The ʿAjāʾib al-Hind maritime marvel tradition
- Date of account
- 10th century
- Location
- Indian Ocean ports and islands, including the Persian Gulf and East Africa
- Source
- model_recalled_reference
- Record updated
- 2026-10-10
Record summary
The Kitāb ʿAjāʾib al-Hind, attributed to Buzurg ibn Shahriyār, collects maritime marvels, sailor reports and stories from the Indian Ocean world. It includes unusual animals, giant creatures and extraordinary islands, though individual anecdotes may derive from hearsay, literary borrowing or narrative embellishment. The text is valuable for studying how seafaring information entered Arabic wonder literature and how “unknown creatures” were framed before modern zoology. Attribution, dating and the reliability of particular episodes should be checked against the Arabic text and scholarly editions.
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