Al-Biruni and the Kitab-ul-Hind

Travellers often notice everyday things that local writers took for granted, so their accounts are a valuable source, though they must be read carefully.

Al-Biruni was born in 973 in Khwarizm (in present-day Uzbekistan). He was a great scholar who knew Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew and Sanskrit. In 1017, Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni invaded Khwarizm and took him, with other scholars, to Ghazni.

There he became interested in India. He spent years with Brahmana priests and scholars, learnt Sanskrit, and studied religious and philosophical texts. He translated Patanjali's work on grammar into Arabic, and Euclid's works into Sanskrit.

His book, the Kitab-ul-Hind, written in Arabic, has 80 chapters, on religion and philosophy, festivals, astronomy, alchemy, manners and customs, social life, weights and measures, and laws. Each chapter follows a pattern: it begins with a question, then gives a description based on Sanskritic traditions, and ends with a comparison with other cultures.

Note that the word 'Hindu' was first used (in Old Persian) for the people who lived east of the river Indus (Sindhu). It did not have a religious meaning; that came much later.