Part
I
India
and Iran : Common Homeland, common linguistic and racial Past
Contacts between Achaemenian Persia and India
Contacts between Sassanian Persia and India
Buddhist influence on Persia
Continuing contacts (2nd to 7th century AD)
Part
II
Advent
of Islam
Sufism – Spiritual interaction between India and Iran
Mughal-Safavid Period
Spread of Persian literature and poetry in India
Persian influence in the field of art and architecture
Decline in direct Indo-Iranian links
Continuing Contemporary Links
India
& Iran – Age Old Ties :
"Few people have been more closely
related in origin and throughout history than the people of India and
the people of Iran"
– JawaharLalNehru
“I used to dream of a Persia where
bulbuls made love to the roses, where in dreamland gardens poets sat
around their wine cups and invoked visions of ineffable meanings. But
now that I have come to your country my dream has been formed into a
concrete image that finds its permanent place in the inner chamber of
my experience … I have visited Sa’di's tomb; I have sat
beside the resting place of Hafiz and intimately felt his touch in the
glimmering green of your woodlands, in blossoming roses. The past age
of Persia lent the old world perfume of its own sunny hours of spring
to the morning of that day and the silent voice of your ancient poet
filled the silence in the heart of the poet of Modern India”
– Rabindranath Tagore, 09 May
1932.
The peoples of India and Iran, two ancient
neighbouringcivilisations, have enjoyed close historical links through
the ages. They had a common homeland and share a common linguistic and
racial past. Over the several millennia, they interacted an enriched
each other in the fields of language, religion, arts, culture, food
and other traditions. Today the two countries enjoy warm, friendly relations
and cooperate in a wide range of fields.
Part
I
Prehistoric
times :
1. It is believed that before 2000-3000
BC, the inhabitants of modern Iraq and southern Iran as also the people
of west and north west India came from the same region. Later, around
1500 BC Aryan tribes from north invaded and defeated these people and
marched further to south Asia. During the pre-historic times (around
3000 BC), the people of Kulliculture (North West Indian borders) excelled
in making small boxes of soft stone, delicately engraved with linear
patterns. At Susa (west Iran) a few pieces of painted pottery have been
found which appear to be similar to the wares of the Kulli people. In
the hills of Baluchistan, where the people of Nal and Zhob cultures
built their little villages, the Barhuis, though ethnically now predominantly
Iranian, speak a Dravidian language (spoken in South India).
2. There seems little doubt that the Indus Valley civilization had contacts
with the contemporaneous civilizations of Iran and Mesopotamia. There
is a striking similarity between some of the designs and seals. There
was trade between the coast of southern Iran and India through the Persian
Gulf and the Arabian Sea. Some Indus seals have been excavated at Kish,
Susa and Ur in Iran. The Harappan people are believed to have imported
silver, copper, turquoise and lapis lazuli from Persia and Afghanistan.
Iran supplied silver, gold, lead, zinc, turquoise to ancient India.
Ivory was imported from India.
India and Iran : Common Homeland, common linguistic and racial Past
3. On the basis of linguistic evidence
the people who arrived on the southern slopes of Alborz mountains in
North Iran and in Western Iran, are regarded as having originally been
along the Indo-Iranians who for a long period shared a common tradition
while living as Nomads in the Central Asian steppes. Eventually the
two linguistically related groups separated and migrated southwards.
The Iranian group moved into the highlands of Iran through the flat
passable area south-east of Caspian Sea, while the Indian tribes migrated
into the Indian sub-continent.
4. It is believed that Indians and Iranians belonged to one single family
before the beginning of the Indo-Aryan civilisation and lived together
with a common language for many centuries in pasturelands of Oxus valley
in Central Asia (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgistan, Turkmenistan and
Kazakstan). This common habitat was either around the upper reaches
of the Tigris where the Zob meets it or in the vast doab of the rivers
Vahvi-Datiya and Ranha (the Oxus and Jaxertes). The first Aryan migration
into India and Iran took place around 2000 BC. In Iran, as in India,
the impact of the Aryans was to prove ineffaceable and founded a long
enduring tradition. These people brought with them their patrilinear
system, their worship of sky gods, their horses and chariots. In the
second millennium B.C. there was close agreement between the language
and mythology, religious traditions and social institutions of Indians
and Iranians on the one hand and those of the Greeks, Romans, Celts,
Germans and Slavs on the other. For a considerable period after their
separation from their western kinsmen, the Indians and Iranians are
believed to have lived together.
5. The scriptures Vedas (of the Indian Aryans) and the Avesta (of the
Iranians) both agree on the cause, which led to the migration of the
Aryans from their original homeland (called AiryanaVaejo in Avesta).
In the Vedic account, it is a flood of water that is referred to and
in the Avestan account it is a flood of snow and frost. The praleya
signifying snow or frost is derived from pralaya or deluge in Sanskrit
by Panini. That there was a huge flodd in pre-historic ties in some
parts of the then known world is proved by Semitic sources which seem
to have borrowed their account from Aryan sources. The name of the person
who escaped this disaster is Noah, according to them (more correctly
Nuh as in Arabic which is a contracted form of Manuh, nominative form
of Manu). In both Indian and Iranian versions, he is the son of the
same person – Vivasvat or Vivanghat. According to the tradition
of the Vendidad, the ancestors of the Iranians lived in 15 other countries
turn by turn. One of these was Haptahindu, i.e. Saptasindhu, the cradle
land of Indo-Aryan civilization.
6. Indian or Indo-Iranian groups who worshiped the Vedic deities were
found in and to the north of Syria in the middle of the second millennium
B.C. Prof. S.A. Cook writes “In what may roughly be called the
'Mosaic’ age, viz, that illustrated by the Amarna letters and
the “Hittite” tables from Boghaz-Keui, Palestine was exposed
to Iranian (Old Persia) or Indo-European Persian Empire…. In the
Mosaic Age, Varun, the remarkable ethical God of ancient India, was
known to North Syria.” In the 14th century BC, there appeared
in North East Syria, a people called Mittani, whose kings had Indo-Iranian
names and whose gods were very similar to the Aryan gods – Indara
(Indra), Uruvna (Varun), Mitira and Nasatiya. Some other chiefs in Syria
and Palestine also had Indo-Iranian names.
7. India is mentioned in the Avesta and there is some description of
north India in it. In the Rig Veda there are references to Persia –
the Persians who were called Parshavas and later Parasikas, from which
the modern word Parsi is derived. The Parthians were referred to as
Parthavas.
8. Old Persian language was a member of the Indic branch of the Indo-European
languages. Related to it was Zend of Avestan, the language of the earliest
Zoroastrian text, which was later, divided into two distinct branches
– Indic and Iranic.One later developed as Sanskrit and the other
as Persian.
9. The name of India has come from Iran through a long relay –
Iranic to Greek to Latin to English and finally to India with its dominance
of English. India is a Greek word written 'India in the Greek alphabet
and pronounced Hindia. It comes from Hindos 'the river Indus’
from the old Persian Hindu, the Persian pronunciation of the Sanskrit
Sindhu. (In Avesta and old Persian an initial s was pronounced h).
10. Similarly, the name Iran is related to Sanskrit Arya (noble). The
ancient Persian also used the name 'Arya’ and the word survives
in the word 'Iran’. Iranians are one of three peoples of the world
who have called their countries 'Land of Nobility’ or 'The Noble
Land’. Iran is the Avesta word airya 'noble’ with the toponymic
suffix –an, denoting a geographical area. The name of Ireland
is Eire in Irish language and aire means 'noble’ in Irish. Aryavarta
is the sacred land bounded on the north and south by the Himalaya and
Vindhya mountains, and extending from the eastern to the western sea.
The name Iran and Aryavarta are close relatives and denote the abode
of the excellent ones, the noble and respectable people, those faithful
to their land. The Persian speaking Aizerbajan is the ancient word aryanamvajah
'the power of the Aryans’, which celebrates the emerging sway
of the Iranians in the second or third millennium BC.
11. Sanskrit and Avesta have a common basic vocabulary and common grammar.
The name of HaptaHendu (land of seven rivers) is mentioned in Avesta
whereas Ariya (the name of Persia) is mentioned in the Vedas. In the
Rig Veda, the Persians were called Parshavas and later Parasikas (from
which the modern word Parsi is derived).
12.
The ancient Iranians invoked the good mind, the good spirit VohuManah
(Vasumanah in Sanskrit). The word vohu is vasu in Sanskrit. Its superlative
form is vashisht (the personification of right). The modern Persian
Bahisht is AvestaVahishta and Sanskrit Vashishth (in English best).
Some
other words with apparent common roots are :
Sanskrit |
|
Avestic |
Rita |
|
Asha
(arta) |
Atharv |
|
Atar
(fire, atish) |
Yam |
|
Yim |
Ashman |
|
Aseman
(sky) |
Danu |
|
Danu
(river) |
Manas |
|
Manah
(mind) |
Pitr |
|
Pitar
(sather) |
Martyanam |
|
Masyanam
(of mortal men) |
Yagna |
|
Yasna
(sacrifice) |
Arya |
|
Airya |
13.
River Sarasvati became the province Haraxvaiti in Avesta. The river
Rasa became the district Rangha in Media now Rai near Tehran. Avesta
has the river Varan, which refers to Varanasi situated on the confluence
of Varana and Asi rivers. Avesta mentions the river Haroyu which is
Saryu flowing near Ayodhya. The HaptaHendu of Avesta and SaptaSindhu
of Rigveda is Punjab.
14. The Persian word Khuda goes back to AvestaHvada, which is svadha
in Sanskrit (inherent power). The Avesticbara survives in the name of
Baghdad and it is Sanskrit bhaga or better known bhagavan).
15. AvesticKshathra and Sanskrit Kshatra become in modern Persian Shahr
and Hindi Khatri/Khet. Avesticdugh and Sanskrit dugdha change into dugh
and dudh. Avesticbratar and Sanskrit bhratri change into Persian baradar
and Hindi Bhai. Avestichvar or khvar and Sanskrit svara become Persian
khur (of Khurshid) and Hindi sur. Sanskrit dha (set, make), bhr (bear),
gharma (warm) are Avestan and old Persian da, bar and garma. Sanskrit
pra (forth), putra (son) are Avestanfra and puthra.
16. h replaced s in Iranian except before non-nasal stops and after
I, u, r, k; Sanskrit sapta (seven), sarva (all) are Avestanhapta and
haurva. Iranian also has both xs and s sounds, Indo-Aryan has only ks.
Avestanxsayeiti (has power, is capable), saeiti (dwells) are Sanskrit
ksayati and kseti.
17. There is much in common between
the Vedic religion and Zoroastrianism. The core of these religions was
sacrifice, centred on fire. The earliest religious texts of Indo-Aryans
(principally the Rig Veda dating back to 1300 to 900 BC) are indispensable
for making historical reconstructions of the development of Iranian
religion. Gatha, the hymns of Prophet Zoroaster, included in a part
of the Avesta, the holy book of the Zoroastrians, suggests a close link
with the ancient Indian hymns, the Rig Veda of c. 1700 B.C. This is
the period prior to the migration of Nomadic tribes into Iran and India.
18. The hymn of Gayatri resembles the Gatha of the ancient Iranians.
The vedic ritual of Agni and the Avestic ritual of Atar were similar.
The Hindu Gods and Goddesses like Indra and Bhadrika resemble Ahura
Mazda and Mithra.[28] During the Vedic period, gods were divided into
two classes the devas and the asuras (In Iranian daevas and ahuras).
In India devas came to be more powerful than the asuras and the latter
word eventually took on the meaning of a demon. In Iran the reverse
took place and the daevas were denounced as demons by Zoroaster. They
still survive as such in the divs of Persian foklore, especially though
Ferdowsi's epic Shah Nameh).
19. Vedic and Persian religions (both
Aryan) mingled in Gandhar, where stood the Indian city called Taxila
by the Greek. By the age of Darius (6th century BC), the most refined
of its cult had evolved into what was later known as Zoroastrianism
– a dualist religion accounting for the problem of evil in terms
of struggle of a good with an evil god. To this day, there are close
similarities in the Persian festival of Nowruz (Iranian New Year) also
celebrated by Parsis in India and Holi as both are centred towards fire.
