نشریه مطالعات شبه قاره
سال هفتم شماره 25 (زمستان 1394)

In the mythological world of ancient civilizations of Iran and India, which are considered as relatives due to ethnic, cultural and mythical similarities; there are creatures with distinguishing characteristics. Some of them have the ability to metamorphose or transform.The Indian composite phenomenon called Ganesh which is among the popular Hindu animal gods is one of the examples. This creature is often displayed as one of the demons of some Iranian manuscripts like Shahnameh, thus, the present research aims at investigating the reasons and evidences of such phenomenon in Indian and Iranian myths, literature and paintings. The results of this study, using descriptive-analytic methodand library resources, reveals that this compound phenomenon was elevated in his birthplace, India, from demon’s land into the realm of the gods, turned intoone of the favorite Asian gods and influenced the Manichaeism religion. Meanwhile, the evil, less important counterpart of this phenomenon also continues to exist in the art and literature of India But this transformed creature in Persia at the time of Zoroastrianism solely was displayed as the demon. The main reason is the former gods at that time were considered enemies in Zoroastrian religion and entering Islamic beliefs and Iranian folks,Ganesh was portrayed only byits negative dimension, as a genie.

Abd-Al-Samad, one of the active painters of the Safavid court, was invited in his youth to India by the ruler of the time to establish a school of painting which was started with the principles of Iranian painting. In this study it has been attempted to introduce his paintings in the time interval of 1535 to 1600. In this period, Abd-Al-Samad was busy, working in the royal painting workshop of three kings with three different types of beliefs: the Shiite Shah Tahmasp I, the Sunni Shah Humayun and Akbar Shah who believed in Akbari doctrine. Hence, the differences of this artist’s paintings are investigated in the above mentioned period.
Regarding the importance of Abd-Al-Samad’s artistic personality and his unparalleled influence on Indian art, this research aims at making this valuable painter known to the artist society. Given the need for examining the remaining paintings, the research method was selected to be comparative-analytic and library resources as well as observations have aided the research being carried out. Plain differences in the paintings selected from the working periods of the painter may be observed which are the results of the king imposing his own taste on the painter’s work of art, because the used techniques are not similar to what he started and it can be implied that the artist continued his work in a new mental environment of his work place.

One of the unknown biographies which have been written in 1839 by Mohammad Mahdi VasefMedrasiin Indian Subcontinent is Madan-Al- Javaher. This biography is considerable from five views:
The first one is that this book is a collection of literal points such as eloquence, prosody and figures of speech.Second is for other poets contemporary to Medrasiwhom their biographies are rare and also the effect that this book had on future biographies.Third point is the literal criticism, stylistic information and the objections which are provided against other poets. Fourth is "Golzar-e-Aazam" biography and "Zolfaghar-e-Ali" Treatise which have been written as a reply to the objectionsof Maadan-Al-Javaher. And fifth is writing "Hosne khetab and Radde Javab"Treatise by Vasef in rejecting the objections of "Zolfaghar-e-Ali" and writing "Hadighat-Al-Maram" biography in Arabic as a reply to "Golzar-e-Aazam".The aim of some writers in biographies is in factcompete with and replyto other biographies. Such as "MardomDideh" biography in reply to "Majma-Al-Nafayes", "Sobh-e-Vatan" inreply to "Goldaste-ye-Karnataka" and "Golzar-e-Aazam" biography in reply to "Madan-Al-Javaher". In aparticular period (second half of 13th century) in which Persian language was declining, poet contests and even criticism were still prevail in Karnataka(south of India).

Creating a balance between Islam and Sufism was one of the major concerns of mystics and saints in Indian subcontinent. Presenting a new interpretation of Sufism, Ahmad Sirhindicreated a harmony between Shariaand Tariqa.In this article it has been attempted to study his mystical views, referring to his works, usingthe descriptive–analyticmethod. He considered himself as a "link" for the reconciliation of Shariaand Tariqa. He demonstrated that Shariaand Tariqa are complementary and there is no conflict between them. In his opinion, true scholars are those who know the outward of Sharia and have achieved the highestlevelof Sufism. Sirhindi considers the true Sharia and its scope as something that sublime scholars have achieved, presenting a new definition of that, the Sharia which not only has no confliction with Tariqa, but also covers it. Mentioning the states of Gnosticism and Sufism, he believes that the purpose of Sufism is to removethe obstacles in the way of God and that is necessary to know God and achieving the Annihilation in God and survival in Him.

