From Khwarizm to the Punjab

Al-Biruni was born in 973 in Khwarizm, a region in present-day Uzbekistan. At that time, Khwarizm was a major centre of learning, and Al-Biruni received the finest education available. He mastered several languages: Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, and Sanskrit. Though he did not know Greek, he was familiar with the works of Plato and other Greek philosophers because he had read them in Arabic translations.

In 1017, Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni invaded Khwarizm and took many scholars and poets back to his capital, Ghazni. Al-Biruni was among them. He arrived in Ghazni as a hostage, but over time he developed a liking for the city and spent the rest of his life there, until his death at the age of 70.

It was in Ghazni that Al-Biruni developed an interest in India. This was not unusual. From the eighth century onwards, Sanskrit works on astronomy, mathematics, and medicine had already been translated into Arabic. When the Punjab became part of the Ghaznavid empire, contacts with the local population helped create an environment of mutual trust and understanding. Al-Biruni spent years in the company of Brahmana priests and scholars, learning Sanskrit, and studying religious and philosophical texts. Although his exact travel route is not clear, it is likely that he travelled widely in the Punjab and parts of northern India.

By the time Al-Biruni wrote, travel literature was already an accepted part of Arabic literature. Such works described lands as far apart as the Sahara desert in the west and the River Volga in the north.

Translating texts, sharing ideas

Al-Biruni’s expertise in several languages allowed him to compare languages and translate texts. He translated several Sanskrit works into Arabic, including Patanjali’s work on grammar. For his Brahmana friends, he translated the works of Euclid (a Greek mathematician) into Sanskrit. …