تحقيق ما للهند (Al-Biruni's India — Sachau edition, BnF)

Finally, we must mention that, according to his own words, he witnessed the Hindus beating a drum and blowing a conch shell to announce the time of day in a place he calls Purshúr original: "پرشور". I am unaware of a place by that name and suspect he meant Parshāwar original: "پرشاور", that is, Peshawar.

The primary centers of Hindu science and learning, Kashmir and Benares, were inaccessible to Muslims during Al-Biruni’s time (page 11, 12; or, 9).

§ 4. The author’s study of Sanskrit.

Al-Biruni began his study of India by learning the language to access its literature. This fact will appear singular to those familiar with the general mindset of Eastern nations and their scholars in particular. For instance, Muslims of Turkish origin will learn Arabic and Persian in addition to their mother tongue; however, it seems almost incredible that a Muslim would undertake the study of a foreign language outside the Islamic sphere purely for scientific purposes. I know of no Arab who learned literary Greek to study Greek literature. It is certain that Averroes and Avicenna were totally ignorant of the languages of Aristotle and Galenus. Although they made extensive use of Greek learning, they never thought of drawing from the source, contenting themselves with mediocre Arabic translations of Syriac translations of the Greek originals. In this respect, Al-Biruni is phenomenal in the history of Eastern civilization. In a spirit akin to the modern era, he attempts to pull down the barrier wall erected by linguistic differences between nations. He endeavors to learn Sanskrit, and the difficulty of this enterprise will be appreciated by all who undertake the same task in our time.

With what success did he study Sanskrit? It seems impossible to me that, without a grammar book or dictionary, he could have attained such command over the language as to read books on philosophy, astronomy, and astrology by Patañjali, Varāhamihira, and Brahmagupta, and to translate them into Arabic proprio marte by his own efforts without the help of learned Paṇḍits learned Hindu scholars/teachers. Such extent and accuracy of linguistic knowledge might be acquired in our age, but we should not expect to find it in the East at the beginning of the eleventh century. In my opinion, Al-Biruni spent much time on the study of the Indian language. He knows the phonetic system of both classical and vernacular dialects, and he is to some degree acquainted with the general features of Sanskrit structure. For instance, he was able to translate lists of proper names from the Purāṇas ancient Hindu texts into Arabic by himself, though not without blunders. As a rule,