Al-Biruni and the Sanskritic tradition

Al-Biruni recognised barriers to understanding India:

• language: Sanskrit was so different from Arabic and Persian, with a huge range of words, that ideas could not easily be translated;
• differences in religious beliefs and practices;
• the self-absorption and insularity of the local people.

Even so, he relied almost wholly on Brahmanical Sanskrit texts: the Vedas, the Puranas, the Bhagavad Gita, the works of Patanjali, and the Manusmriti.

He explained the caste system by comparing it with other societies. In ancient Persia, he said, there were also four social categories: knights and princes; monks, fire-priests and lawyers; physicians, astronomers and scientists; and peasants and artisans. He wanted to show that such divisions were not unique to India; and he pointed out that within Islam, all men were considered equal, differing only in piety.

He accepted the Brahmanical description of the varnas, but rejected the idea of pollution. Everything that falls into a state of impurity, he argued, strives to regain its purity: the sun cleans the air, and salt in the sea keeps the water from becoming polluted. Without this, life on earth would be impossible.

In real life, the system was less rigid. The antyaja ('born outside' the system) were oppressed, but they were also part of the economic network, providing cheap labour to peasants and zamindars. Texts gave him the rules; nature argued against pollution.