Indo-Persian
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Indo-Persian culture refers to a cultural synthesis present on the
Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...
. It is characterised by the absorption or integration of Persian aspects into the various cultures of modern-day republics of
Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, and
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
. The earliest introduction of Persian influence and culture to the subcontinent was by various
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
Turko-Persian rulers, such as the 11th-century Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi, rapidly pushed for the heavy Persianization of conquered territories in
northwestern Indian subcontinent Northwest India is a loosely defined region of India. In modern-day, it consists of north-western states of the Republic of India. In historical contexts, it refers to the northwestern Indian subcontinent. In contemporary definition, it gene ...
, where
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
ic influence was also firmly established. This socio-cultural synthesis arose steadily through the
Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate or the Sultanate of Delhi was a Medieval India, late medieval empire primarily based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for more than three centuries.
from the 13th to 16th centuries, and the
Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...
from then onwards until the 19th century. Various dynasties of Turkic, Iranian and local Indian origin patronized the Persian language and contributed to the development of a Persian culture in India. The Delhi Sultanate developed their own cultural and political identity which built upon Persian and Indic languages, literature and arts, which formed the basis of an Indo-Muslim civilization.
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
was the official language of most
Muslim dynasties This article includes a list of successive Islamic states and Muslim dynasties beginning with the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (570–632 CE) and the early Muslim conquests that spread Islam outside of the Arabian Peninsula, and contin ...
in the Indian subcontinent, such as the
Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate or the Sultanate of Delhi was a Medieval India, late medieval empire primarily based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for more than three centuries.
, the
Kashmir Sultanate The Kashmir Sultanate, historically Latinised as the Sultanate of Cashmere and officially known as the State of Kashmir, was a Medieval India, medieval kingdom established in the early 14th century, primarily in the Kashmir Valley, found in the ...
, the
Bengal Sultanate The Bengal Sultanate (Middle Bengali: , Classical Persian: ) was a Post-classical history, late medieval sultanate based in the Bengal region in the eastern South Asia between the 14th and 16th century. It was the dominant power of the Ganges- ...
, the
Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...
and their successor states, and the
Sikh Empire The Sikh Empire was a regional power based in the Punjab, Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. It existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and conquered by the East India Company, Br ...
. It was also the dominant cultured language of poetry and literature. Many of the
Sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...
s and nobility in the Sultanate period were Persianised Turks from
Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
who spoke
Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and West Asia. The Turkic langua ...
as their mother tongues. The Mughals were also culturally Persianised Central Asians (of
Turko-Mongol The Turco-Mongol or Turko-Mongol tradition was an ethnocultural synthesis that arose in Asia during the 14th century among the ruling elites of the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate. The ruling Mongol elites of these khanates eventually assim ...
origin on their paternal side), but spoke
Chagatai Turkic Chagatai (, ), also known as Turki, Eastern Turkic, or Chagatai Turkic (), is an Extinct language, extinct Turkic languages, Turkic language that was once widely spoken across Central Asia. It remained the shared literary language in the region u ...
as their first language at the beginning, before eventually adopting Persian. Persian became the preferred language of the Muslim elite of northern India.
Muzaffar Alam Muzaffar Alam (born 3 February 1947) is the George V. Bobrinskoy Professor in South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. Biography Muzaffar Alam is a historian trained at Jamia Millia Islamia (New Delhi), Aligarh Mu ...
, a noted scholar of Mughal and Indo-Persian history, suggests that Persian became the official ''
lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...
'' of the Mughal Empire under
Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...
for various political and social factors due to its non-sectarian and fluid nature. The influence of these languages led to a
vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...
called Hindustani that is the direct ancestor language of today's
Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
varieties. The Persianisation of the Indian subcontinent resulted in its incorporation into the cosmopolitan Persianate world of ''
Ajam (, ) is an Arabic word for a non-Arab, especially a Persian. It was historically used as a pejorative—figuratively ascribing muteness to those whose native language is not Arabic—during and after the Muslim conquest of Iran. Since the ea ...
'', known today academically as
Greater Iran Greater Iran or Greater Persia ( ), also called the Iranosphere or the Persosphere, is an expression that denotes a wide socio-cultural region comprising parts of West Asia, the South Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and East Asia (specifica ...
, which historically gave many inhabitants a secular, Persian identity.


