A Study of Iran-India Relations in the Safavid Era and Its Reflection in Saeb Tabrizi's Poems

In the Safavid era, Iran went through many ups and downs in political, social, economic, cultural and many other domains. The relations between Iran and India were especially important in this period inasmuch as it had a tremendous impact in all these fields. The relationship between the two countries was important for a number of reasons such as the commerce and trade, poetry, friendship, attaching importance to literature and poetry, and most importantly, the spread of the Twelver Shiite denomination in the Indian subcontinent. On the other hand, the significant influence that this period had on the thoughts and mind of Saeb Tabrizi, who was well-known for his own poetic style and for his profound thinking, astuteness, broad-mindedness, insight as a leading poet should not overlooked. Saeb was able to delineate the themes related to India in his poetry and to perpetuate it artistically. In this article, the history of Iran in the Safavid era and the relations between Iran and India and its reflection in the poetry of one of the most important poets in the Indian style are studied.