20. The Indo-Iranian element in later
Hinduism is chiefly found in the initiatory ceremony (upanayana) performed
by boys, a rite both in Hinduism and in Zoroastrianism that involves
the tying of a sacred cord. The Vedic god Varun, now an unimportant
sea god appears in the Rigveda as sharing many features of the Zoroastrian
Ahura Mazda ("Wise Lord"); the hallucinogenic sacred drink
soma corresponds to the sacred haoma of Zoroastrianism. Varun was known
as an Asur, a term also applied to lesser gods, which in later Hinduism
came to mean a class of demons, but which in Persia was adopted by the
Zarathustra in its local form as part of the title of the great god
of light – Ahura Mazda. Varun may have been the high god of the
Indo-Iranians before the two peoples divided. Varun was first and foremost
a king, an emperor sitting in a great palace in heavens often with associated
gods around him. Most important of these was Mitra, a god with some
solar characteristics. He was represented in the Zoroastrian pantheon
and was also widely worshipped in the Roman Empire under the Greco-Iranian
name Mithras.
21. The Iranian Surya (sun god) wearing a long coat with a sacred girdle
and knee-high boots was worshipped by Indian kings. He had a special
name Mundirasvami and the word Mundira is found in ancient Iranian texts
from Khotan. The Modhera temple in Gujarat and Munirka village in Delhi
remind of the name Mundira. The Sun God at Konarak, Orissa is famous
in his Iranian drapery and boots. The royal priests of this royal surya
were of Iranian descent like SakadvipiyaBrahmanas, or Mishra (in which
th of AvestaMithra became sh).
22. Both Vedas and Gathas have no place for idols or temples. Both enjoin
the maintenance of fire and performance of sacrifice (Sanskrit yajna
and Avesticyasna). Their priests have common duties and names.
23. The four varnas (classification
of society) of India developed out of very early Aryan class divisions.
Some stratification existed in many Indo-European communities. Ancient
Iran had four pistras (classes), comparable in some respects to those
in India. The four-fold classification of society into priests, warriors,
peasants and artisans appears in the Vedas, the Gathas and Yasna and
Ferdowsi's Shah Nameh (which mentions their designations as Amuzian,
Nisarian, Nasudi and Ahnukishi.
24. The system of four yugas (ages)
was similar to the doctrine of four ages that existed in ancient Persia.
The system was also prevalent in ancient Greece. The Iranians, like
the Indians, believed that the world was divided into seven regions
or karshvar (keshvar in modern Persian, which means country).
25. There is a word in the Gathas – asha – that appears
in a variety of forms – asha/arsh/eresh/arta/ereta. The last variant
is near to the rita of the Rig Veda. For both Avesta and Veda, this
word means the order of the world, the law of the man. Law and order
seems to be the fundamental concepts of the Aryans.
26. The myths that appear in the part of the Avesta known as Yasht include
some tales of very ancient pre-Zoroastrian origin, probably belonging
to the pagan Indo-Iranian era. Many of these myths re-appear in the
Shahnameh (Book of Kings), an epic in rhyme by the Poet Firdowsi, which
was completed in A.D. 1010. The greatest hero of Iranian mythology was
undoubtedly Yima (Jamshid of the Shahnameh.) As YimaKhshaeta, King Yima,
he belongs to the Indo-Iranian traditions. The Indian equivalent, the
Vedic Yama, chooses to die and becomes the Kind of the dead.
27. There are several parallelisms between
medical, physiological and pathological doctrines of the Ayurveda and
those of the Avesta in its surviving texts represented by the Vendidad,
the Yasna and the Yashts. The Persian word din (religion) is similar
to dhena of the rigveda where it means 'speech reflecting the inner
thoughts of man’. Its Avesta equivalent is daena, a common word
in Gathas meaning inner self of man.
28. The Samba-purana relates that Samba, the son of Krishna, had been
afflicted with leprosy and was restored to health by the grace of Sun
God whose worship was performed by Iranian priests called Maga. The
Maga priests were the famous Magoi or Magi – Zoroastrian priests
who spread the worship of fire and Sun and erected temples at Taxila
and Multan. The Bhagvat-Puran calls the sacred girdle of Sun priest
avyanga, which is the Avestanaiwyanghana. Samba built the sanctuary
of Mitravana on the banks of Chenab. There were Sun temples on the banks
of Yamuna. The Maga Brahmins and the Gandhar Brahmins of North India,
as well as BrahminiMagis of the South were all of Iranian origin.
29. Commerce between the mouth of the
Indus and the Persian Gulf was unbroken down to the Buddhist times.
There is evidence of trade between the Phoenicians of the Levant and
western India as early as 975 B.C. Trade between the Indus Valley and
the Euphrates seems to be very ancient.
Contacts
between Achaemenian Persia and India :
30. By around 1000 BC, Indians and Persians
had established themselves as distinct cultural and racial entities
with their boundaries meeting at Kabul and Sistan.
31. The founder of the Achaemenian dynasty in Persia was Hakhamanis
(Sakhamani in Sanskrit, meaning one who has allies/friends – Hakha/Sakha
of crystalline fidelity - mani). During the Achaemenian period, some
parts of northwest India came under Persian rule. Indian emissaries
were present in the courts of Medes and Emperor Cyrus in 550 –
529 BC.
32.
One of the great Achaemenian emperors was Cyrus. His correct name in
the inscriptions is Kurus (Kuru of Aitareya-brahmana and Mahabharat
in Sanskrit). Kuru is described as a country of everlasting happiness
beyond the most northern ranges of the Himalayas. Cyrus founded the
imperial capital of Pasargadae or Pars-gard (the seat of Persians).
Gard is Garta in Sanskrit, which means a seat. Garta or Karta later
came to mean capital as in Jakarta. The audience hall of the Achaemenian
emperors was called apadana. Its Budhist parallel is Avadan.
33.
Darius, the third ruler of the Achaemenian dynasty, sent an expedition
to India. Three of his inscriptions refer to his relations with India.
The Behistun rock inscription (ancient Bagastana 'place of Gods’
or Sanskrit 'Bhagasthana’) dating back to around 518 BC includes
Gandhar in the list of his subject countries. Here Darius refers to
his language as Aryan.
The Persepolis inscription mentions
Punjab as a part of the Persian empire. The epigraph of Nagsh-i-Rustam
shows India as the 24th state of his empire. When Cyrus the Great was
invaded by King Croesus of Lydia in Greece, a contemporary Indian king
is believed to have rendered military assistance to the Iranian emperor.
34. The Indian province of Darius was the richest in his empire and
the most populous. Herodotus tells us of the wealth and density of the
Indian population and of the tribute paid to Darius: 'The population
of the Indians is by far the greatest of all the people that we know;
and they paid tribute proportionately larger than all the rest –
(the sum of) 360 talents of gold dust’ (equivalent to over a million
pounds sterling). Herodotus also mentions the Indian contingent in the
Persian armiesconsisting of infantry, cavalry, and chariots. Later,
elephants are mentioned. One-third of gold that flowed into the imperial
treasury of Iran came as a tribute from India. Indians clad in white
cotton cloth fought in the armies of Xerxes on the battlefields of Plataea
and Marathon against the Greeks. Of the two scripts employed in India,
one had evolved from Armaic, which the Achaemenian scribes employed.
Indian mercenaries roamed the coasts of Caspian and skirmished with
the Scythians. The Khudrakas of the Ravi were deployed beyond the Hindukush.
The Achaemenians brought rice from India to be planted in the Near East.
It is also believed that cane sugar was first used by man in Polynesia
from where it spread to India. In 510 BC the Emperor Darius found in
India "the reed which gives honey without bees", which he
then brought to Persia.
35. It is believed that the Greek philosopher Pythagoras may have obtained
his doctrine of metempsychosis(transmigration, or passage of the soul
from one body to another) from India, mediated by Achaemenian (6th-4th
century BC) Persia (although similar ideas were known in Egypt and were
also present in Greece before the time of Pythagoras). The Pythagorean
doctrine of a cyclic universe may also be derived from India.
36. Darius-I killed Gaumata, a pretender
to the Persian throne, in 522 BC to become the Persian emperor. Gaumata
(one who considers cow as mother) is used till today in Hindi to mean
cow the mother.
37. Xerxes (5th century BC) succeeded his father Darius-I to the Achaemenian
throne. His avestic name was Khshayarsha (ruling over heroes), which
was Hellenised as Xerxes. His army included Pathans and Bactrians from
India. He invaded and defeated the Greeks. According to Herodotus, a
detachment Indians fought in the Persian army against the Greeks at
Plataea.
38. Not surprisingly, administrative and political nomenclature in northern
India at this time reflected that of western and Central Asia. The Persian
term for the governor of a province, khshathrapavan, as used by the
Achaemenians, was Hellenized into "satrap" and widely used
by these dynasties. Its Sanskrit form was ksatrapa.
39. Darius assigned a Greek navigator
Skylax of Casyanda to make a voyage from the mouth of the Indus river
to Egypt.
40.
Achaemenian art and architecture had a significant influence on India.
Before the Ashokan period of history, there is no evidence of epigraphy
in India. It has been suggested that the idea of issuing decrees by
Ashok was borrowed from the Achaemenian emperors, especially from Darius
(though the tone and content of Ashoka"s edicts are different).
The pillars, with their animal capitals (fine examples of Mauryan imperial
art), are influenced by Achaemenian pillars. The use of this means of
propagating official messages and the individual style of the inscriptions
both suggest Persian and Hellenistic influence and India under the Mauryas
was certainly more continually in touch with the civilizations to the
west than ever before. At Kandahar, Ashoka left instructions in both
Greek and Aramaic.
41. In 330 BC Alexander defeated Darius III. In the decisive battle
of Gaugamela a small contingent of Indian soldiers with fifteen elephants
fought with Darius against the Greeks. Alexander the Great after destroying
the Achaemenian empire marched into India. Chandragupta Maurya, who
founded the Mauryan dynasty, had friendly relations with the successor
of the Macedonian conqueror in Persia. SeleucusNicator, the Grecian
ruler of Persia, sent Megasthenes as the envoy of Hellenistic Persia
to the court of Patliputra in India. Commercial and cultural relations
between Persia and India continued. Persian nobles were conspicuous
in the courts of Mauryan kings. Tushaspa, a Persian, was present during
the reign of Chandragupta Maurya. The Kharoshti script was introduced
by the Persian officials in the northwestern frontier province and continued
to be in use till the 4th century AD.
42. Towards the end of 1st century BC, a line of kings with Iranian
names, usually known as Pahlavas, gained the brief suzerainty of North
West India. According to legend, St Thomas brought Christianity to the
kingdom of one of these rulers – Gondophares. 43.
Trade expanded mainly because Achaemenians introduced coinage, which
facilitated exchange. India exported spices, black pepper and imported
gold and silver coins from Iran. The grape, introduced from Persia with
the almond and walnut, was cultivated in the wetsren Himalayas. One
of the earliest Indian words for a coin is Karsa (also a small weight),
which is of Persian origin.
44. According to Herodotus, the Persian emperor Artaxerxes (5th century
BC) exempted the inhabitants of four Babylonian villages from taxation
in return for their breeding Indian dogs for hunting and war. The dog
is only once mentioned with respect in ancient Indian literature and
was rarely, if ever, treated as a pet. The exception occurs in the Mahabharata,
where the five pandavas and their wife Draupadi take their dog with
them on their final pilgrimage to heaven, and the eldest brother Yudhisthira
refuses to enter without his faithful friend. It has been suggested
that the episode shows Iranian influence, for with the Zoroastrians,
the dog was a sacred animal.
Contacts between Sassanian Persia and India :
45. The Sassanian period in Persia (226-651
AD) coincided with the Gupta period (308-651 AD) in India. The Sassanian
monarchs maintained relations with the Patliputra based Gupta empire.
