Why did the Turkic/Afghan rulers in India adopted and spread the Persian language?

[xyxmt]

I don't understand why the Turkic and Afghan rulers of the Indian subcontinent adopted the Persian language as the court language for their dynasties instead their own native tongue. Do you think that the Muslim invasion of India was actually more "Persian" than Turkic or Afghan? Were Persians actually the main reason why people in India converted to Islam?

In those time Farsi was the language of art and culture, of elites

 

[Jaanbaz]

Before the Turkic invasions even the Central Asia was mostly home to Iranic peoples so it was natural for invading Turkic people to mix with Persian speakers. Other reason is that Persian language was all ready well developed and had more cultural influence in North India even before the Turkic invasions.

 

[Targon]

Because Arabic and Persian was like French in 18th-19th centuries, or Latin before, Latin was widely learned because of religon, French is widely learned because at some point France had huge impact developing countries that it become like today's English, sign of class and education.

Turkic rulers in India didn't had a Turkic speaking mass with themselves, therefore Turkic died out and only local languages and courtly lingua franca remained, when there was a Turkic population things were different.

 

[Charon 2]

I think because these Turkic Invaders were already Persianized. In cities like Bukhara and Samarkand, Persian language had taken root and was considered the dominant language and language of knowledge in those areas.

The Present day Turkey ( Asia Minor ) was populated by Greeks prior to the invasion by Seljuk Turks in 10th Century. I am surprised by your Question because even the Seljuk Turks were highly Persianized because they had conquered and ruled Persia for some decades before they conquered Asia Minor from the Byzantines.

Let me ask you the same question as to why Maulana Jalal Uddin Rumi whose Mausoleum is in Konya Turkey , wrote most of his Poetry in Farsi ( Persian) ? Actually his native language was Farsi as he was born in Balksh ( present day Tajikistan ) and moved with his Family to " Qunniya" which is modern day "Konya".

The main reason Indians converted to Islam was because of SUFI MYSTICS AND SAINTS who had immigrated to India from Arab Lands, Persia and Central Asia. Indians considered these Sufi Saints as holy men and converted to Islam because of them.[/quo

Seljuqs aren't comparable to the Delhi Sultanates or the Mughals. The Seljuq Turks also used Persian as their Court language but they have never forgotten their Turkish roots. Seljuqs are the main reason why Turkey exists today. Seljuq have never Persianized Anatolia, they Turkified it. Maulana wrote his poems in Farsi because he was Persian

 

[Targon]

He himself knew very little Turkish, his son was better but in his works he was stating that his Turkish was not good enough to decently write in Turkish, further descendents were Turkish speaker(they still exist)

 

[scorpionx]

That is like saying Indians and Paksitani are Anglosaxonized because they speak English. No, you speak English because that is widely spoken language and you won't to communicate with others and to be able to read the literature. They took over than language because of easiness. It is better than Hindu which is an useless langauge and that is why they adopted it there when they conquered the subcontinent.

In India, this transformation took place over centuries. For generation after generation èmigrè Persian scholars in astrology,Yunani medicine,mathematics flooded then prominent Islamic capitals like Delhi,Lucknow and Hyderabad. Soon highly educated Persian clans amalgamated into Mughal aristocratic families by marriage alliances. By this slow gradual process of diffusion, other languages lost their prominence.So yes, it will not be wrong to assume that the Mughal higher echelons,later Hyderabad under Nizam during late eighteenth century became massively Persianized.

 

[Elucid]

As already stated Persian was a very important language those days. It was a language of knowledge and wisdom. Study Persian literature translated into English and you will understand. These Iranians, they are no ordinary backward nation, they have centuries of wisdom behind them.

 

[atatwolf]

Because Arabic and Persian was like French in 18th-19th centuries, or Latin before, Latin was widely learned because of religon, French is widely learned because at some point France had huge impact developing countries that it become like today's English, sign of class and education.

Turkic rulers in India didn't had a Turkic speaking mass with themselves, therefore Turkic died out and only local languages and courtly lingua franca remained, when there was a Turkic population things were different.

