Al-Biruni's ''India'' (), also known by the shortened title ''Kitab al-Hind'', is a book written by
Persian polymath
A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...
Al-Biruni
Abu Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (; ; 973after 1050), known as al-Biruni, was a Khwarazmian Iranian scholar and polymath during the Islamic Golden Age. He has been called variously "Father of Comparative Religion", "Father of modern ...
about history, religions, and cultures of
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.
It was described by the Islamic scholar
Annemarie Schimmel as the first objective book on the history of religion.
The book was translated into
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
and afterward to
English by
Eduard Sachau
Carl Eduard Sachau (20 July 1845 – 17 September 1930) was a German orientalist. He taught Josef Horovitz and Eugen Mittwoch.
Biography
He studied oriental languages at the Universities of Kiel and Leipzig, obtaining his PhD at Halle in 186 ...
.
Background
Biruni's earlier contemporaries, such as
Jayhani, the vizier of the
Samanid Empire
The Samanid Empire () was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire, ruled by a dynasty of Iranian ''dehqan'' origin. The empire was centred in Khorasan and Transoxiana, at its greatest extent encompassing northeastern Iran and Central Asia, from 819 ...
, had described parts of India in his book ''Book of Routes and Kingdoms''; however Biruni considered this and other books by Arab writers marred by the authors' generally superficial knowledge about India and judgemental views on aspects of India they found or suspected to be incompatible with Islam.
Biruni and his teacher
Abu Nasr Mansur
Abū Naṣr Manṣūr ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿIrāq al-Jaʿdī (; c. 960 – 1036) was a Persian Muslim mathematician and astronomer. He is well known for his work with the spherical sine law.Bijli suggests that three mathematicians are in contention ...
had studied earlier Indian texts on mathematics, such as the ''
Sindhind'', benefiting from the historical links between his childhood
Khwarazm
Khwarazm (; ; , ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the east by the Kyzylkum Desert, on the south by th ...
and India. His book ''
Chronology of Ancient Nations'' included a discussion of Indian concepts of time. After his arrival in
Ghazni
Ghazni (, ), historically known as Ghaznayn () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana (), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan with a population of around 190,000 people. The city is strategica ...
, he began collecting Indian books and manuscripts.
In 1018, Biruni was living in Ghazni under the rule of
Mahmud of Ghazni
Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Sabuktigin (; 2 November 971 – 30 April 1030), usually known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mahmud Ghaznavi (), was Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire, ruling from 998 to 1030. During his reign and in medieval sources, he is usuall ...
. Mahmud's father,
Sabuktigin
Abu Mansur Nasir ad-Din wa'd-Dawla Sabuktigin (; 940s – August-September 997) was the founder of the Ghaznavid dynasty, and amir of Ghazna from 977 to 997. Sabuktigin was a Turkic slave who was bought by Alp-Tegin, the commander of the r ...
, had begun conquests in India after being given Ghazni and its surrounding areas by the Samanid Empire. However, because the outskirts of Ghazni were still controlled by local Hindu princes, Sabuktigin suspended his Indian campaigns and consolidated his power and armies around Ghazni. His son Mahmud then continued his father's campaigns after assuming the throne, beginning with attacks on major population centres in Punjab and then moving to the hilltop castles of
Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...
.
Biruni was brought to the Indus Valley in 1022 as Mahmud's personal astrologer, despite his repeated ridiculing of astrologers and their fruitless efforts to predict the future, but he soon took on the role as an expert on India. He was eventually able to travel independently in Sindh, including the city of
Multan
Multan is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fifth-most populous city in the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab province of Pakistan. Located along the eastern bank of the Chenab River, it is the List of cities in Pakistan by populatio ...
, where he met several major
Isma'ili
Ismailism () is a branch of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (Imamate in Nizari doctrine, imām) to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the ...
scholars, and parts of Punjab, including
Lahore
Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...
