PREFA CE.                                 xvii

of the astronomers, as used in the Khandahhddyaka of
Brahmagupta, with the Guptakala.

If the author and his countrymen had suffered and The author's
were still suffering from the oppression of King Mah- India,
mud, the Hindus were in the same position, and per¬
haps it was this community of mishap which inspired
him with sympathy for them. And certainly the
Hindus and their world of thought have a paramount,
fascinating interest for him, and he inquires with the
greatest predilection into every Indian subject, how¬
soever heathenish it may be, as though he were treating
of the most important questions for the souls of Muham-
madans,—of free-will and predestination, of future
reward and punishment, of the creation or eternity of
the Word of God, &c. To Mahmud the Hindus were
infidels, to be dispatched to hell as soon as they refused
to be plundered. To go on expeditions and to fill the
treasury with gold, not to make lasting conquests of
territories, was the real object of his famous expeditions;
and it was with this view that he cut his way through
enormous distances to the richest temples of India at
Taneshar, Mathura, Kanoj, and Somanath.

To Alberuni the Hindus were excellent philosophers,
good mathematicians and astronomers, though he naively
believes himself to be superior to them, and disdains to
be put on a level with them (i. 23).^ He does not
conceal whatever he considers wrong and unpractical
with them, but he duly appreciates their mental
achievements, takes the greatest pains to appropriate
them to himself, even such as could not be of any use
to him or to his readers, e.g. Sanskrit metrics; and
whenever he hits upon something that is noble and
grand both in science and in practical life, he never
fails to lay it before his readers with warm-hearted
words of approbation. Speaking of the construction of
the ponds at holy bathing-places,  he says: "In this

1 For a similar trait of self-confidence cf. i. 277, last lines.
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