Persian people The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian. ...

were one of the major ethnic groups, who accompanied the ethnic

Turco-Mongol The Turco-Mongol or Turko-Mongol tradition was an ethnocultural synthesis that arose in Asia during the 14th century, among the ruling elites of the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate. The ruling Mongol elites of these Khanates eventuall ...

ruling elite of the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

after its invasion of the Indian subcontinent. Throughout the

, a number of ethnic

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

technocrats Technocracy is a form of government in which the decision-maker or makers are selected based on their expertise in a given area of responsibility, particularly with regard to scientific or technical knowledge. This system explicitly contrasts wi ...

bureaucrat A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can compose the administration of any organization of any size, although the term usually connotes someone within an institution of government. The term ''bureaucrat'' derives from "bureaucracy", w ...

s, traders, scientists, architects, teachers, poets, artists, theologians and Sufis migrated and settled in different parts of the Indian Subcontinent. The name ''Mughal'' is derived from the original homelands of the

Timurids The Timurid Empire ( chg, , fa, ), self-designated as Gurkani ( Chagatai: کورگن, ''Küregen''; fa, , ''Gūrkāniyān''), was a PersianateB.F. Manz, ''"Tīmūr Lang"'', in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Online Edition, 2006 Turco-Mongol empire ...

, the Central Asian (

Turkestan Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang. Overview Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turk ...

) steppes once conquered by Genghis Khan and hence known as ''

Moghulistan Moghulistan (from fa, , ''Moghulestân'', mn, Моголистан), also called the Moghul Khanate or the Eastern Chagatai Khanate (), was a Mongol breakaway khanate of the Chagatai Khanate and a historical geographic area north of the Ten ...

'', "Land of Mongols". Although early Mughals spoke the

Chagatai language Chagatai (چغتای, ''Čaġatāy''), also known as ''Turki'', Eastern Turkic, or Chagatai Turkic (''Čaġatāy türkīsi''), is an extinct Turkic literary language that was once widely spoken across Central Asia and remained the shared litera ...

and maintained some

Turko-Mongol The Turco-Mongol or Turko-Mongol tradition was an ethnocultural synthesis that arose in Asia during the 14th century, among the ruling elites of the Golden Horde and the Chagatai Khanate. The ruling Mongol elites of these Khanates eventually a ...

practices, they became essentially

Persianized Persianization () or Persification (; fa, پارسی‌سازی), is a sociological process of cultural change in which a non-Persian society becomes "Persianate", meaning it either directly adopts or becomes strongly influenced by the Persian ...

Robert L. Canfield, ''Turko-Persia in historical perspective'', Cambridge University Press, 1991. pg 20: "The Mughals – Persianized Turks who invaded from Central Asia and claimed descent from both Timur and Genghis – strengthened the Persianate culture of Muslim India" and transferred the Persian literary and high culture to South Asia, thus forming the base for the

Indo-Persian culture Indo-Persian culture refers to a cultural synthesis present in the Indian subcontinent. It is characterised by the absorption or integration of Persian aspects into the various cultures of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. The earliest introductio ...

and the

Spread of Islam The spread of Islam spans about 1,400 years. Muslim conquests following Muhammad's death led to the creation of the caliphates, occupying a vast geographical area; conversion to Islam was boosted by Arab Muslim forces conquering vast territorie ...

in South Asia.

Humayun refuge in Persia

Mughal Emperor

Humayun Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad ( fa, ) (; 6 March 1508 – 27 January 1556), better known by his regnal name, Humāyūn; (), was the second emperor of the Mughal Empire, who ruled over territory in what is now Eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, Northe ...

was defeated by

Sher Shah Suri Sher Shah Suri ( ps, شیرشاه سوری) (1472, or 1486 – 22 May 1545), born Farīd Khān ( ps, فرید خان) , was the founder of the Sur Empire in India, with its capital in Sasaram in modern-day Bihar. He standardized the silver coin ...

