Why did Bernier's account of Mughal India have such a large impact on European thought despite being inaccurate?

Chapter 5 of 12

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CBSE Class 12 History★ 5-8 marks · CBSE Class 12 History (Themes in Indian History II) Chapter 5

Through the Eyes of Travellers (Perceptions of Society c. 10th–17th Century)

Al-Biruni, Ibn Battuta, Francois Bernier — three travellers from different centuries and cultures who came to India and wrote down what they SAW. Their accounts are WINDOWS into Indian society — its caste system, its cities, its wealth, its peculiarities — as seen by OUTSIDERS. CBSE Class 12 History (Themes in Indian History II) Chapter 5.

⏱ 26 min readMedium difficulty✓ Free · NCERT-aligned

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By the end of this chapter you'll be able to…

1Identify the three key travellers — Al-Biruni, Ibn Battuta, François Bernier — their backgrounds, periods of travel, and the texts they produced
2Describe what each traveller observed about Indian society, politics, economy, and culture
3Critically analyse travellers' accounts — identifying biases, limitations, and the framework each brought
4Explain how Al-Biruni's approach to understanding India differed from typical travellers
5Understand how Bernier's comparison of India and Europe shaped European ideas about 'Oriental despotism'

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Why this chapter matters

This chapter introduces a key historiographical concept: using TRAVELLERS' ACCOUNTS as historical sources — and reading them critically. Al-Biruni, Ibn Battuta, and François Bernier each observed India through their own cultural lenses. The CBSE tests students on what each traveller observed, how their background shaped their perceptions, and what the LIMITATIONS of their accounts are.

Through the Eyes of Travellers

"What the insider takes for granted, the outsider notices. The traveller's gaze is the historian's gift."

1. Chapter Overview

This chapter is built around THREE TRAVELLERS who visited India in different centuries and wrote detailed accounts: Al-Biruni (11th century, from Khwarezm/Central Asia — accompanied Mahmud of Ghazni's raids but stayed to study Sanskrit texts), Ibn Battuta (14th century, from Morocco — travelled more widely than any other pre-modern traveller), and Francois Bernier (17th century, French physician at the Mughal court). Through their eyes, we see: caste, religious practices, urban life, gender, and the 'wonder' and 'strangeness' of India.

2. Al-Biruni (Kitab-ul-Hind, c. 1030 CE)

Who Was He?

A SCHOLAR from Khwarezm (Central Asia). Accompanied Mahmud of Ghazni to India.
Learnt SANSKRIT. Read the Vedas, the Puranas, the Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali's works.
His book: TARIKH AL-HIND (later called Kitab-ul-Hind) — an encyclopaedic account of Indian religion, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, and society.

Al-Biruni's Method

He was a COMPARATIVIST. He tried to understand Indian thought through PARALLELS with Greek philosophy (Aristotle, Plato) and Islamic thought.
He identified BARRIERS to understanding: (a) LANGUAGE (Sanskrit was difficult; Indians 'unwilling' to teach it to foreigners), (b) RELIGIOUS and CULTURAL DIFFERENCE (Indians 'entirely different' from other nations), (c) INSULARITY (Indians 'believed there was no country like theirs').

What He Observed — The Caste System

Al-Biruni described the four varnas — but ALSO noted that the reality was more complex: 'There are also subdivisions of these classes which cannot be counted.'
He observed: 'UNTouchability' (he did not use that word) — 'people called Antyaja' (born outside the four varnas) were considered 'impure' and segregated.
HIS COMPARATIVE APPROACH: He noted that in ancient Persia, there were SIMILAR four-fold divisions. This was NOT unique to India. 'The caste system appears strange — but it is not without parallels.'

Al-Biruni's Value

He tried to UNDERSTAND India on its OWN TERMS — through its own texts. Not just observe, but COMPREHEND.
'He saw India as a civilisation with its own systems of knowledge — worthy of serious study.'

3. Ibn Battuta (Rihla, 14th Century)

Who Was He?

A Moroccan traveller. Born in Tangier. Left home at 21. Travelled for ~30 YEARS across Africa, West Asia, Central Asia, India, Southeast Asia, and China.
Arrived in India during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq (Delhi Sultanate). The Sultan appointed him QAZI (judge) of Delhi.
His travelogue: RIHLA (The Travels) — written in Arabic.

