Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Al-Beruni
Al-Beruni
• Alberuni (c. 972-1048) was a Persian scholar from the Khwarezm region and spent a
large part of his life in Ghazni in modern-day Afghanistan, capital of the Ghaznavid
dynasty.
• He was the first prominent Muslim Indologist was one of the greatest intellectuals of the
eleventh century. selfstudyhistory.com
• His knowledge and interest covered many other areas such as astronomy,
geography, physics, logic, medicine, mathematics, philosophy, religion and
theology.
• In religion he was a Shi’ite Muslim. His works seek to combine Greek wisdom and
Islamic thought.
• For his keen observations on Indian society and cultural ethos of the time, some
scholars have actually written of him as the ‘first anthropologist’.
• Mahmud’s policy with regard to science played a role in Biruni’s discovery and
knowledge of Indian society.
• The presence of poets or scholars at the court of the sultan added to his prestige
and reputation.
• In a sense, the writers contributed to create sultans’ best image at the time.
• To possess within one’s court numerous scholars and artists also constituted a
sign of prosperity and power, and ultimately helped to assert one’s authority over
its dependent dynasties and in relation to the Caliphate.
• He brought Biruni from Khwarezm to his court at the same time as he attracted
the poet Firdawi and the physician and philosopher Ibn Sina, who however
refused to join his court.
• Furthermore, Mahmud needed people fluent in Indian languages in order to help him in
his military raids and negotiations in al-Hind.
• In this context, it seems more than probable that Indian pandits and books had
been brought to Ghazna or to Kabul where Biruni spent some years; which
corroborates the preceding remarks concerning the origin of his source of
information.
• It also emerges from the Kitab al-Hind that Biruni had familiarized himself with
various fields of Sanskrit literature.
• Alberuni’s Kitab ul Hind or Tarikh-ul Hind is the survey of Indian life based on his study
and observations in India between 1017 and 1030.
• Al Beruni extensively quotes from vast corpus of Sanskrit literature, like Patanjali, Gita,
Puranas, Samkhya philosophy etc.
• Distinctive structure:
• It is one of the most important discussion on Indian sciences, religion and society by an
outsider.
• It gives a scholarly analysis of the social and religious institutions of the Hindus and
throws light on their rich cultural heritage, including science and literature.
• The book presents ‘a deep sociological study, characterized by a rare spirit of enquiry,
modern scientific attitude and sympathetic insight’. His approach was scientific and
religious prejudices do not mar the quality of his observations.
• Unlike the prevalent Puranic traditions of recording the genealogies or the west
Asian tarikh tradition of narrating the political history in a chronological manner, the
work is of a very critical nature and covers different aspects like religion, society,
science etc.
• His critical assessment of Indian customs and ways of life, festivals, ceremonies
and rites is particularly interesting.
• He says that the fact that Indians had started depending on tradition heavily was
a hindrance to genuine intellectual quest.
• He felt that learning and scientific spirit suffered because they had been sub-
ordained to religion.
• Alberuni ascribed the decline of Indian science to the arrogance and growing
insularity of the brahmans.
• Al Beruni learned Sanskrit so that he could study the sources of Hindu thought and
religion and to acquire first hand information. He read the religion texts and met the
learned Indians.
• He made extensive use of the Sanskrit literature from which he quotes chapter
and verse in support of his contentions.
• He quoted from the Bhagwat Gita, Vishnu Puran, Kapil’s Sankhya and the work of
Patanjali.
• His research methodology is innovative, and the data provided is generally accurate.
• He has analyzed not only written sources but also oral sources.
• Al-Biruni was careful in mentioning the written sources of social and cultural
history of India, specifically about the Indian scientific works and their authors.
• The concern to record facts as they are, without any prejudgments, is one of the most
significant aspects of Al-Biruni’s methodology.
• Alberuni did not play a partisan role and condemned Mahmud Ghazni’s destructive
activities.
• Where Alberuni was not very sure of his own knowledge, he frankly admitted it.
• “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.”
• He read the major Indian religious and astronomical texts; in his account he
highlights parts of the Gita, the Upanishads, Patanjali, Puranas, the four Vedas,
scientific texts (by Nagarjuna, Aryabhata, etc.), relating stories from Indian
mythology to make his point.
• Scientific and intellectual curiosity:
• Hindus considered Muslims violent and impure and did not want
to share anything with him.
• Hindus considered Muslims violent and impure, and did not want to share
anything with him.
• India at that time was not an ideal place for a foreigner like Al-Biruni whose
intention was to study this new culture with a view to establishing friendly
relations between the two cultures, Hinduism and Islam.
• Al-Beruni wrote his work on India to provide, in his own words, “the essential
facts for any Muslim who wanted to converse with Hindus and to discuss with
them questions of religion, science, or literature.”
