Conference on Persian Impact on Indian Culture Opens

Date: 14 March 2023 - 21:49

News ID: ۱۱۳۳۸۸

NAGPUR (Times of India) -- The relation between Indian culture and Persian language dates back to 600 AD. Persian gradually it became the official language across kingdoms including the period of the Peshwas.
Shivaji Maharaj used to speak Persian fluently. Shivaji spoke in Persian with Aurangzeb when they met. Aurangzeb was impressed with Shivaji’s command over the Persian language and appreciated him,” said lawyer Mohan Sudame told Vasantrao Naik Government Institute of Arts and Social Sciences on Monday.
Sudame was speaking at the inauguration of a three-day conference on the ‘Impact of Persian Language and Literature on Indian Culture’ organized by the department of Persian at the Institute and Bedil International Foundation New Delhi.
“There was a time when Peshwas, Marathas courts were conducted in Persian. It is possible that if any of my forefathers was a lawyer then the law must have been written in Persian only and they must have practiced in Aadalat,” he said.
He added that around 38,000 words in Marathi language are Persian. “Aadalat, gawaahi, peshi, taariq, mukadma, moakhil, kurshi, chashma are all Persian words,” he said.
Department head Mazhar Alam Siddiqui, professor Zinatullah Javed from Punjabi University at Patiala, Muhammad Ali Rabbani, cultural counselor at Culture House of Iran, New Delhi, Maulana Amiruddin Malak, Mehdibag Institution, justice Zaka Haq, and institute director Sadhana Shiledar were present.
“Ajanta Cave number 1 roof painting shows Chalukya dynasty emperor Pulakeshin II receiving gifts from the ambassador of Persia (as Iran was called then). This cave is believed to have been built around 600-650 AD. Persia, which was built by Cyrus the Great, had several ties, including trade, commerce and exchange of people and culture with India. Mahmud Ghazni had made Lahore his capital and he introduced Persian language in India in the year 1100. Since then, Persian used to be written, read and spoken in India till the Mughal period in the 1800s,” said Sudame.
Sudame, who practices in Nagpur bench of Bombay high court, said some studies have found reflections of Vedanta texts in the spiritual couplets of Mas̄navī-yi Maʿnavī by Rumi. “Principles of the Holy Qur’an have been conveyed through Panchtantra stories in Masnavi. This is a cohesion of two philosophies,” he said.
Sudame is not a Persian scholar but acquired the language’s history by reading the translated works of Rumi, Umar Khayyam, Amir Khusrao, etc.
“Sanskirt, which used to be a common language, had almost diminished by the 5th century. When Mughal emperors came, they translated all Sanskrit scriptures and Pandu lipis in Persian. Those translations are still available in Persian today. The first is Panchtantra ki Kathaye written in 300 BC. It was translated in 570 AD in Persian. This is how old the relation is between Persian language and Indian native languages. Since Aurangzeb’s army ruled Dakkan for 40 years, and all nearby kingdoms followed Persian language, we had to learn and teach Persian,” he said.
He added that when the British came, they passed the Madras and Bombay Presidency Act 1937 and Act 29/1937 to ban Persian from all official communications and replace it with English.
“But even English language has Persian words such as spinach, rice, lemon, camaraderie,” he said.