Translated and annotated by orientalist Edward Sachau (1845-1930), this 1887-8 two-volume work is the account by Muslim polymath and traveller Alberuni (973-1048) of Indian political and social life in the medieval period. Sachau published the manuscript in Arabic in 1885-6, at the same time working on an English translation. Alberuni, born in Chorasmia, south of the Aral Sea, was one of the leading scholars of his day. He accompanied the Afghan ruler Mahmud on his invasion of India in the early eleventh century, and remained there for thirteen years, making a detailed study of Indian life and culture, and in particular studying the Hindu religion. Alberuni claims that his work is not polemical in nature, but a simple historical record of facts, and he commends the learning of the Hindus in philosophy, mathematics and astronomy. Volume 1 discusses Hindu beliefs, the caste system and the calendar.

Editor's preface
Preface
On the Hindus in general, as an introduction to our account of them
On the belief of the Hindus in God
On the Hindu belief as to created things, both 'intelligibilia' and 'sensibilia'
From what cause action originates, and how the soul is connected with matter
On the state of the souls, and their migrations through the world in the metempsychosis
On the different worlds, and on the places of retribution in paradise and hell
On the nature of liberation from the world, and on the path leading thereto
On the different classes of created beings, and on their names
On the castes, called 'colours' (varna), and on the classes below them
On the source of their religious and civil law, on prophets, and on the question whether single laws can be abrogated or not
About the beginning of idol-worship, and a description of the individual idols
On the Veda, the PurÄünas, and other kinds of their national literature
Their grammatical and metrical literature
Hindu literature in the other sciences - astronomy, astrology, etc.
Notes on Hindu metrology, intended to facilitate the understanding of all kinds of measurements which occur in this book
Notes on the writing of the Hindus, on their arithmetic and related subjects, and on certain strange manners and customs of theirs
On Hindu sciences which prey on the ignorance of people
Various notes on their country, their rivers, and their ocean - itineraries of the distances between their several kingdoms, and between the boundaries of their country
On the names of the planets, the signs of the zodiac, the lunar stations, and related subjects
On the BrahmÃónda
Description on earth and heaven according to the religious views of the Hindus, based upon their traditional literature
Traditions relating to the Pole
On Mount Meru according to the belief of the authors of the PurÃónas and of others
Traditions of the PurÃónas regarding each of the seven DvÃ“pas
On the rivers of India, their sources and courses
On the shape of heaven and earth according to the Hindu astronomers
On the first two motions of the universe (that from east to west according to ancient astronomers, and the precession of the equinoxes) both according to the Hindu astronomers and the authors of the PurÃónas
On the definition of the directions
Definition of the inhabitable earth according to the Hindus
On LankÃó, or the cupola of the earth
On that difference of various places which we call the difference of longitude
On the notions of duration and time in general, and on the creation of the world and its destruction
On the various kinds of the day or nychthemeron, and on day and night in particular
On the division of the nychthemeron into minor particles of time
On the different kinds of months and years
On the four measures of time called mÃóna
On the parts of the month and the year
On the various measures of time composed of days, the life of Brahman included
On measures of time which are larger than the life of Brahman
On the samdhi, the interval between two periods of time, forming the connecting link between them
Definition of the terms 'kalpa' and 'caturyuga', and an explication of the one by the other
On the division of the caturyuga into yugas, and the different opinions regarding the latter
A description of the four yugas, and of all that is expected to take place at the end of the fourth yuga
On the manvantaras
On the constellation of the Great Bear
On NÃórÃóyana, his appearance at different times, and his names
On VÃósudeva and the wars of the BhÃórata
An explanation of the measure of an akshauhinÃ“
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

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Alberuni's India

9781108047197

110804719X

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