The name of Pulakesin, the ruler of the Deccan, was known in Persia.
It was usual to exchange Embassies between Persia and India. Iranian
traders acted as commission agents to deliver Indian goods to European
ports. One of the murals in Ajanta caves near Mumbai depicts a Hindu
king with men in Sassanian dress.
46. During the reign of Shahpur (310-379
AD) in Persia, Indian physicians were invited to practice medicine along
with Greek and Iranian physicians in Jundishpur Hospital in southern
Kuzestan province of Iran.
47. In Kushana and Gandhara art, Parthian and east Iranian elements
are visible. Sassanian motifs are abundant in Gupta art. Also Indian
peacock, dragons, cocks and spiral creeper adorn Sassanian monuments.
The tiles of Harvan monastery near Srinagar testify to the Sassanian
influence on the Kashmir valley. The Kushanas became affluent through
trade, particularly with Rome. They issued large number of gold coins,
which exhibit the figures of Greek, Roman, Iranian, Hindu and Buddhist
deities.
48. The borderland areas of Kabul, Kandhar and Seistan, which were often
politically parts of India, were the meeting place of Indians and Iranians.
In later Parthians times they were called 'white India’. Referring
to these areas the French savant, James Darmesteler says “Hindu
civilization prevailed in those parts, which in fact in the two centuries
before and after Christ were known as white India”.
49. The Ranas of Udaipur, the head of the Sisodia clan of the Rajputs
are believed to have veeb Iranians originally who came to India towards
the end of sixth century. The Pallavas (Parthians, Sanskrit –
Pahlavas) are also believed to have originated from Iran. Pulkessin
II, the Ruler of Badami sent an Embassy to Khusro II (Parviz) in A.D.
625 and a return Embassy to his court is the subject a beautiful fresco
in a cave at Ajanta. The name Gujarat itself has associations with the
Gujar tribe of Iran that inhabited the region of Gujistan near west
of Caspian Sea. These people are believed to have entered India around
6th century A.D.
50. After the conquest of Alexander, the nobles of Saurashtra and Kutch
acknowledged the suzerainty of the Parthians and later the Sassanians.
The history of Gujarat from A.D. 78 to A.D. 400 is shown as Kshatrapa
(Satrap) period. Nahapana (Parthian), Chashtana, Jayadaman, Rudradaman,
Tushasp, Suvisakha were some of the rulers of this period. Over time
the rulers assumed Hindu names.
Buddhist influence on Persia :
51. In the 1st century BC, Kanishka,
the ruler of northwest India, became a great patron of Buddhist faith.
Buddhism began to spread to Central Asia and the Far East. Kanishka
patronized the Gandhara school of Buddhist art, which introduced Greek
and Persian elements into Buddhist iconography. By the end of 3rd century
AD, Vasudeva, one of Kanishka's successors was defeated by the Sassanian
king Shahpur I and northwest India came under Persian influence.
52. Buddhism became the religion of
the east Iranian province of Khorasan through the Kushana emperors.
The legendary biography of Buddha in Sanskrit – the Buddha Charita
– composed by AshvaGhosh was translated into Khotanese and then
into Sogdian and Parthian – old Persian idioms, then into Pahlavi
and into Arabic and other languages. IbnBabaviah of Qom in his work
Akmal al din waTamam al Nimah included a story based upon the Persian
version of the above story by ZakariyaRazi. The legend of Balohar and
Budasaf became a part of European and Asian literature. In Iran, the
story of Ibrahim ibnAdham, the prince who abandoned his kingdom to lead
a religious life, is moulded on the model of Budha.
53. During the Sassanian era, Mani, a scion of the Ashkanian family
preached a syncretic religion combining elements of Zoroastrian, Buddhist
and Christian faiths. He claimed to be the incarnation of the Buddha.
54. In Central Asia there was a confusing
welter of languages, religions, and cultures, and, as Buddhism interacted
with these various traditions, it changed and developed. Shamanism,
Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity, and later Islam all penetrated
these lands and coexisted with Buddhism. For example, some of the Mahayana
bodhisattvas, such as Amitabha, may have been inspired, in part, by
Zoroastrianism. There is also evidence of some degree of syncretism
between Buddhism and Manichaeism, an Iranian dualistic religion that
was founded in the 3rd century AD.
55. In north west India, Zoroastrianism
and Buddhism came into close contact. The Zoroastrian doctrine of the
Saviour (Saosyant) probably influenced the idea of the future Buddha,
which later became part of the orthodox belief.
56. The temples, monasteries and the monuments, which dotted Khorasan,
must have in some ways influenced the early architecture of Persia.
The blue of turquoise from Khorasan in east Persia became the symbol
of the 'mind by nature luminous’ (cittamprakriti-prabhasvaram).
The spires of Buddhist monasteries were made of turquoise, as blue was
the colour of meditation. The shades of blue porcelain created by the
Buddhist masters of East Asia reflected the subtle planes of contemplation.
This tradition was centuries later taken over by the blue mosques of
Persia. The Jandial temple near Taksasila was probably Zoroastrian.
Ivory plaques, originally fastened to the lids and sides of furniture
and boxes, found at the Kushana site of Begram, 80 km north west of
Kabul are Indian in inspiration.
57. Paintings on the walls of Dukhang of Alchi monastery in Ladakh reproduced
in detail Sassanian motives on textiles. They can be seen in round medallions
with mythical animals. The most ancient stringed instrument from Persia
– a red-sandalwood five-stringed vina – has been preserved
at the Todaiji monastery in Nara, Japan since 8th century. It is decorated
with a Persian motif in mother-of-pearl inlay and represents a cultural
exchange between the Persian and the Buddhist world. The Tibetan histories
of medicine relate that Jivaka the physician to Lord Buddha was born
as the son of King Bimbisara. Grown up, one day he saw a group of white-clad
men and asked his father: “Who are they”. He said: “They
are doctors and they protect people from diseases”. He wished
to become a doctor and he asked his father for permission. King Bimbisara
sent him to Taxila. These white-clad men were Iranians, who were famous
physicians as attested by Sanskrit texts.
58.
Early Persian poetry, creation of east Persians, cultivated abstract
mental forms recalling the grace of Buddhist statues. (Till the 11th
century Persian poetry came from Khorasan, Sogdiana and adjacent areas,
which were once steeped in Buddhism). The metaphor of Bot (Buddha) was
constant and exclusive in early Persian poetry. The facial type of bot-e-mahruy
(moon-faced statue) was the norm in Persian paintings and poetry. Bahar
is both spring and a monastery (vihar). The Persian raghe for sloping
hill refers to the location of vihars on top of a hill with gentle slopes.
59. The Parthians of east Iran and Central Asian Iranians translated
Sanskrit texts into Chinese. An Shih-Kao was a Parthian prince who became
a Buddhist monk. He came to China in 148 AD and translated 95 Sanskrit
works on Buddhism into Chinese. 55 of them are still available in Chinese
Tripitaka. Another Parthian prince An Huen translated two Sanskrit works
into Chinese in AD 181.
Continuing contacts (2nd to 7th century AD) :
60. According to Shahname of Ferdowsi
(11th century AD), the 5th century AD Sassanian king BehramGur requested
Indian king Shangol to select 12,000 gypsies - expert Indian musicians
– and introduced them into Persia from India.These gypsies are
believed to be the ancestors of the Persian gypsies. They propagated
Indian music and dancing in Persia and travelled to all parts of the
world from there. There are remarkable similarities in the language
of European gypsies (Romani) and Indo-Aryan languages. It is also believed
that BehramGur visited India in 5th century AD. Persian poet Hakim NizamiGanjavi
has alluded to the Indian wife of king Behram in his famous work Haft
Paikar (seven figures) indicating instances of inter-marriage.
61. During the reign of Sassanian king Noshirvan (531-576 AD), scientists
and other scholars were exchanged between Persia and India. During the
same period, the game of chess (Chaturang in India) is believed to have
been introduced in Persia from India (known as Shatranj). Later, when
Persia was conquered by the Arabs, the game quickly spread all over
the middle east and then to Europe. The original game was played on
64 squares (astapada) with a king piece and pieces of four other types,
corresponding to the corps of the ancient Indian army – an elephant,
a horse, a chariot or ship and four footmen.
62. Under Noshirwan, Jundishpur was developed as a leading center of
Persian medicine, in which Indian Ayurvedic system was syncretized with
the Greek system propagated there by the Nestorian Christians. Burzuya,
the physician to Noshirwan, was sent to India to bring back works on
medicine and searched for elixir of life. Burzuya on his return brought
stories of Panchatantra with him. The Jundishpur school of medicine
continued its active existence and after the Arab conquest of Persia,
exerted a great deal of influence on the development of Arabian medicine.
63. Panchtantra, the collection of Indian fables – instructions
about conduct of one's affairs, was translated from Sanskrit to Pehalvi
by Burzoy-e-Tabib who called it KalilavaDemna. From Persia it travelled
to the west. Abdullah ibnMuquaffa translated this Pehalvi text into
Arabic. There exist several versions of the text in Persian written
by Rudki (10th century AD), Nasrullah bin Mohd bin Abdul Hamid Munshi
(15th century AD) and a version by Abdul Fazal (16th century AD). The
later Arabian Nights owes several of its stories and themes to India.
64. In the 6th century, sandalwood, magenta, shells, corals, pearls,
gold and silver were traded. Several Indian translators are believed
to have been present in the Sassanian royal courts. Bam, in south-east
Iran, was a major commercial and trading town on the famous Spice Road,
a major tributary of the Silk Road, that connected trade routes from
India through Iran to Central Asia and China.
65. Around 7th century AD an Arabic
translation from a Persian version of the CharakaSamhita, the famous
Indian medical text, was made during this phase. Another early Pahlavi
book Zik-i-ShatroAyar an astronomical work based on Indian elements
was translated into Arabic by Al Tamimi.
66. According to Christian Topography of Cosmos Indicopleustes of 6th
century AD, there were churches in Keral and Ceylon in the hands of
Persian priests, supervised by a Persian bishop at Kalliana (perhaps
modern Cochin). Indian Christians had embraced the Nestorian heresy,
which was then widespread in Persia. The Nestorians were active missionaries
and their monks had crossed Central Asia to found churches in China.
These missionaries following in the wake of Persian merchants are believed
to be chiefly responsible for establishing Christian community in south
India.
Part
II
Advent of Islam :
67.
In the 7th century, after the Persians lost the battle of Qudisiyah
in 637 AD to the Islamic Arab armies, the Sassanian dynasty came to
an end. Following this, the Zoroastrians – a section of the Persians
– migrated to India through the Strait of Hormuz. During the 7th
century, Arab traders used to come to the southern and western coast
of India. In 712 AD, the Arabs under the command of Mohammad bin Qasim
invaded India from west, but this was shortlived.
68. After Islam took over Persia, Zoroastrianism
all but disappeared from Persia. The followers of the religion fled
Persia and took refuge in Western India enriching the cultural and social
life of India. They are today known as Parsis. The Parsis began arriving
in India from around A.D. 636. Their first permanent settlements were
at Sanjan, 100 miles north of Bombay. They are believed to have built
a big fire temple at Sanjan in A.D. 790 with the fire which they had
brought from Iran with them. According to the Parsis’ own tradition,
one band of refugees settled first at Diu in Saurashtra and then at
Thana near Mumbai in the early 8th century. Their connection with their
co-religionists in Iran seems to have been almost totally broken until
the end of the 15th century. Re-established in 1477, the connection
was kept up chiefly in the form of an exchange of letter until 1768.
Even today, Parsis maintain a cultural relationship with Iran, travelling
to the cities of Tehran, Yazd and Kerman in Iran for pilgrimage. There
have been several prominent Indians – political leaders, industrialists,
Government officials – from this community. These include Dadbhai
Nowroji (thrice president of Indian National Congress), Field Marshall
Manekshaw, the great scientist Dr. Homi Bhabha and the leading business
groups of Tata and Godrej among others.
69. The century following the Arab conquest
of Sind was one in which the Hindu culture influenced the Arab culture.
