Discuss after Alberuni the four periods of a Brahman’s life ( India by Al - Biruni ) .

 

Alberuni , a renowned philosopher and  historian of the medieval age , came to India with Mahmud of Ghazni in 1017.  He wrote a great book on India namely Tarikh Al-Hind (History of India) . What  he  saw in contemporary life , he inscribed  them in this  book . In his book   he has  portrayed  the social, political, religious and economic condition of the then India . His book is a very important source for medieval history of India . From historical perspective the value of this book is incomparable .The book India by Al - Biruni  is an english rendering of the original Arabic version of Tarikh Al Hind . This book is edited by the famous author Qeyamuddin Ahmad.

In chapter LXIII of India , Alberuni has discussed minutely about the life of a Brahman and his activities . According to Alberuni the life of a Brahman , after seven years from his birth , is divided into four parts . The first period of a Brahman begins at  the age of  eight  with the rite of Upanayan or Yajnopavita . It extends till the twenty-fifth year of his age or according to Vishnu Purana forty eighth year of his age .Upanayan is a religious tradition among the Brahmans that marks the acceptance of a pupil by a master ( guru ) . In this ceremony some Brahman masters  teach the Brahman boy his duties in life and how to embrace his duties till his death .  The boy receives  Yajnopavitas or sacred thread made of cotton . It is worn from the left shoulder across the chest to the right waist . Under any circumstances the Brahman boy is not allowed to separate himself from the yajnopavita . He is given a ring also , which he has to put on the right finger of his right hand . At this  stage his duty is to practice abstinence . He leads a life in austerities . He has to spend this period under the surveillance of his master . He makes the earth his bed and starts learning of the Vedas  as well as   science , theology and law . His master ( guru )  whom he serves day and night , teaches him all these subjects . He washes himself thrice a day and performs a sacrifice to the fire ( yajna ) at the beginning and end of the day . After the sacrifice he serves his master . He observes fast every alternate day .  Besides, he is never allowed to eat meat . He lives in the house of the master and everyday he goes outside for begging or asking for a gift , but he can’t go more than five houses a day for begging . Whatever alms he receives  he has to present it before his master at first  . His master takes what he likes and allows him to take the remainder for nourishment .  Further , he has to go to the forest to collect wood for the fire , especially for performing the fire sacrifice . Fire sacrifice is a pious ritual to the Hindus and they worship different gods in front of the sacred fire . For performing the sacrifice the pupil mainly collects wood from two types of trees : Palasa and Darbha .

The second period of a Brahman extends from the twenty fifth year till the fiftieth , or , according to Vishnu Purana from the  forty eighth year till the seventieth . At this stage he is allowed to get married  . He marries a girl , establishes a household and intends to have descendants . He is not allowed to marry a girl above twelve years . He obtains his livelihood or sustenance  by teaching Brahmans and Kshatriyas , sometimes by performing fire sacrifice for Kshatriyas or others  ( not as a payment but as a present or offering ) or by asking a gift from the kings and nobles . Some  Brahman  works as a purohita ; he carries out rituals of the households and provides advice on religious affairs . According to Alberuni , a Brahman lives from what he gathers on the earth or from the trees . He can do trade of clothes and betel-nuts but it is permitted to him only in dire necessity , when he has no other means of sustenance . A Brahman is not bound to pay taxes or performs services to the kings .He is generally  not allowed to look after horses and cows .  His chief duty is to worship before the sacred fire and recite holy texts .

The third period of the life of a Brahman extends from the fiftieth year to the seventy fifth , or , according to Vishnu Purana seventieth to ninetieth year .At this stage he practices  abstinence or self-abnegation  . He leaves his household , assigns all his duties to his wife ( if his wife does not prefer to accompany him in the life of wilderness )  or the children .  He lives outside the civilization , often near a forest  . He leads the same life again which he led in the first period . He neither takes shelter under a roof nor wears any dress . He only uses barks of trees to cover his loin . He never cuts his long hair , nor he  anoints  himself with oil.  He makes the earth his bed for sleeping . He nourishes himself by fruits , vegetables and roots .

 The fourth period of the life of a Brahman extends till the end of his life . Now he wears  a red garment and practises meditation .  From his mind he gives up the idea of friendship and enmity . He gives up all types of desires , roots out lust and wrath from his inner self . He does not converse with anyone at all . If he goes to a particular place  , on the road  he does not stop in a village more than a day , nor more than five days in a city .  At this stage his prime goal is to attain salvation or moksha – emancipation from worldly affairs .

