The fabled Moroccan Scholar Ibn Battuta is reputed to have travelled further through the medieval world than any other explorer, including Marco Polo. When Ameena Hussein sees a grimy street sign in Puttalam bearing his name, it precipitates a quest of her own, tracking Ibn Battuta’s trajectory in Lanka or Sarandib as he knew it.
From the pearl rich north-western coast, through Sri Pada known as the Mount of Lanka, down to Dewinuwara with its magnificent temple hosting dancing girls and Brahmin priests and onwards to Colombo – already a formidable maritime presence, she follows his trajectory to rejoin his starting point at Puttalam. Along the way, she seeks Ibn Battuta’s memory in the minds of men, and discovers a land brimming with myth and legend as colourful as the traveler himself.
