Sykes' History of Persia Vol 2 (pdf) - Heritage Institute

LIV PERSIAN LITERATURE 133
Al-Biruni l was badly treated by Mahmud, who
behaved at times like a spoilt child, but he remained
at Ghazna and after the death of his royal patron published
the second of his great works, the Indica. The Chronology
of Ancient Nations had been published thirty years earlier
be said that
and dedicated to Kabus. Of al-Biruni it
may
in addition to his vast learning he possessed a fine critical
faculty and a sense of proportion, which, combined with
his devotion to the truth, make his writings invaluable
to the student ; they almost seem to be the work of some
deeply-read modern European.
Avicenna. Abu Ali bin Sina was born near Bokhara
in A.D.
980, and, as already related, won the favour of the
Samanid Prince Noh at the early age of seventeen by his
skill as a physician. When the Samanid dynasty
fell he
proceeded to the court of Khwarazm, but was forced to
quit it,
as Mahmud insisted on his presenting himself at
Ghazna. Unwilling to do this, he fled by way of Tus to
Gurgan, where he was honourably received by Kabus.
Upon the deposition of the Ziyarid prince he finally proceeded
to the court of the Buwayhid, Ala-u-Dola, at
Isfahan, where he died at the age of fifty-seven.
Avicenna was among the very greatest of the many
lustrious sons of Iran, and by carrying on and
iveloping the science of Hippocrates and Galen and
ie
philosophy of Aristotle and Plato he exercised an
ifluence on the best brains of both the East and the
r
est, not only during his lifetime but for
many generaions
after his death his ; books, translated into Latin,
;mained the standard works of Europe from the twelfth
the seventeenth century.
Firdausi.
Supreme among the poets at the court of
[ahmud of Ghazna was Abul Kasim, famous under his
title
Firdausi, the author of the great national epic the
Shahnama. According to the Chahar Makala, he was a
dihgan or cultivator 2 of the village of Bazh in the
Browne in his History of Persian Literature, vol. i. p. 97, tells a delightful story
of al-Biruni's adventures at Ghazna.
2
Browne translates this word " a small squire," but this is apparently incorrect. To
uote from a report on agriculture written by me :
" The unit of the plough includes two
n, one of whom is known as the Salar and the other as the Dihgan. The duty of the