, where he studied Sanskrit. Biruni later became proficient enough in Sanskrit to translate two books from Sanskrit into Arabic, and a book from Arabic into Sanskrit. By the time he returned to Ghazni in 1024, he had amassed a comprehensive library on India. In the year 1025, Mahmud laid siege against
Somnath temple and the nearby fort in Gujrat; from this military success, he sent thousands of prisoners of prisoners, including Indian intellectuals, back to Ghazni. These intellectuals, as well as his own library, helped Biruni develop an understanding of Indian civilization.
Content
The book begins with a critique of literature on Hindu culture available to Biruni and his contemporaries, which Biruni found both insufficient and misleading.
Biruni examined the religious traditions of India including Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism,
Manichaeism
Manichaeism (; in ; ) is an endangered former major world religion currently only practiced in China around Cao'an,R. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''. SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 found ...
, Judaism, Christianity, the
Sabeans, the
Khwarazmian dynasty
The Anushtegin dynasty or Anushteginids (English: , ), also known as the Khwarazmian dynasty () was a Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic peoples, Turkic ''mamluk'' origin from the Begdili, Bekdili clan of the Oghuz Turks. The Anushteg ...
, Islam, and Arabian paganism, as well as the cultural practices of Hindus that would likely be unfamiliar or alien to Muslim readers, such as
betel nut chewing.
Biruni claimed in the opening of the book that he was interested in stating facts as presented by Hindus themselves.
Says Biruni:
I shall not produce the arguments of our antagonists in order to refute such of them as I believe to be in the wrong. My book is nothing but a simple historic record of facts. I shall place before the reader the theories of the Hindus exactly as they are, and I shall mention in connection with them similar theories of the Greeks in order to show the relationship existing between them. - Volume 1, page 7 (1910 ed.)
The three major areas that Biruni examined were Indian mathematics and astronomy, views on the measurement of distance and time, and the Indian understanding of
geodesy
Geodesy or geodetics is the science of measuring and representing the Figure of the Earth, geometry, Gravity of Earth, gravity, and Earth's rotation, spatial orientation of the Earth in Relative change, temporally varying Three-dimensional spac ...
. The section on mathematics discussed several ways in which Indian mathematicians and astronomers were more advanced than their Central Asian and Middle Eastern contemporaries, and discussed several contributions of Indian mathematics, including the concept of zero, negative numbers, sine tables, and other innovations that were developed by the 7th century
Brahmagupta
Brahmagupta ( – ) was an Indian Indian mathematics, mathematician and Indian astronomy, astronomer. He is the author of two early works on mathematics and astronomy: the ''Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta'' (BSS, "correctly established Siddhanta, do ...
. Another chapter was dedicated to Indian systems of measurement. ''India'' also included new geographical information, findings in geology and paleontology, and a speculative discussion on the process by which living organisms adapt to their environment.
However Biruni was sharply critical of religious and specifically Brahmin attempts to oppose new knowledge and learning by Brahmagupta and his students, but even more critical of men of learning, such as Brahmagupta, who censured themselves when confronted with charges of religious heresy. Biruni was scathing towards Brahmagupta for conceding to the religious explanation of solar eclipses (caused by the sun being swallowed by the severed head of a deity who has been punished for attempting to steal nectar).
Biruni then evaluates Hindu beliefs around the
Hindu pantheon including a discussion of the
Vedas
FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of relig ...
and the
''Yoga Sutras'' of Patanjali; Biruni translated passages of the sutras from Sanskrit into Arabic and provided his own commentary. Biruni compared Hindu doctrines with the beliefs of the early Greeks, as well as drawing a parallel between Hindus and Muslim Sufis.
The last seventeen chapters deal with ritual practices, mainly initiation and burial ceremonies but also mandatory sacrifices and rules of nutrition, the practice of
sati, fasting, pilgrimage, and festival observance.
Legacy
''Kitab al-Hind'' continued a tradition of compiling oral sources and folk tales that dates back to
Herodotus
Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...
. Biruni's ''India'' was a groundbreaking attempt to understand another culture both analytically, in a manner that could be verified or rejected based on available evidence, and on its own terms.
References
Bibliography
*
Al-Biruni
10th-century Arabic-language books
Geographical works of the medieval Islamic world
Arabic non-fiction books
Books about India
Hinduism and Islam
Indology
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