[Mercenary]

"According to Simon Digby, the evidence given by Fakr-i-Mudabbir in Delhi in the early thirteenth century suggests "a trade in arms extending through the medieval Islamic world from Europe to China" with European blades usually being considered sharper and better than Indian ones" (с)

In real:

the author of the manuscript calls Indian swords the best of all kind of swords

Originally Posted by ariel

It was simply in response to Mercenary's assertion that China had no direct contacts with India till at least 16 century.

In real:

Originally Posted by Mercenary

There was no direct influence of Chinese culture to Indian one in the 16th century, only indirectly through Iran and Central Asia. If something of Chinese appeared in the Deccan, it first had to appeared in Iran.

And how much we were told about the scientific discourse and the rules of academic activity.