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India in the 11th Century, April 21, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: India by Al-Biruni (Paperback)
Al-Biruni, a celebrated Persian mathematician and astronomer,
came to India in the 11th century. He wrote the Kitabu'l Hind,
a description in Arabic of the India he saw, which was translated
into English by the German scholar Edward Sachau and subsequently
into other languages as well. This book edits the 700+ pages
in Sachau's original translation to about 250 pages of interest
to the general reader.
Al-Biruni adopts a mostly critical, Muslim view of India. This
is not surprising since he wrote this book at a time of "increasing
ideological and emotional hostility between Hindus and Muslims",
according to the editor. Nonetheless, the book is an important
source of information as an outsider's chronicle of 11th century
India.
A running comment in this book is about the fact that Hindu texts
are set to specific metres (for example, the shloka), leading to
unnecessary verbosity, and corresponding complexity in the
Sanskrit language. Al-Biruni criticizes the language for employing
several different words to mean the same thing (which were invented in
order to fit the meter) and for the same word meaning different
things in different contexts. The meter form also encourages
people to learn compositions by heart, without understanding them;
the Hindus were afraid that written texts would get corrupted
over time. Hence the importance of rote learning, which is
prevalent in Hindu society even today. Al-Birunu also points
out that "(The Hindus) are by nature niggardly in communicating
that which they know, and they take the greatest possible care
to withold it from men of another caste among their own people,
still much more, of course, from any foreigner".
The caste system is commented upon in much detail, and even
in the India of 1000 years ago, Al-Biruni aptly comments that
"Once the origin of (institutions like the caste system) has
been forgotten, ... nobody any more questions its value".
Cultural habits and rituals of various castes, especially Brahmins,
are described in detail. Many of these customs continue to survive:
the thread ceremony undergone by young Brahmin boys, the offering
of sacrifices to the fire, the confinement of women during menstruation,
and so on. The geography of rivers and towns is documented in
meticulous detail, as is the list of festivals celebrated by Hindus.
The modern reader will enjoy identifying customs and terms prevalent in ancient India which survive to the present day.
This edited version of the book still contains a lot of detail on
astronomy. Much of this material is not interesting to a layman,
and could have been omitted. However, all chapters are accompanied
by short paragraph descriptions, so it is quite easy to skip
sections if one wishes. Overall, the book is an interesting
and easy read.
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