Last but not least , Alberuni is a keen observer . He has observed everything of a Brahman's life in details , gathered various knowledge about Hindu religion and written all these things  accurately . Alberuni's division of a Brahman's life into four periods  is  same as the four Ashramas of a man's life that we find in the Jabala Upanishad . Though Alberuni has not mentioned anywhere the name of the four periods in his book  , he has described all the four periods of a Brahman's life  minutely and flawlessly .

A Few words on the SACRIFICES as pictured in Alberuni’s India

Alberuni, in his travelogue, has drawn a word-picture of the rites of the then India and naturally the point of sacrifices comes as a topic of discussion. Sacrifices to the fire was a common practice and most of the Vedas ordained it. Hindu  scriptures calls the fire  omnivorous i.e. fire eats everything. Whatever the fire eats, the fire reverts to the devas as fire comes out from the mouth of Devas. The offerings to the fire by the Branmans  are oil and different cereals like wheat , barley, rice etc. When the Branmans offered anything on their behalf they chanted some texts (mantras) as prescribed in the Veda, but in case of others’ offerings they recited nothing.

There is an interesting story of fire’s becoming leprous which the Vishnu-Dharma mentions. Hiranyaksha, a very brave and powerful ruler of a vast realm of the  land, was the man of the class of the Daityas. His daugher’s name was Dkish. This lady of the Daitya origin was engaged in worship for almost all the time and by dint of Fasting and Abstinence she earned a place in heaven as reward. Dkish was married to Mahadeva. When this newly married couple was cohabiting very long, the fire became jealous with some fear in mind. The fire was afraid lest the couple should procreate a fire similar to themselves. The fire determined to defile and also to ruin them. 

When Mahadeva saw the fire, he became wrathful and his forehead was covered with sweat some of which dropped on the earth and the earth drank it. Consequently, the earth became pregnant with Mars. Rudra the destroyer seized a drop and threw it which scattered in the interior of the earth, all atom like substance came into being. The fire became leprous and felt ashamed and being confounded it entered in the lowest earth, the Patala.  Devas missed the fire and they started searching. Some animals helped in that searching.

First of all, the frog pointed the location of the fire who then and there changed its place and took shelter in the tree “asvattha”. The fire also cursed the  frog saying that they must have a horrid  croaking and the frog would be odious looking. After the frogs, the parrots betrayed saying Devas about the hiding place of the fire . The parrots were cursed by the fire that the root of their tongue  would  be at that place where the tip of the tongue ought to be. The Devas , out of  love, spoke with the parrots and lightened the curse by saying that they would speak in human dwelling and would have delicate things as food. The fire tried hard to hide himself and fleeing from the “asvattha” tree  took refuge in the tree “Sami”. This time he was betrayed by the elephant which gave a hint to the Devas about the fire’s concealment. The elephant is severely cursed that its tongue would turn to be topsy-turvy. Deva’s benediction did go with the elephant that the latter would make out man’s language  and would also be fed by them.

After a long searching Devas found the fire but fire didn’t want to stay with Devas for his leprous shape. Finding no alternative, Devas restored the fire to health and the disease leprosy went away. Devas took fire back with honour and gave him a respectful position. Devas made him the mediator between Devas and mankind. From then, man offers anything to fire and the fire transports the parts to Devas then and there.    

Rites and customs practiced by the Non-brahmans as found in Alberuni’s India.

Alberuni came to India in the eleventh century. What he wrote about the then India is no doubt some genuine historical documents which can not be refuted. Chapter LXIVl of Alberuni’s “India” contains the description about the  rites and customs practiced by the Non-brahmans  of India in eleventh century.

 Beside the Brahmans there were three other casts namely Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra. Occupation and the way of the functioning were strictly defined, any breach of it was a crime of grave nature. In the caste hierarchy the Kshatriya comes after the Brahman. They could offer fire and act according to the rules of Puranas, they could read the Veda and learn it , but they had no right to teach the Veda. The Kshatriya were assigned to rule the people and to protect them. After the completion of twelve years of age a Kshatriya hade to were a single cord of the threefold ‘yajnopavita’ and a single other cord of cotton. The Vaisya had another profession, particularly for their own. They cultivated the land and tended the cattle. They were allowed to gird himself with a single ‘yajnopavita’ made of two cords. The Sudras were very low caste and they were the servants of the Branmans. They were extremely poor and they did gird themselves with the linen .