The scientific study of astronomy in Islam commenced under the influence
of an Indian work Siddhanta which was brought to Baghdad by 771 through
translations. In about 800 A.D. Aryabhatta"s treatise Aryabhatiyam
was translated into Arabic under the title Zij-al-Arjabhar. Before that,
in 772 A.D., Brahmagupta"s two works, the Brahmasphuta-Siddhanta
and the Khandakhadyaka, were taken to Baghdad and translated into Arabic.
The knowledge of Hindu numerals and the decimal place-value system reached
the Arabs along with the Indian mathematical-astronomical works rendered
into Arabic in the 8th and 9th century AD.
70. The earliest evidence of Arabic/Persian influence on Indian astronomy
is of the second half of the fourteenth century. Mahendra Suri, a court
astronomer of Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1351-88), composed in 1370 A.D. a
treatise entitled Yantraraja. Based on Persian knowledge, it described
the construction and use of astrolabe, an instrument developed to perfection
by Arab astronomers. Another Indian astronomer who made use of Arabic/Persian
knowledge was Kamalakara (b.1658 A.D.), who wrote a big treatise on
astronomy called Siddhanta-Tatva-Viveka. But it was Sawai Jaya Singh
II who showed the greatest interest in Arabic/Persian astronomy.
71. In the 10th century AD, a Persian
pharmacologist Abu Mansur Muwaffaq ibn Ali al Harawi of Herat wrote
Kitab’l Abniya an Haq’iq’l Adwiya (book of Foundations
of the True Properties of Remedies). Believed to be the oldest prose
work in modern Persian, the book utilized material from Indian sources
among others.
72. The Iranians had strident arguments regarding the relative virtues
of their Arab and non-Arab cultural traditions. These arguments culminated
in the Sh’ubia movement. They owned the non-Arab traditions and
put their knowledge to translate Sanskrit works on mathematics, astronomy,
medicine and other sciences into Arabic. They used their learning of
Sanskrit grammar to systematize Arabic grammar. The Sahihs of al-Bukhari
and the Sunan of al-Tirmidhi are collections of Hadith, which were,
redacted at Bukhara and Tirmidh once the strongholds of Buddhism. The
hadith begin with “Thus have I heard”, which is the usual
beginning of Buddhist scriptures (evam maya srutam). The term srutam
implies historic sanctity and glory. So do the hadith, which are on
par with the Holy Qoran.
73. In the 11th century AD, Islam came to India from the side of Persia
through Sultan Mohammad Ghaznavi. The subsequent influence of Islam
when it reached India had a rich Persian influence. The magnificent
art and architecture of Iran came to be associated with Islam. Some
new ideas like the Shi’a movement took shape in Islam. Islam became
the common element that linked the Persian and Indian elites. Ghaznavi
brought along a number of poets, artisans and religious persons who
settled down in India. Lahore became an important centre of Persian
literature art and mysticism. This continued over the next centuries.
Between 1206 AD and 1687 AD many Muslim dynasties appeared in different
parts of India. During this period, the Turks, the Tartars and some
Arabs who had imbibed Iranian influence came to India. During the rule
of Khiljis (14th century AD) several Persian scholars from Tabriz, Esfahan
and Ray visited the royal courts in India.
74.
During the 11th century AD, Al-Biruni, believed to be a Shi’ Muslim
of Iranian origin born in Khwarizm in north Persia, visited India during
the Ghaznavi period. He wrote his famous Kitab-ul-Hind (Indica) in Arabic.
Earlier, many Indian works on astronomy, mathematics and medicine had
been translated into Arabic during the early Abbasid period. Al Biruni,
who was very interested in astronomy and mathematics, refers to some
of these texts, which must have been available to him. Biruni was a
great linguist and a prolific writer. Besides his mother tonque, Khwarizmi
– an Iranian dialect of the north with Turkish influence –
he knew Hebrew, Syriac and Sanskrit besides Persian and Arabic. He studied
Sanskrit manuscripts to check the earlier Arabic writings on India.
Tarikh al-Hind (Kitab-ul-Hind) contains chapters on Indian religion,
philosophy, society, science, alchemy, geography, astronomy and astrology
etc. Al Biruni composed about 20 books on India – both original
and translations and also a great number of legends based on folklores
of ancient Persia and India. He developed special interest in the Samkhya,
the Yoga traditions of Indian philosophy and the Bhagavat Gita. He was
possibly the first foreign scholar to have seriously studied the Puranas,
specially the Visnudharma. Biruni also rendered the al-Majest of Ptolemy
and Geometry of Eucledes into Sanskrit.
75.
During this period several Hindu and Jain religious and philosophical
texts from Sanskrit and Prakrit were translated into Persian. These
include the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Upanishads, Bhagavata Gita, Nalopakhyana
(Nala and Damayanti), Bhagavata Purana, Vishnu Purana, Siva Purana,
Skandha Purana, Vayu Purana, Brahmanda Purana, Brahma Vaivarta Purana,
Harivamsa, Atharva Veda, Yoga Vashishtha, Sankara Bhasya, Atma Vilasa,
Amrita Kunda, Prabodhacandrodaya, Vraja Mahatmya. There are 24 different
translations of Ramayana and 8 different versions of the Bhagavat Gita,
11 of Bhagwat Puran and 6 of Mahabharat in Persian language written
by Hindu and Muslim scholars.
Sufism – Spiritual interaction between India and Iran :
76. Sufism was the result of spiritual
interaction between Persia and India. Sufism, originally borrowed from
India, returned to India with a distinct Iranian stamp. The mysticism
of Islam came under the impact of Hinduism and its philosophy of Vedanta.
Hinduism also accepted some Islamic elements such as equality and monotheism.
Many Hindu saints combined tenets of Islam and Hinduism. Emperor Akbar
(1556-1604 AD) even promulgated a new religion - 'Din-e-Ilahi’
– a combination of the prevailing religions in India.
77.
Islamic mysticism has been the inspiration of its refined romantic poetry,
its ethereal architecture and painting. It grew in the intellectual
soil of Iran. Among its sources were the Qur’an, the teachings
of Hindu philosophy and neo-Platonism of Alexandria. Neo-Platonism itself
combined Christian, Greek and Hindu elements. The dominating concern
of the neo-Platonists was religious and their attitude was subjective
and intuitive. This was the result of the influence of the Hindu thought.
Unhellenic pantheism, Upanishadic monism and otherworldly ethics of
Hinduism transformed the idealism of Plato into a Gnostic philosophy.
Thus Hindu thought entered the structure of Muslim Tasawwuf through
neo-Platonism.
78. While neo-Platonism was the main influence in the development of
Muslim thought in Iraq, a direct exchange of ideas took place in eastern
Iran or Khorasan. Accounts of Chinese travellers show that the region
was saturated with Hindu thought. Buddhist monks and Hindu priests were
spread throughout the land from Khwarizm to Khotan and Afghanistan.
Sufi thought and practice, therefore, grew in Khorasan. Early Sufis
gave shape to Sufi concepts, systematised Sufi philosophy, inspired
Sufi poetry and learnt the Hindu practices of restraining the breath
using the rosary and meditation. Great mystic poets Abu Said Abil Khair,
Abdul Majid Sanai, Fariduddin Attar, Jalaluddin Balkhi and Summa Rumi
came from Khorasan. The Iranian Muslim mystics were among those mainly
responsible for propagating Islam in India and provided the impulse
which brought into existence the bhakti movement in Hinduism (propagated
by saints like Kabir, Nanak, Chaitanya and Tukaram). Today, India is
the biggest centre of Sufism in the world. The four well-known Sufi
silsilas (orders) in India are the Qadiriya, the Chishtiya, the Naqshbandiya
and the Sohravardiya.
79. Mowlavi, the famous Persian mystic, was inspired by Upanishad's
monism thoughts and is believed to have adopted the method of story
telling of the Indians in his book Masnavi.
80. There is affinity and several similarities among the Hindu and Muslim
mystical thought. The pantheist monism of the Advaita Vedanta and Wahdat
al wujud of the Sufis are different expressions of the same world-view.
For both, the Divine Being is the sole ground of all that exists, manifests
itself as the world and diversities are nothing but various modes of
its appearance. This self-manifestation of the Ultimate Being is spoken
of in such Vedantic terms as – vivarta, pratibhasa and pratibimba.
These are the same as the sufi concepts of tajalli, zuhur, 'aks and
numud. The most central idea of the Advaita Vedanta – the essential
unity of all beings – is also basic to the pantheistic philosophy
of Ibn al-Arabi and was popularised in the hama-ust doctrine of the
later Sufis. The immanence of the divine essence described as sarvabhutatma
and antaryamin is also postulated by the Sufis in their conception of
God as the soul of the world – Jane-i’jahan. In both cases,
the ultimate truth can only be realised through Jnana or ma’rifat.
The idea of nirguna Brahman is comparable to dhat al-mutlaq, jivatman
with ruh, vyakta and avyakta with zahir and batin; sat and satyam with
haq and haqiqat; para-vidya and apara-vidya with ilm-i zahir and ilm-i
batin; samnyasa with tark and tajrid and so on.
There
are several similarities in expression also :
Sanskrit |
|
Avestic |
Aham
Brahmasmi |
|
Ana"l-Haq |
Sarvam
idam Brahma |
|
Hama-ust |
Ato
"nyad artam |
|
Kullu
ma siwa"llah batil |
Satsaya
satyam |
|
Haqiqat
at-haqa"iq |
Jyotisam
jyotih |
|
Nur
at-anwar |
Tatsatyam |
|
Huwa"l-Haq |
81.
These seem to be exact translations of Upanishadic passages into Sufi
terms.
82. The most prominent Sufis in India
were Moinuddin Chishti, Fariduddin Ganj Shakr, Nizamuddin Aulia, Jalaluddin
Tabrizi, Bahauddin Zakariya, Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki and Amir Kabir
Seyyed Ali Hamadani. Seyyed Ali Hamadani came to Kashmir in the 14th
century along with 700 of his disciples, friends and artisans and propagated
Persian and religious guidance.
83. Sana’i and 'Attar, spiritual precursors of the distinguished
Sufi Rumi sowed the seeds of early Persian mystic poetry. Sana’i
is believed to have visited India and learnt some Indian languages.
Long before the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate in 1206 and the
Muslim kingdom of Kashmir in 1320, Sufis had migrated to northern India.
The abodes of the Sufis in India were generally known by their Persian
name khanqahs. Most of the Sufi pioneers who are famous for introducing
their different silsilas in India either came from Iran or from Central
Asia.
84. The poetry of Khwaja Abdullah Ansari,
Sana’i, Ahmad Jam, Nizami Ganjavi, 'Attar, Rumi, Sa’di,
Hafez and Jami inspired the Indian Sufis. According to Abul Fazl, Kmiya-i-Sa’adat
of Imam Ghazzali, Gulistan of Sa’di, Hadiqa of Sanai, Masnavi
of Rumi, Jami Jam of Auhadi, Khamsa-i Nizami and Kulliyat-i Jami were
continually read to Akbar. The Shattari silsilah of Sufism, founded
by Shah Abdullah Shattari in Persia and propagated by Seyyed Mohd Ghouse,
was introduced in India. Mohd Ghouse translated Amrit Kund into Persian
under the title of Bahr al-Hayat. Kashf al-Mahjub, (The Unveiling of
the Veiled – 'a mystic textbook’) written in 11th Century
by Shaikh 'Ali Hujwiri at Lahore, blended mystic ideas that developed
in Persia and Central Asia. Awarifu’lMa’arif of Shaikh Sihabuddin
Suhrawardi was another Sufi work that contributed to the spread of Persian
ideas in India, serving as a guide for all those who founded silsilahs
in new lands. An important Iranian tradition that influenced the Indian
minds in the khanqahs was the compilation of malfuzat, wherein the miracles
of Sufis (karamat) are discussed in detail.
85. Sufis also contributed in large measure to the development of Urdu
language, which today is among the official Indian languages.