What He Observed — Urban Life, Trade, and the 'Wonder' of India

He was AMAZED by the WEALTH and SPLENDOUR of Delhi — 'the largest city in the world' (an exaggeration, but indicates its vastness and prosperity)
Described: the POSTAL SYSTEM (the 'horse post' and 'foot post'), COCONUT and betel leaf (he had never seen them before), the BANYAN tree, and the SATI ritual
Observed: women performed sati — but noted this was NOT universal. Some regions practiced it; others did not.
Enslaved people and eunuchs in the Sultan's court. He himself owned slaves and received slaves as GIFTS — reflecting the 'normalcy' of slavery in the 14th-century world.
'Ibn Battuta's Rihla is full of WONDER. He saw India as a land of extraordinary things — some admirable, some shocking.'

The 'Local' and the 'Cosmopolitan'

Battuta travelled within India: Delhi → Multan → the Deccan → Malabar → the Maldives → Sri Lanka → Bengal
He observed: India was DIVERSE. What was true in Delhi was NOT true in Malabar. 'The unity of India is an idea that emerges over time — not a reality experienced on the ground by a 14th-century traveller.'

4. Francois Bernier (Travels in the Mughal Empire, 17th Century)

Who Was He?

A FRENCH physician. Arrived in India in 1658. Attached to the Mughal court — served as physician to Dara Shukoh (Shah Jahan's eldest son) and later to Danishmand Khan, a Mughal noble.
His 'Travels in the Mughal Empire' was widely read in Europe.

What He Observed — and COMPARED

Bernier CONSTANTLY COMPARED India to Europe — often UNFAVOURABLY.
Land ownership: 'There is no private property in land in India. The king owns everything.' THIS was an EXAGGERATION — the Mughal emperor received land REVENUE, but peasants HAD hereditary rights and land was bought and sold. Bernier's claim was INFLUENTIAL in Europe (Montesquieu used it to contrast 'oriental despotism' with European liberty) — but it was MISLEADING.
Poverty: Bernier saw POVERTY everywhere — 'the country is ruined.' He attributed it to: (a) lack of private property rights (no incentive to improve land), (b) the king's arbitrary power.
Cities: He contrasted Indian CITIES (described as crowded, dirty, with 'mud-walled' houses) with European cities (planned, with stone buildings). This, too, was PARTIALLY true — but shaped by his own expectations and the specific cities he saw.

Evaluating Bernier

Bernier was an ACUTE OBSERVER but NOT an UNBIASED one. 'He saw India through European eyes — and the comparison was rarely in India's favour.'
His account was HUGELY INFLUENTIAL — it shaped European ideas about 'oriental despotism' that persisted for centuries. But it must be read CRITICALLY — not as a 'true' description, but as ONE PERSPECTIVE shaped by his own cultural assumptions.

5. Common Themes Across the Three Travellers

Theme	Al-Biruni	Ibn Battuta	Bernier
Method	Comparative (Sanskrit texts + Greek/Islamic learning)	Personal observation, wonder, anecdote	Comparison (India vs. Europe — usually to India's disadvantage)
What fascinated them	Indian philosophy, religion, caste parallels with Persia	The material world — coconuts, betel, the postal system, sati	Land ownership, poverty — state vs. individual in Mughal India
Bias	Scholarly — tried to understand	Curious — sometimes credulous. Saw wonder everywhere.	Eurocentric — judged India by European standards

6. Exam Focus

Al-Biruni — Kitab-ul-Hind, comparative method, barriers to understanding India
Ibn Battuta — Rihla, urban life and trade under Muhammad bin Tughlaq, postal system, slavery, sati
Bernier — comparison with Europe, land ownership ('oriental despotism'), poverty
Critical reading of travellers' accounts — BIAS, perspective, what to trust and what to question

7. Conclusion

Three travellers. Three centuries. Three very different Indias:

AL-BIRUNI: The scholar. Tried to understand India from within — through its texts. His account is the most SYMPATHETIC and the most RIGOROUS.
IBN BATTUTA: The wanderer. Saw India through WONDER. His Rihla is a treasure of everyday life — the coconuts and betel leaf that no earlier writer had described.
BERNIER: The European. Compared India to Europe and found it WANTING. His account was influential — but must be read with SCEPTICISM. He was describing an India he didn't fully understand.