in 1540 and fled to the refuge of the powerful Safavid Empire in Iran, marching with 40 men and his wife. Tahmasp I, Shah Tahmasp welcomed the Mughal, and treated him as a royal visitor. Here Humayun went sightseeing and was amazed at the Persian artwork, military might and architecture he saw: much of this was the work of the Timurid Sultan Husayn Bayqarah and his ancestor, princess Gauhar Shad, thus he was able to admire the work of his relatives and ancestors at first hand. He was introduced to the work of the Persian miniature, Persian miniaturists, and Kamaleddin Behzad had two of his pupils join Humayun in his court. Humayun was amazed at their work and asked if they would work for him if he were to regain the sovereignty of Hindustan and they agreed. Tahmasp I, Shah Tahmasp provided financial aid and a large choice of cavalry to regain his Empire. Persian people, Persians nobles and soldiers joined Humayun in reconquest of South Asia. The Turkic people, Turkic Turani nobility tended to fade away from the political scene and the Persian nobles improved their position. During 1545–1555 A.D. a number of Persians who came in Humayun's service were appointed to important central offices, such as Minister of Finance, diwan, Prime Minister, wazir, and mir-saman (in charge of the Imperial Palace).

Ma'âṣer al-Omarâ

''Ma'âṣer al-Omarâ'' was written by Shah Nawaz Khan and his son, 'Abd al-Hayy in 1780. This book contains the biographies of 738 Mughal nobles of which at least 198 or 26.8 per cent were Persian people, Persians

Contribution to Urdu

The mother-tongue of the recently-immigrated Persians was Persian, while Urdu was the mother-tongue of the Indian-born persians who made 75% of the Shi'a Persian group of nobles in India. One example was the family of Ali Mardan Khan, an ethnic Kurd, Kurdish Safavid turncoat governor of Kandahar, whose son Ibrahim Khan and grandson Zabardast Khan respectively continued to maintain ranks as nobles. The son of Zabardast Khan, Faaiz Dehlvi, Sadr-ud-Din Khan, wrote the first Urdu Diwan (poetry), Diwan in Northern India in 1715. He describes in the ''Risala-i Munazrat'' that he participated in Mushaira, Mushairas and academic gatherings at the residence of the Indian Muslim Mir Bakhshi Khan Dowran VII, Khan-i Dauran, the Amir-ul-Umara and Commander-in-Chief of the army of Muhammad Shah. Sadr-ud-Din Khan exerted considerable influence on the contemporary writers and poets and his literary output enriched Urdu-language literature, Urdu literature. In the preface to his Kulliyat, he has expounded his own theories of the art of composing poetry.

Reasons for Immigration

Most of the Persian people, Persians migrated to South Asia to prosper and obtain high positions in

. Many were Sunni Persian people, Persians who felt discriminated in Shia Safavid Empire and migrated to mostly Sunni

. There were also rebels and nobles who lost royal favour and migrated to Mughal Empire. The Mughals also preferred to employ foreign Muslim officials that had little or no local interests and thus were loyal to the Mughal emperor.

Awadh State

The most important Shia state in South Asia was established by

originally from Greater Khorasan, Khurasan in Persia around 1722 AD with Faizabad as its capital and Saadat Ali Khan I, Sadat Ali Khan as its first Nawab. Awadh or Avadh is also known in various British historical texts as Oudh.

Qizilbash

The Qizilbash soldiers and officials settled in modern Pakistan during Mughal Empire, Mughal Emperor

's return from exile in Safavid dynasty, Safavid Persia and restoration of

. Emperor Humayun lost his South Asian territories to the Pashtun people, Pashtun noble,

, and, with Safavid dynasty, Persian aid, regained them 15 years later in 1555 AD.

References

External links

Emigration of Iranian Elites to India during the 16–18th centuries

Role of Persians at the Mughal Court:A Historical study, during 1526 to 1707 AD

{{Mughal Empire Asian people of Iranian descent Mughal Empire Persian people South Asian people