نامه فرهنگستان
سال چهاردهم شماره 4 (تابستان 1394)

Influenced by various natural and human factors, Sindh territory used to have continuous and close relationship with Iran. Iran’s political and cultural developments influenced the Sindh history in a variety of ways. Certain rulers of Iran tried to conquer parts of Sindh. Some invaders to Iran also attacked some parts of Sindh. Following the invasion of foreign nations of Iran and certain internal political problems, a number of Iranians migrated to Sindh. Among the migrants, some were the deposed rulers or their relatives who tried to become ruler again. Still some others were scholars, literary figures and scientists who left some of their works in Sindh. In this manner civil and cultural relations continued along with political and military relations of Iran and Sindh. Ultimately political and cultural links of Iran and Sindh were weakened as a result of factors including the partition of the Subcontinent and Europeans entrance to the scene of regional relations in Asia. This article will focus on the ups and downs of such political and cultural relations.

Fatawi-e Baburi is one of the most prominent sources of Islamic jurisprudence [fiqh] in Babur era which was written at the behest of Zahir Aiddin Muhammad Babur, the founder of Gurkani dynasty in India. The author’s motive was achieving position in Babur court not to mention the financial benefits. Fatawi-e Baburi consists of five chapters and the third chapter, which is the most important one, is about Friday Prayers. Expressing the importance of Friday Prayers and its performance, the author also has emphasized that learning Shari’at [Islamic law] and fiqh [Islamic Jurisprudence] would lead to salvation in this world and in the hereafter and found learning of religious knowledge quite essential for a sultan and has regarded a sultan as true meaning of “The Shadow of God” and a master of power and high authority among nobbies. Therefore, in some way, the idea of sultan’s being shadow of God has influenced a conception and aim of the author in writing this book. He has tried to inculcate the idea that a sultan has authority not only in political but also in religious affairs into the public.

The legacy of Mughal rulers in India, as well as their colleagues who included Muslims, Hindus, Zoroastrians and Christians for more than a century is devoted to an important part of researches. These studies cover a range of orientalistic approaches to localism. This article tries to show the reflection of Iranian ethical ideas on Babur's thought and action through the two texts: Babur-Nama that is the autobiography of the first Mughal's ruler of India and Akhlaq-e Humayuni written by Qazi Ekhtiyar al-Din Hassan ibn Ghiyath al-Din Huseyni. Akhlaq-e Humayuni covers the first works which is written in the name of the founder of Mughal's dynasty in India. It laid the ground work for his acquaintance with Iranian Ethical heritage, especially with Abu Ali Miskawayh's opinion, an Iranian philosopher and historian. Im my opinion, Babur’s relentless effort to develop social life of the inhabitants in the territory of his state as well as his especial attention the concepts of city and garden, originated in his knowledge in his knowledge about this legacy. I called his approach to these aspects as the “Baburi’s ataphor”. This metaphor helps us to represent the ideal world of the founder of the Mughal dynasty in India.

In each country prominent political figures are received on the basis of the protocol of diplomatic visits. In Iran of the Safavid era, Shah Tahmaseb I granted asylum to Homayoon Shah of India. Owing to the significance, dimensions and expected consequences of this event for Iran, Shah Tahmaseb wrote a letter to Khorasan’s Governor, Mohammad Khan Takloo, describing the ceremony and diplomatic code of receiving Homayoon Shah. While this is solely related to Homayoon Shah reception, apparently this is the first written order on how to receive a foreign political figure in the Safavid era. Based on two Indian sources, Homayoon and Akbar memoirs written by Bayazid Bayat and Akbarnameh written by Abolfazl Allami, this article will review the letter of Shah Tahmaseb addressed to the Governor of Khorasan and will analyze its dimensions and will scrutinize the protocol of receiving a prominent political figure in the 19th century A. H.

This article explores the political procedure through which English has become the official language of Indian subcontinent. Therefore, we concentrate on a historical period, namely roughly between 1813- 1840, in which significant decisions has been made, that consequently led to a shift in area`s culture. We first pay our close attention to Charter Act of 1813 according to which Rs 100,000 has been allotted to promote education in Indian masses. Immediately after this act, British officers have been divided into two groups, namely orientalist and occidentalist. A controversy between these two groups has been aroused regarding the target of government`s budget. Arrival of Lord Bentinck, the Governor-General of India, in 1828 has fueled the controversy, since he was inclined to occidentalists both for practical reasons and intellectual ones. Then we examine the role of Lord Macaulay to put an end to the controversy. His Minute on Indian Education helped Bentinck in his attempt to hegemonize English language as the official language of India. As a result, a new policy of language and culture has been adopted and developed. Then we see how this policy was implemented in society.