 

The lower casts, the Vaisya and Sudra, were the victims of religious persecution. If they recited the Veda privily, they were acutely accused by the Brahmans before the ruler who readily ordered to cut his tongue off. The works of piety , meditation of God and alms-giving were allowed to them. Any sort of cross-occupation were not only prohibited , but also treated as a sin or crime. So a Brahman engaged in trade or a Sudra in agriculture was treated as almost the crime of theft. So, the regulation regarding the caste and occupation balance was strictly maintained.

 A strange story , may be anecdote, is related by Alberuni about a Brahman and a Candala. Generally, a son never died before his parents. It so happened that the son of a Brahman died before his father. The Brahman took the dead body of his child to the king and complained that such thing did never happen in that kingdom. Son’s death before his father’s was no doubt  an innovation for that country and this was due to some rotten and heinous act took place on that land. A thorough search made it confirmed  that a Candala  took severe and great pain in performing worship and in self-torment. On the banks of the Ganges the candela hanged himself with something with head downward. As soon as the king found him, he bent his bow and shot him to death. Quite ironically the king  uttered , “ I kill thee on account of a good action which thou art not  allowed to do.” Miracle happened when the Brahman returned  home, he found that his son was alive

  Beside the Candala all other men who were not Hindu were called Mleccha who were unclean, who killed men and slaughter animals and ate the flesh of cows. The Candal  and the Mleccha were humiliated and persecuted and were the helpless victims of social and economic discrimination. It would not be unfair if it is commented that to the eyes of intelligence all thing are equal, to ignorance they appear as separated and different.  A  vivid picture of social and cultural life in India in  Alberuni’s time is reproduced here as the historical documents. 

Ibn Battuta’s Travelogue : A page torn from the ancient history of India. ( The Court Of Muhammad bin Tughlaq )

 

Ibn Battuta , the greatest medieval Muslim traveller and the author of one of the most famous travel book, the Riḥlah (Travels) , came to Delhi in 1334  during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq . His account is not only  a strong historical document of the then India but  also the source of  valuable information regarding  political , social , economic  and architectural affairs of the medieval time . His  travelogue* is exuberant with  many valuable information about Delhi and the reign of Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq  .

Information about Delhi:

 Ibn Batuta has said that the city of Delhi, a vast and magnificent city,  was a metropolis of India at that time . This  beautiful city  was fortified by an incomparable wall and this city, Ibn Batuta said, was the largest city of India , nay,  the largest city of the entire Muslim Orient  in fourteenth century. According to him , the city of Delhi was made up of four neighbouring and contiguous towns : Delhi proper, Siri, Tughlaq Abad, and Jahan Panah

1)  Delhi proper : This old city was built by infidels ( idolaters )  , which was captured in the year 1188  .

2) Siri (also known as the Abode of the Caliphate) : This city was given as gift  by Muhammad bin Tughl  to Ghiyath ad Din , the grandson of the Abbasid Caliph Mustansir of Bagdad .

3) Tughlaq Abad :  This city was founded by Ghiasuddin Tughlaq , father of the sultan of India ,  Muhammad bin Tughlaq .

4)  Jahan Panah : This city was built by sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq  ( Muhammad Shah  ) himself . 

With the intention of connecting  all these four cities together by one and the same wall the Sultan started construction  but after building some part of it  he abandoned the task because of the enormous expenses of the construction .

The accounts of the Cathedral: 

The cathedral mosque ( Quwat-ul-islam Mosque ) covering a large area  is made of white stone only, no sign of wood.  It has thirteen domes made of stone and it has four courts .  There is an awe-inspiring column in the centre of the mosque, nobody knows the component of it.  From reliable source it is known that  the material is called 'haft jush' , which means 'seven metals' with which the column is constructed.  A part of this column is very polished and it gives out a brilliant gleam.  The height of this column is thirty cubits and its breadth is eight cubits . At the eastern gate two enormous idols of brass are seen in prostate position  on the ground. Strange matter is that  everyone entering or leaving the mosque treads on them . An idol temple was there at this place but that Hindu temple was converted into a mosque  after the conquest of the city.

