Persian Inscriptions on Indian Monuments

Persian Inscriptions on Indian Monuments (Persian: نقش پارسی بر احجار هند) is a book written in Persian by Dr Ali Asghar Hekmat E Shirazi and published in 1956 and 1958 and 2013. New edition contains the Persian texts of more than 200 epigraphical inscriptions found on historical monuments in India, many of which are currently listed as national heritage sites or registered as UNESCO world heritage, published in Persian; an English edition is also being printed.
After being forgotten for over 50 years, a third edition of the book has been printed by Dr. Mohammad Ajam. the absence of the book was felt particularly by students of the Persian language and literature, as well as linguistics. The new edition includes images of many of the inscriptions it describes, as well as a new seventh chapter consisting of five parts. The new edition of the book has been published under a different title: Persian Inscriptions on the Indian World Heritage Sites. because many of the stone inscriptions it describes have been preserved and registered as world heritage The new edition contains more than 120 images.
In India, Persian inscriptions are usually found on buildings such as mosques and tombs, or on secular edifices including forts, palaces, gateways, water tanks, wells, gardens and bridges. Certain movable objects such as seals, signets, vases and eating utensils often bear inscriptions too. Most pre-Mughal Indian Islamic and Persian inscriptions in India date from the last decade of the 12th century AD, when Muhammad Ghori (Guri) conquered Delhi and established his sultanate there. However, a small number of inscriptions have been found in Haryana, Gujarat and Kerala which bear earlier dates.
In Persian, Arabic and (more recently) Urdu inscriptions found in India, the dynasties represented most prominently are the Mamluks, the Khaljis, the Tughluqs, the Sayyids, the Lodis, the Mughals and Surids. Many other regional dynasties also receive prominent representation in inscriptions within India. When the powerful Mughals and (Khorasanid) dynasties assumed power, they used Persian as the main language for all academic and administrative matters, including inscriptions, coins, official letters and many others. Under the later Mughals, many of the regional principalities became autonomous and continued using Persian as their official language. Later, when Urdu came into wider use, its existence was also recorded in inscriptions.
In addition to Arabic, Persian and Urdu inscriptions, there are also bilingual and even trilingual inscriptions (for example, in Arabic combined with regional languages such as Gujarati, Bengali, Tamil and Malayalam, or Persian combined with provincial languages such as Kannada, Telugu, Oriya, Tamil, Gujarati and Marathi). Persian and mixed Quranic Arabic with Persian have been used alongside many other languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, English, Portuguese and many others. Examples of such inscriptions can be found in Qutb Minar at New Delhi, the Tomb of Akbar the Great at Sikandara, the Adina Mosque at Pandua (Bengal), the Taj Mahal at Agra and many other locations. In addition, Arabic and Persian inscriptions can be found written in various different popular scripts or styles of Islamic Persian Calligraphy, including Kufi, Naskh, Thuluth, Riqa and Nastaliq. The book describes many palaces, forts, tombs and mosques inscribed with Persian Inscriptions.
Mughal dynasty or Mughal Persian dynasty who originally came from great Khorasan and are known in Iran and Afghanistan as the Gourkanid dynasty also had link to (Ghurid dynasty). Mughal Persian dynasty begins with Babur a Persian word meaning Tiger. His grandson Akbar I developed Indo-Persian culture and the Mughal architecture style developed vigorously during his reign. Among his accomplishments were Agra Fort, the fort-city of Fatehpur Sikri, and the Buland Darwaza. Akbar's son Jahangir commissioned the Shalimar Gardens in Kashmir and Humayun's Tomb.
The first chapter of the book is dedicated to the history of Persian inscription in India, describing the history of epigraphy up to the initial development of Islam and beyond. Sassanid Persian inscriptions can be found in the Ajanta cave, on many coins dating from the reign of Pulakesin II and on the crosses of churches such as St. Thomas Mount and San Thome Basilica in Chennai and St. Mary's Orthodox Valiyapally.
The book describes Persian Inscriptions on many palaces and fort in India including:
The book describes 47 Mausoleum and tombs in India inscribed with Persian Inscriptions.