History

With the presence of
Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
culture in the region in the Ghaznavid period,
Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...
and
Uch Uch (; ), frequently referred to as Uch Sharīf (; ; ''"Noble Uch"''), is a historic city in the Pakistan's Punjab province. Uch may have been founded as Alexandria on the Indus, a town founded by Alexander the Great during his invasion of t ...
were established as centres of
Persian literature Persian literature comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources have been within Greater Iran including present-day ...
. Abu-al-Faraj Runi and
Masud Sa'd Salman Mas'ud-i Sa'd-i Salmān () was an 11th-century Persian poet of the Ghaznavid empire who is known as the prisoner poet as well as the first poet ever of Lashkari/Lahori (later known as Urdu) as per Amir Khosrow's tribute to him. He lived fro ...
(d. 1121) were the two earliest major Persian poets based in Lahore. The earliest of the "great" Indo-Persian poets was
Amir Khusrow Abu'l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253 – 1325 AD), better known as Amīr Khusrau, sometimes spelled as, Amir Khusrow or Amir Khusro, was an Indo-Persian Sufi singer, musician, poet and scholar, who lived during the period of the Delhi Sult ...
(d. 1325) of
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
, who has since attained iconic status within the Urdu speakers of the Indian subcontinent as, among other things, the "father" of Urdu literature.


Delhi sultanate and the Mughal era

Indo-Persian culture flourished in North India during the period of the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526). The invasion of Babur in 1526, the end of the Delhi Sultanate and the establishment of what would become the
Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...
would usher the
golden age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...
of Indo-Persian culture with particular reference to the art and architecture of the Mughal era. During the Mughal era,
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
persisted as the language of the Mughals up to and including the year 1707 which marked the death of the Emperor Aurangzeb, generally considered the last of the "Great Mughals". Thereafter, with the decline of the Mughal empire, the 1739 invasion of Delhi by
Nader Shah Nader Shah Afshar (; 6 August 1698 or 22 October 1688 – 20 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran and one of the most powerful rulers in Iranian history, ruling as shah of Iran (Persia) from 1736 to 1747, when he was a ...
and the gradual growth initially of the Hindu Marathas and later the
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
an power within the Indian subcontinent, Persian or Persian culture commenced a period of decline although it nevertheless enjoyed patronage and may even have flourished within the many regional empires or kingdoms of the Indian subcontinent including that of the Sikh Maharaja
Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839) was the founder and first maharaja of the Sikh Empire, in the northwest Indian subcontinent, ruling from 1801 until his death in 1839. Born to Maha Singh, the leader of the Sukerchakia M ...
(r. 1799–1837). Persian as a language of governance and education was abolished in 1839 by the
British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...
and the last Mughal emperor
Bahadur Shah Zafar Bahadur Shah II, (Abu Zafar Siraj-ud-din Muhammad; 24 October 1775 – 7 November 1862), usually referred to by his poetic title Bahadur Shah ''Zafar'' (; ''Zafar'' ), was the twentieth and last List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Mughal emp ...
, even if his rule was purely symbolic or ceremonial, was dethroned in 1857 by the British. Further, C.E. Bosworth writes about the significance of Persian culture that developed a mark within Muslim sultans in this era that: "The sultans were generous patrons of the Persian literary traditions of Khorasan, and latterly fulfilled a valuable role as transmitters of this heritage to the newly conquered lands of northern India, laying the foundations for the essentially Persian culture which was to prevail in Muslim India until the 19th century."


