The Subcontinent, A Persian Lexicography Pioneer

The literature scholars of the subcontinent were the vanguard and the pioneers in various fields in Persian language, such as rhetoric, biography and especially lexicography. Unlike the Iranian literati, they are the initiator and founder of the theoretical basis of lexicography, rhetoric, biography and even criticism to the extent that the theoretical principle of each of these arts can be extracted from the content of the works in each subject. In this article, first we briefly review the development of Persian language in the subcontinent during different periods, and then we discuss the lexicography in the subcontinent and show how effective the subcontinent was in the formation and development of this process. Therefore, we will explore the written dictionaries in India and mark their most distinguishing features. In the end, we point out the important functions of these dictionaries.