ABSTRACT
A quarter of a century had elapsed since Conti's departure when the Russian, Athanasius Nikitin, set forth upon a commercial visit to India. In 1468 he left his native place Tver, and travelled down the Volga to the Caspian Sea. After being robbed at Astrakan, and subsequently imprisoned, he pushed on to Baku, where, as he graphically puts it, " the fire burns unextinguished,"* and to Bokhara, at that time a great centre of Eastern commerce. Nikitin describes Bidar as the chief city of Mohammedan India, and at the time the statement was probably true. He gives a highly coloured description of the opulence of the court, and contrasts it with the misery of the country population: "The land is overstocked with people, but those in the country are very miserable, whilst the nobles are very opulent and delight in luxury.