'The past is a foreign country — and these travellers were its visitors. Their accounts are not "the truth" about India. They are PERSPECTIVES. And the historian's job is to read them — critically, carefully, compassionately.'

Key formulas & results

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Al-Biruni — The Scholar Traveller

FULL NAME: Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni. PERIOD: 11th century CE (came to India with Mahmud of Ghazni's invasions, c. 1017–1030 CE). TEXT: 'KITAB-UL-HIND' (Book of India) — written in Arabic. BACKGROUND: Central Asian scholar, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher. Knew Greek, Syriac, Sanskrit. APPROACH: Comparativist — he studied Sanskrit texts, compared Indian ideas with Greek philosophy, and tried to explain India to an Arabic-reading audience. He was NOT a casual observer — he was a RIGOROUS SCHOLAR. CONTENT: Religion, philosophy (Vedas, Puranas), science (astronomy, mathematics), customs, geography. He was generally RESPECTFUL of Indian learning, though he noted features he found puzzling. LIMITATIONS: He knew India largely through BRAHMANICAL SANSKRIT TEXTS — he had limited contact with ordinary people, non-brahmanical communities, women's lives, or regional variations. His India was TEXT-BASED and upper-caste.

Al-Biruni's Kitab-ul-Hind is remarkable for its INTELLECTUAL GENEROSITY — he tried to understand Indian thought on its own terms rather than dismissing it. But his dependence on Sanskrit texts means his 'India' was the Brahmanical, upper-caste textual tradition — not the living India of markets, villages, and lower castes.

Ibn Battuta — The Traveller of the Medieval World

PERIOD: 14th century CE (visited India during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq, Sultan of Delhi, c. 1333–1342 CE). TEXT: 'RIHLA' (The Travelogue) — written in Arabic with help of a scribe. BACKGROUND: Moroccan Muslim scholar and traveller — the most widely-travelled person of the medieval world (travelled ~120,000 km across Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, India, Southeast Asia, China). CONTENT: Indian society (the caste system, sati, family structures), the DELHI SULTANATE's administration and Muhammad bin Tughlaq's character (brilliant but erratic), markets (the variety of goods, prices), geography, postal system (DAWA — a relay system of messengers and horses). TONE: Curious, often fascinated, sometimes shocked. He compared Indian practices to those of the Islamic world he knew. LIMITATIONS: An OUTSIDER with limited knowledge of local languages. His understanding of Hinduism was as an outsider to a non-Islamic tradition. Some descriptions may reflect misunderstandings or distortions through translation.

Ibn Battuta's DAWA (relay postal system) description of Muhammad bin Tughlaq's administration is frequently tested — it shows the sultan's administrative ambition. The contrast between Ibn Battuta's wide-ranging travel (he visited more places than any medieval traveller) and his insider Islamic framework through which he interpreted all he saw.

François Bernier — The European Physician

PERIOD: 17th century CE (visited India 1656–1668, during Aurangzeb's reign and the Mughal court). TEXT: 'TRAVELS IN THE MOGUL EMPIRE' (originally in French). BACKGROUND: French physician, philosopher (influenced by Gassendi). Worked as physician to Dara Shikoh (Aurangzeb's brother) and later to Aurangzeb's court. CONTENT: Mughal court politics, Mughal economy and land system, description of Indian cities (Agra, Delhi, Surat), famine, the position of craftspeople and farmers, comparison of India and Europe. KEY ARGUMENT: Bernier argued India had NO PRIVATE PROPERTY IN LAND — the Emperor owned all land. All nobles held land only by royal grant (jagirs), which reverted to the Emperor on death. This meant: no accumulation of wealth, no investment in land improvement, and therefore ECONOMIC STAGNATION — the 'oriental despotism' thesis. LIMITATIONS: His comparison with Europe was PARTIAL and politically motivated — he was making an argument for European superiority and private property. Later historians (notably Irfan Habib) showed his 'no private property' thesis was incorrect — there WAS significant private land ownership in Mughal India.

