Page:A History of Hindu Chemistry Vol 1.djvu/147

 "In this communication between India and Bagdad we must not only distinguish between two different roads, but also between two different periods.

"As Sindh was under the actual rule of the Khalif Mansūr (A. D. 753-774), there came embassies from that part of India to Bagdad, and among them scholars, who brought along with them two books, the "Brahmasiddhānta" of Brahmagupta (Sindhind), and his "Khandakhādyaka" (Arkand). With the help of these pandits, Alfāzarî, perhaps also Yakub Ibn Tārik, translated them. Both works have been largely used, and have exercised a great influence. It was on this occasion that the Arabs first became acquainted with a scientific system of astronomy. They learned from Brahmagupta earlier than from Ptolemy.

"Another influx of Hindu learning took place under Harun, A. D. 786-808. The ministerial family Barmak, then at the zenith of their power had come with the ruling dynasty from Balkh, where an ancestor of theirs had been an official in the Buddhistic temple Naubehār i. e. navavihāra, the new temple (or monastery). The name Barmak is said to be of Indian descent, meaning paramaka, i. e. the superior. (abbot of the vihāra?). Cf. Kern, "Geschichte des Buddhismus" in Indien, ii, 445,