Alberuni’s India
Abu’l Rayan Alberuni was a philosopher
scientist, whose Ditab al Hind was the first and
most important discussion on Indian sciences,
religion and society by an outsider. He was not
just a historian. His Knowledge and interest
covered many other areas such as astronomy,
geography, logic, medicine, mathematics,
philosophy, religion and theology, He was
probably born in 973 AD. He was attached to
Mahmud’s court and accompanied him to India
during various raids.
Alberuni’s Kitab al Hind or Tahkik-i Hind is
the survey of Indian based on his study and
observations in India between 1017 and 1030.
To get a proper grip of the situation, he learned
Sanskrit so that he might go to the sources of
Hindu thought and religion. He learnt Sanskrit
to acquire first hand information. He read the
religion texts and met the learned Indians.
His approach was scientific and religious
prejudices do not mar the quality of his
observations. He quoted form the Bhagavat Gita,
Bishnu Puran, Kapil’s Sankhya and the work of
Patanjali. Alberuni’s observation of Indian
society can be studied under six major sub-heads:
• Caste-ridden society
• Closed society
• Stagnant knowledge
• social evils
• Religious beliefs
• Scientific knowledge.
Caste-ridden Society
The complete caste structure of Indian society
did not go unnoticed by Alberuni. One notable
observation of Alberuni was that the Vaishyas
were also fast degeneration to the rank of
Sudras. He notes the absence of any significant
difference between the Vaishyas and the sudras,
who lived together in the same town and village
and mixed together in the same house. By the
11th century it seems that the Vaishyas come to
be treated as Sudras virtually and legally. The
alliance of convenience between the Brahmanas
and the ruling Kshatriyas was a fact that
Alberuni refers to indirectly. He also refers to a
class of untouchables which existed in the society
called antyaja. Alberuni lists eight antyaja castes
below the status of the Sudras. Some of the names
of untouchable castes that are mentioned by him
are: Bhodhatu, Bhedas, Chandala, Doma, and
Hodi.
Closed Society
The closed attitude of society, lacking
dynamism did not go untouched by Alberuni.
He informs us that traveling to far off places was
considered by the Brahmins. The area within
which a Brahmana could live was fixed and a
Hindu was not generally permitted to enter the
land of the Turks. All this makes sense in the
context of “feudal localism” which ruled out or
other types of connection between one region of
the country and another.
Alberuni further says that the isolationist
attitude of Indians was further buttressed by a
false sense of superiority. In his opening chapter
itself alberuni writers that the Indians belived
that there is no country like theirs, no nation like
theirs, no king like theirs, no religion like theirs,
no science like theirs, no science like theirs.” The
Indian are by nature niggardly in communication
what they know and they do not believe in
exchange of ideas. They had the greatest possible
care to with hold their knowledge from men of
another caste, from among their own people,
and even more from nay outsider.
Stagnant Knowledge
It is indeed unfortunate that Alberuni visited
India at a time when knowledge was at a low
ebb. While the rich heritage of the past
knowledge is highlighted by Alberuni when he
refers to the various ‘sidhantas’ and the progress
made in astronomy and mathematics, but he
paints a very pathetic picture of the 11th century,
He says “The Indians are in a state of utter
confusion, devoid of any logical order, and they
always mix up with silly notions of the crowd.I
can only compare their mathematical and
astronomical knowledge to a mixture of pearls
and sour dates. Both kind of things are equal in
their eyes since they cannot raise themselves to
the method of a strictly scientific deduction.”
Social Evils
Alberuni mentions evil social practices
within the Indian society like child-marriage,
sati, the low position of women in general and
widows in particular. He mentions that Hindus
marry at a very young age, If a wife loses her
husband due to death she cannot remarry, A
widow has only two options, either the remain
a widow as long as she lives, or to burn herself
(sati). The latter option was generally preferred
because as a widow she was ill-treated.
