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.

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.

'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