86. A Persian verse of 'Attar was inscribed
on temples of Kashmir. Kashmiri Brahmans even composed their hymns in
Persian. The love of Sufi poetry cemented relationship between Hindus
and Muslims. A number of commentaries have been written by Indian scholars
on the works of the great Sufi Jalaluddin Rumi. For Iqbal, Rumi was
a living stream (zinda rud). Rumi's selection of many stories of Indian
origin also contributed to his popularity in India. A glossary of masnavi
by Rumi, compiled by Abdul Latif Abbasi during the reign of Shah Jahan
identifies words in the masnavi that are common to Persian and Hindi
in addition to those which are common to Arabic and Hindi. Hafez's literary
reputation reached India during his lifetime. Shaikh Sa’di's classical
works – Gulistan and Bustan – were popular studies in both
Indian mystic circles and madarsahs. The Sufi literature specially that
pertaining to Kashmir is rich in discussion involving the Sufis and
Hindu ascetics.
87. Gradually in north India mysticism began to acquire a Muslim face.
Compositions of Baba Farid, one of the disciples of Khwaja Moinuddin
Chishti of Sistan who settled in Ajmer in 12th century AD, form part
of the holy book of the Sikhs – the Guru Granth Sahib. Even before
the advent of the four recognised categories of bhakti poetry in Hindi,
the emergence of the Persian poet Amir Khusrau was noticeable. He was
a disciple of the Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia of Delhi. Within
the next two centuries, the Sufis had spread their network of 'retreats’
over north India. Sufis appealed to all classes of Muslims particularly
those less educated in traditional sciences and exhibited a way of life
and thought attractive to Hindus in its piety, devotion, asceticism
and tolerance. Between the end of the 12th century and the end of the
15th century, three great Sufi orders had migrated from Iraq and Persia
into northern India – the Chishti, the Sohravardi and the Ferdowsi.
The Chishti was the largest and most popular. Amir Khusrau, the poet,
and Ziauddin Barni, the historian, were among its adherence. The tombs
of the mystic saints of the order are still honoured by both Hindus
and Muslims. The Sohravardi order was confined to Sindh and the Ferdowsi
order moved to Bihar.
88.
The great Persian poet Sa’di, in 13th century, travelled from
Shiraz to Punjab, Somnath, Gujarat and Delhi. While in Somnath, he witnessed
the idol worship of the Hindus and recorded his experiences in the Bustan
in couplets. From Somnath he went to Gujarat, and then to Punjab and
later to Delhi. From Delhi he went to the Yemen.
89. In 1220 when the Mongols ransacked
the Muslim world destroying Bukhara, Samarkand, Gurganj, Balkh, Marv
and Ghazni, Islam went into eclipse in Persia, Iraq, Transoxania and
other regions. India largely escaped the Mongol invasion. The Delhi
Sultanate offered a refuge in that crucial period to the scholarly fugitives
and India became a cultural sanctuary of the Muslim world.
Mughal-Safavid Period :
90.
In the 16th century, Iran witnessed the rise of the Safavi dynasty after
a period of upheaval and India saw the rise of the Mughal (or Moghul
– the Persian word for Monghol) empire. India and Iran became
great powers under these two dynasties. The intercourse between India
and Iran was many-faceted, covering – politics, diplomacy, culture,
literature, trade, and religion. The Mughal patronage of culture constantly
attracted Persian scholars; talented Persians were absorbed in the expanding
services of the Mughal empire. The ties between the Safavids and the
Mughals were marked by the alliance of Shah Ismail I with Babur and
the friendship of Shah Tehmasp and Humayun. The Safavids established
Shi’its sect as the state religion in Iran.
91. Babur, (originally a Timurid from the Uzbek region of Samarkand)
received help from the Safavid King Shah Ismail I and established himself
first in Kabul and then in Delhi and Agra. Shah Ismail I returned to
Babur, the latter's sister Khanzada Begum, who had been recovered by
the Persians from Uzbeks at Merv and who re-joined her brother after
a decade. It is believed that during his occupation of Samarqand (1511-12),
Babur struck coins bearing Shi’a legends and the name Shah Ismail
Safavi.
92.
Babur, himself an accomplished Persian poet was a patron of Persian
poets. Babur invited Khwand Amir, a famous historian from Herat to join
his court. He also selected Bairam Beg, a Shi’a, to be a constant
companion to his son Humayun.
93. Humayun, the son of Babur, after
being defeated by an Afghan King Sher Shah Suri, fled to Iran and was
only able to return to India with the military help of the Iranian king
Shah Tahmasp Safari. On his way back, Humayun took over Qandahar from
Kamran Mirza (half-brother of Humayun) with Persian help in 1545, but
handed it over to the Persians as agreed, only to retake it later (the
Persians retook Qandahar soon after his death in 1556). He then went
on to take Kabul. There were several diplomatic exchanges between Humayun
and Shah Tahmasp.
94. Humayun visited several places including
Sistan, Herat, Jam, Mashhad, Qazvin, Tabriz and Ardebil during his stay
in Persia. There is an inscription of Humayun at Turbat-I-Jam dating
back to 1544 AD, wherein he alludes to himself as an “empty handed
wanderer”. During his stay in Persia, Humayun had to accede to
the demand of Shah Tahmasp of Persia to explicitly accept the Shi’a
faith. On his return from Persia, he is believed to have reverted to
Sunni faith.
95. Humayun's stay in Iran further stimulated
Mughal interest in Persian literature and art. Because of his long stay
in Iran, several Iranian poets and scholars later migrated to India.
Persian artistes Mir Sayyid Ali and Khwaja Abdus Samad were among the
founders of the Mughal school of painting in India. From his princely
days, Humayun, a Sunni Muslim, patronised Khurasanis and Persians of
Shi’a faith. Persians accounted for a high proportion of personnel
in all branches of Mughal empire. Persian soldiers, poets, painters,
physicians, scholars, administrators, accountants, traders, engineers
and craftsmen entered India.
96. Bairam Khan, the guardian and the minister of the young Akbar was
a Shi’a with a large Persian Shi’a following who settled
down in India. His liberal patronage attracted many cultured Persians.
Among them was Mir Abdul Latif of Qazvin who became Akbar's tutor. After
Humayun's detah, Akbar conferred favours on those Persians and their
families who had been friendly Humayun during his stay in Iran. These
include Jafar Khan Taklu, grandson of Muhammad Sharafuddin Taklu (administrator
of Heart at the time of Humayun's visit to the city) and Khwaja Beg
Mirza, son of Masum Beg Safavi (Humayun's host at Ardebil). Akbar sent
farmans to Chalapi Beg of Shiraz and Mir Sadruddin Muhammad Naqib inviting
the two scholars to join the Mughal court.
97. The relations with Persia were the
most important aspect of the foreign policy of the Mughal rulers of
India. The cultural relationship between the courts of the Mughal and
Safavid monarchs strengthened their diplomatic relations and envoys
were exchanged. Even the Muslim rulers of Golconda and Ahmednagar in
south India sent envoys to the court of Shah Tehmasp of Iran.
98. The Deccani rulers were mostly Shias and emotionally attached to
Safavid Persia. The Qutb Shahis descended from the Qara-qoyunlu who
ruled Persia for a short period in the 15th century. The Adil Shahis
of Bijapur and the Qutb Shahis of Golconda were already Shi’a
before the advent of the Chaghatai Mughals into India and the Nizam
Shahis of Ahmadnagar adopted Shi’ism five decades before Akbar
turned his attention to Deccan. Babur and his son Humayun had been constrained
to accept Shi’ism while negotiating for support of the Persian
Shi’ite Safavids. Yusef Adil Shah (1489-1510) adopted Shi’a
khutba immediately on hearing of Shah Ismail's promulgation of Shi’ism
as the state religion in Iran. The Nizam Shah was converted to Shi’ism
by a distinguished Persian émigré Shah Tahir Husaini (the
Shi’ite apostle of south India). There were extensive diplomatic
relations between the Deccan kingdoms and the Safavid rulers. Shah Abbas
I also arranged for a matrimonial alliance with the Qutb Shahi family.
A Persian immigrant and a diamond merchant Muhammad Sa’id (Mir
Jumla) rose to high position – that of Chief Minister - in Golconda.
He was in correspondence with Shah Abbas II. The diplomatic relations
between Persia and the Deccan kingdoms and the recitation of the Persian
Shah's name in the Khutba in Golconda were resented by the Mughals.
99.
Apart from the issue of diplomatic links between the Safavids and the
Deccan kingdom, the Mughal and Persian interests conflicted over Qandahar,
which changed hands several times. However, these political and sectarian
differences were never allowed to overshadow the cordial relationship
between the two empires. In the years following Shah Tehmasp's death,
in 1577, the Uzbek king Abdullah Khan proposed to Akbar a joint invasion
of Persia. Akbar wrote back “the (Persian) dynasty was specially
connected with the family of the Holy Prophet, and that on this ground
he could not regard a difference in law and religion as sufficient reason
for conquest. He (Akbar) also withheld from such an enterprise by old
and valued friendship.”
100. In the early 16th century, following the victory of Mahmood Begarah
over the Portugese enhanced the practice of Muzaffarids of Gujarat.
The Iranians King Shah Ismail Safavi sent an Embassy to his court keeping
in view the growing maritime and commercial importance of Gujarat. Several
Iranian travellers wrote about Gujarat, its people, their religion and
customs. In AD 951 Abu Ishaq Ibrahim Isakhri from Istakhr wrote about
the cordial relations between the Hindus and Muslims of Gujarat in his
book Kitabul Aqalim.
101.
During the early Safavid era, several Persian poets – Naziri Nishapuri,
Urfi Shirazi, Anisi Shamlu, Shikebi Isfahani and Zahuri left Iran for
India. The first four joined the entourage of Abdur Rahim Khan Khanan
and Zahuri was welcomed at the courts of Ahmadnagar and Bijapur.
102. Although Jehagir's reign also began
with a clash over Qandahar, Jehangir had friendly relations with Shah
Abbas I which went back to Akbar's lifetime. He had Shah Abbas's picture
depicted with his own in his picture gallery. Several embassies were
exchanged between Jehangir and Shah Abbas. These included several royal
purchasing missions. Shah Jehan continued the practice of sending these
purchasing missions. Noor Jahan (wife of emperor Jahangir) and Mumtaz
Mahal (wife of emperor Shah Jahan) are believed to be of Iranian descent.
Noor Jahan was the daughter of an Iranian noble Mirza Ghiyasuddin Beg
Tehrani. During Jahangir's reign, the influence of Nur Jahan's family
and his own regard for Shah Abbas I ensured a welcome for Persian scholars
and artistes. Shah Jahan's court also continued to attract Persians
scholars and poets. Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri contains many references to Iranians
who received the patronage of Jahangir. All the three Amirul Umaras
in Shah Jahan's court – Asef Khan, Ali Mardan Khan and Mirjumla
– were Iranian. Many influential Persians merged their interests
completely with those of the Mughals. Rustam Mirza Safavi, Nur Jehan,
Asaf Khan (father in law of Shah Jehan), Shah Nawaz Khan Safavi (father
in law of Aurangzeb) and Ali Mardan Khan became identified with Mughal
imperial interests.
103. While the Persians became influential in the politics and culture
of the Mughal empire, the Indians attained a strong position in the
economic life of the Persian capital (Esfahan) and ports (among the
foreign communities in Iran they were the most important after the Armenians).
Pietro Della Valle and Thomas Herbert, visiting Iran in Shah Abbas I's
reign, found Indian merchants well-established in Esfahan and Bandar
Abbas (Gombroon). Their number has been mentioned as 12,000. The Indian
merchant community kept in touch with the Mughal embassies that arrived
periodically. The main overland trade route between India and Iran was
via Khaiber and Kabul and via Bolan and Qandahar. The sea trade route
was mainly between Surat and Bandar Abbas (Gombroon). This had been
the monopoly of Arab merchants in the 15th century and gradually passed
into the hands of the Portuguese. There are also references to Indian
dancing women in Esfahan and a mosque at Shiraz built by an Indian Muslim
Aqa Rida. In 1637, there were some clashes between the staff of Shah
Jehan's envoy Safdar Khan and that of Frederick Duke of Hosltein at
Esfahan during which the Indians received help from merchants based
at Esfahan.
104. Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of Shah Jahan was a great Persian scholar
and a Sufi. He translated (assisted by Hindu pundits) Upanishads into
Persian titled Serri Akbari dealing with Advaita-Vedanta of Sankara.
He drew parallels between religious and philosophical views of Hindu
and Muslims. In his Majma’al-bahrain, he compares Hindu philosophical
terms with those from Islamic Sufism. He compares the Hindu trinity
of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh with the Islamic trinity of Jibra’il,
Mika’il and Israf’il. The four states of atman (jagrata,
swapna, susupti and turiya) are compared with the four states of being
known in Sufism (Lahut, Jabarut, Malakut and Nasut). According to him,
Khanda-pralaya and Maha-Pralaya are the same as Qiyamat-isughra and
Qiyamat-i-kubra.
105. The first Wazir and several other Ministers during the reign of
Aurangzeb, the next Mughal ruler, were Iranian. The Iranian influence
in India started to decline during his reign.
106. During the waning years of the Mughal empire, Nader Shah a powerful
noble of Safavids of Iran following his victorious campaign against
the Turks, marched to Khorasan to attack the Afghan Abdalis. He crowned
himself as the ruler of Iran in 1736. He took Qandahar (which was then
in Afghan hands) in 1738 and the Mughal province of Kabul soon after.
He then overran Peshawar, Lahore and defeated the emperor Muhammad Shah's
army at Karnal. In March 1739, Nader Shah took Delhi. Before his return
to Iran he restored the crown of the Mughal empire on Muhammad Shah
who ceded the areas to the west of Indus together with the province
of Thatta to Nadir Shah as part of the Treaty of Shalimar. Nader Shah
took back vast amounts of money and valuables from his raid of India.
Among these are said to be the famous Mughal throne – Takht-e-Tavoos
(The Peacock Throne) and the Muraqqa-e-Gulshan (The Rose Garden Album,
reputed to be among the most important imperial Mughal art collection).
107. The account of the Mughal-Safavid
relationship is available in various documents of that time. These include
Khwand Amir's Hobibus Siyar, Babur Nama, Amir Mahmud's Tarikh, Jauhar's
Tadhkiratul Waqiqat, Abul Fazl's Akbar Nama, Ain-I-Akbari, Fadli Esfahani's
Afdalut Tawarikh, Tuzuk-I-Jehangiri, Padshah Namas (by Jalal Tabatabai,
Muhammad Amin Qazvini, Abdul Hamid Lahori) and Muhammad Kazim's Alamgir
Nama among others.
Spread
of Persian literature and poetry in India :
108. The Muslim rulers in India patronised
Persian language. Efforts were made to put down the local colloquial
language of north India into Persian script to communicate with army
recruits and common people. Much of the Persian vocabulary was absorbed
into this language – Urdu.
The grammar and essential structure
of Urdu remained very close to the language of north India. Just as
Persian was enriched by the assimilation of Turkish, Arabic, French
and Russian words, phrases and idioms; in India a similar process went
on in the absorption of Hindi and Prakrit words and idioms.
109. Under the Mughals Persian was the
official and court language. An Indian style developed in Persian poetry
and literature. Amir Khosrau Dehlavi and Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib
were among the prominent Indian poets. Many Persian poets and scholars
came to India to seek employment at the courts of the Mughal rulers.
Akbar for the first time appointed a poet as poet-laureate in his court.
The first one was Ghazzali Mashhadi. Another Persian scholar Mir Abdul
Latif of Qazvin became Akbar's tutor. Persian poets – Naziri Nishaburi,
Urfi Shirazi and Anisi Shamlu among others – and Iranian scholars
like Sharif Amuli were present at Akbar's court.
110. During the Mughal period, the importance of Persian was enhanced
both by Akbar"s attempt to have the main works of classical Sanskrit
literature translated into Persian and by the constant influx of poets
from Iran who came seeking their fortune at the lavish tables of the
Indian Muslim grandees. The translations from Sanskrit enriched the
Persian vocabulary, and new stories of Indian origin added to the reservoir
of classical imagery.
111. Urfi, who left Shiraz for India and died in his mid-30s in Lahore
(1592), is without doubt one of the few genuine masters of Persian poetry,
especially in his qasidahs. Among 17th-century Mughal court poets, the
most outstanding is Abu Talib Kalim (died 1651) at the court of Shah
Jahan, who came from Hamadan. Also of some importance is Sa"ib
of Tabriz (died 1677), who spent only a few years in India before returning
to Iran. The Persian poet Hazin (died 1766), came to India in the early
18th century.
112. Abul Fazl in Ain-e-Akbari records that “there are numerous
musicians at the court – Hindus, Iranis, Turanis, Kashmiris, both
men and women.” In the 13th century Amir Khusrau, (a Persian poet
whose father was from a tribe Lachin Balkh Hazara), created 12 new melodies
including zilaf, muafiq, ghanam, farghana, zangula and sarpada, according
to several Persian texts. The origin of Tarana, is generally associated
with Amir Khusrau. It is believed that some such forms existed in Persian
systems of music, even though their structure was somewhat different
from the Hindustani tarana. It has been particularly popular in musical
settings of Sufis. In 14th and 15th century the earliest Persian writings
on Indian music appeared in the form of Ghunyat-ul-Munya and Lahjat-e-Sikandar
Shahi.
113. This creative interaction was not restricted only to Persian/Urdu
literature. In all the local languages of northern India – Punjabi,
Kashmiri, Sindhi, Marathi and Bengali, besides Hindi and Urdu –
there are in varying degree large number of Persian words and expressions
including popular proverbs. These are apparent in the classic works
of Waris Shah and Bulhe Shah in Punjabi language in the 18th century;
Qazi Nazrul Islam in Bengali; Abdur Rehman in Tamil poet and Quli Qutab
Shah in Telugu. Persian-Arabic vocabulary entered the speech of the
common folk of Punjab. The spiritual poetry of Baba Sheikh Farid included
in Sikh scripture Adi Granth and the spiritual hymns of Guru Nanak had
Persian vocabulary.
114. There were several Hindu poets and authors who contributed to Persian
poetry and literature in India. In 18th century Swami Bhupat Biragi
deeply influenced by Rumi's Mathnawi, composed a long mystical mathnawi
in which Vedanta and Sufism were fused in exquisite form and style.
Sital Das, Bhagwan Das and Lala Hakim Chand praised the Prophet and
the Shia Imams in their poetry.
115. Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib (19th century) was a distinguished
poet of Persian and Urdu and is immensely popular even today. Later,
Persian poets like Shibli Numani Gerami and Allama Dr. Sir Mohammad
Iqbal played an important role in the preservation and popularity of
Persian language in the subcontinent.
Persian
influence in the field of art and architecture :
116. Persian artists like Abdus Samad
of Shiraz, Mir Seyyed Ali of Tabriz, Faroukh Qalmaq, Muhammad Nadir
Samarqandi, Mir Hashemi and Mohammad Faqirullah Khan worked with their
Indian colleagues in royal Mughal courts combining the form, lines and
colours of Herat and Samarkand with those of India. At the royal Mughal
courts, Indian craftsmen worked with Persian and Turkish masters to
create a new harmonious art and architecture. The Indian flora blended
with Islamic calligraphy. New colour palette of turquoise blue, emerald
green, lapis, veridian and brilliant white was added to the Indian saffrons,
indigos and vermilions.
117. Persian architects and artisans
were brought to India to design and construct palaces and forts, mosques
and public buildings. The Taj Mahal (“the soul of Iran incarnate
in the body of India”, according to M. Grousset, the French savant),
Fatehpur Sikri and Humayun Tomb are among the finest examples of the
synthesis of Indo-Iranian style in architecture. Beginning with Qutab
Minar, the Iranian influence is visible. The arcuate forms, domed structures,
plane and smooth walls, slender polished pillars and spacious halls
with squinches and stalactites were Iranian.
118. The Islamic module – pointed arcuate opening in a wall and
the domical form of roof [aimed at extracting the maximum structural
potential from relatively small elements of building material (brick)
at hand in the Islamic regions of Iran and Afghanistan] – along
with the minaret were introduced into India. The Muslims endowed a degree
of firmness and stability to their places of residence (earlier even
the kings’ palaces were built in temporary material).
119. Babur initiated the laying out of gardens to conserve water and
greenery. Mughal Gardens as extensions of monuments like Taj Mahal or
Humayun's Tomb in Delhi and pleasure gardens like the Shalimar in Kashmir
are fine examples of landscaping introduced by the Mughals.
120. The Mughal school of paintings
owed much to Iran and blossomed under Akbar's patronage. Mir Sayyed
Ali and Khwaja Abdussamad from Persia were among the founders of the
Mughal school of paintings in India. Iranian painters introduced the
art of portrait and miniature paintings in Mughal courts. There were
major developments in the technique of miniature painting, portraits,
scenes of war, social events and illustrations of manuscripts. (Although
literary evidence shows that miniature painting existed in India long
before the coming of the Muslims. These were the products of formalised
Buddhism).
121. Murraqqa-e-Gulshan (refer para
96), said to be brought by Nader Shah to Persia from India, is among
the finest works of the imperial Mughal art. It was shifted to the Golestan
Palace in Tehran in the 19th century. It is being exhibited for the
first time in Tehran in 2001. Muraqqa-e-Gulshan (The Rose Garden Album)
is Mughal Emperor Jehangir's collection of Persian miniatures, the first
of three such albums. It contains paintings and calligraphy, mostly
of poetry. Jehangir, while he was still Prince Salim, had hired Persian
painter Aqa Reza Herati to organise his collection into an album. Aqa
Reza's son Abul Hasan contributed some of the finest paintings in the
album. The album also includes works by Mansur, Govardhan, Farrukh Beg
and Basavan. Artistes were commissioned to paint the margins with scenes
of daily life, hunting scenes, wine drinking or resting sessions, portraits
of noblemen and ladies in the harem, the young princes with their tutors.
There are many European engravings heavily embellished along the borders.
Traders, poets, calligraphers, astrologers, astronomers, binders, papermakers,
gold sprinklers, distillers, wine blenders, itr makers, jugglers and
dervishes for the first time entered the miniatures with their Persianised
landscape that Humayun pioneered when he brought back Persian painters
from his court in Kabul.
122. Handicraft like weaving of carpets, making of pottery, metal work
and writing, binding, illuminating and illustrating of books, all developed
with Iranian influence. Carpet weaving, enamelling, embroidery, inlay
work, miniature painting, glass and glazed ceramic tiles, paper, leather,
papier mache and metal crafts emerged from that period.
123. The Muslim influence created new secular everyday usages of the
crafts. It also introduced the abstract, the decorative rather than
the figurative, the narrative and the symbolic (ornamentation). The
Kashmir carpet weavers absorbed the Persian design of the 'tree of life’,
mehrab, vase and floral medallion designs. Banaras, besides its carpet
weaving was a great centre of silk and brocades, tissues and golden
gauzes. The famed brocades or kamkhabs (small dream) and its traditional
patterns have poetic names – mazchhar (ripples of silver), bulbul
chashm (nightingale's eyes) and panna hazaar (thousand emeralds). In
the 17th century, a kind of handmade carpets by the name of Indo-Esfahan
carpets with designs inspired from Herat were exported by the East India
Company to Europe and are frequently seen in Dutch paintings of that
time.
124. Kalamkari was a fusion of the indigo and ochre based temple paintings
of south India with the Safavid Persian chitsaz and kalamkars. Soon
by the 17th century Indian palangposh, pardeh, jah-namaz and jama (bedspreads,
curtains, prayer mats and dress fabrics) were being exported to Persia.