Several volumes of the Indian-Persian translations corpus of the Qajar imperial translation office by Seyyed-Hosein Shirazi, Motarjem-e Hendi (=Hindi translator) are allocated to the Indian newspapers printed in the last decades of the 19th century. These manuscripts have been prepared, translated, written in calligraphy, finely designed, and pictured for the Persian King (Naser al-Din Shah Qajar), his son (Zel al-Soltan), and also his prime minister (Mirza Ali Asghar Khan Atabak, Amin al- Soltan) to study in private. This study concentrates on the manuscript of "The quality of the Islamic monarchy of Deccan", a brief history of the Asefjahi dynasty till the coronation of the 9th Nizam of Hyderabad, AsafJah VI, Mir Mahbub Ali Khan Siddiq, portraying Iran- India diplomatic relations and Qajar's acquaintance with the Nizam of Hyderabad before the Indian independence movement. Moreover, the manuscript indicates Persian translator's tenor and thoughts in article selection and its influence on the governors. It includes a rare original niello portrait of AsafJah VI by Iranian painter Abutorab Khan Ghaffari, introduced in this paper for the first time. Since all his masterpieces are printed in lithographic format in official newspapers, this painting can be considered a unique artwork in the Iranian contemporary art history and pictorial journalism.

Mir Gholam-Ali Azad Bilgrami (1704-1786 A. D.), the great author and poet of India in the 12th century, is considered as one of the prominent men in the Subcontinent in the period of Mughal Empire. Azad has written many works in Persian and Arabic. He has shown his passion for events recording and historical analysis in these works and depending on the circumstances, he has explained the history of Iran and India and other places. His family origins, experience of event recording, his presence at governmental organization and his role in some historical occurrence, convert him to one of the direct chroniclers of the history of India, especially the history of Deccan. This article is dedicated to the share of Azad Bilgerami in recording and analyzing the history of Deccan.

The main focus of this article is on the phenomenology of icons and iconography in the Subcontinent through different historical periods and within different cultures. This main theme has been discussed from the emergence of Bhudda statues to the Mughal royal portraitures; and from Hindu book illustrations to modern iconography of political and spiritual leaders. Iconic, symbolic and indexical significations have been discussed briefly through one or two examples regarding each period and each school; influences by other cultures are highlighted whereas they are fundamental and constructive. On the other hand, this article implicitly indicates principal shifts in foundations of icons and organization of symbols through a historical narrative.

After describing the initial appearance and features of the Sabk-e Hindi, specific codicological and book art terms shall be discussed, with examples culled from the works of over twenty Sabk-e Hindi poets spanning the late 10th to 12th centuries A. H., excluding technical treatises on calligraphy and related arts. To prove the rarity of this terminology in Sabk-e Hindi poetry, I have especially researched and studied divans of the Safavid period. In order to better understand specific terms, references are made to dictionaries of that period, as well as to unpublished manuscripts. By exploring the relationship between Persian poetry and the arts of the book, this article will demonstrate that Sabk-e Hindi poetry of the Safavid period is one of the primary sources for understanding codicological terminology.

Barandagh-e Khujandi is one of the important poets of the 8-9 century A. H. who has passed all his life in travel. Based on his poems, he travelled to the Subcontinent cities like Kannauj, Shams Abad, Delhi and Multan. But his presence in the Subcontinent was not known. He returned hastily from Multan to Transoxiana in791A. H., after praising Sultan Ghiyasuddin Toghlqshah who was killed in that year.

The story of Sassi and Punnun is one of the most famous romantic stories in the whole Indian Subcontinent which has a special place among the people of Sindh and Balochistan. This story is written about twenty times in Persian verses from the 11th to 14th century A. H. The Persian poets, according to their experiences of storytelling in Persian literature, have written and narrated the story in many different ways. Taking into consideration that Balochistan is neighbor with the Subcontinent and also a significant number of Balochi people have assimilated with Sindhi people. The mentioned story is also very common among Baloch people: one of the two main characters of the story Punnun was Baloch and from the town kech in Balochistan. The interest of Baloch poets in the versification of this story has doubled. This story has been versified several times and its narratives used in Balochi language. In this epopee, in some cases there are different versions used in Persian.

Throughout the studies that have been carried out on Abd al-Latif Abbâsi Gujarâti, his death date has been reported to be either in 1048 or 1049 A. H. But by taking a closer look at the Shâhjahân age’s history books, such as Ma`âthir al-umarâ and Pâdshâhnâme, we would find out that he has probably lived in these years and he must have passed away after 1059 A. H. Also, in some studies, he has been called “Baniravi” instead of "Gujarâti" which we correct noting the source of this misnarration and also referring to what Abd al-Latif himself said. Finally, with reference to the introductory text that Abd al-Latif has written on But-khâne, which is wrongly called “Khulâsat al-shu`arâ”, we determine the correct name of his book.

