1340, Delhi. For six years, Ibn Battuta has served as a qadi for the Sultan of Delhi, but now he's under house arrest,
awaiting execution.
His friendship with a Sufi mystic had put him on the wrong side of the court.
Ibn Battuta's friend had offended the Sultan,
by refusing a royal summons and calling the ruler a tyrant.
In response, the Sultan tortured the mystic to death and arrested all of his associates.
For nine days, Ibn Battuta prays and recites the Quran from memory.
Then, the Sultan beckons. Ibn Battuta goes, expecting to die.
But then, the Sultan behaves like they're old friends,
and everything's normal, as if he hasn't spent days preparing for death.
haHa oOoOoohHhhHh hAaAAaaAaaa
It's at this point that Ibn Battuta realizes one thing: He's got to escape Delhi.
Song: Birth of the People by Demetori
Right as Ibn Battuta arrived in Delhi, India entered a seven year drought.
Which in turn caused a famine, which in turn triggered uprisings.
Lots of uprisings.
In fact, Sultan Muhammad Tughluq would face twenty-two rebellions during his last 15 years in power.
Hindus revolted against taxes,
Indian Muslims rose against the foreign advisors.
Governors declared independence, or hatched assasination plots.
And Muhammad Tughluq's paranoia went into overdrive Ibn Battuta tried to tough it out
Ibn Battuta tried to tough it out,
But after his brief imprisonment, he decided he had enough.
And while the contract he signed meant he couldn't leave India,
there was a loophole; he could go into religious retreat.
So Ibn Battuta, court official and a rich man,
took the only escape hatch he could.
He gave up all of his possessions,
declared himself an ascetic, and lived in a cave.
It was something he'd actually felt called to for years.
Ever since he first began to encounter Islamic hermits,
he'd wondered if that would be his path.
Now, he learned to meditate;
to live with nothing, fasting for forty days at a time.
But five months later a summons came from the Sultan.
He wanted Ibn Battuta back in court.
And Ibn Battuta accepted.
Partially, because the Sultan killed anyone who refused,
and partially because the offer came with a gift of gold, robes horses and enslaved people,
that restored all Ibn Battuta had given up, plus some.
However, Ibn Battuta, rich again, went to court with a plan.
He would get permission to make a pilgrimage to Mecca,
and then just never come back. Ah? :D
But the Sultan had his own idea.
He needed an ambassador to visit the Yuan Emperor and deliver an enormous train of gifts.
Would Ibn Battuta, famous traveler, want to go to China in style?
He did not have to ask twice.
But travel was dangerous in the unstable empire, and on the way to the coast,
rebels ambushed the train. In the conflict
Ibn Battuta was separated from the diplomatic train carrying all he owned,
and was chased into the country.
About to be captured,
he was forced to lose his pursuers by ditching his horse, and hiding while they followed his previous steed.
