Which fourteenth-century traveller described how Indian chieftains fortified themselves using bamboo groves and rugged terrains for defence?

Correct — B. Ibn Battuta, the Moroccan traveller, served the Delhi Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq as a qadi (judge) and recorded his years in India in the Rihla, written in Arabic.

His account describes chieftains holding out in rugged country and bamboo groves. He is also the one traveller among the options whose Indian journey fell in the fourteenth century → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Al-Biruni — Al-Biruni belongs to the 11th century. He lived at Ghazni under Mahmud, went with his campaigns into the subcontinent and wrote Kitab al-Hind around 1030.
• (c)
  Marco Polo — Marco Polo, the Venetian, travelled in the late 13th century. The stem's fourteenth-century date already rules him out.
• (d)
  Megasthenes — Megasthenes is some 1,600 years too early. He was Seleucus I Nicator's envoy to Chandragupta Maurya and wrote the Indica.

Foreign travellers' accounts are a main source for medieval India.

Ibn Battuta, born in Tangier, Morocco, in 1304, reached the Delhi Sultanate under Muhammad bin Tughluq and was appointed a qadi. His Rihla, dictated in Arabic near the end of his life, covers his years in India.

Key facts

• Ibn Battuta: born in Tangier, Morocco, in 1304, and a qadi under Muhammad bin Tughluq.
• His travel account, the Rihla, was dictated in Arabic.
• Al-Biruni: lived at Ghazni under Mahmud from 1017 and wrote Kitab al-Hind around 1030.
• Megasthenes: Seleucus I Nicator's envoy to Chandragupta Maurya, author of the Indica.

Common traps

• Picking Al-Biruni because his is a famous account of India. Check the century: his was the 11th.
• Picking Marco Polo because he is a medieval traveller. His journey was in the 13th century.

No directly related past PYQ was found.