Travels of Ibn Baṭṭūṭa
Daulatabad Fort (Deogiri Fort, دولت آباد)
Title
Description of the bazaar of the singers (Ṭarab Ābād)
Short description
Description of the musical and dance performances at the bazaar of the Ṭarab/Music (Ṭarab Ābād). The event takes place in what has been the sultanate's capital for a short period of time. The city, originally called Dēōgīr, was personally re-designed by Muḥammad Ibn Tughluq (Jackson, 2003) and the presence of special places dedicated to music might have been an expression of interest in music given his supposed proximity to Amīr Khosrow.
Text on source
وبمدينة دولة آباد سوق للمغنيين والمغنيات تسمى سوق طرب آباد، من أجمل الأسواق وأكبرها، فيه الدكاكين الكثيرة، كلُّ دكانٍ له باب يفضي إلى دار صاحبه، وللدار باب سوى ذلك الحانوت مزين بالفرش، وفي وسطه شكل مهد كبير، تجلس فيه المغنية أو ترقد، وهي متزينة بأنواع الحلي، وجواريها يحركن مهدها، وفي وسط السوق قبة عظيمة مفروشة مزخرفة، يجلس فيها أمير المطربين بعد صلاة العصر من يوم كل خميس وبين يديه خدامه ومماليكه، وتأتي المغنيات طائفة بعد أخرى، فيغنين بين يديه، ويرقصن إلى وقت المغرب ثم ينصرف، وفي تلك السوق المساجد للصلاة، ويصلي الأئمة فيها التراويح في شهر رمضان، وكان بعض سلاطين الكفار بالهند إذا مر بهذه السوق ينزل بقبتها، ويغني المغنيات بين يديه، وقد فعل ذلك بعض سلاطين المسلمين أيضًا [ص. ٣٩٥]
English translation
In the city of Dawlat Ābād there is an exceedingly fine and spacious bazaar for singers [muġannīīn] and singing-girls [muġanniyāt], called Ṭarab Ābād [Abode of Ṭarab], containing numerous shops, each of which has a door leading to the house of its proprietor. Each house has another door as well. The shop is beautified with carpets, and in the centre of it there is a sort of large cradle on which the singing-girl [muġannya] sits or reclines. She is adorned with all kinds of ornaments and her attendant girls swing her cradle. In the centre of the bazaar there is a large carpeted and decorated pavilion in which the chief musician [amīr al-muṭribīn] sits every Thursday after the afternoon prayer, with his servants and slaves in front of him. The singing-girls [muġanniyāt] come in relays and sing [yuġannīna] and dance [yarquṣna] before him till the sunset prayer, when they withdraw. In the same bazaar there are mosques for the prayer-services, in which the imams hold the tarāwīḥ services during the month of Ramaḍān. One of the infidel rulers in India used, on passing through this bazaar, to alight at the pavilion and the singing-girls [muġanniyāt] used to sing [yuġannī] before him. One of the Muslim Sultans, too, used to do the same.
Folios/Pages
795
Date
1341 circa
Observations on the events description
The Arabic Ṭarab refers originally to the state of joy or ecstasy experienced through the kind of music that can bring it about. Although the term is still used with that specific meaning, it also became a synonym for music in general (see Ṭarab, EI-2).
The dots on the map indicate the places where sound and music events were described. They don't represent travel stages.
Participants
No other participants in this event description.
How to quote
Pintimalli A., "Description of the bazaar of the singers (Ṭarab Ābād)" (Event description), Echos. Sound Ecosystems in Travelogues. Published 2024 06 04.doi: 10.25430/echos.travels.130
This work is licensed under CC-BY-SA 4.0 
