Answer:
Al Biruni tried to explain the caste system in India. Looking for parallels in other societies, he noted that in ancient Persia, four social categories were recognised; those of knights and princes, monks. Then priests and law years, physicians, astronomers and other scientists and finally peasant and artisans. He told that social divisions -were not unique in India. He also pointed out that within Islam all men were considered equal, differing only in their observance of piety.
Though Al-Biruni accepted the Brahmanical desperation of the caste system but disapproved of the notion or pollution. He remarked that every -thing which falls into a state of impurity strives and succeeds m regaining its original condition of purity. He insisted that life on earth would have been impossible if sun did not clean, the air, and the salt in the sea did not prevent water from becoming polluted. According to him the conception of social pollution, intrinsic to the caste system, according to him was contrary to the law of nature.
Al Biruni?s description of the caste system was deeply influenced by his study of normative Sanskrit texts which laid down the rules governing the system from the point of view of the Brahmanas. However, in real life the: system was not quite as rigid. For example, the categories defined as antyaja (born outside the system) were often expected to provide inexpensive, labour to both peasants and zamindars. Though they were often subjected to social oppression they were included within economic networks.
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