Few days before he'd been one of the richest men in Delhi now he was alone in enemy country with only his sword, boots,
jewelry, clothes, and will to live then he promptly ran into rebels who captured him took said sword and jewels and handed him over for
Execution but Ibn Battuta still had his clothes, boots and will to live so he negotiated his release by giving his would-be
Executioner's his fine tunic free again. He wandered the countryside
Evading rebels and living by his wits for a week with nothing now
But his shirt pants boots and still a will to live then eventually starving
He stumbled into a town to beg for food and promptly got robbed for his shirt, but he wouldn't quit
He still had his uh his pants and his boots and you know, what wait scratch that at this point
He'd actually lost one boot trying to draw water out of a well. So
Yeah, it was at this one booted point when he lost his will to live but then a miracle amidst this land of Hindu
rebels a
Muslim man found him fed him and took him upon his back to bring him to safety and all the while hidden Battuta recited the
Quran until
exhausted he passed out when he awoke he was in a friendly town and found out that the rest of his diplomatic mission was just
Six miles away and very surprised to find him alive and they still had all of his baggage and servants. He was rich again
Rejoining the group
They traveled to Calicut a major port city where they could meet up with Chinese junks these ships enormous compared to the Dow's even Battuta
We're Chinese built but crewed by Muslims in the India China trade
He marveled at their five decks and most of all their large private cabins with their own lavatories
However for this voyage Chinese merchants and the other court diplomats had reserved all of those rooms leaving even Battuta with a smaller
Toilet less cabin. That was no big deal though
Even Battuta had learned humility after all he'd lived in a cave and just days before he only had one shoe
He wouldn't quibble over a slightly smaller cabin
Way, what's that? Oh, right. Right, right. Yep
He threw a fit how dare they dishonored the Sultan's ambassador by giving him worse
accommodations than common merchants and lesser diplomats
ridiculous after
Essentially wanting to speak to their manager the ship's agent a Syrian managed to smooth things over by securing a comparable stateroom on the fleet
Second slightly smaller ship this mollified the prickly ambassador and even Battuta loaded all of his possessions and entourage into the second ship
the night before the voyage he stayed on shore to pray and
Suddenly a storm blew up one bad enough that the two vessels had to put to sea leaving him ashore again with nothing
But the clothes on his back as he watched from the shore the vessel
He was supposed to be on wrecked
Killing everyone aboard and the second ship
Carrying all that he owned loose so far out to sea that they decided to continue to China without him
He was stranded and poor again. And now he'd lost all of the Sultan's splendid gifts for the Emperor
so he really didn't want to go back to Delhi and explain his failure to the Sultan's execution elephants at
First he tried to get a job with another Indian Sultan even fighting in an amphibious assault to prove himself worthy of employment
But that didn't work out and even Battuta instead snuck off with a nebulous plan to just go to China
You know fulfill as much of his old mission as possible
In doing so he of course would take the most out of the way route possible through the Maldive islands
But the local Muslim authorities there needed a chief judge and they were applying him with gifts
So, you know old habits die hard. He agreed to stay and take the job under a few conditions first
He got a ton of treasure making him rich again second
He married into the royal family and third he didn't want to walk anywhere
Yeah
He had to be carried on a litter like the king they agreed and he spent nine months meeting out punishments under religious law
doling of floggings for failing to attend mosque sentencing thieves to have their hands cut off and
Unsuccessfully trying to convince the islands women to stop going around topless
He married three more times finding that the islands kal. Rochelle dowries were cheap and divorced simple indeed
It was common at this time for merchants to get temporarily married during these short stays
But his high living gained him enemies and he fled the Maldives with his new fortune only to tarry on a neighboring island just long
Enough to get married and divorced twice more than at last
He took his replenished Treasury and toured Sri Lanka
before hiring yet another ship to take him to China a ship which was attacked by pirates who once again
Took everything he owned
You know, I don't think the universe liked Ibn Battuta being rich, but finally his luck changed
he then got passage to the Court of the Muslim Sultan who ruled the northern tip of Sumatra and
That little side trip
You can hear about over in our Masha behide series cuz this guy gets around
When he departed he at last left behind the Islamic world the last Kingdom, he would visit ruled by a Muslim
He stopped in the kingdom of champa current day Vietnam and visited a third great kingdom that of the warrior queen
Who Udura that may have been in either the Philippines or Java or Udura tall?
Adorned with golden jewels her hair flowing long gave even Battuta gifts and showed him the powerful fleet
She used to battle Chinese forces her greatest ambition. She told him was to lead an expedition to India
So she pumped him for information about his time there waving. Goodbye
She put him on a ship to China and at long last he arrived at his objective the land of the Mongol Yuan
Emperors where even beggars wore silk a place. So alien
He could barely understand it and haunting his steps came a new horror the Black Plague
Legendary thanks to Ahmed Ziad Turk Casey news, Jeff Dominic Valenciana Gunnar Clovis Isle Murgatroyd and Orels1