Persian language in the Indian subcontinent

This period is sometimes termed the Iranian Intermezzo, spanning the 9th to 10th centuries, and reestablished in the Persian language the refinement and prestige that Arabic had laid claim to.

These warriors were able to rise up the ranks and gain political power; they began the synthesis of a Turco-Persian tradition, wherein Turkic rulers patronised the Persian language and culture.

As Mahmud of Ghazni established a power base in India, the centre of Persian literary patronage shifted from Ghazna to the Punjab, especially at the empire's second capital Lahore.

Notable Persian poets of this early period include Abu-al-Faraj Runi and Masud Sa'd Salman, both born in the Indian subcontinent.

The successive Khiljis and Tughluqs sponsored many pieces of literature in the language; poet Amir Khusrow produced much of his Persian work under their patronage.

[11] Between the 13th and 15th centuries, the Turkic rulers of the Delhi Sultanate encouraged the flow of eminent Persian-speaking personalities (such as poets, scribes, and holy people) into the subcontinent, granting them land to settle in rural areas.

In this era, empires all over the subcontinent began to employ Hindustani's emerging predecessor Hindavi (also known as Dehlavi or Deccani) as a language of the court.

This linguistic situation began to change when the second Mughal Emperor Humayun reconquered India with the aid of Safavid Iran, ushering many Iranians into the subcontinent.

[20] The Mughal association with the Persian language continued with Akbar's successors; the literary environment created under them led Sa'ib, a Shah Jahan-era poet at the Mughal court, to comment:[19] nīst dar irān zamīn sāmāne tahsile kamāl tā nīamad suiye hindustān hinā rangīn nashud There is not in the Persian land the requisite material for the perfection of art, Until henna came to India it acquired no colour.

For example, groups such as the Kayasthas and Khatris came to dominate the Mughal finance departments; Indians taught Persian in madrasas alongside masters of the language from Iran.

Moreover, the complete Persianisation of the Mughal administrative system meant that the language reached both urban centres as well as villages, and a larger audience for Persian literature developed.

[26] Muhammad Iqbal's prolific Persian work, produced during the turn of the 20th century, is considered the last great instance of the Indo-Persian tradition.

[31] Following the defeat of the Hindu Shahi dynasty, classical Persian was established as a courtly language in the region during the late 10th century under Ghaznavid rule.

The first Indian-born Persian poet was from Lahore, as were the earliest notable figures in Indo-Persian literature, Masud Sa'd Salman and Abu-al-Faraj Runi.

His dominion, the Sindh, was conducive to Persian literary activity at the centres of Multan and Uch, where Muhammad Aufi wrote the Lubab ul-Albab.

[36] Persian was introduced to the region in the 14th century, spreading through the Islamisation of Kashmir by early Sufi saints such as Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani.

Poetry, histories and biographies were among some of the works produced over these years, and many Kashmiris received an education in Persian for careers as accountants and scribes in government.

[44] Notably, there is no evidence of significant Persian literary patronage under the Bengal Sultans; court poetry and creative texts were composed in the Bengali language instead.

[48] A notable poet patronised by the Bahmans was Abdul Isami, who wrote the first Persian history of the Muslim conquest of India titled Futuh-us-Salatin.

The language received literary patronage; for example, Persian poet Muhammad Zuhuri, author of the Sāqīnāmah, was a prominent figure at Ibrahim Adil Shah II's court in Bijapur.

This consisted of several types of works: poetry (such as rubaʿi, qasidah), panegyrics (often in praise of patron kings), epics, histories, biographies, and scientific treatises.

For example, the Indo-Aryan languages have the most impact from Persian; this ranges from a high appearance in Punjabi, Sindhi, Kashmiri, and Gujarati, to more moderate representation in Bengali and Marathi.

It is an Indo-Aryan lingua franca spoken widely across the Hindi Belt and Pakistan, best described as an amalgamation of a Khariboli linguistic base with Persian elements.

As the initial contact points of Persianate rule, administration and urban life provided the earliest types of loans in the Indo-Aryan languages.

Kuczkiewicz-Fraś identifies poets and Sufis as highly conducive to this process; these groups knew both Persian and local languages, facilitating contact between them and dispersing the same into their followers.

[70] Additionally, there is the reverse possibility that Turkic may have contributed some Persian words, since it itself had earlier been Persianised in a similar process to that of the Indic languages (see #Background).

Due to the presence of such grammatical elements as well as an extensive repository of Perso-Arabic vocabulary, Urdu is able to admit fully Persian phrases.

In 19th-century British India, divisions on religious lines led to Hindu groups advocating to de-Persianise language, and Muslims embracing the Perso-Arabic element.

The most significant and lasting impact of the linguistic divide has been the emergence of Hindi and Urdu as two separate literary registers of Hindustani, both of which are recognised on national levels.

There is also a small population of Zoroastrian Iranis in India, who migrated in the 19th century to escape religious persecution in Qajar Iran and speak a Dari dialect.