al-Biruni

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Central Asian polymath al-Biruni and his eleventh-century book the India.Born in around 973 in the central Asian region of Chorasmia, al-Biruni became an itinerant scholar of immense learning, a master of mathematics, medicine, astronomy and many languages. He corresponded with the age’s greatest scientist, Avicenna, and made significant contributions to many fields of knowledge.In 1017 al-Biruni became a member of the court of the ruler Mahmud of Ghazna. Over the course of the next thirteen years he wrote the India, a comprehensive account of Hindu culture which was the first book about India by a Muslim scholar. It contains detailed information about Hindu religion, science and everyday life which have caused some to call it the first work of anthropology.

→ Play on BBC Sounds website

Guests

• James Montgomery 4 episodes
  Professor of Classical Arabic at the University of Cambridge
• Hugh Kennedy 11 episodes
  Professor of Arabic in the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London
• Amira Bennison 10 episodes
  Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge

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Programme ID: b00smnlk

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00smnlk

Auto-category: 900 (History & Geography)