Foreign Travellers

Traveller Description
Nearchus • army head of Alexandar
(326–324 BC) • Visited during the reign of Dhana
Nanda of the Nanda Dynsaty
• “The Voyage of Nearchus from Indus”
– book wrote by Arrian, which
Describes the attacks of Nearchus in
India
• reference about Gymnosophists (Naked
Ascetics)
• No reference about Buddhism
Megasthenes • Visited during the reign of Chandra
(302- 298 BC) gupta Maurya
• ambassador of Seleucus Nicator
• wrote book “Indica”
• called Chandra gupta as Sandro cottus
• observed that there were no slavery in
India

Deimachos
(320-273 BC) • Visited during the reign of Bindusara of
Mauryan Dynasty
• Greek Ambassador sent by Antiochus I
(son of Seleucus Nikator)
• called Bindusara as Amitraghāta

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 • ambassador sent by Greek king
Heliodorus
Antialkidas
(110 BC)
• visited during the reign of
Bhagabhadra -4th king of Sunga
Dynasty
• he erected Vidisha Pillar in Besnagar
• described himself as Param Bhagavata

Ptolemy
(130 AD) • Geographer from Greece
• Visited South India during Sangam era
• Wrote the book “the geography of
India”
• lists six coastal places in Tamilnadu

Fa-Hien • Chinese Buddhist monk

(405-411 AD) • visited during Chandra Gupta II/
Vikramaditya of Gupta Dynasty
• wrote book Fo-kwo-ki (Travels of Fa-
hien)
• spent 6 years in the Gupta empire
• wrote about the economic prosperity of
Pataliputra

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 Huien Tsang • Chinese Buddhist traveller.
(630 - 645 AD) • visited during the reign of
HarshaVardhana of Pushyanhuti
Dynasty
• Also visited courts of Narsimha
Varman of Pallava dynasty and
Pulkesin II of chalukya dynasty
• studied Yogashastra in Nalanda
• wrote book “si-yu-ki”

Wang Xuance • Chinese Ambassador sent by Tang

(648-664 AD) dynasty
• visited during reign of
HarshaVardhana
• stayed 16 years in India
• He observed that Jainism was
flourishing in bengal
I -Xing
(671-695 AD)
• Student of Huien Tsang
• visited during the reign of
HarshaVardhana
• book - ‘A record of Buddhist Religion’

Sulaiman • Arab Muslim merchant

(850 AD) • visited Pala Empire during the reign of
Devapala

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 • called the Pala kingdom as Ruhma
• he also visited the court of
Amoghavarsha I of Rashtrakuta
dynasty

Al-Masudi • An Arab traveller

(957 AD) • visited Pratihara kingdom
• Pratihara kingdom as “al Juzr”
• wrote book “Muruj-al-Zahab”
• hailed as ‘Herodotus of the Arabs’
• compared India and Italy and called
Rome as ‘Benares’

Alberuni • Persian scholar accompanied Mahmud

(1024-1030 AD) of Ghazni
• known as father of Indology
• wrote book titled ‘Tahqiq-i-hind’
• other books -Qanun-i-masudi
(astronomy) and Jawahir-fil-Jawahir
(on mineralogy)
Marco Polo • Italian traveller
(1292-1294 AD) • visited Southern India during the reign
of Rudramma Devi of the Kakatiyas
• he also visited Mongol leader of China,
Kublai Khan
• he visted Pandyan kingdom during the
reign of Madverman Kulasekhara

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 • accounted that climate of India is so hot
that men and women wore only
loincloths
• noted about pepper and indigo
plantations

Ibn Battuta
(1333-1347 AD) • Moroccan traveller.
• He visited during the rule of
Mohammed Bin Tughlaq.
• Appointed as the Qazi of Delhi
• Wrote book named “Rihla”
Shihabuddin al-
Umari
(1348 AD) • Came from Damascus
• his book “ Masalik albsar fi-mamalik
al-amsar” gives a vivid account of
India

Nicolo Conti • an Italian merchant.

(1420-1421 AD) • visited during the reign of Deva Raya I
(Sangama Dyansty) of Vijayanagar.
• He called vijayanagara as Bizenegalia
• described about Sati , slavery &
polygamy

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 Abdur Razzak • Persian traveller
(1443-1444 AD) • came as the Ambassador of Shahrukh
of Timurid dynasty.
• Came during the rule of Devraya II
(Sangama Dyansty) of Vijaynagar
Empire.
• Stayed in India at the palace of the
Zamorin of Kozhikode, Calicut
• wrote book named 'Matla-us-Sadain
wa Majma-ul-Bahrain'
Athanasius
Nikitin • Russian merchant
(1470- 1474 AD) • visited Bahmani kingdom during the
rule of Muhammad III
• wrote book “The journey beyond 3
seas”
• spent 4 years in Bahmani sultanate

Duarte Barbosa • Portuguese voyager

(1500 AD) • visited Vijayanagar during the reign of
Tuluva Dyansty
• Stayed in India for 16 years most of the
time in Kerala
• studied Malayalam and has written
about the caste culture that prevailed
here
• wrote the 'Book of Duarte Barbosa.'

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 Domingo Paes • Portuguese voyager
(1520-1522 AD) • visited during Krishna Deva Raya
• Described the king Krishna Deva Raya
as most learned and perfect king
• described about the devadasi system

Fernao Nuniz
(1535-1537 AD) • Portuguese merchant/horse trader
• Came during the rule of Achyutdeva
Raya of Tuluva dynasty of vijayanagar
Empire
• described about Great feast/
Mahanavami
Captain William
Hawkins • led the first expedition of the English
(1608 -1611 AD) East India Company to India
• visited India during the reign of
Jahangir.
• He carried a personal letter from King
James I of England.
• did not succeed in getting Jahangir’s
permission to start a factory.

Thomas Roe • English diplomat visited India during

(1615-1619 AD) the reign of Jahangir.
• got farman for setting up English

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 factory at Surat
• Wrote book “Journal of the Mission to
the Mughal Empire”
• well versed in Turkish language
• received a Mansab of 400 from
Jahangir
• known as English Khan/Firangi Khan

Jean Baptiste • French diamond trader

Tavernier • visited during the reign of Shah Jahan.
(1651–1655 AD) • estimated the cost of Peacock Throne as
6.5 million sterling
• wrote book “Travels In India” - wrote
extensively about the Gold and diamond
mines of India

Francois Bernier • French physician and traveller

(1656-1668 AD) • He visited during the reign of Shah
Jahan.
• He was physician to Prince Dara
Shikoh and later was attached to the
court of Aurangzeb
• book - ‘Travels in the Mughal Empire’

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Niccolao Manucci • Italian physician
(1660-1717 AD) • inducted in the army of Dara Shikoh
• wrote book “ Storio De Mogor”
• he got offer to join Aurangzeb’s army -
but he decided to flee instead

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