Bernier's 'oriental despotism' argument — that Asia's poverty and stagnation resulted from the Emperor's monopoly over land — was ENORMOUSLY INFLUENTIAL in European thought. It shaped Marx's 'Asiatic Mode of Production' concept. But it was WRONG — it was a comparison driven by ideology (promoting European liberalism), not accurate economic analysis.

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Common mistakes & fixes

These are the exact errors that cost students marks in board exams. Read them once, save yourself the trouble.

WATCH OUT

✗ Treating travellers' accounts as objective descriptions of Indian society

✓ Every traveller's account is shaped by: (1) The traveller's OWN cultural framework (Al-Biruni: Islamic scholar; Bernier: French Enlightenment philosopher). (2) Their ACCESS to information (Al-Biruni: Sanskrit texts, not villagers; Ibn Battuta: the court and markets, not the rural poor). (3) Their PURPOSE (Bernier was writing for a European audience, arguing for specific political ideas). A CRITICAL reading asks: Who was the traveller? What did they not see? Why did they describe things the way they did?

WATCH OUT

✗ Confusing the travellers' periods and rulers

✓ Al-Biruni: 11th century, came with Mahmud of Ghazni, studied during the time of the Ghaznavid raids. Ibn Battuta: 14th century, visited Delhi Sultanate under MUHAMMAD BIN TUGHLAQ. Bernier: 17th century, Mughal court under AURANGZEB. These three are from different centuries — 11th, 14th, 17th — and different political contexts.

NCERT exercises (with solutions)

Every NCERT exercise from this chapter — what it covers and how many questions to expect.

NCERT Questions and Source Ex s

NCERT Questions and Source Exercises

Source passages from Kitab-ul-Hind, Rihla, and Travels in the Mogul Empire; critical reading of travellers' observations; comparison of different travellers' accounts; questions on limitations of each account; Bernier's comparison of India and Europe

Questions

Practice problems

Try each one yourself before tapping "Show solution". Active recall > rereading.

Q1EASY· identify-travellers

Identify: (i) The traveller who wrote 'Kitab-ul-Hind.' (ii) The traveller who described Muhammad bin Tughlaq's postal system. (iii) The traveller who argued that the Mughal Emperor owned all land in India.

▶ Show solution

(i) AL-BIRUNI — Central Asian scholar who came to India with Mahmud of Ghazni (c. 1017–1030 CE). He wrote Kitab-ul-Hind in Arabic, studying Sanskrit texts and Indian philosophy. (ii) IBN BATTUTA — 14th century Moroccan traveller who visited during Muhammad bin Tughlaq's sultanate (c. 1333–1342 CE). He described the Dawa (postal relay) system in his Rihla. (iii) FRANÇOIS BERNIER — 17th century French physician and philosopher who visited the Mughal court (1656–1668 CE). He argued in 'Travels in the Mogul Empire' that the Emperor's ownership of all land was the cause of India's economic stagnation — the 'oriental despotism' thesis.

Q2MEDIUM· critical-analysis

What were the limitations of Al-Biruni's account of India in the Kitab-ul-Hind?

▶ Show solution

Al-Biruni's Kitab-ul-Hind is an extraordinary work of scholarship, but it has significant limitations as a source for understanding India as a whole: (1) BRAHMANICAL BIAS: Al-Biruni learned about India primarily through BRAHMANICAL SANSKRIT TEXTS — the Vedas, Puranas, and philosophical works. His account therefore reflects the Brahmanical, upper-caste perspective on Indian society. He knew very little about the lived experiences of lower castes, Shudras, or untouchables. (2) LIMITED CONTACT WITH ORDINARY PEOPLE: Because Al-Biruni depended on texts and the scholars who interpreted them, his India was a TEXTUAL INDIA — not the India of villages, markets, or lower-caste communities. (3) NO KNOWLEDGE OF VERNACULAR LANGUAGES: Al-Biruni knew Sanskrit, but India's regional languages — Tamil, Telugu, Kannada — were outside his reach. This meant the rich literary traditions and social life of southern India were largely absent from his account. (4) FOCUS ON PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE: Al-Biruni was particularly interested in Indian mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy. He spent less time on political events, social conditions, or economic life. (5) COMPARATIVE FRAMEWORK: He consistently compared Indian ideas to Greek philosophy — which, while intellectually rich, sometimes imposed Greek categories on Indian thought rather than letting it speak for itself.

