The Hindu-Arabic Numerals c10.32

c10.32

It was under these influences, either pre-Mohammedan or later, that the Hindu numerals found their way to the North. If they were known before Moḥammed's time, the proof of this fact is now lost. This much, however, is known, that in the eighth century they were taken to Bagdad. It was early in that century that the Mohammedans obtained their first foothold in northern India, thus foreshadowing an epoch of supremacy that endured with varied fortunes until after the golden age of Akbar the Great (1542–1605) and Shah Jehan. They also conquered Khorassan and Afghanistan, so that the learning and the commercial customs of India at once found easy access to the newly-established schools and the bazaars of Mesopotamia and western Asia. The particular paths of conquest and of commerce were either by way of the Khyber Pass and through Kabul, Herat and Khorassan, or by sea through the strait of Ormuz to Basra (Busra) at the head of the Persian Gulf, and thence to Bagdad. As a matter of fact, one form of Arabic numerals, the one now in use by the Arabs, is attributed to the influence of Kabul, while the other, which eventually became our numerals, may very likely have reached Arabia by the other route. It is in Bagdad,¹ Dār al-Salām — "the Abode of Peace," that our special interest in the introduction of the numerals centers. Built upon the ruins of an ancient town by Al-Manṣūr² in the second half of the eighth century, it lies in one of those regions where the converging routes of trade give rise to large cities.³ Quite as well of Bagdad as of Athens might Cardinal Newman have said:⁴