Lesson 14: Foreigners Account

  • Cosmos Indikapleistus, an Egyptian sailor, in his Greek work Christian Topography speaks of the Konkan coast.
  • Hiuen-Tsiang, had visited the court of Pulakeshin II and he reveals interesting details about the conditions of the Chalukyan Empire.
  • Tabari, the Arab historian, while writing on the history of the Sassanid empire of Persia, also speaks of the exchange of embassies between Persia and the Chalukyan empire.
  • Sulaiman, who writes in 851 that the empire of the Rashtrakutas was one of the four great empires of the world.
  • Ibn Batuta, a traveller from Tangier (in modern Morocco) who visited India during the early days of the Vijayanagara empire, speaks of the Karnataka coast, and also of the last days of Hoysala Ballala III.
  • The Vijayanagara empire was fortunate in having a number of European visitors, most important of them being
    • Ibn Battuta (Morocco) -Harihara I,
    • Nicole-de-Conti (Italy), Abdul Razack (Persia), Nikitin (Russia) – Praudadevaraya,
    • Ludovico di Varthema (Italy) – Narasimha II,
    • Barbosa, Domingos Paes (Portuguese) – Krishnadevaraya,
    • Fernao Nuniz (Portuguese) – Achuytadevaraya,
    • Ceasar Fredrick (Italy) after the war of Rakasatangadi,
    • Baradas (England) after the death of Raja Venkata I
  • Visitors who toured the Deccan Shahi kingdoms are, Nikitin, a Russian, who had visited Bidar, and Ralph Fitch, an Englishman
  • To the court of Keladi came Pietro Della Valle (1623), an Italian, and Peter Mundi, an Englishman. They have left detailed accounts behind them.
  • We have a series of writers who inform us about the history of Haider and Tipu. They include Alfred Lyal, Elphinston, Abbe Dubbois and Piexoto.