Cultural Attaché of India: Iranians enriched Indian knowledge tradition with Persian language

Pars Today - The Cultural Attaché of India in Iran and a professor of Sanskrit and Persian languages, emphasized the role of the Persian language in the expansion and enrichment of Indian knowledge. He stated that Iranians enriched the knowledge of this country by disseminating Indian knowledge and also producing science in India.

In an interview with Iran Book News Agency (IBNA), Balram Shukla pointed out that India has been a knowledge-based society for thousands of years, adding, "The Persian language and literature are one of the knowledge systems that have gradually enriched the Indian knowledge tradition ."

Responding to the question of why India has been so influenced by the flow of Persian knowledge and has become richer because of it, he said, "Since ancient times, there have been cultural connections between India and Iran, and these mutual relationships have transcended geographical, ethnic, and religious boundaries. Despite social and political changes, the relationship between the people of Iran and India has never lost its momentum, and in different periods of history, cultural ties between these two nations have flourished in various dimensions.

The ancient friendship between the people of India and Iran is based on economic and political issues as well as mutual understanding and respect for intellectual achievements; therefore, both sides have successfully contributed to the production of knowledge."

The Cultural Attaché of India also explained, "The Persian language has acted as a gateway through which the knowledge produced in India has been disseminated worldwide. This has been achieved through the translation of Indian sources into Persian. It seems that more than 350 books in the field of Indian wisdom have been translated into Persian. These translations have not only added to the richness of Iranian culture but have also played a significant role in spreading Indian culture and philosophy to other parts of the world."

The Persian language enriched the tradition of Indian knowledge

Balram Shukla referred to the role of Iranians in the production of knowledge in India and added: "During almost seven hundred years that Persian was the official language of India, Indian knowledge was also produced in Persian. During this period, Indian knowledge was produced on a grand scale. The range of topics in knowledge production is astonishingly vast, including history, poetry, poetics, religious studies, philosophy, interpretation, medicine, mathematics, and natural sciences, just to name a few.

This has made India the owner of the richest repository of Persian manuscripts in the world, and today we see half a million handwritten copies in India, with Middle Persian written in Persian language. Among these works are some masterpieces.

The cultural attaché also mentioned the emergence of Indian style in Persian literature and said: "During the Safavid era, 700 poets migrated from Iran to India and made India the center of Persian poetry. Iranian poets at that time had a great interest in India".

Shukla also stated that Persian is essential for Indians to familiarize themselves with their history and cultural roots and is of great importance. He said: "Considering this importance, in 2020 it was approved that Persian should be taught in Indian schools as one of the nine classical languages. Indians do not consider Persian as foreign and are indebted to this language that has enriched their knowledge tradition."

This article is taken from Iran Book News Agency (IBNA)

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