Deccan

The Deccan region's integration into the Indo-Persian culture of the north began in the early 14th century, when the Delhi Sultanate made political movements towards the south, and the Deccan was brought into the Sultanate under the conquests of the
Tughluq dynasty The Tughlaq dynasty (also known as the Tughluq or Tughluk dynasty; ) was the third dynasty to rule over the Delhi Sultanate in medieval India. Its reign started in 1320 in Delhi when Ghazi Malik assumed the throne under the title of Ghiyath a ...
. Due to the Sultan
Muhammad Shah Mirza Nasir-ud-Din Muḥammad Shah (born Roshan Akhtar; 7 August 1702 – 26 April 1748) was the thirteenth Mughal emperor from 1719 to 1748. He was son of Khujista Akhtar, the fourth son of Bahadur Shah I. After being chosen by the Sayyid ...
policy of ordering a migration of the North Indian Muslim population of Delhi to the Deccan city of Daulatabad in 1327, in order to build a large Muslim urban centre in the Deccan. This led to a formal introduction of Indo-Persian culture in the Deccan, extending beyond the realm of the court. In the middle of the 14th century, the
Urdu-speaking Native speakers of Urdu are spread across South Asia. The vast majority of them are Muslims of the Hindi Belt, Hindi–Urdu Belt of northern India, followed by the Deccanis, Deccani people of the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in south-central I ...
immigrant population of Daulatabad staged a revolt breaking off from the Delhi Sultanate, but Indo-Persian culture lived on in the region. The breakaway
Bahmani Sultanate The Bahmani Kingdom or the Bahmani Sultanate was a late medieval Persianate kingdom that ruled the Deccan plateau in India. The first independent Muslim sultanate of the Deccan, the Bahmani Kingdom came to power in 1347 during the rebellio ...
was established in 1347, by Hasan Gangu. Its rulers were greatly influenced by Persian culture, they were well-versed in the language and its literature, and promoted Persian language education throughout their empire. The Persianised nature of the court is reflected in the fact that the Bahmanis celebrated festivals like
Nowruz Nowruz (, , () , () , () , () , Kurdish language, Kurdish: () , () , () , () , , , , () , , ) is the Iranian or Persian New Year. Historically, it has been observed by Iranian peoples, but is now celebrated by many ...
. The architecture cultivated by them had significant Iranian influences, even more than that of the Muslims in the north. The Bahmani Sultans actively recruited Persian or Persianised men in their administration, and such foreigners were in fact favoured over Indians who were known as the Dakhani. Sultan Firuz Shah (1397–1422) sent ships from his ports in
Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...
and
Chaul Chaul is a historic town located in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India. The Korlai Fort is located nearby. History Many foreign writers have mentioned Chaul. Ptolemy in his ''Geography of India'' calls the town Symullla or Timulla. The ...
to the
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...
to bring back talented men of letters, administrators, jurists, soldiers and artisans. This included the high-born Iranian
Mahmud Gawan Mahmud Gawan (1411 – 5 April 1481) was a Persian statesman who served as the chief minister, or Peshwa of the Bahmani Sultanate in the Deccan plateau in India from 1458 and ''de facto'' ruler as prime minister from 1466 until his death in 1481. ...
(1411–1481) who rose to become a powerful minister of that state during the reign of another Bahmani Sultan. This led to factional strife between the Dakhanis, the ruling indigenous Muslim elite of the Bahmanid dynasty, being descendants of
Sunni Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...
immigrants from Northern India, and the foreign newcomers like Mahmud Gawan who were called the Afaqis(Cosmopolitans or Travellers). According to Richard Eaton, Dakhanis believed that the privileges, patronage and positions of power in the Sultanate should have been reserved solely for them, based on their ethnic origin and their sense of pride of having launched the Bahmanid dynasty. Eaton also cites a linguistic divide where the Dakhanis spoke the Dakhni dialect of the
Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
