Travels of Marco Polo
K.S.S. SESHAN
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Marco Polo was perhaps the earliest western traveller to journey on the Silk Route.
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Probably the earliest and most famous western traveller to visit Golconda taking on the Silk Route was Marco Polo (1254-1324). Born in Venice, Italy, Marco Polo as a boy accompanied his father and uncle to China and became a confidant of Kublai Khan, the Mongol emperor. Kublai Khan was the grandson of Genghis Khan and founded the Yuan dynasty that ruled over China from 1270 to 1368.. He was the first Mongol to be converted from Shamanism to Indian Buddhism. This helped the
Mongols keep their identity without getting absorbed into Chinese Confucianism. Kublai Khan’s rule over China was mostly sustained by several non-Chinese elements. He had in his employment people of many nationalities including Nestorian Christians. It is no wonder therefore that an Italian like Marco Polo found patronage in Khan.
Marco Polo soon became a favourite of the great Khan and was appointed to high posts in his administration. Granted a golden tablet as a VIP passport, Marco Polo set out on his long journey across the countries. His travels, which lasted 24 years, took him to Burma, India and Africa. Given his penchant for travels he was euphemistically called Kublai Khan’s “Ambassador at large”.
Ambassador at large
Marco Polo travelled a great deal in China and was amazed at its enormous power, wealth and its complex social structure. He has written about manufacture of iron, salt production and use of paper currency in China. About the abundant coal that he saw in China, he says with wonder, “Stones that burn like logs”. His descriptions inspired Coleridge to write on Kublai Khan’s “Stately Pleasure Dome”.
On returning to Venice in 1295, Marco Polo was imprisoned for a year in Genoa when he participated in a war on behalf of his native city. It was in prison that Marco Polo dictated the story of his travels to a fellow prisoner and thus his celebrated book, The Descriptions of the World, came out. The book was also called The Travels of Marco Polo.
While some believed his stories, his exaggerated accounts of “the monstrous birds which dropped elephants from a height and devoured their carcasses in China” made sceptics question the authencity of the accounts.
In Golconda
Marco Polo travelled through the Kakatiya kingdom and visited Golconda in around 1293. Prataparudradeva had just succeeded to the throne. Marco Polo speaks highly of the efficient administration set up by Rani Rudrama. Golconda was only a mud fort and was an outpost for the Kakatiya rulers. Yet, Golconda was so beautiful that the “shining tiles of the palace” impressed him. He mentions the diamond mines in his travelogue.
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