Alberuni's India

Alberuni's India (تحقيق ما للهند من مقولة مقبولة في العقل أو مرذولة,, meaning: A Critical Study of Indian Doctrines, Whether Rationally Acceptable or Not) is a book written by Persian Polymath Al-Biruni about history and culture of India. This book was translated into German and afterward to English by Eduard Sachau.

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The first twelve chapters of Al-Hind provide an magisterial overview of Hindu concepts about God, creation, reincarnation, salvation, and idolatry. The Hindu approach to God, creation, and salvation is generously praised, comparing positively with concepts derived from ancient Greece and classical Islam (However, this is not true of metempsychosis).

In the seventh chapter we find Al-Biruni's longest and most documented assessment of Hindu beliefs.

Nearly two-thirds of the book (48 out of 80 chapters) reviews the achievements of Indian science in a number of areas.

The last seventeen chapters deal with ritual practices, mainly initiation and burial ceremonies but also mandatory sacrifices and rules of nutrition, fasting, pilgrimage and festival observance.

The book does not limit itself to tedious documentation of battles because al-Biruni found social culture more important.