language while the Afaqis favored the Persian language. In 1481, the Dakhanis poisoned the ears of the Sultan, leading to the execution of Mahmud Gawan. What followed was a wholescale massacre of the Iranian Georgian and Turkmen population in the urban centres by Nizam-ul-Mulk Bahri, who lead the Deccani faction. Factional strife between the Afaqis and Dakhanis resulted in pitched battles with the Afaqis usually being victims of violence due to the Deccanis' greater ties to local military networks. This frequently resulted in indiscriminate violence towards people of Iranian origin including learned men, pilgrims, petty merchants, nobles and servants, such the massacres of foreigners of Chakan in 1450, Bidar in 1481, and Ahmadnagar in 1591 by the Deccan Muslims. According to Eaton, the Dakhanis and Afaqis represented more than just two competing factions jostling for influence in the court; they stood for differing conceptions of state and society. If the Dakhanis manifested a colonial idea, namely, a society composed of transplanted settler-founders and their descendants, the Afaqis or Cosmopolitans represented a cultural idea, a refined style of comportment, an eminent tradition of statescraft, a prestigious language. Since each class was legitimate in its own way, neither could be fully disloged from the Bahmanid political system or the Deccan Sultanates. However, the activity of the Afaqis, unlike the Dakhani Muslim nobles, were solely dependent on the patronization of their host Dakhani Sultans, so that whenever there was a change or instability in the court, the Afaqis would leave altogether. Sebouh Aslanian described this mobile community as a "circulation society". According to Roy Fischel, more than any other group, the Dakhani Muslims were the social group that were most associated with the Deccan Sultanates, and the most dominant political group when it comes to determining the direction of the Sultanates. According to Richard Eaton, even the Hindu
Vijayanagara Vijayanagara () is a city located in Vijayanagara district of Karnataka state in India.Vijayanagara
empire from the same period was highly Persianised in its culture. The royal quarters of the capital had many Persian architectural elements such as domes and vaulted arches. The Bahmani Sultanate disintegrated into five
Deccan Sultanates The Deccan sultanates is a historiographical term referring to five late medieval to early modern Persianate Indian Muslim kingdoms on the Deccan Plateau between the Krishna River and the Vindhya Range. They were created from the disintegrati ...
, similar in culture.
Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
, built by the
Golconda Sultanate The Sultanate of Golconda (; ) was an early modern kingdom in southern India, ruled by the Persianate, Shia Islamic Qutb Shahi dynasty of Turkoman origin. After the decline of the Bahmani Sultanate, the Sultanate of Golconda was established i ...
in the 16th century, was inspired by
Isfahan Isfahan or Esfahan ( ) is a city in the Central District (Isfahan County), Central District of Isfahan County, Isfahan province, Iran. It is the capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is located south of Tehran. The city ...
. The use of Persian as a court language in Hyderabad continued under the
Nizams of Hyderabad Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I ...
, and was only replaced by Urdu in 1886. The court language during the Deccan sultanate period was Persian or Arabic, however,
Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...
was widely used during the period especially by the
Adil Shahis The Sultanate of Bijapur was an early modern kingdom in the western Deccan and South India, ruled by the Muslim Adil Shahi (or Adilshahi) dynasty. Bijapur had been a ''taraf'' (province) of the Bahmani Kingdom prior to its independence in 149 ...
of Bijapur and the
Ahmadnagar Sultanate The Ahmadnagar Sultanate was a medieval Marathi Muslim kingdom located in the northwestern Deccan, between the sultanates of Gujarat and Bijapur, ruled by the Nizam Shahi dynasty. It was established when Malik Ahmed, the Bahmani governor o ...
. Although the rulers were Muslims, the local feudal landlords and the revenue collectors were Hindus and so was the majority of the population. Political expediency made it important for the sultans to make use of Marathi. Nevertheless, Marathi in official documents from the era is totally
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
ised in its vocabulary. The Persian influence continues to this day with many Persian derived words used in everyday speech such as bāg (Garden), kārkhānā (factory), shahar (city), bāzār (market), dukān (shop), hushār (clever), kāgad (paper), khurchi (chair), zamīn (land), zāhirāt (advertisement), and hazār (thousand).


