The Pioneers of Persian Rhetoric in the Indian Subcontinent

Undoubtedly, the Indian subcontinent has had an undeniable role in the enrichment and spread of Persian language and literature. It has led to the creation of some lasting works in various areas of literature, especially in Persian rhetoric, works that have been written with a unique creativity and innovation. In this study an attempt has been made to investigate three top rhetoric works in the Indian subcontinent: Jame al Sanay’ wal Awazan by Seif Jam Heravi, Sobhat al-Marjan wa Ghazlan al-Hind by Azad Belgerami and Hadaegh al-Balaghe by Faghir Dehlavi. It has been revealed that these three works in contrast with other Islamic rhetoric works, which have been in part influenced by Greek thoughts, are mainly written based on Sanskrit rhetoric. It has also been found that these three works not only include aesthetic criteria and literary figures, but also contain a kind of pragmatic criticism. Finally, the most significant commonalities of these works have been pointed out.