Another factors are these

1.. Turkic peoples didn't have habit of writing everything down. I mind you that if western sources didn't write down how we took constantinople, we wouldn't know anything how we conquered the city. Just an example.

2.. Public education didn't exist. So we couldn't teach our language to our subjects. And Indians women weren't mariage material. So we couldn't teach them Turkish through assimilation.

 

[Nomad16]

I think because these Turkic Invaders were already Persianized. In cities like Bukhara and Samarkand, Persian language had taken root and was considered the dominant language and language of knowledge in those areas.

The Present day Turkey ( Asia Minor ) was populated by Greeks prior to the invasion by Seljuk Turks in 10th Century. I am surprised by your Question because even the Seljuk Turks were highly Persianized because they had conquered and ruled Persia for some decades before they conquered Asia Minor from the Byzantines.

Let me ask you the same question as to why Maulana Jalal Uddin Rumi whose Mausoleum is in Konya Turkey , wrote most of his Poetry in Farsi ( Persian) ? Actually his native language was Farsi as he was born in Balksh ( present day Tajikistan ) and moved with his Family to " Qunniya" which is modern day "Konya".








The main reason Indians converted to Islam was because of SUFI MYSTICS AND SAINTS who had immigrated to India from Arab Lands, Persia and Central Asia. Indians considered these Sufi Saints as holy men and converted to Islam because of them.

The culture was Persian.

because persian(both language n culture) was much more refined n rich compared to there own,,it was the language of knowledge...

ty for your BS comments which is nothing but a propaganda and have no historical prove get out of it and see the reality

I don't understand why the Turkic and Afghan rulers of the Indian subcontinent adopted the Persian language as the court language for their dynasties instead their own native tongue. Do you think that the Muslim invasion of India was actually more "Persian" than Turkic or Afghan? Were Persians actually the main reason why people in India converted to Islam?

before Seljuk enter iran they were lock in very bad situation they trapped between two turkic empire the Ghazvanid and Khazar which they used Seljuk as mercenary so Seljuk take aid from our later enemy the Russians to destroy Khazar when the Khazar gone they invaded iran and destroy Ghazvanid empire and conquer the ME now you have lot of people with different languages the best things to do is to use a language which used most by peoples and yes that was persian with arabic alphabet no one in ME were able to read our alphabet that was the wise chose , turkish people speak turkish not persian !

 

[INDIC]

ty for your BS comments which is nothing but a propaganda and have no historical prove get out of it and see the reality.

Persian was the court language of Turko-Mughal Empires in India thus the Persian language, Persian music, Persian foods, Persian art influenced the culture of India. Persian language also influenced the Hindustani vernacular of North India and thus evolved into two languages -Urdu and Hindi. Urdu having huge amount of Persian words and Hindi having small amount of Persian words.

 

[Nomad16]

Persian was the court language of Turko-Mughal Empires in India thus the Persian language, Persian music, Persian foods, Persian art influenced the culture of India. Persian language also influenced the Hindustani vernacular of North India and thus evolved into two languages -Urdu and Hindi. Urdu having huge amount of Persian words and Hindi having small amount of Persian words.

i was talking about th seljuks whom you guys clam highly Persianized not Turko-Mughal Empires in India

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

Persian was the court language of Turko-Mughal Empires in India thus the Persian language, Persian music, Persian foods, Persian art influenced the culture of India. Persian language also influenced the Hindustani vernacular of North India and thus evolved into two languages -Urdu and Hindi. Urdu having huge amount of Persian words and Hindi having small amount of Persian words.

Turko-Mughal ?

 

[INDIC]

Turko-Mughal ?

Mughals were both Mongols and Turks.

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

Mughals were both Mongols and Turks.

Turko-Mongols you meant I think. They were largely Turkic though.

 

[Charon 2]

Mughals were both Mongols and Turks.

Mughals had nothing to do with Mongols just like Tamerlane. They were called Mughals because they came from "Mughalistan". Ethnically they were Chagatai Turks who mixed with Persian women and later also with Hindu women. Even Babur had Tajik blood because bis great grandfather Timur married a Tajik concubine