Bengal

Bengal was the easternmost frontier of the Persian cultural sphere. For over 600 years (1204–1837), the Persian language was an official language in Bengal, including during the provincial period of the Delhi Sultanate; the independent period of the
Bengal Sultanate The Bengal Sultanate (Middle Bengali: , Classical Persian: ) was a Post-classical history, late medieval sultanate based in the Bengal region in the eastern South Asia between the 14th and 16th century. It was the dominant power of the Ganges- ...
; the dominion period of the
Bengal Subah The Bengal Subah (Bengali language, Bengali: সুবাহ বাংলা, ), also referred to as Mughal Bengal and Bengal State (after 1717), was one of the puppet states and the largest subah, subdivision of The Mughal India, Mughal Emp ...
in the Mughal Empire; and the quasi-independent Nawabi period. Bengal was the subcontinent's wealthiest region for centuries, where
Persian people Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Ce ...
, as well as
Persianate Turks The composite Turko-Persian, Turco-Persian,
''Turko-Persia in historical perspective'', Cambridge University Press, ...
, settled in the Ganges delta to work as teachers, lawyers, poets, administrators, soldiers and aristocrats. The Bengali language continues to have a significant number of Persian loanwords. A popular literary dialect called
Dobhashi Dobhashi () is a neologism used to refer to a historical register of the Bengali language which borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. This is the part of Middle Bengali. It became the most customary form for composing '' ...
emerged which mixed Persian and Bengali words as a writing format. Several Bengali cities were once centres of Persian prose and poetry.
Hafez (), known by his pen name Hafez ( or 'the keeper'; 1325–1390) or Hafiz, “Ḥāfeẓ” designates someoone who has learned the Qurʾān by heart" also known by his nickname Lisan al-Ghaib ('the tongue of the unseen'), was a Persian lyri ...
, one of the masters of Persian poetry, kept a notable correspondence with Sultan
Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah Ghiyasuddin A'zam Shah (, ) was the third Sultan of Bengal and the Ilyas Shahi dynasty. He was one of the most prominent medieval Bengali sultans. He established diplomatic relations with the Ming Empire of China, pursued cultural contacts with ...
and they composed a poem together. The Mughal period saw the zenith of Persian cultural expression in Bengal. During the
Bengali Renaissance Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
, Persian was studied by not only
Bengali Muslims Bengali Muslims (; ) 'Mussalman'' also used in this work.are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising over 70% of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest et ...
but even
Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
scholars, including
Raja Ram Mohan Roy Raja Ram Mohan Roy (22 May 1772 – 27 September 1833) was an Indian reformer and writer who was one of the founders of the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, the precursor of the Brahmo Samaj, a socio-religious reform movement in the Indian subcontinent ...
. From the mid-eighteenth century towards the 19th century, five to six daily magazines were published in
Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...
, most notably the Durbin and the Sultan al-Akhbar. The use of Persian as an official language was prohibited by Act no. XXIX of 1837 passed by the President of the
Council of India The Council of India (1858 – 1935) was an advisory body to the Secretary of State for India, established in 1858 by the Government of India Act 1858. It was based in London and initially consisted of 15 members. The Council of India was dissolve ...
in Council on 20 November 1837.


During the British colonial era

Given that the Mughals had historically symbolised Indo-Persian culture to one degree or another, the dethroning of Bahadur Shah Zafar and the institution of the direct control of the British Crown in 1858 may be considered as marking the end of the Indo-Persian era, even if, after the
Indian Rebellion The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form ...
, Persian would still retain an audience and even produce commendable literature such as the philosophical poetry of
Muhammad Iqbal Muhammad Iqbal (9 November 187721 April 1938) was a South Asian Islamic philosopher, poet and politician. Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...
(d. 1938). The British would absorb elements of the culture's architectural style into the buildings of the Raj, producing
Indo-Saracenic architecture Indo-Saracenic architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal) was a Revivalism (architecture), revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and gov ...
. For 20th century Indian Muslims, and Urdu poets in particular, learning the Persian language was viewed as necessary for a full understanding of Urdu and central to the comportment of an educated North Indian Muslim man.


Adab

In Indo-Persian cultures in North India, Adab, which could be understood as a form of virtue ethics, is a code of values determining social behavior that forms the defining characteristic in Indo-Muslim culture.