The Indian kalpavriksha (desire fulfilling tree) merged with the Iranian
cypress and arched mehrab. Elephants, tigers and peacocks took the place
of unicorn and gazelle. Damascene wire-work, the base of steel or bronze
and ornamentation in gold and silver wire, travelled to India via Iran
and Afghanistan from its original home in Damascus. The glazed pottery
of Khurja and Jaipur contain folk memories of colours, glazes and motives
derived from Turkmen and Persian influenced turquoise, green and lemon
tiled ornamentation.
125. In the seventeenth century the Persian carpets had designs characteristics
of the Mughal taste with staggered horizontal rows of plants or a plant-filled
lattice. Its subsequent popularity is often linked to Nadir Shah who
brought back considerable booty from his Indian campaign and also the
scheme was used in the decoration of his palace. The theme remained
popular for carved stone revetments, tile work and textile. Inclusion
of the new floral designs on carpets and ceramics probably reflects
a broader popularity, stimulated by familiarity with both European and
Indian goods.
Decline in direct Indo-Iranian links :
126. The Indo-Iranian links had started
to decline during the reign of Aurangzeb. In the 18th century the Iranian
ruler Nader Shah drove out the Afghans, Turks and Russians from Iran
and invaded Delhi. The treaty of Shalimar ceded to Iran the territories
of the Mughal empire situated to the west of Attock and Indus from the
frontier of Tibet and Kashmir to the point where the Indus flows into
the sea. After the death of Nader Shah, the centre of political activity
shifted to Afghanistan. Iran became a battleground for conflicting European
powers.
127. At the same time, the British established their supremacy in India
and Indo-Iran exchanges stopped. Direct trade between India and Persia
was prevented. Duties on Indian exports were increased and duties on
British imports decreased. Despite this, some settlements of Indian
merchants developed in the cities of Persian and ports of Persian Gulf.
Postal stamps issued by the Indian Postal Authority under the British
rule were used even in some Persian ports like Bandar Abbas and Bushire
until 1923 when the Iranian authorities took control of the postal operations
in those areas.
128. In the inter-war years (1919-1939) cultural delegations from India
and Iran visited each others’ countries. Rabindra Nath Tagore
visited Iran in 1932 and 1935.[171] There is a photograph of Tagore
visiting Hafez's tomb in Shiraz, which is displayed in a small library
adjacent to the tomb.
129. It was only after independence,
that the direct regular contacts between the peoples of India and Iran,
which had suffered a brief break during the British colonial rule in
India, resumed.
Continuing
Contemporary Links :
130. In the early 1900s, the first lot
of Indians, predominantly Sikhs, came to the border town of Zahedan
in Iran from west Punjab of the undivided India (which had a common
border with Iran). Around 180 Indian families settled in Zahedan. The
Indians gradually spread to the towns of Zabol, Birijand, Mashhad and
Tehran. In the 1960s and 70s around ten thousand Indian professionals
came to Iran. Presently, there are 150 Indian families (Sikhs, Sindhis,
Hindus and Gujaratis) in Tehran, 35 families in Zahedan and 2 families
in Esfahan. There are around 300-600 Indian Muslim students in the holy
city of Qom undergoing theological studies.
131. The Sikh traders had built a Gurudwara
in Zahedan in 1927. It is said that the town was earlier known as Dozdab
(water of thieves), but was later renamed by the visiting Shah as Zahedan
(town of Zahids – worshipers) after he saw the Sikhs with flowing
beards. A Gurudwara was also built in Tehran in 1950. An Indian School
was established in Tehran in 1952.
132. A Hindu temple was built in the
southern port city of Bandar Abbas during Qajar period in 1890 by the
Indian community. The construction permit was granted by the then ruler
of the area Mohammad Khan Sa’ad-ol-Molk. The property is presently
with the Iranian National Cultural Heritage Organisation.
132. A total of 3,462 Indian war dead from the two World Wars are buried
or commemorated in the Tehran War Cemetery in the Islamic Republic of
Iran. The cemetery is located within the British Embassy Compound at
Golhak, Tehran. Most of these were casualties from the First World War,
who either have no known graves or were cremated, and are commemorated
on the Tehran Memorial situated inside the cemetery. The war graves
were brought into the cemetery in 1961 from various sites across Iran.
The External Affairs Minister Shri Jaswant Singh visited the Tehran
War Cemetery on April 10, 2001 and laid a wreath at the Memorial.
133. Indian universities are a popular
destination for Iranian students for higher studies. Several high ranking
Iranian officials and professionals have studied in India. There is
a large number of Iranian students studying in universities at Mumbai,
Pune, Bangalore and Delhi. There is a large Iranian community settled
in India, including students who stayed back after completing their
studies. There has been a tradition of prominent Iranian football players
having played in Indian clubs and coached Indian teams.
134. Indian cinema has a large audience
in Iran. Early Iranian cinema had close links with India. Ohanian, the
director of the first Iranian silent film, Abi va Rabi, (1929), left
Iran for India and continued his academic career in Calcutta. Subsequently
he returned to Iran in 1947, where he died seven years later. Abdul
Hossein Sepenta, the father of Persian talkies, was born in Tehran in
1907. As a young writer and poet, Sepenta went to India in the mid-1920s
to study ancient Persian language and history. In Bombay, his friendship
with professor Bahram Gour Aneklesaria (an expert in old Iranian languages)
encouraged him to consider the new and developing medium of film. Through
his adviser Dinshaw Irani, Sepenta met Ardeshir Irani of the Bombay
Parsi community, who made the first Indian talkie Alam Ara. Irani was
the executive director of Imperial Film Company and agreed to invest
in Sepenta"s first Persian talkie. Sepanta also met with Debaki
Bose, a pioneer of Bengali cinema who was also interested in representing
his culture in a new, epic form. After an introduction to the theory
of film, Sepenta started writing his script, with Ardeshir Irani as
technical supervisor. Irani also co-directed the film. Dokhtar-e-Lor
(The Lor Girl) [1932], the first Persian talkie to be released, was
made in India is the product of this interaction. The film was an absolute
success and stayed on Iranian screens for more than two years. Imperial
film Company was so impressed by the success of the talkie that they
offered Sepenta production control over another film. Sepenta made four
more films for Imperial Film Company in India: Ferdousi (1934), Shireen
va Farhad (1934), Cheshmhaye Siah (Black Eyes) (1935) and Leyla va Majnun
(1936). Interestingly, he also made one film for the East India Film
Company in Calcutta. All of his films dealt with the glorification of
the old Iranian culture or the optimistic future of a modern Iran.
135. Two of Iran's leading contemporary film directors Abbas Kiarostami
and Mohsen Makhmalbaf have visited India. Mr. Makhmalbaf, on a recent
visit to India (April 2001), said “..it is as a filmmaker that
I owe deeply to India, because it is Satyajit Ray, more than any other
filmmaker, who has influenced me the most. For me the greatest film
is Pather Panchali. … I have written three scripts – Bread
and Film, Maharaja and Sitar – around the theme of Indian reality…Perhaps
in future my dream of making a cinema on India may come true.”
136. In the early 20th century, several Iranian publications were printed
in India (as also Egypt and Turkey). These included Habl-ol-Matin newspaper
(published in Calcutta for 40 years), Ahang, and the sermons of Iqbalol-Dolleh.
The first Iranian Persian weekly was published from India.
137.
Around the turn of the previous century (1900) an Iranian Consul based
in Mumbai India, Haj. Mohammad Mirza Chaikar (Kashef os Saltaneh) brought
out first tea saplings (along with some pepper, cinnamon, and turmeric
bushes) to Iran from India and planted then in the north Iranian city
of Lahijan. Today the area has a large number of tea plantations. Mirza
Chaikar is known as the father of the tea industry in Iran.
138.
There have been several high level visits from both sides over the past
five decades. PM Nehru had visited Iran along with his daughter Indira
Gandhi in 1959. President Radhakrishnan visited Iran in 1963. PM Indira
Gandhi visited Iran in 1974. PM Narasimha Rao visited Iran in 1993.
PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited Iran in from April 10-13, 2001. On the
Iranian side, President Rafsanjani visited India in 1995. The present
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamenei had visited
India in 1981 as a member of the Revolutionary Council. His writings
include “The role of Muslims in the independence struggle of India”.
President Khatami visited India in 1994 as the then Head of National
Library.
139.
A street in Tehran is named after Mahatma Gandhi who is held in very
high esteem by the common man in Iran. During his recent visit to Iran,
PM Vajpayee inaugurated a square in Shiraz renamed after Maulana Abul
Kalam Azad.
140.
The ancestors of the Supreme Leader of the Iranian Revolution late Imam
Khomeini had migrated from their original home in Nishapur to the Lucknow
region of northern India towards the end of the 18th century. They settled
in the town of Kintur. Imam Khomeini's grandfather Sayyid Ahmad left
Lucknow in the middle of 19th century on pilgrimage to the tomb of Hazrat
Ali in Najaf, Iraq. Although he stayed back and settled in the town
of Khumayn in Iran, he continued to be known as “Hindi”.
Even Imam Khomeini used “Hindi” as pen name in some of his
ghazals.
141. India and Iran have exchanged cultural delegations regularly and
there exists a Cultural Exchange Programme between the two countries.
Bharat Ratna Bismillah Khan gave concerts in Tehran in 1992. A hall
at the prestigious Bahman Cultural Centre in Tehran is named after Ustad
Bismillah Khan. Iran has three Cultural Centres in India – New
Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. The first Iranian Consulate had been opened
in Mumbai in the mid 19th century. 142.
Two Iranian professors of Persian are on the faculty of the Osmania
University, Hyderabad, and the Delhi University. Legendary Persian poets
Hafez, Sa’di, Ferdowsi, Rumi and Omar Khayyam continue to be widely
read in India. Works by Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Tagore, Indira Gandhi,
V.S. Naipaul, R.K. Narayanan and other Indian writers have been translated
into Persian.
143.
An Iranian scientist travelled along with a team of Indian scientists
on an Indian ship on a scientific expedition to Antarctica in 1998.
144. In an important development India, Iran and Russia have signed
an important agreement in 2000 on a “North South Corridor”
for transit of goods from India through Iran to Russia and the region.
Earlier in 1997, India, Iran and Turkmenistan also signed a trilateral
cooperation agreement on transit of goods.
145.
India has welcomed the far-sighted initiative of President Khatami in
calling the year 2001 as the year of “Dialogue Among Civilisations”.
An important India-Iran seminar on this theme was held in New Delhi/Nimrana
in November 2000. India participated at a senior level in a seminar
on Dialogue Among Asian Civilisations, held in Tehran in February 2001.
Rabindra Nath Tagore :
“My
visit to Persia has given me faith in the power of the eastern peoples
to assert themselves and quickly find their way to a united manifestation
of their undying heritage in spite of conflict and difficult economic
circumstance”.
Information
on this page does not necessarily reflect the views of the Government
of India Reference :
[1] 'Discovery of India’, by Jawaharlal
Nehru.
[2] 'Reflections on cultural encounters: India and Iran’, paper
by MushirulHasan.
[3] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 69.
[4] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham,1967, p14
[5] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham,1967, p19
[6] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 68.
[7] 'Persian Myths’ by VestaSarkhosh Curtis, British Museum Press
1996, p7.
[8] 'The Indo-Iranian relation”, SaeedNafisi (New Delhi), 1949,
p 349.
[9] `The Impact of Iran on Ancient Indian Politics and Culture’
paper by B.S. Upadhyay.
[10] 'The Penguin History of the World’ by J.M. Roberts, 1987,
p 166-167.
[11] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham,1967, p30
[12] 'Eastern Religions and Western Thoughts’ by S Radhakrishnan,
Oxford University Press, 1992, p 118-119.
[13] `The origin and Early History of Indo-Iranian Peoples’ paper
by P.L. Bhargava.
[14] 'Eastern Religions and Western Thoughts’ by S Radhakrishnan,
Oxford University Press, 1992, p 157-158.
[15] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham,1967, p30
[16] 'The Discovery of India’ by Jawaharlal Nehru, Oxford University
Press 1992, p 147
[17] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 65.
[18] 'India and Iran : A Dialogue’ paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra
(also 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham,1967, p1)
[19] 'India and Iran : A Dialogue’ paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra(also
'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham,1967, p29)
[20] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 68.
