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

[Charon 2]

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?

 

[Pakistanisage]

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".

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?

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.

 

[INDIC]

The culture was Persian.

 

[halupridol]

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

 

[scorpionx]

The only reason behind this is the overwhelming push by the Safavid cultural wave that slowly and gradually drove the Timurid influence from Central Asia and the Indian Sub Continent as well. The Timurid rule was pushed into oblivion by two dynasties, one from West, the Safavid whose cultural identification was primarily with Iran and from the north, the Turco-Mongolian Uzbeks who adopted Persian as their literary language and avoided any sort of patronage for their own Turkic language.

During Akbar's reign the slow diminishing of Chaghtay Turk from the educated Mughal circle could be observed. Bayram Khan, the Turk of Eastern Anatolian and Azerbaijani origin used to write poetry in Chaghtay. But during the end of Akbar's rule there were hardly any scholar left to understand their native language. Abdul Rahim Khankhanan, the son of Bayram Khan translated Baburnama into Persian and presented it to Akbar in 1589. It was just another case of cultural thurst that the newer and polished one use to exert and overlaps the previous one.

 

[atatwolf]

The only reason behind this is the overwhelming push by the Safavid cultural wave that slowly and gradually drove the Timurid influence from Central Asia and the Indian Sub Continent as well. The Timurid rule was pushed into oblivion by two dynasties, one from West, the Safavid whose cultural identification was primarily with Iran and from the north, the Turco-Mongolian Uzbeks who adopted Persian as their literary language and avoided any sort of patronage for their own Turkic language.

During Akbar's reign the slow diminishing of Chaghtay Turk from the educated Mughal circle could be observed. Bayram Khan, the Turk of Eastern Anatolian and Azerbaijani origin used to write poetry in Chaghtay. But during the end of Akbar's rule there were hardly any scholar left to understand their native language. Abdul Rahim Khankhanan, the son of Bayram Khan translated Baburnama into Persian and presented it to Akbar in 1589. It was just another case of cultural thurst that the newer and polished one use to exert and overlaps the previous one.

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.

 

[halupridol]

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.

by same logic,,,,,there own language was as useless n hence they abandoned it...right?

 

[atatwolf]

by same logic,,,,,there own language was as useless n hence they abandoned it...right?

They didn't. Ancestors of the Safavids, the Azeri, still speak their own language. Turkic is a more widely spoken language than Iranian language. Fail

That is why I disagree that Safavids were Persianized. They still speak the language of the steppes and have culture of the steppes. Because somebody learns english doesn't make him British. Same way counts for Safavids, today's Azeri people.

 

[Srinivas]

Persian or Turkic languages are spoken in kings courts, ordinary citizens used to speak Hindi/Urdu.

 

[atatwolf]

They didnt adopt farsi in india, they brought it along with them from their native areas where it was lingua franca

I meant they adopted it as court language.

 

[INDIC]

They didn't. Ancestors of the Safavids, the Azeri, still speak their own language. Turkic is a more widely spoken language than Iranian language. Fail

That is why I disagree that Safavids were Persianized. They still speak the language of the steppes and have culture of the steppes. Because somebody learns english doesn't make him British. Same way counts for Safavids, today's Azeri people.

Babur was known to speak Chaghtai Turkish but they stopped speaking it for Persian, with common North India, the native Hindustani vernacular was used. unlike Persian, Turkish language or culture had little influence on Indian culture.

 

[atatwolf]

Babur was known to speak Chaghtai Turkish but they stopped speaking it for Persian, with common North India, the native Hindustani vernacular was used. unlike Persian, Turkish language or culture had little influence on Indian culture.

True, that is because Turkic and Mongol rulers didn't force their language, religion and culture on their subjects. If they did, everybody from the gates of Vienna to India would be speaking our language.

Angolsaxons are the opposite to Turks. They force their language everywhere they went. Nobody in America speaks native American. Same counts in South-Africa, Australia and so on.

 

[INDIC]

True, that is because Turkic and Mongol rulers didn't force their language, religion and culture on their subjects. If they did, everybody from the gates of Vienna to India would be speaking our language.

Angolsaxons are the opposite to Turks. They force their language everywhere they went. Nobody in America speaks native American. Same counts in South-Africa, Australia and so on.

Yes, they didn't enforce their own language or culture but before Akbar the Great most of them very intolerant to Indian religions. Akbar was the one who took an Indian wife, showed tolerance towards Hindus until his great grandson Aurengzeb screwed all these and doomed the Mughal Empire.

 

[halupridol]

They didn't. Ancestors of the Safavids, the Azeri, still speak their own language. Turkic is a more widely spoken language than Iranian language. Fail

That is why I disagree that Safavids were Persianized. They still speak the language of the steppes and have culture of the steppes. Because somebody learns english doesn't make him British. Same way counts for Safavids, today's Azeri people.

we r discussing about the turkic-Afghan rulers n those times.....not there present descendants....
I am not disrespecting any language,,,,,but u have to agree to what I said about persian language.

 

[DRaisinHerald]

I don't know if they were Persian or what; but Sufis were indeed the ones who contributed the best towards spreading of Islam in the subcontinent.