Language


Cuisine

The Indo-Persian synthesis led to the development of cuisine that combined indigenous foods and ingredients with the tastes and methods of the Turko-Persians. This was especially under the Mughals, who invited cooks (''bawarchis)'' from various parts of the Islamic world. This resultant cuisine is referred to as
Mughlai cuisine Mughlai cuisine consists of dishes developed or popularised in the early-modern Indo-Persian cultural centres of the Mughal Empire. It represents a combination of cuisine of the Indian subcontinent with the cooking styles and recipes of C ...
, and has left a great impact on the regional eating habits of South Asia. It was further developed in the kitchens of regional Islamic powers, leading to distinctive styles such as the
Awadhi Awadhi may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Awadh or Oudh region in Uttar Pradesh, northern India ** Awadhi people, ethnic group of India *** Awadhi language Awadhi, also known as Audhi, is an Indo-Aryan language belonging ...
and Hyderabadi cuisines. Due to this synthesis, the Indian subcontinent shares Central and
West Asia West Asia (also called Western Asia or Southwest Asia) is the westernmost region of Asia. As defined by most academics, UN bodies and other institutions, the subregion consists of Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Mesopotamia, the Armenian ...
n food, such as ''
naan Naan () is a leavened, oven-baked or tawa-fried flatbread, that can also be baked in a tandoor. It is characterized by a light and fluffy texture and golden-brown spots from the baking process. Naan is found in the cuisines of Central Asia ...
'' and ''
kebab Kebab ( , ), kebap, kabob (alternative North American spelling), kebob, or kabab (Kashmiri spelling) is a variety of roasted meat dishes that originated in the Middle East. Kebabs consist of cut up ground meat, sometimes with vegetables an ...
'', and is home to unique dishes such as ''
biryani Biryani () is a mixed rice dish originating in South Asia, made with rice, meat (chicken, goat, lamb, beef) or seafood (prawns or fish), and spices. To cater to vegetarians, the meat or seafood can be substituted with vegetables or pane ...
.''


Architecture

The Indian subcontinent's Islamic period produced architecture that drew stylistically from Persianate culture, using features such as domes,
iwan An iwan (, , also as ''ivan'' or ''ivān''/''īvān'', , ) is a rectangular hall or space, usually vaulted, walled on three sides, with one end entirely open. The formal gateway to the iwan is called , a Persian term for a portal projecting ...
s, minars, and baghs. Early Islamic rulers tended to use
spolia ''Spolia'' (Latin for 'spoils'; : ''spolium'') are stones taken from an old structure and repurposed for new construction or decorative purposes. It is the result of an ancient and widespread practice (spoliation) whereby stone that has been quar ...
from Hindu,
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
, and Jain buildings, resulting in an Indianised style which would be refined by later kingdoms. Hence monuments came to feature uniquely Indian architectural elements, such as corbelled arches and
jali A ''jali'' or ''jaali'' (''jālī'', meaning "net") is the term for a perforated stone or latticed screen, usually with an ornamental pattern constructed through the use of calligraphy, geometry or natural patterns. This form of architectu ...
. The main buildings produced were mosques, forts, and tombs. These still stand today and are well-represented in the architecture of cities such as
Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...
,
Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
, and
Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
, to name a few. Indo-Persian architecture was not exclusive to Islamic power, as the members and rulers of other religions incorporated it in their monuments.
Sikh architecture Sikh architecture is a style of architecture that was developed under the Sikh Confederacy and Sikh Empire during the 18th and 19th centuries in the Punjab region. Due to its progressive style, it is constantly evolving into many newly developin ...
is a notable example of this. The Hindu
Vijayanagara Empire The Vijayanagara Empire, also known as the Karnata Kingdom, was a late medieval Hinduism, Hindu empire that ruled much of southern India. It was established in 1336 by the brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty, belongi ...
used Indo-Persian architecture in courtly monuments.


