Francois Bernier, who served as physician to Prince Dara Shikoh and wrote 'Travels in the Mogul Empire', was a traveller from:

Francois Bernier (1620-1688) was a French physician, philosopher and traveller, who lived in Mughal India for about twelve years (1656-1668).

His life in India:

• He arrived in India in 1656, during the last years of Shah Jahan's reign.
• He served as a physician to Prince Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of Shah Jahan.
• After Dara's defeat and execution, he became attached to the Mughal court as a physician and intellectual, in the service of the noble Danishmand Khan.
• He travelled to Kashmir with the emperor's camp, and also visited Bengal and other regions.
• He witnessed the war of succession among the sons of Shah Jahan (1657-1659), and described it in detail.

His account:

• His book, "Travels in the Mogul Empire", was published in France in 1670-71.
• He dedicated parts of his work to Louis XIV and his minister Colbert.
• It was widely read in Europe, and influenced European ideas about the East.

NCERT on Bernier:

• NCERT discusses Bernier as an important source, while pointing out his biases.
• He compared Mughal India with Europe, generally presenting India as inferior.
• He argued that in Mughal India there was no private property in land; all land was owned by the emperor.
• He believed that this discouraged landholders from improving their land, leading to the decline of agriculture and the oppression of peasants.
• NCERT notes that this view was not supported by Mughal official documents, and that it influenced later Western thinkers, such as Karl Marx, who developed the idea of the "Asiatic mode of production".
• He described Mughal cities as "camp towns", dependent on the imperial camp.
• He was also critical of practices like sati.

Other European travellers:

• Niccolao Manucci: an Italian who lived in India for many years.
• Thomas Roe: an English ambassador.
• Good to know
• Bernier was French, not Italian, English or Portuguese.