Title: Abd-Ulrizak's Reise aus Persien nach Indien.
[Abd-UIrizak's Journey from Persia to India]
Weimar: Industrie-Comptoirs, 1808. 8vo. 35 pages. Text is in German.
This is a complete monthly issue, containing the above mentioned account.
Attractively bound booklet style in recent blue paper covers with label.
This issue contains an account of the voyage of Abd al-Razzaq Samarkandi (Abd-Ulrizak), from Persia to India in the years 1442, 1443, and 1444,
translated and with annotations by D. Langlés.
Abd-Ulrizak was the minister to Shahrukh Mirza, who was the ruler of the
eastern portion of the empire established by the Central Asian warlord Timur
(Tamerlane), and the founder of the Timurid dynasty, governing most of Persia
and Transoxiana between 1405 and 1447. Abd-Ulrizak starts his journey from
Kuhistan (Pish Kuh, Mian Kuh, Pusht Kuh), a desert located between Sistan
and Kerman to the limits of the territory of Damezan in Persia, staying for a
time at Kuriat (Kalhat), and further visiting the Malabar coast, Calicut, Bisnagor,
and Ceylon. Also with descriptions of geography and custom in
Hindustan, specifically Bisnagor (Vijayanagara), and the Mahanadi river (Great River).
These are the original pages printed in 1808, and NOT a reprint.
This narrative is from a rare multi-volume geographical and scientific
journal titled "Allgemeine Geographische Ephemeriden", which issued fifty
volumes from 1798-1816 and which encompassed critical contemporary topics
of geography and astronomy. Adam Christian Gaspari and Franz Xaver von Zach
were editors of this important scientific journal.
After Timur's death in 1405, his empire fell apart with various tribes and warlords competing for dominance. The Black Sheep Turkmen destroyed the western empire in 1410 when they captured Baghdad. However in Persia and Transoxiana, Shahrukh was able to secure effective control from about 1409. His empire controlled the main trade routes
between East and West, including the legendary Silk Road, and became immensely wealthy
as a result.
The devastation of Persia's main cities led to the cultural centre of the empire
shifting to Samarqand in modern Uzbekistan and Herat in modern Afghanistan.
Shahrukh chose to have his capital not in Samarqand, but in Herat. This was to
become the political centre of the Timurid empire, and residence of his principal successors, though both cities benefited from the wealth and privilege of
Shahrukh's court, which was a great patron of the arts and sciences.
His wife, Gowhar Shad, funded the construction of two outstanding mosques and
theological colleges in Mashhad and Hera-t. The Gowhar-Shad-Mosque was finished
in 1418. The mixed ethnic origins of the ruling dynasty led to a distinctive
character in its cultural outlook, which was a combination of Persian civilization
and art, with borrowings from China, and literature written in Persian as well
as Turkic and Arabic. In fact, Shah Rukh sent a large embassy to the Ming Dynasty
of China in 1419. Shahrukh died during a journey in Persia and was succeeded by his
son, Mohammad Taragae Ulug, who had been viceroy of Transoxiana during his father's lifetime.
Vijayanagara is in Bellary District, northern Karnataka. It is the name of
the now-ruined capital city, of the historic Vijayanagara empire which extended
over the southern part of India.
The Mahanadi (Great River) is a major river in East Central India. The river
flows through the states of Chhattisgarh and Orissa, into the Bay of Bengal.
The ancient town of Sambalpur is mentioned in the book of Ptolemy as the city of 'Sambalaka' situated on the left bank of river "Manada" now known as Mahanadi.
Sambalpur had also been known as 'Hirakhand' meaning 'Land of Diamond'. In the
past Sambalpur was famous for diamond mining and trade.
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