The book had described Persian inscription in the 14 mosques in India including:
. Shah Jahan also built the Taj Mahal, at Agra and the Red Fort in Old Delhi, which stands opposite the Jama Masjid.it remained the royal mosque of the emperors until the end of the Mughal period.
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The main religious buildings were the huge Jama Masjid and small Tomb of Salim Chisti. Buland Darwaza, also known as the Gate of Magnificence, was built by Akbar in 1576 to commemorate his victory over Gujarat and the Deccan. The Tomb of Salim Chishti is famed as one of the finest examples of Mughal architecture in India, built during the years 1580 and 1581.
The tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulahmausoleum in the city of Agra in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. the tomb of I'timād-ud-Daulah is often regarded as a draft of the Taj Mahal.Shahi Bridge, Jaunpur was also constructed during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Akbar.
The Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore was commissioned during the reign of Shah Jahan, his reign at Agra, Delhi and Lahore. Some examples include the Taj Mahal at Agra, the tomb of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. The Moti Masjid (Pearl Mosque) in the Lahore Fort and the Jama Masjid at Delhi are imposing buildings of his era, Shah Jahan also built sections of the Sheesh Mahal, and Naulakha pavilion, also in Thatta called Shahjahan Mosque. Shah Jahan also built the Red Fort in his new capital at Shah Jahanabad, now Delhi. The red sandstone Red Fort is noted for its special buildings-Diwan-i-Aam and Diwan-i-Khas.
The Wazir Khan Mosque was commissioned during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in 1634, and completed in 1642
In Aurangzeb's reign (1658–1707)
The Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, Pakistan was commissioned by the sixth Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
Additional monuments with Persian Mughal structure
Zinat al-Masjid in Daryaganj was overseen by Aurangzeb's second daughter Zinat-al-Nissa. Aurangzeb's sister Roshan-Ara who died in 1671. The tomb of Roshanara Begum
Lalbagh Fort (also known as "Fort Aurangabad"), Dhaka, Bangladesh, whose construction started in 1678 during the reign of Aurangzeb’s son Azam Shah.
Mughal gardens This style was influenced by Persian gardens. Humayun's Tomb, was the first sample of later Mughal gardens.
The first part from the new edition chapter added in 2013 contains a selection of Persian inscriptions found on the Hyderabad Monuments, dating from the time of the Qutb Shahi dynasty. It also contains inscriptions from the Golkonda fort and the Deccan in the Andhra Pradesh.
Under the Mughals (1526-1858), Persian replaced Arabic almost throughout the region. The case is more or less the same in the southeastern and southernmost strip comprising the present Indian state of Tamil Nadu, which during a brief spell of Muslim authority there, in the mid-14th century, under the Madura sultanate, and then under the Qoṭbšāhī rulers and the Mughals in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the semi-independent nawwābs of Karnataka, saw extensive use of Persian. Likewise, in easternmost Bengal the epigraphic language was almost exclusively Arabic until the Mughal period, when it was totally replaced by Persian. In Orissa and Assam, which effectively came under Muslim authority in the 17th century, Persian was the language of epigraphs. In westernmost Gujarat, one encounters a curious phenomenon: both prose and verse epigraphs of the Delhi sultanate period (1296-1406), are generally in Persian, but later replaced by Arabic under the Gujarat sultans (1406-1580).The epigraphs of the 16th-17th century ʿĀdelšāhī (924-1097/1518-1686, q.v.) and Qoṭbšāhī (924-1098 /1518-1687) rulers of Bijapur and Golkonda-Hyderabad, respectively, who also had close relations with Persia, furnish better poetry. Surprisingly, in the above-mentioned small chiefdoms, as in parts of Tamil Nadu under the nawwābs of Karnataka, a considerable number of fairly high quality records is found.
Importance of the epigraphs, Calligraphic inscriptions constitute the most important decorative element in Indian Islamic Architecture which attained a high level of perfection in Qutb Minar at Delhi, Adina Mosque at Pandua (in Bengal), Atala Mosque at Jaunpur, Jami Mosques at Ahmedabad, Golconda and Hyderabad, Akbar’s tomb at Sikandra, Ibrahim Rauda at Bijapur and Taj Mahal at Agra.With the help of these epigraphs, we can prepare a list of calligraphers, region-wise and period-wise, whose beautiful calligraphy adorns so many buildings in the width and breadth of the country. Scripts employed in the Perso-Arabic epigraphs include Kufi, Naskh, Thulth and Nastaliq.[2] The second part contains details of Persian epigraphy on Bengal stones.