 Few words about Qutb Minar

 Now we are attentive  to know Ibn Battuta’s  information about Qutb Minar . A minaret , which is unparalleled in the lands of Islam , is situated in the northern court. No, not white, it is built of red stone . It is ornamented with sculptures and  famous for great height . There is a ball on the top of this minaret , it is made of shining white marble. The apples, the small  surmounting balls on the marble,  are made of pure gold . The amazing matter, reported by a trustworthy fellow, is that an elephant was climbing with stone to the top in time of the construction of the minaret . Sultan Qutb ad -Din wished to build another large minaret in the western court but his untimely demise stopped it incomplete. This minaret claims to be a wonder of the world for its size and shape and its  vast width   can accommodate three elephants  mounting abreast . 

A large reservoir :

Outside Delhi we find a large reservoir,  named after the Sultan Lalmish ( Iltusmish ), which is the main source of drinking water of the inhabitants and the rain water is the only source of this reservoir . This reservoir having two miles length and about one mile breadth looks beautiful with a great stone made pavilion, two stories high, at the centre of it .  Boats are used to reach the pavilion when the reservoir is full but  in low water  people can go  on foot . Inside the pavilion there is a mosque which is mostly occupied by the mendicants devoted to the service of God . When the water dries up ,  the place is cultivated with sugarcanes , cucumbers , green melons , and pumpkins.  This reservoir is situated between Delhi and the Abode of Caliphate . There are about forty pavilions along its side and many musicians live surrounding the reservoir. .

The  Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq:

Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq is fond of giving gifts and shedding blood . His court is never without some poor man enriched or some living man executed . Stories of his generosity and courage and of his cruelty and violence towards criminals are very popular among the people of his dynasty . According to Ibn Battuta he is a very humble man and he always shows equity and justice towards his subjects . He is a very religious person and if any courtier does not attend the prayer , Sultan punishes that person . Generosity is the chief quality of the Sultan .

The Sultan’s palace at Delhi is called Dar Sara . It has many doors  . There are a number of guardians at the first door , beside them there are trumpeters and flute-players . When any Amir or famous person arrives , they sound their instruments and say ‘So-and-so has come’ . The same thing takes place also at the second and third door . Outside the first door there are platforms on which the executioners sit . When the Sultan orders a man to be executed , the sentence is carried out at the door of the audience hall . The dead body lies there for three nights . Between the first and the second door there is a place where the guards sit and the principal naqib who is the keeper of the register sits between the second and the third door . There is a gold mace in front of the principal naqib . In his hand he holds that gold mace and in his head he wears a jewelled tiara of gold , surmounted by peacock feathers .

Transfer of the capital:

 One of the gravest charges against the Sultan is that he compels the inhabitants of Delhi to leave the city and go to Dawlat Abad . The whole matter shows Sultan's whimsical state of mind  as well as his cruelty on his subjects . According to Ibn Battuta , some rebel inhabitants used to write insulting and abusive language on something , seal those and inscribe on them : " By the hand of Master of the World , none but he may read this ." Then they threw them into the audience hall at night . When the Sultan found those , he read those and became angry . He decided to lay Delhi in ruin and thus wanted to punish those rebel inhabitants . He wanted the inhabitants should pay the price of this wrongdoings . Sultan commanded all the inhabitants to move to Dawlat Abad . At first all the inhabitants refused to go Dawlat Abad . After the herald of Sultan  proclaimed that no person should remain in the city of Delhi after three night . The majority of the inhabitants obeyed this order but some of them hid in the houses . The sultan ordered to find all the hidden persons . His slaves found two men in the street : one was crippled person and the other one blind . Sultan ordered that the crippled person should be flung from a mangonel ( a military device of medieval period for throwing stones and other missiles ) and the blind one should be dragged from Delhi to Dawlat Abad , a distance of forty days journey of that time  . The blind man died in the road , his body turned into pieces and what reached in Dawlat Abad was only his leg . Every inhabitant became very afraid of it . They left the town abandoning furniture and possessions and the city of Delhi became utterly deserted . Seeing the city in such a deserted state one day Sultan said ," Now my mind is tranquil and my wrath appeased " .   Afterwards Sultan ordered the inhabitants of other cities to move to Delhi and repopulate it .  The order of the Sultan left those cities in ruins too. People of different cities came in Delhi but it was not fully populated because of its vast and immense area . At that time Delhi was one of the greatest cities in the world . According to Ibn Battuta , when he came in the city of Delhi , he found the city was almost empty as it was populated by a few inhabitants . 

 

* A  person’s account of a journey to another country or place.