Abstract This paper examines the historical and linguistic legacy of Persian in the Indian subcontinent and argues that, while Persian did not directly shape the written clauses or institutional architecture of the modern Indian Constitution, its long-standing role as a language of administration, law, land-revenue and public registers left durable institutional practices, vocabulary, and modes of governance that indirectly informed administrative expectations, legal forms and linguistic pluralism in India. The study traces Persian’s arrival and institutionalization under pre-modern regimes (notably the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals), its persistence in colonial-era courts and land records, the persistence of Persian-derived administrative and legal terminology in modern Indian governance, and the implications of this heritage for constitutional language policy, minority rights, and legal culture. The paper includes Persian-language examples to illustrate linguistic continuity and concludes with recommendations for recognizing and studying Persianate legacies as part of constitutional historiography.
Akhtarunnisa Quraishi (Sun,) studied this question.