• According to Al-Biruni, dialogue with Hindus was necessary since there were
many subjects that were intricate and obscure, which would be perfectly clear if
there were more connection between Muslims and Hindus.
• Al-Biruni is the first scholar, at least in the Muslim world, whose interest in other
religious traditions went beyond the then common tendency of treating the
Hindus as heretics or polytheists, despite their apparently idolatrous practices.
• His motive of writing was also to make comparative study of religions like Islam
and Hinduism.
• He also compares Indian thought to the Greek thought of Socrates, Pythagoras,
Plato, Aristotle and others, and at times with Sufi teaching.
• Some scholars says that he wrote as he sympathized with Indians, as just like his
countrymen they have also suffered at the hands of Mahmud Ghazani.
• Finding truth:
• He considered both sciences and recording of history are aimed at finding out
truth.
Indian society
• Caste-ridden Society:
• The complete caste structure of Indian society did not go unnoticed by Alberuni.
• Alberuni in his Kitab al-Hind beautifully sums up theories and practices of Indian
caste system.
• Chatuh-varna system:
• The highest caste is the Brahmaṇa, who were created from the
head of Brahma.
• The next caste is the Kshatriya, who were created from the
shoulders and hands of Brahma.
• After them follow the Vaisya, who were created from the thigh of
Brahma.
• Each of the four castes, when eating together, must form a group
for themselves, one group not being allowed to comprise two
men of different castes.
• Antyaja:
• Alberuni lists eight antyaja castes below the status of the Sudras.
• Antyaja render various kinds of services and are not part of ‘Chatuh-
varna’, but are considered as members of a certain craft or profession.
• shoemaker,
• juggler,
• basket maker,
• sailor,
• fisherman,
• hunter,
• weaver etc.
• They lived near the villages and towns of the four castes, but outside
them.
• Untouchables:
• They are occupied with dirty work, like the cleansing of the villages and
other services.
• Attaining moksha:
• Al-Biruni tried to explain the caste system by looking for parallels in other
societies.
• One notable observation of Alberuni was that the Vaishyas were also fast
degenerating to the rank of Sudras.
• Closed Society:
• He informs us that travelling to far off places was considered undesirable by the
Brahmins.
• The area within which a Brahmana could live was fixed and a Hindu was not
generally permitted to enter the land of the Turks.
• All this makes sense in the context of ‘feudal localism’ which ruled out or other
types of connection between one region of the country and another.
• Alberuni further says that the isolationist attitude of Indians was further
buttressed by a false sense of superiority.
• In his opening chapter itself Alberuni writes that ”the Indians believed
that there is no country like theirs, no nation like theirs, no king like theirs,
no religion like theirs, no science like theirs“.
• The Indian are by nature niggardly in communicating what they know and
they do not believe in exchange of ideas. They take the greatest possible
care to with hold their knowledge from men of another caste, from
among their own people, and even more from any outsider.
• Stagnant Knowledge:
• It is indeed unfortunate that Alberuni visited India at a time when knowledge was
at a low ebb.
• While the rich heritage of the past knowledge is highlighted by Alberuni when he
refers to the various ‘sidhantas’ and the progress made in astronomy and
mathematics, but he paints a very pathetic picture of the 11th century.
• He says ”The Indians are in a state of utter confusion, devoid of any logical order,
and they always mix up with silly notions of the crowd. I can only compare their
mathematical and astronomical knowledge to a mixture of pearls and sour
dates. Both kind of things are equal in their eyes since they cannot raise
themselves to the method of a strictly scientific deduction.“
• Social evils:
• Alberuni mentions evil social practices within the Indian society like child-
marriage, sati, the low position of women in general and widows in particular.
• He mentions that:
• A widow has only two options, either to remain a widow as long as she
lives, or to burn herself (sati). The latter option was generally preferred
because as a widow she was ill- treated.
• According to him, there are many customs which differ from those of his country
to such an extent that they simply appears as monstrous.
• People divide the moustache into single plait to preserve it. They allow
nails to grow long, glorifying their idleness, since they do not use them
for any work.
• They have red teeth due to chewing of arecanuts with betel leaves and
chalk.
• They sip the stall of cows, but they do not eat their meet.
• The man wears article of female dress; they use cosmetics, wear ear-
rings, arm-rings, golden seal-rings on the right finger as well as on the
toes of the feet.
• They write title of the books at the end of it, not at the beginning.
• These customs amuse and sometimes horrifies Alberuni.
Indian festivals
• Alberuni enlists all the important festivals without much comment on them. He
mentions: 2nd Chaitra (a Kashmiri festival), Guru tritiya, Vasanta etc.
• He takes an important note of the fact that most of the festivals are celebrated by
women and children only.