Which of the following were features of the postal system of India as described by Ibn Battuta ? 1. The foot post carries a ringing bell in one hand. 2. The horse post is called uluq, stationed at a distance of every four miles. 3. The foot post or dawa has one station at every four kos of distance. 4. The foot post is quicker than horse post. Select the correct answer using the code given below :
- (a)1, 2 and 4
- (b)1 and 2 only
- (c)2 and 3 only
- (d)1, 3 and 4
Correct — A, statements 1, 2 and 4. Ibn Battuta, the fourteenth-century Moroccan traveller, described two kinds of post in India. The horse-post, called uluq, used royal horses stationed at every four miles, which matches statement 2. The foot-post runners each carried a rod topped with copper bells, so statement 1 is right, and Ibn Battuta explicitly notes that the foot-post was quicker than the horse-post, even carrying fruit and Ganga water swiftly to the Sultan, which makes statement 4 right. Statement 3 is wrong: the foot-post, called dawa, had three stations in each mile, not one station every four kos, so the correct combination is 1, 2 and 4.
- (b)1 and 2 only — Drops statement 4, but Ibn Battuta clearly records that the foot-post was quicker than the horse-post, so statement 4 is also correct.
- (c)2 and 3 only — Statement 3 is false — the foot-post had three stations per mile, not one per four kos — and this option omits the correct statements 1 and 4.
- (d)1, 3 and 4 — Wrongly includes the false statement 3 and leaves out statement 2, the true description of the uluq horse-post stationed every four miles.
Ibn Battuta reached India in the reign of Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq and served for a time as the qazi (judge) of Delhi. His travel account, the Rihla, gives a foreigner's detailed picture of the Delhi Sultanate, including its remarkably fast postal or courier system that let the Sultan keep in touch with a vast territory.
The question mixes true details with a plausible-sounding wrong figure. The two systems are easy to confuse, so the safe anchors are that the uluq is the horse-post (every four miles) and the dawa is the foot-post (three relays per mile), which was actually faster because runners could take short cuts and hand over quickly. The trap statement swaps the foot-post's 'three stations per mile' for a made-up 'one station every four kos'.
- Ibn Battuta was a fourteenth-century Moroccan traveller who came to India during Muhammad bin Tughlaq's reign and was appointed qazi of Delhi.
- The horse-post, uluq, used royal horses stationed at every four miles.
- The foot-post, dawa, had three relay stations in each mile, and its runners carried a rod with copper bells that warned of their approach.
- The foot-post was quicker than the horse-post and even carried fruit from Khurasan and Ganga water to the Sultan.
Statements 1, 2 and 4 match Ibn Battuta's account; only the 'one station every four kos' claim (statement 3) is false, so the answer is 1, 2 and 4.
- Mixing up the uluq (horse-post) with the dawa (foot-post).
- Accepting the plausible-sounding 'one station every four kos' — the foot-post actually had three relay stations per mile.
A statement-code question on Ibn Battuta's description of the postal system — remember the foot-post was the faster one with three relays per mile, and reject the wrong distance figure.
The Chinese traveller Yuan Chwang (Hiuen Tsang) who visited India recorded the general conditions and culture of India at that time. In this context, which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. The roads and river-routes were completely immune from robbery. 2. As regards punishment for offences, ordeals by fire, water and poison were the instruments for determining the innocence or guilt of a person. 3. The tradesmen had to pay duties at ferries and barrier stations. Select the correct answer using the codes given below.
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Answer(b) 2 and 3 only — Hiuen Tsang recorded ordeals by fire, water and poison and duties paid at ferries and barrier stations; roads were not fully immune from robbery.
Same concept — reading history through a foreign traveller's account of India, here Hiuen Tsang, exactly as this NDA question uses Ibn Battuta's account of the postal system.
Which one of the following foreign travellers elaborately discussed about diamonds and diamond mines of India ?
- (a) Francois Bernier
- (b) Jean-Baptiste Tavernier
- (c) Jean de Thevenot
- (d) Abbe Barthelemy Carre
Answer(b) Jean-Baptiste Tavernier — the seventeenth-century French gem-merchant who left the first detailed European description of India's diamond mines.
Another 'accounts of foreign travellers' item, testing which visitor recorded a specific feature of India — the same account-based history skill this Ibn Battuta question demands.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The travel account in which Ibn Battuta recorded his observations of India is known as the
- (a)Kitab-ul-Hind
- (b)Rihla
- (c)Tarikh-i-Firishta
- (d)Tuzuk-i-Baburi
Answer(b) Rihla — Ibn Battuta's celebrated book of travels that describes fourteenth-century India.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Ibn Battuta visited India and was appointed qazi of Delhi during the reign of
- (a)Alauddin Khalji
- (b)Muhammad bin Tughlaq
- (c)Firoz Shah Tughlaq
- (d)Balban
Answer(b) Muhammad bin Tughlaq — the Sultan who welcomed Ibn Battuta and made him qazi of Delhi.