Consider the following pairs : 1. Bernier : Describes the efficiency of the postal system. 2. Ibn Battuta : Always compares India with the superiority of Europe. 3. Abul Fazal : Considers land revenue as a remuneration of kingship, or a demand made in exchange for providing security to the people, rather than a tax. How many of the above pairs are correctly matched?

Francois Bernier

• Bernier was a French physician and traveller who stayed in India from 1656 to 1668 and wrote the Travels in the Mughal Empire.
• His writing is consistently comparative and he described India as inferior to Europe, particularly on the question of crown ownership of land, which he considered the root of all evils in the East. It was Ibn Battuta and not Bernier who praised the efficiency of the Indian postal system. Hence, pair 1 is not correctly matched and pair 2 is also not correctly matched.

Ibn Battuta

• The Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta reached India in 1333 and wrote the Rihla. He described the unfamiliar as exciting rather than inferior and left a famous account of the horse post and the foot post of the Sultanate.

Abul Fazl

• Abul Fazl described the land revenue as the remuneration of sovereignty, a claim made by the ruler in return for providing protection and justice to the people, rather than as a mere tax. Hence, pair 3 is correctly matched.
• Therefore, only one pair is correctly matched.