Since Pre Islam era the adjacency of Iran and India has landed to Cross-Cultural relationship between these two countries. Because of the similarity of the sanctuary designs in textiles of these two countries, it is difficult to identify the origin of such designs which have roots in shared religious beliefs. Therefore it is necessary to study the relationship between the textiles of these two countries. According to the first hypothesis, the sanctuary designs were transferred from Iran to India and changed under the influence of Indian culture. So the main questions are as follows: What is the influence of sanctuary designs on two countrie's textiles? What are the similarities and differences between these designs? In this study the method is descriptive-analytic and library resources have been used.First, the important textiles are classified and the origin is studied. Second, the similarities and differences of sanctuary designs are identifiedand analyzed. The resultsdemonstrate that the sanctuary designs were transferred from Iran to India in Safaviera.
Moreover, it has been concluded that although most of the Iranian sanctuary designs were preserved in Indian textile, they have gradually changed under the influence of Indian culture in contemporary period

Iranians and Indians have paid a special attention to each otherin different topics since the separation of Aryan nations. Iranians, in Particular, found India as a safe place and their second homeland, facing with the problems and unpleasant conditions and migrated to India. Indians have had good views toward Iranians as well, and tried to follow them in different ways because at that time Iranian dynasties had a glorious and interesting life style. However the aim of this paper is to consider the academic and cultural interactions between these two Aryan territories during Sassanid era. These two countries have been rich in some fields such as medicine, astronomy, mathematics and literature and have had great effects on each other in these fields. Thus, it has been attempted to discuss the academic and cultural interactions between Iran and India in this research paper, and find the answer of this question that; were these relations bilateral and interactional

The survival of Zoroaster so far, despite the numerous problems and obstacles which its followers have encountered with in different periods of time, particularly afterthe collapse of Sassanid dynasty,is significant and considering the relations of Zoroastrians after Islam's entrance to Iran can be a guide to this matter.
In the presentstudyit has been attempted to considerreligious and cultural relations between Persians of India and Iranian Zoroastrians, along with its manner and to mention the advantages of these relations for the followers of that religion in India and Iran and also its consequences.Studies demonstrate that between Persians of India and Iranian Zoroastrianshad been in persistent relationships. Although in some periods these two religious communities could have been unaware of each other due to inlandor political anarchy,they would begin their relationships in various fields as soon as the political and social peace would have appeared. The religious and cultural relationships between the two nations, which were established to help the Persians of India,continued to help IranianZoroastriansin recent centuries and it caused this ancient religion to keep its identity and rules.This research has been conducted using descriptive-analytic method and written historical resources.

The Chishti dynasty is a famous one from the Sufis of Indian subcontinent which is related to Chisht, founded by Khawaja Moein-Al-Din Sajzi Chishti in Ajmer, India. This is why the city of Ajmer is considered as headquarter of Chishti dynasty. In Addition to spreading Islam the sublimes of this dynasty succeeded in playing an important role in revitalization of cultural relations between Iran and India and expansion of Farsi language in the subcontinent. Thus, several books have been written about this dynasty. Mounes-Al-Arvah written by Jahanara Beigom, daughter of Shah Jahan, a very educated princess of Gurkanids is one of the most important examples of these books which explain the life of the sheiks of Chishti in 1639 A.D. This article opens by explanation about the life of the author of the book and then introduces the valuable aspects of this work.

India and the United State of America's relationshiphas had ups and downs from the beginning, however after the Cold war and specially in the presidency of George Bush, their relationship improvedand boomed to strategic relations.The article’s question is that "What kind of effectsafter the Cold war did the evolution of international system's structure have on the relationship between India and US?"the hypothesis to answer this question is that "international system's structure has not had a significant effect on improvement of india-US relations". The goal of this study is to consider the role of macro factors of international system in bilateral relations. This research has been conducted using qualitative method, library resources and thehistoric– analytic approach. The Findings demonstrate that International system's structure has not had a major role on bilateral relations and functioned only as a secondary factor.

Kamrop and Kamelta or the Effort Order is a romance-folklore collection belongs to the Indian subcontinent, which is about the love of Prince Kamrop, son of the king Uday Poor, for the Princess of Sarandib, Kamelta, who is still a virgin. This work is a combined prose and poetry which has been compiled by Haraj Bolhate, known as Fayez Nazar, written by Ray Suk Ram Doray Hikdakh ibn Ray Sin Ray in 1231 AH and originally composed by Mir Muhammad Murad Layegh Jaunpuri. The writers will study the supernatural elements and objects of the story in addition to report that, referring to the original version by Fayez Nazar. The importance of the present study is to consider the function of supernatural elements in heroe's idealistic action and the impossible presence in possible objects such as creatures and objects. The research method is inductive analysis and the aim is to introduce one of the lyrical stories of the Indian subcontinent and penetrate to the Iranian and Indian common borders of religion, language and beliefs. Among the salient points of this narrative are the signs of magic and fantasy trip to the world of demons and fairies. Its advantage is using garden as a common place of real and imaginary worlds for communication of creatures and confluence of contradictory elements in this heavenly place.