Alberuni’s India

About this eBook

Author

Bīrūnī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, 973?-1048

Title

Alberuni's India (Volume 1 of 2) : An account of the religion, philosophy, literature, geography, chronology, astronomy, customs, laws and astrology of India about A.D. 1030

Original Publication

London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co. Ltd., 1910.

Credits

Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net/ for Project Gutenberg (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

Language

English

LoC Class

DS: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: Asia

Subject

India -- Civilization

Category

Text

Project Gutenberg

eBook-No. 79672

Release Date

September 28, 2026

Copyright

Public domain in the USA.

Contents

1. 1.ALBERUNI’S INDIA.
2. 2.PREFACE. — I. — II. — Conclusion.
3. 3.TABLE OF CONTENTS.
4. 4.PREFACE.
5. 5.TABLE OF CONTENTS.
6. 6.Page 9. ON THE HINDUS IN GENERAL, AS AN INTRODUCTION TO OUR ACCOUNT OF THEM.
7. 7.ON THE BELIEF OF THE HINDUS IN GOD.
8. 8.ON THE HINDU BELIEF AS TO CREATED THINGS, BOTH “INTELLIGIBILIA” AND “SENSIBILIA.”
9. 9.FROM WHAT CAUSE ACTION ORIGINATES, AND HOW THE SOUL IS CONNECTED WITH MATTER.
10. 10.ON THE STATE OF THE SOULS, AND THEIR MIGRATIONS THROUGH THE WORLD IN THE METEMPSYCHOSIS.
11. 11.ON THE DIFFERENT WORLDS, AND ON THE PLACES OF RETRIBUTION IN PARADISE AND HELL.
12. 12.ON THE NATURE OF LIBERATION FROM THE WORLD, AND ON THE PATH LEADING THERETO.
13. 13.ON THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF CREATED BEINGS, AND ON THEIR NAMES.
14. 14.ON THE CASTES, CALLED “COLOURS” (VARṆA), AND ON THE CLASSES BELOW THEM.
15. 15.ON THE SOURCE OF THEIR RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL LAW, ON PROPHETS, AND ON THE QUESTION WHETHER SINGLE LAWS CAN BE ABROGATED OR NOT.
16. 16.ABOUT THE BEGINNING OF IDOL-WORSHIP, AND A DESCRIPTION OF THE INDIVIDUAL IDOLS.
17. 17.ON THE VEDA, THE PURÂṆAS, AND OTHER KINDS OF THEIR NATIONAL LITERATURE.
18. 18.THEIR GRAMMATICAL AND METRICAL LITERATURE.
19. 19.HINDU LITERATURE IN THE OTHER SCIENCES, ASTRONOMY, ASTROLOGY, ETC.
20. 20.NOTES ON HINDU METROLOGY, INTENDED TO FACILITATE THE UNDERSTANDING OF ALL KINDS OF MEASUREMENTS WHICH OCCUR IN THIS BOOK.
21. 21.NOTES ON THE WRITING OF THE HINDUS, ON THEIR ARITHMETIC AND RELATED SUBJECTS, AND ON CERTAIN Page 81. STRANGE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THEIRS.
22. 22.ON HINDU SCIENCES WHICH PREY ON THE IGNORANCE OF PEOPLE.
23. 23.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.
24. 24.ON THE NAMES OF THE PLANETS, THE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC, THE LUNAR STATIONS, AND RELATED SUBJECTS.
25. 25.ON THE BRAHMÂṆḌA.
26. 26.DESCRIPTION OF EARTH AND HEAVEN ACCORDING TO THE RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF THE HINDUS, BASED UPON THEIR TRADITIONAL LITERATURE.
27. 27.TRADITIONS RELATING TO THE POLE.
28. 28.ON MOUNT MERU ACCORDING TO THE BELIEF OF THE AUTHORS OF THE PURÂṆAS AND OF OTHERS.
29. 29.TRADITIONS OF THE PURÂṆAS REGARDING EACH OF THE SEVEN DVÎPAS.
30. 30.ON THE RIVERS OF INDIA, THEIR SOURCES AND COURSES.
31. 31.Page 132. ON THE SHAPE OF HEAVEN AND EARTH ACCORDING TO THE HINDU ASTRONOMERS.
32. 32.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 HINDU ASTRONOMERS AND THE AUTHORS OF THE PURÂṆAS.
33. 33.ON THE DEFINITION OF THE TEN DIRECTIONS.
34. 34.DEFINITION OF THE INHABITABLE EARTH ACCORDING TO THE HINDUS.
35. 35.ON LAṄKÂ, OR THE CUPOLA OF THE EARTH.
36. 36.ON THAT DIFFERENCE OF VARIOUS PLACES WHICH WE CALL THE DIFFERENCE OF LONGITUDE.
37. 37.ON THE NOTIONS OF DURATION AND TIME IN GENERAL, AND ON THE CREATION OF THE WORLD AND ITS DESTRUCTION.
38. 38.ON THE VARIOUS KINDS OF THE DAY OR NYCHTHEMERON, AND ON DAY AND NIGHT IN PARTICULAR.
39. 39.ON THE DIVISION OF THE NYCHTHEMERON INTO MINOR PARTICLES OF TIME.
40. 40.ON THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF MONTHS AND YEARS.
41. 41.ON THE FOUR MEASURES OF TIME CALLED MÂNA.
42. 42.ON THE PARTS OF THE MONTH AND THE YEAR.
43. 43.Page 182. ON THE VARIOUS MEASURES OF TIME COMPOSED OF DAYS, THE LIFE OF BRAHMAN INCLUDED.
44. 44.ON MEASURES OF TIME WHICH ARE LARGER THAN THE LIFE OF BRAHMAN.
45. 45.ON THE SAṀDHI, THE INTERVAL BETWEEN TWO PERIODS OF TIME, FORMING THE CONNECTING LINK BETWEEN THEM.
46. 46.DEFINITION OF THE TERMS “KALPA” AND “CATURYUGA,” AND AN EXPLICATION OF THE ONE BY THE OTHER.
47. 47.ON THE DIVISION OF THE CATURYUGA INTO YUGAS, AND THE DIFFERENT OPINIONS REGARDING THE LATTER.
48. 48.A DESCRIPTION OF THE FOUR YUGAS, AND OF ALL THAT IS EXPECTED TO TAKE PLACE AT THE END OF THE FOURTH YUGA.
49. 49.ON THE MANVANTARAS.
50. 50.ON THE CONSTELLATION OF THE GREAT BEAR.
51. 51.Page 198. ON NÂRÂYAṆA, HIS APPEARANCE AT DIFFERENT TIMES, AND HIS NAMES.
52. 52.ON VÂSUDEVA AND THE WARS OF THE BHÂRATA.
53. 53.AN EXPLANATION OF THE MEASURE OF AN AKSHAUHIṆÎ.
54. 54.Colophon — Revision History — Corrections

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