Correct Answer: Ibn Battuta
Subject: 2025
Explanation: <p><strong>Key Fact:</strong> The 14th-century Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta dedicated specific passages in his travelogue 'Rihla' to describe the coconut (which he compared to a human head) and the betel leaf (paan), items completely novel to his Mediterranean and North African readers.</p><p><strong>Additional Info:</strong> Ibn Battuta visited India during the reign of Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq, who appointed him as the Qazi (judge) of Delhi for several years.</p><p><strong>Why the other options are wrong:</strong> François Bernier was a 17th-century French physician at the Mughal court of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb; Abdur Razzaq visited the Vijayanagara Empire from Persia in the 15th century; Al-Biruni wrote 'Kitab-ul-Hind' in the 11th century focusing on astronomy, philosophy, and religion.</p><p><strong>Exam Trick:</strong> Unusual medieval botanical descriptions (coconut & paan) = Ibn Battuta's 'Rihla'.</p><p><strong>Final Answer:</strong> Ibn Battuta</p>