Today, the significance of literary Tazkerehs, especially those which are original and old and have extraliterary advantages, is obvious and irrefutable. Nafayes al- Ma’aser is the oldest Persian literary Tazkereh written about the era of Timurids of India. Thus, it includes very authentic information about the poets of such era in Iran and India as well as history of India in Akbar Shah period. Also, there is valuable poetic evidence in this book adding to other values of such work. Kami Qazvini, the author of this book, was from the outstanding and knowledgeable family of Sadat Hassani of Qazvin who immigrated to India due to religious pressures and became one of the men of letters in Akbar Shah’s court. His work was neglected by his contemporaries, strangely to the extent that it was unknown to many Tazkereh writers after him. Of course, there were a few people who used this work covertly or overtly but did not value him and his work as much as they deserved. This article aims to introduce this work and its prominent features as well as to analyze its sources and information and the writers who were influenced by him.

Instructions and explanation of spiritual matters, at first, was passed orally and practically to disciples. But later, the mystical books were written for reminding and ease of access of seekers to spiritual and moral teachings. One of these works, an important and unknown book, Aroos e Erfan was written by Mahmoud Bahri Qaderi, in the 11th century A. H., in the days of promotion of Persian language and culture coinciding with Ourang Zib kingdom. Mahmoud Bahri was one of the celebrities of Qaderiyeh India dynasty and was in the service and under education of Mohammad Bagher Qaderi. In addition, Qaderi had intercourse and met with many of the elders and leaders of mysticism and Sufism in his day and reserved the name of many unknown mystics and description of his meeting with them. This article will introduce this important work, Aroos e Erfan and its lesser- known writer.

Naziri is known as a Sufi and dervish poet who raised the flag of poetry in Khorasan and his reputation became widespread among in Iran and Iraq. He is considered the leading poet among his contemporaries. In his time, he was seeking people who knew the value of poem and poetry; therefore, he travelled to India and rejected the Iranian eulogists. Naziri is one of the most famous Indian-style poets who has followed and imitated the Iranian poets such as Anvari, Khaghani, Nezami, Saadi and Hafiz in particular. He has utilized new terms and combination of words and has set his worldview on the basis of the vision of Islam and Shiism in particular. Naziri has composed pleasant and eloquent poems in praise of Imams. Therefore, in addition to the dominant discourse in which he praised the tribunal court and made a living with it, another dominant discourse glares in his Divan. Given his religious orientation, the religious and ritual discourse is also prominent in his Divan which is explained and explored in this study.

In the last years of the 9th century A. H., the age of scientific and cultural enlightenment of Transoxiana was changed into the vast scientific and cultural decline. At the time there was no suitable condition for the survival and development of Persian literature. In contrast the Subcontinent was a great haven for the development of Persian literature. The popularity and growth of the Iranian culture in the Subcontinent were due to the fact that the Goorkanian loved the Iranian culture and language. Hence there were a large group of Persian speaking writers and poets from Transoxiana at the Goorkani court. This article introduces a number of Persian speaking poets of Transoxiana who immigrated to India due to their unsuitable living conditions in their homeland.

The Relationship between locutor and interlocutor has always been an interesting subject for philosophers and critics. In Rhetoric, Aristotle expresses that the author can affect reader by three ethos, pathos and logos. Between them, we concentrate on ethos that is so important in new criticism and represents the presence of author in text or discourse. This presence is not limited to the text as an enunciator. Specifically, it should be studied in discourse where the author essays to consider the writing and the way of writing in order to justify his artistic identity. This type of identity quest is noticeable in Indian style poets’ works. The Indian style poet, who wants to show a perfect image of himself and his art of writing poems, tries to keep his ethos. They attempt to create an acceptable image of themselves through self-theorization, self-expression, self-exception and self-comparison.

So far, many works of Persian dictionaries of the Subcontinent have been investigated by Iranian scholars and lexicographers, however, some dictionaries still remain unknown. Bahr-e Ajam, among them, is a monolingual Persian dictionary in the 13th century Persia. The compiler, in his dictionary, has extracted simple and compound infinitives and their derivatives, as well as attributive and prepositional compounds from Ka􀇆folloqât, Bahâr-e Ajam and Qiyâsolloqât. This article, first, provides the compiler's biography and his purpose of compiling Bahr-e Ajam. Next, it describes the structure and compilation method of the dictionary. The final section examines the detailed information on pronunciation, meaning, grammar, and example words or phrases based on the principles of lexicography. The advantages and disadvantages of the book are also considered.

Abd al-latif-e Abbasi is one of the erudite scribes of the 10th and 11th centuries A. H. in the Indian Subcontinent. Most of his works are about correction and explanation of the Masnavi-e Ma’navi and Hadiqat al-Haqiqa. He has followed the method of Hamdallah Mustawfi in the correction of Shahnama and has completed it. Though his method is somehow similar to modern critical tenets and approaches in textual criticism, there are basic differences that challenge it. This article has studied the details of his method in the correction of Masnavi and has evaluated his works based on scientific standards.