The third part deals with the Mughal/Persian architecture in India. The influence Persian-style architecture and language in India began with the Tughlaq dynasty; in addition, all the ruling dynasties after them were originally from Greater Khorasan, an area dominated by Persian language and culture. The Mughal dynasty also came from Greater Khorasan, which is why the book describes Mughal architecture as the Khorasanid or Persian style of architecture.
Mughal tombs, made from sandstone and marble, emphasise the Persian influence. Among the architectural achievements of this era are the Red Fort at Agra (1565–74) and the walled city of Fatehpur Sikri (1569–74), as well as the Taj Mahal, which was built as a tomb for Queen Mumtaz Mahal by Shah Jahan (1628–58). With its double dome, its recessed archway, its white marble and its parks, as well as the emphasis on symmetry and detail, this building contains many of the key elements of architecture from the period of Shah Jahan. Verses from the Quran were inscribed on the walls of the buildings; problematically, though the depiction of living beings (which was an essential part of the pre-Islamic artistic tradition of India) is forbidden by the Islamic religion.
The fourth part describes the Persian language and its influence over other languages such as Hindi, Urdu and Turkic. During the last four decades over 10,000 inscriptions have been copied from different parts of the India and duly accessioned, deciphered and listed in the Annual Reports on Indian Epigraphy (ARE) since 1952-53 onwards, under a separate Appendix with an exhaustive introduction. Among the Indian states, Uttar Pradesh has yielded the largest number of Perso-Arabic epigraphs (i.e. 2175), constituting 21.4% of the aggregate, number-wise followed by Maharashtra (over 14%), Gujarat (over 9%), Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh (about 9%), Rajasthan (about 8%), Kamataka (7%), West Bengal (4%), Bihar, and Jammu & Kashmir (about 4% each), Tamil Nadu (2.55%), Haryana (2%), Delhi (about 2%). About 2,000 Perso-Arabic inscriptions have been published so far in Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica (ElM) and Epigraphia Indica-Arabic and Persian Supplement (EIAPS) from 1907–08 to 1977.[]
The fifth part contains some samples of royal orders, including government instructions, and copies of the Persian drawings found in the museums of Hyderabad and Delhi. we also come across epigraphical texts composed by rulers like Adil Shahi king Ali II (1656–71), Mughal king BahadurShah II (1837–57) and Nawwab of Awadh Wajid Ali Shah (1848–56). A vast majority of these poets mentioned in epigraphs are unknown from available sources. those of the Sultanate period, covering approximately 12th to 15th centuries (7th -9th cent. H.) are particularly valuable. The places, to quote a few, where this phenomenon occurred are : Cambay in the 12th to 14th centuries, Karad (Maharashtra) in the 16th century, Hyderabad in the 17th century, Lucknow, Allahabad, Kashmir etc. in the subsequent period.
According to the book Persian Inscriptions on Indian Monuments, there are nearly 15,000 examples of Persian and Quranic inscriptions in India, mostly found in cities such as Hyderabad, Delhi, Agra and Lucknow, amongst others. The list of historical Indian monuments containing Persian inscriptions and Persian calligraphy includes the following:
Mehrauli was built by Qutub-ud-din Aibak and heralded the beginning of a new style of art and architecture which came to be known as the Indo-Islamic style. Other monuments included in the Qutub complex are the Jamali Kamali Mosque and Tomb, Balban's tomb, Quli Khan's Tomb, Rajon Ki Baoli in Mehrauli Archaeological Park. In addition, Jahaz Mahal and Adham Khan's Tomb are located on a hilltop nearby.
Other monuments with Persian inscriptions include the following:
Pictures of some of the Indian monuments which contain Persian inscriptions and have been explained in the book: more pictures in flicker [3]
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Iran India relations span centuries marked by meaningful interactions by Dr. Ajam.
Persian Inscriptions on Indian Monuments Persian Inscriptions on Indian Monuments Dr.Mohammad Ajam