Music

Prior to Islamic conquest, the Indian subcontinent had a history of musical practice that drew from Sanskritic culture. The subsequent Indo-Persian synthesis resulted in an influx of Iranian musical elements, leading to further developments in the region's musical culture through the patronage of new Persianate rulers. This appears to have been the impetus for divergence in indigenous music, leading to the divergence of
Hindustani classical music Hindustani classical music is the Indian classical music, classical music of the Indian subcontinent's northern regions. It may also be called North Indian classical music or ''Uttar Bhartiya shastriya sangeet''. The term ''shastriya sangeet'' ...
from
Carnatic Music Carnatic music (known as or in the Dravidian languages) is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and southern Odisha. It is o ...
. Some of the main instruments used in this style, such as the
sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...
,
santoor The Indian santoor instrument is a trapezoid-shaped hammered dulcimer, and a variation of the Iranian santur. The instrument is generally made of walnut wood and has 25 bridges. Each bridge has 4 strings, making for a total of 100 strings. It ...
and
sarod The sarod is a stringed instrument, used in Hindustani music on the Indian subcontinent. Along with the sitar, it is among the most popular and prominent instruments. It is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound, in contrast with the sweet ...
, are thought to have close historical ties with Persian instruments (for an example, see
setar A setar (, ) (lit: "Three String (music), Strings") is a stringed instrument, a type of lute used in Persian traditional music, played solo or accompanying voice. It is a member of the tanbur family of long-necked lutes with a range of more than ...
). Musical genres such as ''
khyal Khyal or Khayal (ख़याल / خیال) is a major form of Hindustani classical music in the Indian subcontinent. Its name comes from a Persian language, Persian/Arabic language, Arabic word meaning "imagination". Khyal is associated with rom ...
'' and ''
tarana ''Tarana'' is a type of composition in Hindustani classical music, Hindustani classical vocal music in which certain words (e.g. "odani", "todani", "tadeem" and "yalali") based on Persian language, Persian and Arabic language, Arabic phonemes are ...
'', and the musical performance of ''ghazals'', are examples of the Indo-Persian musical confluence. Notably, the
Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
devotional music of ''
qawwali Qawwali is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing originating in the Indian subcontinent. Originally performed at Sufi shrines throughout the Indian subcontinent, it is famous throughout Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and has ...
'' bears evident impact from Persian influence, such as the frequent usage of Persian poems. The creation of many of these practices is credited to 13th-century poet, scholar, and musician
Amir Khusrau Abu'l Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (1253 – 1325 AD), better known as Amīr Khusrau, sometimes spelled as, Amir Khusrow or Amir Khusro, was an Indo-Persian Sufi singer, musician, poet and scholar, who lived during the period of the Delhi Sult ...
.


See also

*
Persianate society A Persianate society is a society that is based on or strongly influenced by the Persian language, culture, literature, art and/or identity. The term "Persianate" is a neologism credited to Marshall Hodgson. In his 1974 book, ''The Venture of Is ...
* Turco-Persian culture * Turco-Mongol culture *
Greater Iran Greater Iran or Greater Persia ( ), also called the Iranosphere or the Persosphere, is an expression that denotes a wide socio-cultural region comprising parts of West Asia, the South Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and East Asia (specifica ...
* Persian language in the Indian subcontinent *
Indo-Islamic architecture Indo-Islamic architecture is the architecture of the Indian subcontinent produced by and for Islamic patrons and purposes. Despite an initial Arab presence in Sindh, the development of Indo-Islamic architecture began in earnest with the establi ...
* Central Asians in ancient Indian literature *
Mughal architecture Mughal architecture is the style of architecture developed in the Mughal Empire in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries throughout the ever-changing extent of their empire in the Indian subcontinent. It developed from the architectural styles of ea ...
* Mughal clothing * Persian Inscriptions on Indian Monuments *
Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...
*
Islam in South Asia Islam is the second-largest religion in South Asia, with more than 650 million Muslims living there, forming about one-third of the region's population. Islam first spread along the coastal regions of the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka, almo ...


References


Bibliography

* *


Further reading

* (series of entries that cover Indian history and its relations with Iran) * Chopra, R.M. ''Indo-Iranian Cultural Relations Through The Ages''. Iran Society, 2005. * Chopra, R. M.,"The Rise Growth And Decline of Indo-Persian Literature", Iran Culture House, New Delhi, 2012. 2nd revised edition published in 2013. * Cole, Juan R.I. "Iranian Culture and South Asia, 1500–1900". in: Keddie, Nikki; Matthee, Rudolph P. (ed.). (2002).
Iran and the Surrounding World: Interactions in Culture and Cultural Politics
'. University of Washington Press. . pp. 15–35. * Eaton, Richard M., ''India in the Persianate Age'' (Allen Lane, 2019) * Islam, Riazul, "Indo-Persian Relations". Iranian Culture Foundation, Tehran, 1970. * Kirmani, Waris. ''Dreams Forgotten: An Anthology of Indo-Persian Poetry.'' (Aligarh, 1984) * Nabi Hadi.
Dictionary of Indo-Persian Literature
'' (New Delhi, 1995) * Fabrizio Speziale, ''Culture persane et médecine ayurvédique an Asie du Sud'', Leiden – Boston, E. J. Brill, Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science. Texts and Studies, 2018. {{Mughal Empire Persian culture Culture of India Culture of Pakistan Mughal culture