Thread by @shrikanth_krish

Al-Biruni as we all know, was a major Central Asian intellectual of his time born in present day Uzbek territory - a man who accompanied Mahmud Ghazni on his many raids in India between 1017 and 1030 CE

While Al Biruni was a man of many talents he is best remembered today for his account of India that he wrote circa 1030

Being Indians we have every right to be skeptical of Al Biruni’s writings. He was after all a Mleccha, and a companion of Mahmud - an infamous iconoclast.

But nevertheless, his book is a fairly thorough outsider’s view of North India as it existed circa 1020 CE and can give us great insights on what India was like just before the onset of Muslim influence

This thread is based on a quick gleaning of the Edward Sachau translation of Al Biruni’s account of India (from Arabic)

But Al Biruni was not an Arab, but whose mother tongue was Khwarizmi - an extinct dialect. He chose to write in Arabic, the international tongue of his day

While Al Biruni touches on just about everything from religion, law, history, science and social customs, let’s focus on his account of the territory and the people which give us some idea of what India (or more specifically NorthWest India) really was like exactly 1000 years ago

Al Biruni is probably the only contemporary outsider source we have on the Ghaznavid invasions of North West India. Though Al Biruni personally knew Mahmud, he was brutally honest in his judgment on the violence wrought by Ghazni in India

Here are his remarks

“Mahmud utterly ruined the prosperity of the country, and performed there wonderful exploits, by which Hindus became like atoms of dust scattered in all directions,…Their scattered remains cherish of course the most inveterate aversion towards all Muslims”

He continues on the impact of the invasions on the Hindu sciences

“This is the reason too why Hindu Sciences have retired far away from those parts of the country conquered by us, and have fled to places which our hand cannot yet reach, to Kashmir, Benares and other places”

Al Biruni learnt some Sanskrit to facilitate his investigation into all things Indian, and he quotes very extensively from the Gita, Patanjali, and the Puranas. But the book that fascinates him the most is the Bhagavad Gita, on which he spends a great deal of time.

He doesnt seem to be aware of Ramayana, though he cites Rama worship in 1-2 places

Let’s look at his study of the Indian geography and cities briefly.

Pataliputra had probably declined as a great city by then, and doesnt find much mention in Al Biruni’s book. Or perhaps it was too far to the East to be noticed by Al Biruni.

But he does talk a lot of Kanauj (Kanyakubja) - a town in the middle of modern UP and the capital of the great Harsha in the 7th century. But in ~1030AD, Kanauj in Al Biruni’s words, “was a very large town, but most of it is now in ruins and is desolate”

Thanesar (Sthaneshwara) a city in modern Haryana, was a major town in Al Biruni’s age, and a very major pilgrimage center - hardly the case today

The great deity of Sthaneshwara was “Chakrasvamin” - apparently the idol was made of bronze and was about the size of an adult man

As per Al Biruni, the idol of Chakrasvamin (a form of Narayana) was made in the time of the Mahabharata war, as a memorial of the wars. That makes the deity a very ancient one

Al Biruni says this idol is now lying in the “hippodrome in Ghazna,together with the Lord of Somanath”

While one discusses the raids at Somnath a lot even today, the existence of a major shrine of Vishnu dating back to the days of the Bharata war, in Sthaneshwara, is less well known in our times.

Al Biruni also makes a reference to Mulasthana (modern Multan) which was home to one of the great Indian temples - the Sun temple dedicated to Aditya. The idol was “of wood and covered in red Cordovan leather and its two eyes were two red rubies”

As per Al Biruni, the temple dated back to the end of the Krita Yuga (possibly older than the Sthaneswara shrine). This shrine however was desecrated with cow’s flesh and replaced by a mosque a few decades before Al Biruni's visit.

So he never got to see the temple in its glory

Al Biruni also wonders how an idol of “wood” could have lasted as long as the legend claimed and concludes skeptically “God knows best” :)

While Al Biruni is fascinated with the Bharata war, and the Gita of Vaasudeva, he scarcely mentions Ramayana, or Rama. Except in two places.

One instance when he mentions Rama is when he talks of how Varahamihira suggests that the idol of Rama and Bali (the son of Virochana) must be of the same height.

The text that Al Biruni refers to, to make this observation is perhaps Varahamihira’s Brihat Samhita, which is discussed by @blog_supplement here -

manasataramgini.wordpress.com/2006/09/05/ico…

Al Biruni also has an entire chapter outlining the corpus of important Hindu scriptures. On the Vedas he mentions there are four (not three)

As per Al Biruni, Vyasa divided the Veda into four parts and taught each of them to Paila, Vaisampayana, Jaimini and Sumantu

He also lists the important Puranas, but dwells mostly on Vishnu and Vayu Purana, the two older Puranas

Bhagavata Purana, which is by far the most popular of all Puranas today, is only mentioned in passing by Al Biruni. He doesn't discuss it at all as far as I could notice

The Mahabharata as we already mentioned, was very well known to Al Biruni, and according to him the book has 100,000 shlokas, which is consistent with the version we are used to in our times. So it’s clear that Al Biruni probably read the same version of MB that we have access to

But when he mentions the 18 Parvas of Mahabharata, he curiously begins with Sabha Parva, and not Adi Parva as one would expect

Al Biruni also describes the social order, and mentions the four Varnas as one would expect him to. But he makes some interesting comments on the “Varna system”

As per him - “Much as these classes differ from each other, they live together in the same towns and villages, mixed together in the same houses and lodgings”

This is at odds with our understanding of the past, as suggested by the living memory of social segregation in 19th cen

Here are a few other comments of his on caste -

“Between the Vaishya and the Sudra, there is no very great distance”
“After the Sudra, follow the people called Antyaja, who render various kinds of services, …members of a certain craft or profession”

"There are eight classes of them, who freely intermarry with each other, except the fuller, shoemaker and weaver, for no other would condescend to have anything to do with them”

Regarding the lowest outcastes, he mentions Haadi, Doma, Chandala, and Badhatau. As per him, “they are occupied with dirty work, like the cleansing of villages, and other services”

With regard to Hindu writing, and script, Al Biruni has some interesting things to say.

