By Yoshika Sharma
India has experienced many foreign footsteps on its land , some were explorers , some came from the invading purpose. Ancient and mediveal India experienced a lot of such explorers , one of them was Abd Al Razzaq ( 1413 AD ) . Razzaq was from Persia ad was a scholar in the court of king of Persia , Mirza Shah rukh of Timrud Dynasty between 1405 AD - 1482 AD . Mirza wanted to send a messenger to India and so he appointed Razzaq , nbut Razzaq refused to go as he was afraid of travelling , but after many requests by Mirza , Razzaq agreed to comme to India .
Razzaq by road travelled from Herat to Hormuz and from Port of Hormuz he landed on the land of kozhikode , where he wanted to learn about the government and functioning of the area , but Razzaq was not allowed to meet the king for atleast 3 months and thus he thought of his mission as messenger was a failure. Just then the king of Vijaynagar empire Dev Raya II invited Razzaq to visit vijaynagar , Razzaq was welcomed at Hampi ( the capital of vijaynagar) and was surprised to see the architectural glory of the buildings of the city . The city had 7 concentric circular walls and at the centre was the huge miraculous palace of the king . The walls were made such that there were houses and farms between the first and second walls , market and coin making factories between the third and fourth walls . Razzaq was greatky welcomed by the king Dev Raya II . As Dev raya wanted to learn more about their government and functioning . As time passed Razzaq was one of the most favourite courtiers of Dev Raya , Dev Raya also gifted Razzaq mansion to live , soon this favouritism towards Razzaq was not excepted by other courtiers and resulting in spread of fake rumours claiming that Razzaq is a spy and not a messenger from Persia . These news spread like wildfire and finllay reached through the ears of king in which the king said that '' It had been asserted that you were not really sent here by Shah Rukh or else we would have shown you greater attention , if you come back on a future occasion into my territoies you shall meet with a worthy reception'' ; by Dev Raya II ( from the book of Abd Al Razzaq . After which Razzaq was forced to flee vijaynagar and was sent back to Persia in 1445 . Razzaq the told all these happenings to Mirza Shah rukh and then he himself sent an official letter to Dev Raya II regarding the visit of Razzaq .
Razzaq 's experience as a traveller was great this experience made Razzaq a travel enthusiast from a reluctant traveller .