Q3HARD· bernier-analysis

What was Bernier's view of the Mughal economy and Indian society? To what extent was his account accurate and objective?

▶ Show solution

BERNIER'S VIEWS: François Bernier visited the Mughal court as a physician (1656–1668) and wrote 'Travels in the Mogul Empire.' His central economic argument was that the MUGHAL EMPEROR OWNED ALL LAND — there was no private property. Nobles (mansabdars) held jagirs (land revenue assignments) only at the Emperor's pleasure, which reverted to the crown on their death. Farmers and artisans therefore had no security of tenure and no incentive to invest in improvement. Bernier described Indian cities (Agra, Delhi) as prosperous in the centre near the court, but with no 'middle class' of merchants and craftspeople comparable to European towns. He observed widespread poverty, famines, and what he described as economic stagnation — and attributed all of this to the absence of private property in land and the 'tyranny' of the Mughal Emperor. He explicitly COMPARED India to Europe, arguing that Europe's prosperity rested on secure private property, whereas India's 'oriental despotism' suppressed economic enterprise. ACCURACY AND LIMITATIONS: (1) INCORRECT ON LAND OWNERSHIP: Later historians, notably IRFAN HABIB (in 'The Agrarian System of Mughal India'), showed that there WAS significant private land ownership in Mughal India. Peasants had heritable occupancy rights; merchants owned property; there were complex land market transactions. Bernier's 'no private property' thesis was WRONG as an empirical claim. (2) IDEOLOGICAL MOTIVATION: Bernier was a French Enlightenment philosopher writing for a EUROPEAN AUDIENCE and making an argument for EUROPEAN LIBERALISM — specifically, that private property and limited government were the keys to prosperity. His description of India served this ideological purpose more than it described Indian reality. (3) SELECTIVE OBSERVATION: Bernier spent most of his time at the Mughal court, in major cities, and in the company of the Mughal elite. He had limited access to rural agrarian society, the temple economy, or non-Mughal areas. (4) INFLUENCE AND DISTORTION: Despite its inaccuracies, Bernier's account was enormously influential — it shaped European (and later, Marx's) ideas about 'Asiatic despotism' and 'Oriental stagnation.' These ideas then fed into colonial ideologies justifying British rule as 'liberating' India from despotism. CONCLUSION: Bernier's account is valuable as a first-hand description of the Mughal court, its rituals, its wealth, and its politics. But as an economic analysis, it was shaped by ideology and limited by access — and its most influential claim (no private property) was factually incorrect.

5-minute revision

The whole chapter, distilled. Read this the night before the exam.

•Al-Biruni: Moroccan? NO — Central Asian. 11th century. Kitab-ul-Hind. Arabic. Came with Mahmud of Ghazni.
•Al-Biruni's method: read Sanskrit texts; compared India with Greek thought; respectful but Brahmanical bias.
•Ibn Battuta: Moroccan. 14th century. Rihla. Visited Muhammad bin Tughlaq's Delhi Sultanate.
•Ibn Battuta: most-travelled medieval person (120,000 km). Described Dawa (postal relay system).
•Bernier: French physician/philosopher. 17th century. Mughal court under Aurangzeb.
•Bernier's thesis: Emperor owns all land → no private property → no incentive → stagnation.
•'Oriental despotism': Bernier's label for Mughal system. Later shown to be WRONG by Irfan Habib.
•Critical reading: every account is shaped by the traveller's background, access, and purpose.
•Al-Biruni's limitation: only Brahmanical texts; Ibn Battuta's: outsider, language barrier.
•Bernier's limitation: ideological (promoting European liberalism), selective access (court only).

CBSE marks blueprint

Where the marks come from in this chapter — so you can plan your prep.