He claims that the alphabet of the Hindus had been lost, nobody cared for it, and in consequence people became illiterate, sunken into ignorance, until Vyasa.

Vyasa, the son of Parasara rediscovered the alphabet by an inspiration of God

This is interesting. Is this a reference to the society’s collective memory of the loss of the Indus Valley script, and the rediscovery of writing a thousand years later in the Epic period?

Al Biruni’s description of the physical appearance of Hindus is provocative, and stereotyped no doubt.

As per him Hindus do not cut the hair on their body
They divide the moustache into single plaits in order to preserve it.
They let their nails grow long
They have red teeth

Men wear a girdle called Yajnopavita (which is worn only by brahmins for the most part today)
Men wear articles of female dress
In all consultations / emergencies, the men take the advice of the women.
When a child is born people show particular attention to the man not the woman

Al Biruni when talking of the literature of the Hindus, makes many references to a class of works called Jataka - written by many individuals including Varahamihira, Parasara, Jivasharman among others

Al Biruni calls these “Books of nativities”. They were possibly astrological works - which I don’t see being discussed today. Not sure if they are extant. Others can chip in here

The dominant script used by the Hindus in the North west (where Al Biruni lived mostly) was Siddhamatrika (which is a descendant of Brahmi) As per Al Biruni this script originated in Kashmir but was also widely used in Varanasi

Al Biruni did not leave North India, so he is not very familiar with the Vedanta philosophy being elaborated upon in the Southern country between 800 and 1100 AD.

But he is nonetheless familiar with the idea of monism. In terms of theology, he is very familiar with Gita, as well as the avatars of Narayana

One of the books widely referenced by him is “Vishnu Dharma” - I can’t quite figure out which book this is and what is it called today

In terms of pilgrimages, Al Biruni mentions Thanesar, and Multan of course (before the demolition of the Sun temple there). Benares was as highly regarded then as now. But the Vishvanatha temple is not explicitly mentioned (unless I missed it)

He talks of a pond in Multan that is particularly holy where Hindus bathe themselves

He also mentions that Mathura is a major pilgrimage spot given its association with Vasudava’s nativity. He also mentions that Mathura is a place that is teeming with Brahmins

One interesting thing is that he always refers to Krishna as Vaasudeva, and never anything else. Never Krishna

Let’s now discuss Al Biruni’s discussion of Indian food habits. According to him forbidden items include - “cows, horses, mules, asses, camels, elephants, tame poultry, crows, parrots, all kinds of eggs, and wine”.

Though he qualifies by saying the latter are allowed for the Shudra. Though he cannot sell wine or sell meat

So it appears the diet of the people was primarily vegetarian (atleast the upper castes / varnas). But we must qualify saying that this is North West India that is being described here, which is predominantly vegetarian to this day

He also mentions that some Hindus have told him that “before Bharata war, Hindus were allowed to eat the meat of cows”. After that time it has been forbidden on account of the weakness of men

In terms of Matrimony Al Biruni observes that Hindus marry at a very young age. Widow remarriage apparently was not prevalent in 1000 CE, and Sati was also not uncommon

Al Biruni states that according to HIndu marriage law it is better to marry a stranger than a relative. The more unrelated the spouse the better

According to Al Biruni, the child’s caste is that of the mother not the father. If the wife is Sudra and the husband Brahman, the child’s caste is Sudra

But he also remarks that in his own time, inter-varna marriage is rarer than in earlier eras - and that Brahmana males, though it is allowed to them, generally marry women of their own caste.

In terms of disposing the bodies of the dead, Al Biruni says that in the very ancient times the bodies of the dead were exposed to the elements. But under the instruction of Narayana they started burning bodies (presumably after the Bharata war period).

He also mentions that Buddhists unlike Hindus throw the bodies of the dead into the rivers

Al Biruni also describes the life routine of the different social classes. Particularly the Brahmins. Piety is among the Brahmana’s foremost duties, and so is giving and receiving alms. Everyday he must wash himself thrice. And he can eat only twice a day - at noon and nightfall.

But Al Biruni is categorical in saying that the Brahman and Chandala are equal when it comes to seeking the salvation. He quotes Vasudeva from the Gita to stress this point on the equality of the classes in matters of salvation

Al Biruni also spends a lot of time discussing the Hindu sciences, particularly astronomy and astrology and even mathematics, which I am not delving into, as I need to do some background reading to understand myself. So let me leave it here

All in all, Al Biruni’s work is fascinating

Hindus have every reason to be suspicious and not trust anything he has written, given that these observations are from a Mleccha, and a man who was friends with the most despised iconoclast in Indian history - Mahmud of Ghazni.

But Al Biruni’s work still deserves to be read to get some idea (however prejudiced) of the state of North India at an important moment in the history of Aryavrata.

A period of tumult and change.

A land at the cusp of the end of an era, and the beginning of another