On Al-Bī rū nī ’s Translation Strategy: on the Arabic Translation of the Sanskrit Text of the Yoga-Sū tras by Patañjali

Abstract

The Khorezm encyclopedist Abū Reyhān Muhammad bin Ahmad al- Bīrūnī (973–1048) is one of the most famous thinkers and scholars in the Muslim world. But only few people still know on his Arabic translation from Sanskrit of the second part of which is published below — “Kitāb Bātanjali al- Hindī” (“The Book of the Hindu Patanjali”). Before us is an Arabic exposition or transcription of “Yoga- Sūtras” of Patañjali, along with an explanatory commentary. The text is dated to the first quarter of the XI century, starting, obviously, from the chronology of the Indian campaign of Mahmud of Ghazni, with whose army the author came to India. The Arabic text of Bīrūnī is so reader- oriented that it is practically devoid of any “Indian” or scientific specifics, which, by the way, is often an insurmountable obstacle in translations to the perception of the source text and its spiritual impact on the reader. In the few studies of this text, one can find the statement that “Kitāb Bātanjali” by al- Bīrūnī is an Arabic translation of the Sanskrit text of Patañjali, which is absolutely not true. The only thing that can be noted is the formal structural correspondence of al- Bīrūnī’s paraphrase to Patañjali text: the text contains a division into four parts, but at the same time includes an extensive prologue, which is not in original Patañjali’s text. Al- Bīrūnī uses adialogical format, while Patañjali text is aset of sūtras, aphoristic sayings that are convenient for memorizing by heart, but require a detailed commentary for their understanding.