[21] 'India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.
(also Britannica web site)
[22] 'India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.
[23] 'India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.
[24] 'Indo-Iranian relations’ by Dr. Tara Chand, p 3.
[25] Britannica web site
[26] Britannica web site
[27] 'Persian Myths’ by VestaSarkhosh Curtis, British Museum Press
1996, p8.
[28] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 68.
[29] Britannica web site
[30] 'The Penguin History of the World’ by J.M. Roberts, 1987,
p 169.
[31] Britannica web site.
[32] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham, p 238
[33] 'India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.
[34] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham, p 138
[35] 'Indo-Iranian relations’ by Dr. Tara Chand, p 3.
[36] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham, p 324
[37] 'Persian Myths’ by VestaSarkhosh Curtis, British Museum Press
1996. p 19.
[38] 'Indo-Iranian relations’ by Dr. Tara Chand, p 2.
[39] 'Persian Myths’ by VestaSarkhosh Curtis, British Museum Press
1996. p 10, 24, 25.
[40] 'A Concise History of Science in India’, edited by D.M. Bose,
INSA Publications, 1989, p 46.
[41] 'India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.
[42] 'Indo-Iranian relations’ by Dr. Tara Chand, p 4.
[43] 'India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.
[44] `The History of the parsees of India’ paper by P.P. Balsara.
[45] 'Eastern Religions and Western Thoughts’ by S. Radhakrishnan,
Oxford University Press, p 121.
[46] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 70.
[47] 'India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.
[48] 'India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.
[49] 'India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.
[50] 'India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.
[51] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 69.
[52] 'The Discovery of India’ by Jawaharlal Nehru, Oxford University
Press 1992, p 147.
[53] 'Indo-Iranian Relations’ by Dr. Tara Chand, p 4
[54] 'Impact of Iran on Ancient Indian Politics and Culture’ paper
by B.S. Upadhyay.
[55] 'The Penguin History of the World’ by J.M. Roberts, 1987,
p 169.
[55a] 'sucrose.com/lhist.html"
[56] Britannica web site.
[57] 'India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.
[58] 'India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.
[59] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham, p 49
[60] Britannica web site.
[61] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 70.
[62] Britannica web site.
[63] 'The Penguin History of the World’ by J.M. Roberts, 1987,
p 399.
[64] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham, p 49
[65] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 70.
[66] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’, paper by Abdul Amir
Jorfi, India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 69.
[67] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham, p 49
[68] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’, paper by Abdul Amir
Jorfi, India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 70.
[69] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham, p 196
[70] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham, p 222
[71] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham, p 196
[72] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 71.
[73] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 71.
[74] 'Indo-Iranian relations’ by Dr. Tara Chand, p 10.
[75] 'Some Iranian Sufi traditions & their impact on the evolution
of Indo-Muslim culture’, paper by MohdIshaq Khan.
[76] Britannica web site
[77] 'Discovery of India’ by Jawaharlal Nehru, Oxford University
Press, 1992, p148.
[78] ` The History of the Parsees of India’ paper by P.P. Balsara.
[79] 'Iran and Gujarat – Political and Cultural Relations’
paper by C.R. Naik.
[80] 'Iran and Gujarat – Political and Cultural Relations’
paper by C.R. Naik.
[81] Britannica web site.
[82] 'Indo-Iranian Relations’ by Dr. Tara Chand, p 5.
[83] 'Indo-Iranian Relations’ by Dr. Tara Chand, p 5.
[84] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham, 1967, p 276
[85] 'Indo-Iranian relations’ by Dr. Tara Chand, p 10.
[86] 'India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.
[87] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham, 1967, p 357
[88] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham, 1967, p 382
[89] 'India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.
[90] 'India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.
[91] 'India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.
[92] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 71.
[93] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 72.
[94] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham, 1967, p 210
[95] 'Indo-Iranian Relations’ by Dr. Tara Chand, p 5.
[96] 'A Concise History of Science in India’, edited by D.M. Bose,
INSA Publications, 1989, p 46.
[97] 'Indo-Iranian Relations’ by Dr. Tara Chand, p 5-6.
[98] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 72.
[99] 'A Concise History of Science in India’, edited by D.M. Bose,
INSA Publications, 1989, p 48.
[100] 'The wonder that was India’, by A.L. Basham, 1967, p 345.
[101] `The History of Parsees of India’ paper by P.P. Balsara.
[102] 'The wonder that was India’, by A.L. Basham, 1967, p 347.
[103] Britannica Web site
[104] 'Sources of Indian Traditions’, Vol.I, Edited by Ainslie
T. Embree, Penguin Books, 1992, p 384.
[105] Britannica web site.
[106] Britannica web site.
[107] 'A Concise History of Science in India’, edited by D.M.
Bose, INSA Publications, 1989, p 47.
[108] 'India and Iran: A Dialogue’, paper by Prof. Lokesh Chandra.
[109] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 75.
[110] 'India by Al-Biruni’, edited by Qeyamuddin Ahmad, NBT Publication,
1995, p xvii.
[111] 'A Concise History of Science in India’, edited by D.M.
Bose, INSA Publications, 1989, p 49.
[112] 'Hindu-Muslim Cultural Relations’ by F. Mujtabai, NBB publication
1978, p 68 – 90.
[113] 'Hindu-Muslim Cultural Relations’ by F. Mujtabai, NBB publication
1978, p 68 – 90.
[114] 'Hindu-Muslim Cultural Relations’ by F. Mujtabai, NBB publication
1978, p 65.
[115] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 76.
[116] 'Indo-Iranian relations’ by Dr. Tara Chand, p 7.
[117] 'Indo-Iranian relations’ by Dr. Tara Chand, p 8.
[118] 'The Making of the Muslim Mind’ by Rashiduddin Khan, 'Muslims
in India’ edited by Ratna Sahai, p 26.
[119] 'The mutual relations of culture & civilisation of Iran and
India’ by Dr. Arya.
[120] 'Hindu Muslim Cultural Relations’, by F. Mujtabai, NBB publication,
1978, p 93-97.
[121] 'Indo-Iranian relations’ by Dr. Tara Chand, p 9.
[122] 'Reciprocal enrichment between Iran and India from historical
point of view’, paper by SHSK Haj Sayyed Javadi.
[123] 'Sources of Indian Traditions’, Vo.I, Edited by Ainslie
T. Embree, Penguin Books, 1992, p 450.
[124] 'Some Iranian Sufi traditions & their impact on the evolution
of Indo-Muslim culture’ paper by Mohd Ishaq Khan.
[125] 'Some Iranian Sufi traditions & their impact on the evolution
of Indo-Muslim culture’ paper by Mohd Ishaq Khan.
[126] 'Sources of Indian Traditions’, Vo.I, Edited by Ainslie
T. Embree, Penguin Books, 1992, p 390.
[127] 'Sources of Indian Traditions’, Vo.I, Edited by Ainslie
T. Embree, Penguin Books, 1992, p 390, 450.
[128] 'Sources of Indian Traditions’, Vo.I, Edited by Ainslie
T. Embree, Penguin Books, 1992, p 385.
[129] 'Indo-Persian Relations’ by Riazul Islam, Iranian Culture
Foundation, 1970, pg 5, 185
[130] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 77.
[131] 'Indo-Persian Relations’ by Riazul Islam, Iranian Culture
Foundation, 1970, pg 5, 166
[132] 'Indo-Persian Relations’ by Riazul Islam, Iranian Culture
Foundation, 1970, pg 5, 194
[133] 'Indo-Persian Relations’ by Riazul Islam, Iranian Culture
Foundation, 1970, pg 40
[134] 'Indo-Persian Relations’ by Riazul Islam, Iranian Culture
Foundation, 1970, pg 166
[135] 'Indo-Persian Relations’ by Riazul Islam, Iranian Culture
Foundation, 1970
[136] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 78-79.
[137] 'Indo-Persian Relations’ by Riazul Islam, Iranian Culture
Foundation, 1970, pg 52
[138] 'Persian Embassy to the Court of Gujarat’ paper by S.A.I.
Tirmizi.
[139] 'Indo-Persian Relations’ by Riazul Islam, Iranian Culture
Foundation, 1970, pg 183
[140] 'Indo-Persian Relations’ by Riazul Islam, Iranian Culture
Foundation, 1970, pg 75
[141] Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 78.
[142] 'Indo-Persian Relations’ by Riazul Islam, Iranian Culture
Foundation, 1970, pg 176
[143] 'Indo-Persian Relations’ by Riazul Islam, Iranian Culture
Foundation, 1970, pg 171, 172
[144] 'Indo-Persian Relations’ by Riazul Islam, Iranian Culture
Foundation, 1970, pg 101
[145] 'Hindu Muslim Cultural Relations’ by F. Mujtabai, NBB Publication,
1978, p 53.
[146] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 79.
[147] 'Indo-Persian Relations’ by Riazul Islam, Iranian Culture
Foundation, 1970, pg 150
[148] 'A Concise History of Science in India’, edited by D.M.
Bose, INSA Publications, 1989, p 49.
[149] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 77.
[150] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 78.
[151] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 78.
[152] Britannica web site.
[153] 'Muslim contribution to Hindustani music’ by Najma P. Ahmed,
'Muslims in India’ edited by Ratna Sahai, p 39.
[154] 'Muslim ethos in Indian literature’ by Mohd Hassan, 'Muslims
in India’ edited Ratna Sahai, p 49.
[155] 'The Punjabis and their Iranian heritage’ paper by Prof.
Gurbachan Singh Talib.
[156] 'Hindu-Muslim Cultural Relations’ by F. Mujtabai, NBB Publications,
1978, p 119-120.
[157] 'Indo-Iranian relations’ by Dr. Tara Chand, p 11.
[158] 'Indo-Iranian relations’ by Dr. Tara Chand, p 11.
[159] 'The Islamic influence in architecture’ by Satish Grover,
'Muslims in India’ edited by Ratna Sahai, p 30.
[160] 'Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 78.
[161] 'Indian Muslims: A Historical Perspective’ by A. Rehman,
Muslims in India, Edited by Ratna Sahai, p 7.
[162] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham, 1967, p 381
[163] Faded Leaves from a Mughal Spring by Sheela Reddy, Outlook June
25, 2001 issue, p 62-66
[164] 'Muslim influence on craft’ by Laila Tyabji – 'Muslims
in India’ MEA publication, edited by Ratna Sahai, p 68-69.
[165] 'Muslim influence on craft’ by Laila Tyabji – 'Muslims
in India’ MEA publication, edited by Ratna Sahai, p 69-72.
[166] Britannica Web site
[167] 'Muslim influence on craft’ by Laila Tyabji – 'Muslims
in India’ MEA publication, edited by Ratna Sahai, p 74-75.
[168] `Looking Good’ by Priscilla P. Soucek, Encyclopaedia Iranica.
[169] Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 79.
[170] Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 80.
[170a] island.net/~rjbw/IndiaUA.html.
[171] Iran and India: Age old Friendship’ by Abdul Amir Jorfi,
India Quarterly, Oct-Dec 1994, p 88.
[172] Iran Daily January 4, 2000
[173] http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/new_offscreen/preiran.html
Iranian Cinema: Before the Revolution by Shahin Parhami , 1999, December
01 http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/new_offscreen/preiran.html
[174] Interview with Mohsen Makhmalbaf Vinu Abraham The Week April 22,
2001 edition
[175] "Iranian Press at the eve of the 20th century’ by Seyed
Farid Qasemi, Neghahe Now, No.42, 1999, p 119-130
[176] A Travel Guide to Iran by Mohammad Taghi Faramarzi, Yassavoli
Publications. P 190
http://www.netiran.com/Htdocs/Clippings/DEconomy/941230XXDE03.html
[177] Imam Khomeini's brief biography by Hamid Algar (as also available
on internet).
Source
:
https://www.indianembassytehran.gov.in/pages.php?id=17
https://www.indianembassytehran.gov.in/pages.php?id=71