Persians in the Mughal Empire

Persian people were one of the major ethnic groups, who accompanied the ethnic Turco-Mongol ruling elite of the Mughal Empire after its invasion of the Indian subcontinent. Throughout the Mughal Empire, a number of ethnic Persian technocrats, bureaucrats, traders, scientists, architects, teachers, poets, artists, theologians and Sufis migrated and settled in different parts of the Indian Subcontinent.

The name Mughal is derived from the original homelands of the Timurids, the Central Asian (Turkestan) steppes once conquered by Genghis Khan and hence known as Moghulistan, "Land of Mongols". Although early Mughals spoke the Chagatai language and maintained some Turko-Mongol practices, they became essentially Persianized[1] and transferred the Persian literary and high culture[1] to South Asia, thus forming the base for the Indo-Persian culture and the Spread of Islam in South Asia.[1][2]

Humayun refuge in Persia

Shah Tahmasp greets the exiled Humayun.
Shah Tahmasp I and the Mughal Emperor Humayun in Isfahan.

Mughal Emperor Humayun was defeated by Sher Shah Suri in 1540 and fled to the refuge of the powerful Safavid Empire in Iran, marching with 40 men and his wife. Shah Tahmasp welcomed the Mughal, and treated him as a royal visitor. Here Humayun went sightseeing and was amazed at the Persian artwork, military might and architecture he saw: much of this was the work of the Timurid Sultan Husayn Bayqarah and his ancestor, princess Gauhar Shad, thus he was able to admire the work of his relatives and ancestors at first hand. He was introduced to the work of the Persian miniaturists, and Kamaleddin Behzad had two of his pupils join Humayun in his court. Humayun was amazed at their work and asked if they would work for him if he were to regain the sovereignty of Hindustan and they agreed.

Shah Tahmasp provided financial aid and a large choice of cavalry to regain his Empire. Persians nobles and soldiers joined Humayun in reconquest of South Asia.

The Turkic Turani nobility tended to fade away from the political scene and the Persian nobles improved their position. During 1545–1555 A.D. a number of Persians who came in Humayun's service were appointed to important central offices, such as diwan, wazir, and mir-saman (in charge of the Imperial Palace).

Ma'âṣer al-Omarâ

Ma'âṣer al-Omarâ was written by Shah Nawaz Khan and his son, 'Abd al-Hayy in 1780. This book contains the biographies of 738 Mughal nobles of which at least 198 or 26.8 per cent were Persians[3]

Contribution to Urdu

The mother-tongue of the recently-immigrated Persians was Persian, while Urdu was the mother-tongue of the Indian-born persians who made 75% of the Shi'a Persian group of nobles in India.[4] One example was the family of Ali Mardan Khan, an ethnic Kurdish Safavid turncoat governor of Kandahar,[5] whose son Ibrahim Khan and grandson Zabardast Khan respectively continued to maintain ranks as nobles.[6] The son of Zabardast Khan, Sadr-ud-Din Khan, wrote the first Urdu Diwan in Northern India in 1715. He describes in the Risala-i Munazrat that he participated in Mushairas and academic gatherings at the residence of the Indian Muslim Mir Bakhshi Khan-i Dauran,[7][8] the Amir-ul-Umara and Commander-in-Chief of the army of Muhammad Shah.[9][10] Sadr-ud-Din Khan exerted considerable influence on the contemporary writers and poets and his literary output enriched Urdu literature. In the preface to his Kulliyat, he has expounded his own theories of the art of composing poetry.

Reasons for immigration

Most of the Persians migrated to South Asia to prosper and obtain high positions in Mughal Empire. Many were Sunni Persians who felt discriminated in Shia Safavid Empire and migrated to mostly Sunni Mughal Empire. There were also rebels and nobles who lost royal favour and migrated to Mughal Empire. The Mughals also preferred to employ foreign Muslim officials that had little or no local interests and thus were loyal to the Mughal emperor.

Awadh State

Sultanate of Mysore, Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab of the Carnatic, Nawab of Awadh, Nawab of Bengal, Nawab of Bhopal, Sind and Bhawalpur were Muslim Millets within the Mughal Empire.

The most important Shia state in South Asia was established by Persian originally from Khurasan in Persia around 1722 AD with Faizabad as its capital and Sadat Ali Khan as its first Nawab. Awadh or Avadh is also known in various British historical texts as Oudh.

Qizilbash

The Qizilbash soldiers and officials settled in modern Pakistan during Mughal Emperor Humayun's return from exile in Safavid Persia and restoration of Mughal Empire. Emperor Humayun lost his Empire to the Pashtun noble, Sher Shah Suri, and, with Persian aid, regained them 15 years later in 1555 AD.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Robert L. Canfield, Turko-Persia in historical perspective, Cambridge University Press, 1991. pg 20: "The Mughals – Persianized Turks who invaded from Central Asia and claimed descent from both Timur and Genghis – strengthened the Persianate culture of Muslim India"
  2. ^ Frances Pritchett. "part2_10". Columbia.edu. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  3. ^ Emigration of Iranian Elites to India during the 16–18th centuries
  4. ^ Stephen P. Blake (2002). Shahjahanabad: The Sovereign City in Mughal India 1639-1739. Cambridge University Press. p. 127. ISBN 9780521522991.
  5. ^ J.J.L. Gommans, "Mughal Warfare: Indian Frontiers and Highroads to Empire 1500–1700" one year after the Kurdish turncoat Ali Mardan Khan had handed Qandahar
    - Rajmohan Gandhi, "Punjab: A History from Aurangzeb to Mountbatten" Shah Jahan's chief engineer for such projects was a Kurdish general, Ali Mardan Khan Archived 22 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine
    - Clifford Edmund Bosworth, E. Van Donzel, B. Lewis, The Encyclopaedia of Islam: Supplement : "Fascicules 1-2", pg. 63
  6. ^ Indian History Congress (1984). Proceedings: Volume 44. Indian History Congress. p. 204.
  7. ^ Zahiruddin Malik (1977). The Reign Of Muhammad Shah 1919-1748. Sadr-ud-Din Faiz had legitimate contacts with the contemporary literary figures and prominent Mughal nobles, including Khan-i Dauran, the Mir Bakhshi of Muhammad Shah. He participated in the musha'irahs and academic gatherings at the residence of Khan-i Dauran and these he describes vividly in the Risala-i Manazrat
  8. ^ Mohibbul Hasan (1982). Historians of Medieval India. Meenakshi Prakashan. p. 159. Khan-i-Dauran, an Indian born Muslim
  9. ^ Shama Mitra Chenoy (1998). Shahjahanabad, a city of Delhi, 1638-1857. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. p. 81. ISBN 9788121508025.
  10. ^ Muḥammad Laṭīf (Saiyid, khān bahādur.) (1891). History of the Panjáb from the Remotest Antiquity to the Present Time. Calcutta Central Press Company, limited. p. 198.