Al-Biruni: Nandana ke pahar se zameen ki paimaish aur Kitab al-Hind

Atemad E-Magazine 20 October 2026 · 7 minute ka mutalia

Jhelum se Pind Dadan Khan ki taraf jayein to namak ke paharon (Salt Range) ke mashriqi kinare par ek veeran pahari qila milta hai: Nandana. Aaj yahan khandar hain, magar taqriban ek hazar baras pehle isi pahari ki choti par khade ek aalim ne riyazi aur mushahide ki madad se poori zameen ka nisf qutr maloom kiya tha. Yeh aalim Abu Rehan Muhammad bin Ahmad al-Biruni (al-Biruni) the, aur un ka safar kisi jahaz ya karwan ka nahin balke ek nayi tehzeeb ko samajhne ka safar tha.

Khwarizm se Ghazni tak

German mustashriq Edward Sachau (Edward Sachau), jinhon ne al-Biruni ki “Kitab al-Hind” ka angrezi tarjuma kiya, apne dibache mein likhte hain ke al-Biruni 973 mein Khwarizm ke ilaqe mein paida hue, jo aaj ke Khiva (Uzbekistan) ka khitta hai. Jawani hi mein science aur adab mein naam paida kiya aur Khwarizm ke Mamooni hukmranon ke mushir rahe.

1017 ki bahar aur garmiyon mein Sultan Mahmood Ghaznavi ne Khwarizm ko apni saltanat mein shamil kiya aur wahan ke shehzadon aur sarkardah logon ko Ghazni le aya. Sachau ke mutabiq al-Biruni bhi un mein shamil the. Sachau ki raye hai ke agle terah baras, 1017 se 1030 tak, al-Biruni ko darbar ki koi khaas sarparasti hasil na thi; woh ghaliban izzat ke sath rakhe gaye ek siyasi mehman ya yarghamal ki haisiyat se Hindustan ke mukhtalif hisson mein rahe aur fursat ka waqt Hindustan ke mutale mein guzara.

Ek ajnabi ka ilmi safar

Al-Biruni ne Sanskrit seekhi, panditon se guftagu ki aur kitabein kharidin. Sachau ke baqol un ki kitab ke ishare batate hain ke yeh sab unhon ne Ghazni ke alawa Multan aur Peshawar jaise maqamat par kiya. Woh khud likhte hain ke jis shakhs ko is mauzu ke mutale ke aise mawaqe mile hon jaise unhein mile, woh kam hi hoga, agarchay woh apni naql o harkat mein kabhi poori tarah azad na the.

Is mehnat ka hasil “Kitab al-Hind” hai, jo taqriban 1030 mein mukammal hui. Sachau ke tarjume ke sarwaraq par is ke mauzuat ginwaye gaye hain: mazhab, falsafa, adab, jughrafia, taqweem, falakiyat, rusoom, qawaneen aur nujoom. Kitab ke aghaz mein al-Biruni apna tariqa wazeh karte hain: “Yeh kitab munazire ki kitab nahin”; woh mukhalifeen ke dalail radd karne ke bajaye Hinduon ke nazriyat “bilkul jaise woh hain” pesh karenge, aur sath Yunaniyon ke milte julte nazriyat bhi batayenge taake donon ka talluq samne aaye. Ek hazar baras pehle kisi doosri tehzeeb ko us ki apni zaban aur kitabon ke zariye samajhne ki yeh koshish aaj bhi misaal samjhi jati hai.

Zaban ki mushkil ka zikr bhi woh khul kar karte hain. Un ke baqol kabhi woh kisi Hindu se ek lafz sun kar badi ehtiyat se likhte, aur jab dobara usi ko sunate to woh use pehchan na pata.

Hamare khitte ka naqsha, ek hazar baras pehle

“Kitab al-Hind” Pakistan ke qari ke liye khaas dilchaspi rakhti hai, kyunke is ke kai safhat inhi ilaqon ke bare mein hain jahan aaj hum rehte hain.

Makuran ke sahil ke bare mein al-Biruni likhte hain ke Hindustan ka sahil Makuran ke sadr maqam Tiz se shuru hota hai aur wahan se janoob mashriq ki taraf Debal ke ilaqe tak chalis farsakh phaila hai. Yun un ka “sahil-e-Hind” Makuran se shuru ho kar Sindh ki taraf barhta hai. Woh yeh bhi batate hain ke Sindh jane wale Sistan ke raste se nikalte hain jabke baqi Hindustan ka rasta Kabul se jata hai, aur Hindustan ki maghribi sarhad ke paharon mein Afghan qabail wadi-e-Sindh ke qareeb tak abad hain.

Multan un ki kitab mein bar bar aata hai. Woh Multan ke ek mahir-e-falakiyat Durlabha (Durlabha) ka hisab ka tariqa naql karte hain, aur isi ke hawale se likhte hain ke Multan ke mahireen-e-falakiyat saal ka aghaz Chaitra ke mahine se karte the. Daryaon ke bab mein woh likhte hain ke Punjab ke darya Multan ke neeche mil kar ek darya ban jate hain.

