RAS question
Al-Biruni, who wrote 'Kitab-ul-Hind', came to India with:
Correct answer: (B) Mahmud of Ghazni (early 11th century).
Al-Biruni, the author of Kitab-ul-Hind, came to India in the early eleventh-century Ghaznavid context associated with Mahmud of Ghazni.
Explanation
Abu Rayhan Al-Biruni is linked with Mahmud of Ghazni, not with the later rulers in the options. The NCERT account says that in 1017, when Sultan Mahmud invaded Khwarizm, he took several scholars and poets back to Ghazni, and Al-Biruni was among them. In Ghazni, Al-Biruni developed his interest in India; after Punjab became part of the Ghaznavid empire, contacts with local scholars helped him study Sanskrit, religious texts and philosophical traditions. His Kitab-ul-Hind, written in Arabic, is a large, lucid work covering religion, philosophy, festivals, astronomy, manners, customs, social life, weights and measures, laws and related subjects. That is why the RAS answer is Mahmud of Ghazni.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Timur is wrong because Al-Biruni's move to Ghazni and later Indian studies belong to Sultan Mahmud's Ghaznavid context, not Timur's later Central Asian conquest tradition.
- (C) Muhammad Ghori is wrong because Al-Biruni developed his interest in India in the Ghaznavid setting under Sultan Mahmud, before the Ghurid phase associated with Muhammad Ghori.
- (D) Babur is wrong because Al-Biruni's Kitab-ul-Hind is tied to Mahmud's Ghazni and the Ghaznavid presence in Punjab, not to the much later Mughal foundation under Babur.
Concept
This tests medieval Indian historiography through foreign travellers and court-linked scholars. RAS often asks it because Al-Biruni's Kitab-ul-Hind is a core source for understanding Indian society, religion and knowledge traditions through an external observer.