A research scholar in Aligarh is preparing a lecture on a long eleventh-century Arabic text about India, divided into eighty chapters on religion, festivals, astronomy, laws and customs. Reading the chapters closely, she finds that most of them, though not all, follow one fixed pattern from beginning to end, so that a reader can tell in advance how each chapter will move. She tells her students that this regular plan makes the work easy to follow, and asks them to find out how present-day scholars have tried to account for it.
Some present-day scholars have explained this regular, predictable plan of the chapters by pointing to the author's
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → mathematical orientation
Option (1) mathematical orientation — Correct. The text is Al-Biruni's Kitab-ul-Hind. Each chapter opens with a question, gives a description from Sanskritic traditions and ends with a comparison. Scholars call this an almost geometric structure and link it to his mathematical orientation.
Option (2) training in Islamic law — Incorrect. Expertise in Islamic religious law, or shari'a, belongs to Ibn Battuta's family. Scholars explain Al-Biruni's chapter plan through his mathematics.
Option (3) study of Greek philosophy — Incorrect. Scholars trace the precision of the plan to his mathematics. Greek philosophy is left out of their explanation.
Option (4) knowledge of Sanskrit texts — Incorrect. Sanskritic traditions supply the middle part of each chapter, the description. They fill the plan.
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