical Journal and the Lancet.

As a serious reader of different subjects, his main field of study is the history and culture of ancient India. Himself an erudite scholar, he comes of a family of scholars and eminent personalities.

Dr Mishra writes English like a learned scholar of this language. He has got the gift of a facile pen and his style of writing is lucid and charming.

The present title for which resource materials are few and far between, has been produced in such a way that it would be of utmost interest to the laymen and serious students of history alike.

I extend my heartiest congratulations to Dr. Mohan Mishra for writing such a book on a significant phase of Indian history. I wish success for the book’s wide circulation and reading. I pray to God for his long and healthy life.

Darbhanga                                                         Sureshwar Jha MA PhD

Feb 2012                                           Professor of Political Science (Retd)

                                                         LNM University Darbhanga, India

Preface

Many foreigners have written about India in the distant past. What had they expected and what did they actually find?

As Indians we have never ceased to wonder at the obsession of the western mind with India since antiquity. If you look east it is East Indies; if you look west it is West Indies. On the North American landmass there are Red Indians and there are numerous Indian tribes in South America too.

Across a vast unwelcoming land mass, and across choppy seas, people from other lands set out for India. What brought them here and what picture did they have of India before coming and after they had actually come here?

This book is based on writings of foreigners, both Western and non-Western, since ancient times. It should be of interest to all those who are interested in learning about this land and its people. It should be of interest to native Indians too who would be enlightened and, sometimes amused, at how people from alien lands looked at them. It is targeted at the educated general reader with no specialized knowledge of the subject.

We are grateful to Dr Sureshwar Jha who very kindly wrote a Foreword for this book. We are thankful to our numerous friends, and members of our family, who helped in the creation of this work. We are also thankful to our publishers, the Balboa Press, for their help at all stages in seeing the work through

Mohan Mishra                                                           Darbhanga, India

Narottam Mishra                                                              February 2012

Chapter 1

Introduction

India did not have six-legged camels; there were no gold-digging ants either. But there are big marmots, infesting the upper reaches of the river Indus, which are digging and throwing up, to this day, sand containing gold. The indigenous people of this region continue to collect this gold even now. In Persian the word for marmot is equivalent to ‘mountain ant’. This might explain the use of the word ‘ant’ but does not quite explain the size and speed of these marmots. But let us remember that tales, told through successive mouths, often get embellished by the narrator’s imagination. Add to that the Oriental penchant for exaggeration and the description given by Herodotus (5th century BC) may yet have a core of truth in it

The earliest civilization connected with Europe is believed to have existed on the shores of the Aegean Sea (c 2500 B.C.). It would be too much to state that there existed no knowledge of, or any intercourse between, this civilization and that of India but what knowledge did exist was perhaps more suited to the misty imagination of the poet than to the exact science of the historian. Herodotus could only tell that India was the wealthiest and the most populous country on the earth, that Darius I conquered its western part, and that Indians served in the Persian army.

Strabo is on firmer ground when he talks of India. He depends, in his writings, on accounts given by earlier Greek writers, many of whom had been to India with the army of Alexander, the Great. But at the very outset he craves the readers’ indulgence, for India lay at a very great distance from Greece and but few people of his country had indeed seen it. Those who had seen it had seen only some portions of it and even what they saw they did during the passage through the country with an army, and in great haste. These observers would not agree with each other even when describing the same thing. Many of their reports were based entirely on hearsay.

He describes the size of India which, indeed, was very great. He talks of the many curious animals, including big snakes. The land was very fertile being blessed by nature in respect of heavy rains. He talks of reeds yielding honey without the intervention of bees. He is obviously talking of sugar-cane. Among the many singular trees was one that could provide shade to fifty, or perhaps even four hundred, horsemen at one time.

He talks of the various castes. Caste has, indeed, been a recurring theme in practically all the writings of foreigners writing about India. Another recurring theme has been the practice of sati or the practice of the wife voluntarily immolating herself on the funeral pyre of her dead husband.

If Strabo has written from the perspective of a nation whose ruler had conquered parts of India, the approach of the famous Hiuan Tsang is entirely different. He came from China as a religious mendicant. He was keen to follow in the footsteps of the Buddha. He begins by discussing the name of India. He calls India as In-tu which was obviously his way of saying Indu. Indu literally means moon. He says that there is nothing to compare with the brightness of the serene moon. This sets the tone of his description of India which, to him, was all that stood for good.

More critical is the approach of Al Beruni (11th AD). He was a Muslim and for him the way of Islam was superior to any other. But he was keen to learn first hand the Hindu way of life. He was aware of the pitfalls of hearsay evidence. In learning about Hindus he had to learn, painstakingly, Sanskrit, the language in which the literature of the Hindus was available. He studied the Hindu literature himself and sought the help of learned Hindus who could enlighten him and clear his doubts. He found that the Hindus were entirely different from the Muslims, not only in the matter of religion, but also in respect of their basic tenets.

The succeeding centuries can be studied in terms of the writings of Europeans who dominated the Indian scene. Vasco da Gama came to India in 1498 AD. His arrival did not please the Moors who had monopolised the trade with this country. Vasco was, however, received well by the Indians in South India. He was happy to be in what, he thought, was a Christian church. The priest sprinkled holy water on him and his companions. They were not aware that they were clearly in a Hindu temple. From then on the European mind concentrated on trade with India. They had but little time for the study of the basic tenets of Hindu life. Marco Polo travelled extensively