ORIAS (/)

Home (/home) » Resources for Teachers (/resources-teachers-0) » The Travels of Ibn Battuta (/resources-teachers/travels-ibn-battuta)
» The Journey (/resources-teachers/travels-ibn-battuta/journey) » Escape from Delhi to the Maldive Islands and Sri Lanka: 1341 - 1344

Escape from Delhi to the Maldive Islands and Sri Lanka: 1341 - 1344
"It is easy to marry in these islands because of the smallness of the dowries and the pleasures of
society which the women offer... When the ships put in, the crew marry; when they intend to leave
they divorce their wives. This is a kind of temporary marriage. The women of these islands never
leave their country."

Escape from Delhi

Ibn Battuta had feared for his life working as a judge under the moody and tyrannical Sultan of India, Muhammad
Tughluq. But the Sultan had a task in mind, one that Ibn Battuta found fascinating. He wanted to make Ibn Battuta his
ambassador to the Mongol court of China. He would accompany 15 Chinese messengers back to their homeland and carry
shiploads of gifts to the emperor. Now he could get away from Muhammad Tughluq and visit more lands (in and out of
Dar al-Islam) in a grand style!

In 1341 Ibn Battuta set out from Delhi at the head of a group bound for China. Gifts from Muhammad Tughluq to the
Mongol Emperor included 200 Hindu slaves, singers and dancers, 15 pages (boy servants), 100 horses, and great amounts
of cloth, dishes, and swords. There were about 1,000 soldiers under his command to protect the treasure and supplies
until they could board ships to China.

A few days outside of Delhi the group was attacked by about 4,000 Hindu rebels. Although vastly outnumbered, Ibn
Battuta claimed that they defeated the rebels easily. Later, there was another attack and Ibn Battuta was separated from
his companions. Suddenly a force of Hindus jumped out of the woods. Ten horsemen chased him at full gallop across the
fields. He was able to outride three of them, and then hid from the rest in a deep ditch. After escaping, he was again
confronted, this time by forty Hindus who robbed him of everything except his shirt, pants, and cloak. Some robbers kept
their prisoner in a cave overnight and planned his death in the morning. Fortunately, Ibn Battuta (who now had almost
nothing more to rob), was able to convince his captors to let him go in exchange for his clothes.

SIDE TRIP: WAS CONFLICT BETWEEN RELIGIOUS GROUPS A COMMON PROBLEM?

(HTTPS://ORIAS.BERKELEY.EDU/RESOURCES-TEACHERS/TRAVELS-IBN-BATTUTA/TRAVELS-IBN-BATTUTA-SIDE-
TRIPS#SIDE_TRIP_CONFLICT)

Eight days later, exhausted, barefooted and wearing nothing but his trousers, Ibn Battuta was rescued by a Muslim who
carried him to a village. Two days later he rejoined the party and was ready to proceed on his original mission to China.

The group continued to Daulatabad without further

trouble. There they entered the city's fort which was
surrounded by a wall 80 to 120 feet high on all sides and
two and a half miles long. Here they were safe. In two
years this fort would be taken over by rival officers in
rebellion against Sultan Muhammad Tughluq and they
would start an independent Muslim kingdom.

After a few days rest they continued to the coastal city of

Cambay filled with foreign traders who lived in fine homes.
Within days the group was at Gandhar where they
boarded four ships. Three were large dhows to carry to the
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daulatabad,_Maharashtra#/media
gifts, including the 100 horses and 215 slaves and pages.
_Daulatabad_Fort_(95).JPG)
The fourth was a war ship which carried soldiers to defend
them against attack from pirates. (About half of the These are the ruins of the Dalautabad fort, where Ibn
soldiers were from Africa and were skilled archers and Battuta's party stopped.
spear throwers.)
By Jonathanawhite
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jonathanawhite) at English
Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/), Public Domain

Calicut
Using the monsoon winds to propel them, the four ships headed south and
arrived in the port of Calicut. There they were received with "drums, trumpets,
horns, and flags... We entered the harbor amid great ovation [cheering] and
pomp, the likes of which I have not seen in these parts." In the same harbor
were 13 Chinese junks, probably much like the Song-era ship shown in this
drawing. The junks were much larger ships than the dhows he had sailed on in
the Indian Ocean. Ibn Battuta was impressed with the Chinese junks. They were
much larger than a dhow, some with five decks and five masts or more! They
had interior cabins and even private lavatories! The crew of a junk might be up
to 1,000 workers! (Ibn Battuta did note that they weren't as safe as a dhow when travelling close to the shore). It would be
on three of these large ships that they would continue to China. So the crew transferred the gifts including horses and
slaves to the junks. Ibn Battuta spent the day in the mosque and planned to board the ship that afternoon.

