HISTORICAL LINKS - 1

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"

– JawaharLal Nehru

“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 :

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. 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, Vasudev, one of Kanishk'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 Charaka Samhita, 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 Yog traditions of Indian philosophy and the Bhagavat Gita. He was possibly the first foreign scholar to have seriously studied the Purans, 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 :

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. 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 :

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[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.
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[69] 'The Wonder that was India’ by A L Basham, p 196
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[103] Britannica Web site
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[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.
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[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] horschamp.qc.ca/new_offscreen/preiran.html

Iranian Cinema: Before the Revolution by Shahin Parhami , 1999, December 01

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

netiran.com/Htdocs/
Clippings/DEconomy/
941230XXDE03.html

[177] Imam Khomeini's brief biography by Hamid Algar (as also available on internet).

Source :

https://www.indianembassy
tehran.gov.in/pages.php?id=17

https://www.indianembassy
tehran.gov.in/pages.php?id=71