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116 THEMES IN NDIAN H ISTORY – PART II Source 1 As these authors came from vastly different Al-Biruni’s objectives social and cultural environments, they were often more attentive to everyday activities and practices which were taken for granted by indigenous Al-Biruni described his work as: writers, for whom these were routine matters, not a help to those who want to worthy of being recorded. It is this difference in discuss religious questions with them (the Hindus), and perspective that makes the accounts of travellers as a repertory of information interesting. Who did these travellers write for? As to those who want to we will see, the answers vary from one instance associate with them. to the next. ➲ Read the excerpt from Al-Biruni (Source 5) and 1. Al-Biruni and the Kitab-ul-Hind discuss whether his work met these objectives. 1.1 From Khwarizm to the Punjab Al-Biruni was born in 973, in Khwarizm in present- day Uzbekistan. Khwarizm was an important centre of learning, and Al-Biruni received the best education available at the time. He was well versed in several languages: Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew and Sanskrit. Although he did not know Greek, he was familiar with the works of Plato and other Greek philosophers, having read them in Arabic translations. In 1017, when Sultan Mahmud invaded Khwarizm, he took several scholars and poets back to his capital, Ghazni; Al-Biruni was one of them. He arrived in Ghazni as a hostage, but gradually developed a liking for the city, where he spent the rest of his life until his death at the age of 70. It was in Ghazni that Al-Biruni developed an interest in India. This was not unusual. Sanskrit works on astronomy, mathematics and medicine had Translating texts, been translated into Arabic from the eighth century sharing ideas onwards. When the Punjab became a part of the Ghaznavid empire, contacts with the local population Al-Biruni’s expertise in severalhelped create an environment of mutual trust and languages allowed him to understanding. Al-Biruni spent years in the company compare languages and translate texts. He translated of Brahmana priests and scholars, learning Sanskrit, several Sanskrit works, includingnd studying religious and philosophical texts. While Patanjali’s work on grammar, his itinerary is not clear, it is likely that he travelled into Arabic. For his Brahmana widely in the Punjab and parts of northern India. Travel literature was already an accepted part of friends, he translated the works of Euclid (a Greek Arabic literature by the time he wrote. This literature mathematician) into Sanskrit. dealt with lands as far apart as the Sahara desert in the west to the River Volga in the north. So, while Reprint 2026-27