1st Edition
Art and Architectural Traditions of India and Iran Commonality and Diversity
This book presents a comprehensive overview of the historical and cultural linkages between India and Iran in terms of art and architectural traditions and their commonality and diversity. It addresses themes such as early connections between Iran, India and Central Asia; study of the Qutb Complex in Delhi; the great immigration of Turks from Asia to Anatolia; the collaboration of Indian and Persian painters; design, ornamentation techniques and regional dynamics; women and public spaces in Shahjahanabad and Isfahan; the noble-architects of emperor Shah Jahan's reign; development of Kashmir’s Islamic religious architecture in the medieval period; role of Nur Jahan and her Persian roots in the evolution of the Mughal Garden; synthesis of Indo-Iranian architecture; and confluence of Indo-Persian food culture to showcase the richness of art, architecture, and sociocultural and political exchanges between the two countries. Bringing together a wide array of perspectives, it delves into the roots of connection between India and Iran over centuries to understand its influence and impact on the artistic and cultural genealogy and the shared past of two of the oldest civilizations and regional powers of the world.
With its archival sources, this book will be useful to scholars and researchers of medieval history, Indian history, international relations, Central Asian history, Islamic studies, Iranian history, art and architecture, heritage studies, cultural studies, regional studies, and South Asian studies as well as those interested in the study of sociocultural and religious exchanges.
Introduction
Nasir Raza Khan
Part I: A Confluence of Traditions
1. The Qutb Complex: Iran and India
Catherine B. Asher
2. Mapping the Overlap between the Culture of Iranian "Turquoise and Emerald" with Indian "Saffron and Vermillion"
Sakina Hakim
3. Transition of the Khāksār to the Nāth Yogi via Gor Khatri
Anjali Duhan Gulia
4. Caravanserais: A Synthesis of Indo-Iranian Architecture
Harsha Joshi
5. Nuskha-i-Shah Jahani: A Confluence of Indo-Persian Food Culture
Abdul Rahman Ansari
6. Myth and Mythology Related to Water in Indian and Iranian Culture: Connections and Continuity
Arman Ovla
Part II: Regional Dynamics
7. The Mughal Gardens of Kashmir: A Cultural Perspective
Gulfishan Khan
8. Transformation of a "Hindu" City into a "Muslim" Capital? Factual and Fabled Mohammadabad Champaner under the Sultans of Gujarat
Nishat Manzar
9. The Major Mughal Buildings of Thatta in the Seventeenth Century: A Synthesis of Central Asian, Classical Mughal and Local Architecture
Amita Paliwal
10. Development of Kashmir’s Islamic Religious Architecture in the Medieval Period: Synthesis and Continuity
Hakim Sameer Hamdani
Part III: India and Iran: Historical Perspectives
11. Imperative Role of Nur Jahan and her Persian Roots in the Evolution of Mughal Garden Tombs
Shaista Perveen
12. Impact of Persian Ghazals on Mughal Monuments
S. M. Azizuddin Husain
13. Shaikh Abdul Haq: A Traditionalist of Bokhara in Delhi
Aleem Ashraf Khan
14. Following the Traces of the Great Migration of Turks from Asia to Anatolia
Aydin Uçar and Hilal Tuğba Örmecioğlu
15. Cultural and Architectural Engagements between India and Iran: A Study of Indian Literature Through the Ages
K. Deepa
Biography
Nasir Raza Khan is Associate Professor in the India-Arab Cultural Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India. He was former Visiting Professor (ICCR Chair) at the Lebanese American University, Beirut, Lebanon, and Former Director of the L.B. Shastri Centre for Indian Culture, Embassy of India, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
‘A wide-ranging examination of the longstanding links between Iran and India in Islamic times, from the well-known arts of building, landscape architecture and painting to many other aspects of daily life including dress, food, music and verse, this book is bound to appeal to a broad audience interested in intercultural exchange.’
Sheila Blair, Norma Jean Calderwood University Professor of Islamic and Asian Art (Emerita), Boston College, MA, USA
‘This timely and richly varied collection of essays delves into the long and entangled history of connections between India and Iran. Viewed through the historical lens of cultural landscapes, rather than the dividing boundaries of the nation-state structures we are accustomed to, these essays focus on different aspects of the staggeringly diverse ways the peoples from West Asia, through Central and South Asia of today lived in cultural worlds that did not label things Indian, Afghan, Iranian, or Hindu and Muslim, but remained open to transregional and transcultural flow of ideas, tastes, and technologies.’
Sussan Babaie, Professor, Islamic and Iranian Arts, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK
