Alberuni's India

Translated and annotated by orientalist Edward Sachau (18451930) this 18878 two-volume work is the account by Muslim polymath and traveller Alberuni (9731048) of Indian political and social life in the medieval period. Sachau published the manuscript in Arabic in 18856 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 2 discusses among other subjects astronomy religion ritual and law.