CROSSROADS OF CULTURES: THE INFLUENCE OF PERSIAN AND MUGHAL TRADITIONS ON INDIAN ART AND LITERATURE

Abstract

This article examines the profound and long-term influence of Persian and Mughal cultural traditions on the development of Indian art and literature during the medieval period. The aim of the study is to identify the principal directions of their influence on Indian artistic and literary development and to analyze the process through which Persian and Mughal traditions were synthesized with indigenous Indian cultural traditions. Based on an analysis of major artistic and literary works, the study demonstrates how Persian aesthetic principles, literary forms, and artistic techniques were introduced, adapted, and integrated into local Indian traditions during the Mughal period (1526–1857). As a result of this cultural interaction, new hybrid cultural forms emerged.

The study argues that this interaction was not a one-sided process of cultural influence but rather a complex process of cultural negotiation that led to the emergence of a distinctive Indo-Persian artistic and literary tradition. The study of the influence of Turkic peoples on the languages and cultures of other Eastern societies is of considerable theoretical and practical significance for contemporary scholars of Oriental studies, including Indian and Turkic studies. The findings highlight the crucial role of cultural interactions in shaping India’s artistic heritage and literary canon, while also contributing to a broader understanding of the processes of cultural adaptation and synthesis that continue to influence cultural production in South Asia today.

Keywords: intercultural studies, Indo-Persian cultural synthesis, cultural influence, Indian literary culture, Mughal period, cultural hybridity.