India - Continued

Incredibly, Ibn Battuta next went with Sultan Jamal al-Din, enemy of Ibn Battuta's former employer Muhammad Tughluq, the Sultan of Delhi. Ibn Battuta was afraid to go back to Muhammad Tughluq, so he kept to himself here in southern India under the protection of Jamal al-Din. Here Ibn Battuta actually joined in a day-long battle:

"On Monday evening we reached Sandapur and entered its creek and found the inhabitants ready for the fight. They had already set up catapults. So we spent the night near the town and when the morning came drums were beaten, trumpets sounded and horns were blown, and the ships went forward. The inhabitants shot at them with the catapults, and I saw a stone hit some people standing near the sultan. The crews of the ships sprang into the water, shield and sword in hand... I myself leapt with the rest into the water... We rushed forward sword in hand. The greater part of the heathens took refuge in the castle of their ruler. We set fire to it, whereupon they came out and we took them prisoner. The sultan pardoned them and returned them to their wives and children... And he gave me a young female prison... Her husband wished to ransom her but I refused." [Dunn, p. 227]

But when the next battle seemed to be an inevitable defeat, Ibn Battuta somehow managed to escape through the battle lines and headed down the coast reaching Calicut for the fifth time. Here he decided to continue on to China on his own. He knew that he could find hospitality in the Muslim communities along the way.

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