Latest / The Hidden History of Bengal: Kingdoms, Empires, and Revolution — Fexingo History / Ibn Battuta in Bengal: A Moroccan Traveler's Journey
Transcript
- Lucas: So, we've covered a lot of Bengal's history from the inside—its rulers, its revolutions, its cultural flourishing. But I thought today we'd look at Bengal through the eyes of a visitor, someone who arrived in the mid-14th century and left us one of the most detailed travelogues of the medieval world. Luna: Oh, Ibn Battuta? Lucas: Exactly. Ibn Battuta, the Moroccan scholar who spent nearly 30 years traveling across the Islamic world and beyond, from Morocco to China, writing his famous Rihla. And he came to Bengal in 1346, during the reign of Sultan Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah, the first ruler to call himself 'shah e bangalah'—King of Bengal. Lucas: Now, Ilyas Shah had just unified Bengal after a period of turmoil under the Delhi Sultanate. He moved the capital from Lakhnauti to Pandua, built the massive Adina Mosque, and consolidated the region into a powerful independent kingdom. So Battuta arrived at a moment of real confidence and prosperity. Luna: What brought him to Bengal specifically? Lucas: He was on his way to China, actually—he'd been summoned by the Yuan emperor. But he made a deliberate detour to visit Bengal, probably drawn by its reputation as a land of wealth and Sufi spirituality. He entered through the port of Sonargaon, near present-day Dhaka, which was a major hub in the Indian Ocean trade network. Lucas: Sonargaon was known for its fine cotton textiles—muslins that were exported as far as Europe and the Middle East. Battuta described it as a large and beautiful city, with streets lined with markets selling everything from spices to slaves. Luna: Slaves? Was Bengal a slave trade center? Lucas: It was, unfortunately. Bengal was one of the major sources of slaves in the Indian Ocean world at the time. Battuta himself mentions that the Sultan of Bengal gifted him several slaves, including a eunuch. But he also notes that the region was incredibly fertile—he famously wrote that he never saw a land where provisions were so cheap, with rice selling for incredibly low prices. Lucas: He was particularly struck by the role of Sufi saints in Bengal. He visited the shrine of Hazrat Shah Jalal in Sylhet, a revered Sufi who had converted much of the region to Islam. Shah Jalal was already elderly and, according to Battuta, had performed many miracles. The traveler was deeply impressed and spent time in his company. Luna: So the Sufi network was already well established by the mid-1300s. Lucas: Absolutely. The Sufis played a huge role in spreading Islam in Bengal, especially in rural areas. Battuta also met other Sufis in Sonargaon and Pandua, and he remarks on the harmony between them and the court. Ilyas Shah himself patronized Sufi orders. Lucas: One of the most fascinating things Battuta describes is a practice that shocked him: sati, the immolation of widows on their husbands' funeral pyres. He witnessed it in Bengal and wrote about it in detail—the widow's calm demeanor, the crowd's reverence, the flames. He clearly disapproved, but he recorded it without the kind of moralizing that later European travelers would add. Luna: He was an observant reporter, then. Lucas: Very much so. He also noted the power of the monsoon—he called it a 'terrible rain' that flooded everything for months. He was stranded in Bengal for a while because of the weather. And he was impressed by the Bengali ships, the junks, that sailed to China and the Maldives. Lucas: But he also saw some of the darker aspects. Besides the slave trade, he mentions the presence of pirates in the Sundarbans delta—these were early precursors to the Baro-Bhuiyans, the 'twelve landlords' who later resisted Mughal rule. Bengal's waterways made it hard for any central authority to control the entire region. Luna: How long did he stay in Bengal? Lucas: Several months, probably from late 1346 into early 1347. He then sailed from Sonargaon to China, but his ship was wrecked in a storm off the coast of Sumatra. He survived, eventually made it to China, and later returned to Morocco, where he dictated his Rihla. Lucas: The remarkable thing is that Battuta's account is one of the only detailed descriptions of Bengal under the Ilyas Shahi dynasty. We have inscriptions, coins, and architecture, but his words give us the human texture—the sounds of the bazaars, the taste of the food, the feel of the monsoon rain. Luna: It must have been a very different world from the Maghreb. Lucas: Completely. He was used to arid landscapes, but Bengal was a water world—rivers, canals, rice paddies. He was also surprised by the abundance of fish and the use of betel leaf, which he chewed but didn't particularly like. He called it a 'stimulant that dulls the senses.' Lucas: One more thing: Battuta's visit also highlights Bengal's connection to the wider Islamic world. He met scholars from Persia, merchants from Gujarat, and even a Chinese Muslim who served as an interpreter. Bengal was not some isolated backwater—it was a cosmopolitan hub. Luna: And all of this was just a few generations after the initial Muslim conquest. Lucas: Exactly. The Bengal Sultanate had only been independent since 1338, when Ilyas Shah broke away from Delhi. In just a few decades, it had become a wealthy, stable kingdom with a distinct identity. Battuta's travels show us that Bengal was already a land of opportunity—for traders, scholars, and mystics. Lucas: And that identity, forged in the 14th century, would persist through the Mughal period, the British era, and into today. So in a way, Battuta's visit is a snapshot of Bengal coming into its own as a cultural and political entity. Luna: I think that's a great note to end on. Thanks, Lucas.