Early Arab contact with Bengal in the light of primary Arabic sources: A retrospective Study

Abstract

The people of Arabia-especially of its southern part and coastal areas were famous for their travel and seafaring. From time immemorial the Arab travelled throughout the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. As the land of Arabia was mostly desert they had to travel surrounding areas for the purpose of trade in order to gain their necessary commodities. After the advent of Islam in the early 7^th century CE their navigation got a new dimension; as the purpose of sea-travel was now not only trade but also preaching Islam. For the purpose of trade they had visited southern coast of India, Bengal. Some accounts of the 9^th and the 10^th century Arab travellers and geographers (such as Sulaiman the Merchant and Ibn Khurdajbeh) provide us supportive documents in favour of early Arab contact with Bengal. Those writers left valuable accounts on products which were found in abundance in this part of the sub-continent.

The studies that dealt with the subject matter mostly depended on translation of early Arabic sources. In recent years some primary sources of Arabic travel literature have been published. In this paper an attempt has been taken to conduct a retrospective study regarding early Arab contact with Bengal depending on the some original primary sources published recently.