But before he got on his ship, a terrible event occurred. A violent storm came up. Because the harbor was not very deep,
the captains of the junks ordered the ships to wait out the storm in deeper water out to sea. Ibn Battuta waited helplessly
on the beach all night and the next morning watched in horror as two ships were pushed onto shore, broke apart, and
sank. Some of the crew on one of the junks were saved, but no one survived from the other ship - the one that he was
supposed to be on.

"The slaves, pages, and horses were all drowned, and the precious wares either sank or washed
up on the beach, where the [governor's soldiers] struggled to prevent the townsfolk from making
off with the loot." [Dunn, pg. 225.]

The other ship carried Ibn Battuta's luggage, servants, and slave-girls - one of whom was carrying his child. The captain of
that ship had set sail for China without him or the goods that he was to present to the Emperor of China.

Ibn Battuta was now alone, penniless, and ashamed - a failure as the leader for the trip to China for the Sultan of Delhi -
but lucky to be alive. There was still a chance that he could catch up with the other ship, so he tried to track it down. After
ten days he arrived in another port and waited for the ship which never turned up. (About three months later he learned
that it had reached Indonesia and was seized by an "infidel" (i.e. non-Muslim) king of Sumatra. The slave-woman who was
carrying Ibn Battuta's child had died. His other slaves and his possessions were taken by the king of Sumatra.)

Where was he to go? He wanted to return to the Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad Tughluq, but he feared that he would be
executed for his failed trip. He decided it was safer to seek employment and protection from another Muslim sultan in
southern India. To gain favor with this sultan Ibn Battuta actually joined in a day-long battle:

"On Monday evening we reached Sandapur and entered its creek and found the inhabitants
ready for the fight. They had already set up catapults. So we spent the night near the town and
when the morning came drums were beaten, trumpets sounded and horns were blown, and the
ships went forward. The inhabitants shot at them with the catapults, and I saw a stone hit some
people standing near the sultan. The crews of the ships sprang into the water, shield and sword
in hand... I myself leapt with the rest into the water... We rushed forward sword in hand. The
greater part of the heathens took refuge in the castle of their ruler. We set fire to it, whereupon
they came out and we took them prisoner. The sultan pardoned them and returned them to
their wives and children... And he gave me a young female prison... Her husband wished to
ransom her but I refused." [Dunn, p. 227]

But when the next battle seemed to be an inevitable defeat, Ibn Battuta somehow managed to escape through the battle
lines and headed down the coast reaching Calicut for the fifth time. Here he decided to continue on to China on his own.
He knew that he could find hospitality in the Muslim communities along the way.

So he decided to continue on to China on his own. But again, he chose to take the long way - this time to make a brief tour
of the Maldive Islands, then continue to Sri Lanka to make a pilgrimage to the sacred Adam's Peak. After that he would go
on to China.
The Maldive Islands
The Maldive Islands are a tiny nation located in the Indian Ocean southwest of India and Sri Lanka. The country is an
archipelago (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archipelago) of 26 small atolls (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atoll). These islands
rise only a few feet above the surface of the sea and stretch for about 475 miles like a white pearl necklace.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_money#/media/File:Monetaria_moneta_01.JPG)The Maldive Islands were important in

medieval times for their exports: coconut fiber used to make ropes and cowrie shells (shown to the left) which were used
as currency (money) in Malaysia and in parts of Africa. About the middle of the twelfth century the people of Maldives
converted from Buddhism to Islam when a pious Muslim from north Africa rid the land of a terrible demon. (The demon
had demanded a young virgin each month - and the Muslim hero offered to take the place of the girl. Before the sacrifice,
he recited the Qur'an throughout the night, and the demon could do nothing out of fear of the Sacred Word.)

Ibn Battuta had not planned to spend much time here as he arrived at the capital, Male. But the rulers happened to be
looking for a chief judge, someone who knew Arabic and the laws of the Qur'an. The rulers were delighted to find a visitor
that fit their requirements. They sent Ibn Battuta slave girls, pearls, and gold jewelry to convince him to stay. They even
made it impossible for him to arrange to leave by ship - so like it or not, he stayed. He agreed to remain there with some
conditions, however: he would not go about Male on foot, but be carried in a litter or ride on horseback, just like the king
or queen! He even took another wife after staying there less than two months, a noblewoman related to the queen. It
seems as though Ibn Battuta was playing politics. He was now part of the royal family and the most important judge.

