Ibn Battuta on the steppes and in India

Carl Ernst

Introduction to Islamic Civilization

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A Mongol princess

Princess Bayulun, third wife of Ozbeg, daughter of Byzantine Emperor (169-170)

Visit to Constantinople with considerable entourage, seeing the city with a Greek guide

The shrinking importance of Byzantium

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The route to India

Crossing Transoxiana (page 174)

Cities ruined by the Mongols – Bukhara, Balkh (176)

Accumulation of horses

Meeting in Samarkand with Tarmashirin

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The Delhi Sultanate -- 1206

Mamluk military slave origins

Conquest of the “Hindu” kingdoms, who became tributaries

Spread of Indo-Persian royal culture and the concept of the Sultanate

Turkish dynasties of Khaljis (1290-1320) and Tughluqs (1320-1414)

Conquest of the Deccan plateau

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1236

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Tughluqs(1335)

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Culture of the Delhi Sultanate

Brain drain to the advantage of Delhi – Sufis and Muslim jurists

Persian as official language plus many Indian mother tongues

The riddle of Muhammad ibn Tughluq – generous king, intellectual, tyrant with failed plans and repressive policies

Shifting the capital to Daulatabad

Recruiting foreign scholars

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Meetings with Sufis

Lahari Delta in Sind (193)

Rukn al-Din in Multan (right)

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Ala’ al-Din Chishti (p. 194)

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More Sufis

Shihab al-Din “the truth-teller” (207)

Kamal al-Din Ghari and a hospice (209)

For more details see this book

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