Early Islamic Arab Empire Admired Hindu Knowledge System
By
Saquib Salim, New Age Islam
8 July 2023
“We have generally seen that Indians are
proficient in astrology, mathematics, languages, and medicine. They have cures
for many chronic diseases. They excel in the art of making sculpture, painting,
and building. Not only do they know how to make good swords, Indians also use
them adroitly ....We have received several books from them on medicine,
philosophy, and other knowledge. They are a much superior race to the Chinese.”
This is how
Al-Jahiz, an 8th-century Arab scholar, has described Indian Hindus.
House of wisdom: an unnamed artist's vision of knowledge
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There is
enough literature discussing the rise of Arabs in diverse fields of knowledge
from the 8th century but very few have explored the role of Indians in the
‘Arab Revolution’ also called the ‘Golden Age of Islam’. There is a near
consensus among historians that Arabs excelled in science, technology,
philosophy, and sciences during the Abbasid rule. The Barmakid family, which
held important ministerial positions during Abbasid rule, is thought to be the
people behind nurturing this educational renaissance among Arabs.
The
Barmakids were originally from Balkh (now in Afghanistan) and headed a Buddhist
(or according to some sources Hindu) monastery before their family head Khalid
ibn Barmak converted to Islam and joined the Umayyad court. According to Syed
Sulaiman Nadvi, the Barmakids were Indian Brahmin Pundits. He traces the origin
of the word Barmak to Sanskrit. Nadvi argues that because they were Indians the
family came to Kashmir after Arabs captured Balkh. Khalid received his
education in Sanskrit scriptures in Kashmir.
Khalid
became one of the most important ministers under Abbasid Caliph Al-Saffah and
Al-Mansur. He, and later his grandson Yahya Barmaki, played an important role
in the establishment of the legendary House of Wisdom in Baghdad. Barmakids
invited Indian scholars who knew Sanskrit to Baghdad. It is no secret that
Arabs learned the number system from Indians. But not many know that an Indian
Pandit was invited to the Abbasid court, where he translated a Sanskrit text,
Siddhant, which introduced Indian mathematics and astronomy to the Arabs. Later
on, more Indian scholars went to Baghdad and texts by Aryabhata, Brahamagupta,
etc. were translated from Sanskrit to Arabic.
Nadvi
proves in his book that Al-Khwarizmi, who is supposed to be a pioneer of
algebra and whose name inspired the term Algorithm, was modifying the
mathematical knowledge already explained by Indian scholars. He learnt
mathematics from Indian Pandits. More importantly, this knowledge form soon
penetrated the masses.
It was
around this time that another Indian scholar translated and taught Brahmsapt
Siddhant to Arabs and the works of Aryabhata also reached Baghdad. Several
other texts of astronomy and scholars of the subjects revolutionized how Arabs
understood the stars. 9th-century Arab scholar, Abu Ma’shar, adopted the Indian
concept of Kalpa developed by Aryabhata as the days of the world which later
became the basis of several treatises on astronomy by the Arabs. Knowledge of
medicines prevalent among Arabs is mostly attributed to Greeks which is partly
correct but a major portion of their knowledge came from Indian Vaids
(Physicians).
Once Caliph
Harun Rashid was ill with a disease and couldn’t be cured by any doctor in his
empire. Yahya Barmik sent a messenger to India to bring an Indian Vaid, who
successfully treated him. The vaid, Manka Pandit treated the Caliph
successfully and stayed in Baghdad to teach Indian medicine. Ibn Dhan
(Dhanpati) was another Indian who was appointed the director of a Hospital in
Baghdad.
The glory
of Indian medicine reached its zenith when Caliph Harun Rashid’s cousin Ibrahim
was declared dead by the royal physician Gabriel, a Greek medicine expert, and
Sali, son of a renowned Indian Vaid Bhea, challenged him. Ibrahim was brought
out of the coffin and Sali blew medicine in his nose. After ten minutes he sneezed
and got up. Sali diagnosed it as a case of epilepsy.
After this,
a department was created in Baghdad with Indian Pandits to translate and teach
Sushruta, Charak, and Ayurveda. A mission was sent to India to study Indian
medicinal plants and other therapies. Texts of Susruta, Kanakayana, Shandilya,
Yashodhara, and others were translated and became part of the Arab knowledge
system.
Hindu
Sanskrit texts of ethics, governance, and morality were translated into Arabic.
These texts became the foundation for several later works by Arab scholars.
Mahabharata and writings of Chanakya especially inspired a whole generation of
Arabs.
Some of the
Indian pundits noted by Arab scholars like Ibn al Nadim and Al-Jahiz were Manka
Pandit, Ibn Dhan, Pandit Rusa (woman), and Pandit Savbaram. Given Nadvi these
were Arabicised pronunciation of Sanskrit names and that’s why cannot be found
in contemporary Indian records as such.
The early
Islamic Empire established by Arabs admired the Hindu knowledge system, learned
it, and assimilated it with their knowledge. 9th-century Arab scholar Yaqubi
wrote,
“Indians are wise and critical because of which
they are superior to all other races. Their knowledge of astronomy and medicine
is second to none. Chinese and Persians have learned these arts from them.”
In these
times where people try to divide humans based on religion, race, language, or
geography this cooperation needs to be told. Arabs did not spread Islam in a
vacuum and there was a continuous process through which they learnt sciences,
philosophy and literature from Hindus of India.
URL: https://newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/islamic-arab-empire-hindu-knowledge-system/d/130162
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