He set about his duties as a judge with enthusiasm and

tried with all his might to establish the rule of strict Muslim Creeping seas threaten tiny island chain of Ma…
law and change local customs. He ordered that any man
who failed to attend Friday prayer was to be whipped and
publicly disgraced. Thieves had their right hands cut off,
and he ordered women who went "topless" to cover up. "I
strove to put an end to this practice and commanded the
women to wear clothes; but I could not get it done."

He took three more wives who also had powerful social

connections, and seems to brag: "After I had become
connected by marriage ... the [governor] and the people
feared me, for they felt themselves to be weak."

And so he began to make enemies, especially the
governor. After nasty arguments and political plots, Ibn
Battuta decided to leave after almost nine months in the
islands. He quit his job as qadi, though he really would
have been fired. He took three of his wives with him, but
You may be familiar with the Maldives because of the vocal
activism of their former President, Mohamed Nasheed. He
made appearances on numerous American talk shows, as well
he divorced them all after a short time. One of them was as in numerous venues around the world, to try to raise
pregnant. He stayed on another island, and there he awareness of the dire effects of sea-level rise on his nation.
married two more women, and divorced them, too. This video describes the issue.

He tells us about marriage and divorce in the Maldives at the time:

"It is easy to marry in these islands because of the smallness of the dowries and the pleasures of
society which the women offer... When the ships put in, the crew marry; when they intend to
leave they divorce their wives. This is a kind of temporary marriage. The women of these islands
never leave their country."

What did Ibn Battuta eat in the Maldive Islands?

Ibn Battuta told of eating many products of the coconut (coconut milk, juice, "meat", and sweet honey from the sap of the
tree), as well as rice, fish, salted meat, fowl, quail, and some fruits.

On to Sri Lanka
Ibn Battuta visited Sri Lanka on his way to China so that he could go on a pilgrimage to a holy site there: Adam's Peak. The
mountain was sacred to Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists alike, for near the summit was a depression in a rock that looked
like a huge footprint. For Buddhists it was the footprint of the Buddha, for Hindus, the print of Shiva. For Muslims it was
the footprint of Adam, the first man and first prophet who, pilgrims believed, had been thrown there by God from the
seventh heaven. There he stayed for a thousand years before meeting Eve, the first woman.

When Ibn Battuta arrived on Ceylon, he met with the king. The king was interested in his travel stories, and he entertained
Ibn Battuta's party for three days. The king gave them permission to climb Adam's Peak - and he gave Ibn Battuta a small
purse with pearls and rubies, two slave girls, and supplies as a parting gift.

The small party of pilgrims climbed to the summit up the nearly vertical cliffs by means of little handholds held in the
stone by iron pegs. Making it to the top, they camped there for three days which they spent in prayer and admiration of
the spectacular view.

Summiting Adam's Peak in Sri Lanka | Coconuts TV

Adam's Peak is still a popular destination for religious pilgrims of many faiths, as well as tourists from around the world. Of
course, in Ibn Battuta's day, the steps and electric lighting would not have existed.

After their visit to Adam's Peak, the party returned to the coast and boarded another ship which was provided by the king.
After setting sail, again a storm threatened their lives.
 "...the wind became violent and the water rose so high that it was about to enter the ship... We
then got near a rock, where the ship was on the point of being wrecked; afterwards we came into
shallow water wherein the ship began to sink. Death stared us in the face and the passengers
jettisoned [tossed overboard] all that they possessed and [said their farewells] to one another."

The crew managed to cut down the mast and make a crude raft which they lowered into the sea. Ibn Battuta's two
companions and his slave girls got down onto it, but there was no room left for him. And besides, he was not a strong
swimmer. He had to stay with the ship and hope for the best. Darkness fell and Ibn Battuta huddled in the front of the
sinking ship throughout the night. In the morning a rescue party suddenly appeared and the remaining passengers were
all taken to shore. There he joined his companions.

He had been able to save some of his belongings from the ship, including some pearls and rubies given to him. But Ibn
Battuta's luck continued to be bad. Once he made it onto another small ship, twelve pirate ships attacked. They quickly
overpowered the crew and stripped the passengers of everything they owned. "They seized the jewels and rubies which
the king of Ceylon had given me and robbed me of my clothes and provisions with which pious [holy] men and saints had
favored me. They left nothing on my body except my trousers." Then the pirates dropped them all off on the nearby shore
unharmed.

The humiliated group made their way back to Calicut with clothes given to them.

Ibn Battuta boarded another ship to Male, his former home in the Maldive Islands where he stayed for five days. Here he
saw his son for the first time, and agreed to leave him with his mother in the islands. From here he got on a Chinese junk
and continued on his trip to China.

Copyright © 2018 UC Regents; all rights reserved Back to Top

Powered by Open Berkeley (https://open.berkeley.edu)

Privacy Statement (https://open.berkeley.edu/privacy-statement)