Bīrūnī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, Alberuni's India (v. 1)

(London :  Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.,  1910.)

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CHAPTER  I.

ON   THE   HINDUS   IN  GENERAL,   AS   AN   INTRODUCTION       Page 9.
TO   OUR   ACCOUNT   OF  THEM.

Before entering on our exposition, we must form an Descrip-
adequate idea of that which renders it so particularly dif- barriers '°
ficult to penetrate to the essential nature of any Indian ^ara°te tue
subject.    The knowledge of these difficulties will either fro^tL
facilitate the progress of our work, or serve as an apology .^iTmaL
for any shortcomings of ours.    For the reader must cuiariy"dif-
always bear in mind that the Hindus entirely differ Muslim'to
from  us in every respect, many a subject appearing in^tan™^
intricate and obscure which would be perfectly clear ™^^J°°*-
if there were more connection between us.    The barriers
which separate Muslims and Hindus rest on different
causes.

First, they differ from us in everything which other First rca-
nations have in common.    And here we first mention fcroAceof
the language, although the difference of language also ^uageand
exists between other nations.    If you want to conquer cuiar"^ ^
this difficulty (i.e. to learn Sanskrit), you will not find
it easy, because the language is of an enormous range,
both   in   words   and  inflections,   something   like   the
Arabic,  calling one  and the  same  thing by various
names, both original and derived, and using one and
the same word for a variety of subjects, which, in order
to be properly understood, must be distinguished from
each other by various qualifying epithets.    For nobody
could distinguish between the various meanings of a
word unless he understands the context in which it

VOL. L                                                                           B
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