Sab se dilchasp ek chhoti si fehrist hai. Al-Biruni likhte hain ke kuch shehron ke arz balad unhon ne khud nape, aur phir Ghazni, Kabul, Peshawar (Parshawar), Waihind, Jhelum, Sialkot aur Multan ke sath “Qila Nandana” ka naam bhi dete hain. Yaani yeh sayyah aaj ke Khyber Pakhtunkhwa aur Punjab mein jagah jagah ruk kar aasman ka mushahida kar raha tha.

Nandana ki choti: zameen kaise napi gayi

Abbasi khalifa Mamoon ke zamane mein mahireen-e-falakiyat ne maidan mein safar kar ke zameen ke ek darje ki lambai napi thi. Al-Biruni is par bharosa karne se pehle khud janchna chahte the, magar unhon ne ek aasan rasta socha jis ke liye maidan mein lamba safar zaroori na tha: ek unche pahar ki choti se ufuq kitna neeche jhuka nazar aata hai.

1951 mein Calcutta ki Iran Society ne “al-Biruni yadgari mujallad” shaya kiya. Is mein Syed Hasan Barani (S. H. Barani) ne al-Biruni ki ek kitab ka yeh jumla tarjuma kiya: “Jab main sarzameen-e-Hind mein Qila Nandana mein muqeem tha aur main ne is ke maghrib mein ek uncha pahar aur janoob mein ek maidan dekha, to mujhe khayal aaya ke yeh tariqa yahan azmaun.”

Tariqa yun tha: pehle pahar ki unchai maloom ki jaye; phir choti par khade ho kar woh zawiya napa jaye jis par maidan ka ufuq aasman se milta dikhai deta hai. Unchai aur is zawiye se musallasat (trigonometry) ke hisab ke zariye zameen ka nisf qutr nikal aata hai. Nandana is kaam ke liye mauzoon tha kyunke ek taraf uncha pahar tha aur doosri taraf door tak hamwar maidan. Barani ke andaze mein yeh paimaish 407H aur 416H (taqriban 1016 ta 1025) ke darmiyan kisi waqt hui. Al-Biruni ki ek aur tehreer ke mutabiq unhon ne pehle Nandana ke pahar ki unchai maloom ki, phir choti par ufuq ka jhukao napa.

Barani ke mutabiq al-Biruni ne apni badi kitab “al-Qanun al-Masoodi” mein zameen ka nisf qutr 1,28,51,370 zira (hath) likha hai, jo Barani ke hisab se taqriban 3,939 mile banta hai. Jadeed paimaish mein zameen ka ausat nisf qutr taqriban 6,371 kilometre, yaani lagbhag 3,959 mile hai. Yun Barani ke hisab se al-Biruni ka nateeja jadeed qadr se sirf taqriban aadha feesad kam nikalta hai. Barani yeh bhi yaad dilate hain ke hawa mein roshni ke mudne (inti’taf) ki wajah se is tareeqe mein thodi ghalti lazmi thi.

Nandana aaj

Roznama Dawn ki 2021 ki ek report ke mutabiq Nandana ka qila zila Jhelum ki tehsil Pind Dadan Khan mein namak ke paharon ke mashriqi kinare par waqe hai. Report ke mutabiq qila arse se khasta haal hai aur is ke tahaffuz ka mansooba zer-e-ghaur tha.

Al-Biruni ka safar hamein yaad dilata hai ke khoj sirf naye samandar paar karne ka naam nahin. Ek ajnabi zaban seekhna, doosron ki kitabein un ki apni nazar se parhna, aur ek pahar ki choti se zameen ki golai napna bhi badi Muhimmat hain. Aur in mein se ek muhim hamare apne Jhelum ki ek pahari par sar hui.

Makhaz

Edward C. Sachau (tr. and ed.), Alberuni's India: An Account of the Religion, Philosophy, Literature, Geography, Chronology, Astronomy, Customs, Laws and Astrology of India about A.D. 1030, vol. I, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., London (first ed. 1888; popular edition 1910): translator's preface pp. viii–xvi; author's preface p. 7; ch. I p. 18 (pronunciation); ch. XVIII pp. 198, 208 (Sindh and Kabul roads; Tiz, Makran, Daibal; Afghans); ch. XXV (rivers below Multan); ch. XXXI p. 317 (latitudes observed by the author). https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.30168 · also https://archive.org/details/india.history.resource.647
Edward C. Sachau (tr.), Alberuni's India, vol. II, Trubner, London, 1888 (p. 10, Durlabha and the Multan year; notes and index). https://archive.org/details/india.history.resource.693
Syed Hasan Barani, "Muslim Researches in Geodesy", in Al-Biruni Commemoration Volume, A.H. 362 – A.H. 1362, Iran Society, Calcutta, 1951, pp. 1–52 (esp. pp. 1, 30–36; Barani's figures: radius 12,851,370 cubits, about 3,939 miles). https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.505563
Waseem Ashraf Butt, "Plan to conserve Nandana Fort on the cards", Dawn, 10 February 2021. https://www.dawn.com/news/1606414
"Earth Fact Sheet", NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (volumetric mean radius 6,371 km). https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html
"Nandana Fort", Wikipedia (pointer only: location in Pind Dadan Khan tehsil, Jhelum district). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandana_Fort

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