About the Book
Alberuni's India by Edward C. Sachau is a translation and commentary on the seminal work of Al-Biruni, a renowned 11th-century Persian scholar who documented Indian society, culture, science, and religion during his travels. Commissioned by Mahmud of Ghazni, Al-Biruni immersed himself in Indian culture, learning Sanskrit and engaging deeply with Hindu philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, and customs.
Sachau's translation preserves the depth of Al-Biruni's observations, highlighting his objective approach and intellectual curiosity. The work provides detailed accounts of Indian religious texts, social structures, festivals, and scientific achievements. It also compares Indian knowledge systems with those of the Islamic world, reflecting a spirit of cross-cultural exchange.
This book is a treasure trove for historians and scholars, offering a rare glimpse into medieval India through the lens of a meticulous and open-minded observer. It remains an essential resource for understanding the historical interaction between Islamic and Indian civilizations.
Preface
THE literary history of the East represents the court of King Mahmûd at Ghazna, the leading monarch of Asiatic history between A.D. 997-1030, as having been a centre of literature, and of poetry in particular. There were four hundred poets chanting in his halls and gardens, at their head famous Unsuri, invested with the recently created dignity of a poet-laureate, who by his verdict opened the way to royal favour for rising talents; there was grand Firdausi, composing his heroic epos by the special orders of the king, with many more kindred spirit. Unfortunately history knows very little of all this, save the fact that Persian poets flocked together in Ghazna, trying their Kalidas on the king, his ministers and generals. History paints Mahmûd as a suc-cessful warrior, but ignores him as a Mecenas. With the sole exception of the lucubration's of bombastic Utbi, all contemporary records, the Makamat of Abu-Naşr Mishkant, the Tabakat of his secretary Baihaki, the chronicles of Mulla Muhammad Ghaznavi, Mahmud Warrak, and others, have perished, or not yet come to light, and the attempts at a literary history dating from a time 300-400 years later, the so-called Tadhkiras, weigh very light in the scale of matter-of-fact examination, failing almost invariably whenever they are applied to for information on some detail of ancient Persian literature.