Typical chapter weightage: 5-8 marks

Question type	Marks each	Typical count	What it tests
Short Answer — Identification	3-4	1	Match traveller with text and period; key observation from each traveller; meaning of 'oriental despotism'
Long Answer — Critical Analysis	5-8	1	Limitations of a traveller's account; Bernier's analysis of Mughal economy; Al-Biruni's approach to India; compare two travellers' observations

Prep strategy

Match these precisely: Al-Biruni → Kitab-ul-Hind → 11th century → Mahmud of Ghazni era. Ibn Battuta → Rihla → 14th century → Muhammad bin Tughlaq. Bernier → Travels in the Mogul Empire → 17th century → Aurangzeb. These are 1-mark identification questions — precision matters.
For critical analysis questions: always address (a) what the traveller saw, (b) what they could NOT see or understand, (c) why — their background and purpose. The three-part framework earns full analysis marks.
Bernier's key error: 'no private property' → 'oriental despotism' → economic stagnation. Historians like Irfan Habib disproved this. Know BOTH Bernier's argument AND its rebuttal.

Where this shows up in the real world

This chapter isn't just an exam topic — it lives in the world around you.

Travel Writing and Colonial Knowledge

The way travellers like Bernier described India — as stagnant, despotic, and economically irrational — directly shaped colonial policy. The British East India Company administrators cited 'oriental despotism' to justify abolishing the Mughal land system and introducing private property through the Permanent Settlement (1793). The idea that India 'needed' private property before it could 'progress' was an intellectual framework built on Bernier's (incorrect) account. This shows how historical misrepresentation in texts has real-world consequences: laws were changed, millions of farmers lost land rights, and an entire agricultural system was restructured based partly on a 17th-century European physician's ideologically motivated analysis.

Exam strategy

Battle-tested tips from teachers and toppers for this chapter.

Source-based questions from this chapter will give you a passage from one of the three travellers and ask you to identify the author, analyse the content, and evaluate the limitation. Always: (1) Name the traveller and their period. (2) Identify the specific observation being made. (3) Evaluate ONE specific limitation of this observation (based on the traveller's background or access).
For comparison questions between two travellers: structure your answer as a clear table or parallel paragraphs. Traveller A → period/text → what they observed → framework/limitation. Traveller B → same. Then a concluding sentence comparing their approaches.

Going beyond the textbook

For olympiad aspirants and curious learners — topics that build on this chapter.

Read EDWARD SAID's 'Orientalism' (1978) for the theoretical framework: Said argues that European representations of the 'Orient' (including Bernier's India) were not neutral observations but CONSTRUCTIONS OF KNOWLEDGE that served to justify European dominance. Said's concept of 'Orientalism' — the discourse through which the West produced knowledge of the East — has transformed how we read travellers' accounts and colonial texts
Compare Al-Biruni's method with modern COMPARATIVE ANTHROPOLOGY: Al-Biruni's approach — learning the local language, reading local texts, comparing with known traditions — anticipates the methods of 20th-century anthropologists like Claude Lévi-Strauss. His insistence on understanding India on its own terms before judging it is a model for cross-cultural scholarship

Where else this chapter is tested

CBSE board isn't the only one — other exams test this chapter too.

CBSE Class 12 Board (History)High

UPSC Mains (Medieval Indian History, Source Analysis)High

State PSC exams (Medieval India)Medium

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Bernier's account arrived in Europe at a critical moment — the 17th century, when European philosophers (Locke, Montesquieu, later Marx) were debating the nature of property, government, and economic progress. His vivid descriptions of Mughal India provided a CONTRAST CASE — showing (in his telling) what a society WITHOUT private property and limited government looked like: stagnation, poverty, despotism. This fitted perfectly into existing European frameworks about 'Oriental' societies. The concept of 'oriental despotism' — the idea that Asian empires were inherently tyrannical because rulers owned everything — became a foundational element of European political thought. The INACCURACY didn't prevent the influence, because European readers weren't in a position to verify Bernier's claims from their armchairs. By the time Irfan Habib (1963) and other historians corrected the record, the 'oriental despotism' idea had already shaped 200 years of European attitudes toward Asia and had been used to justify colonial rule.

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