Intl Persian Biography Writing conference opens in India

Today (Saturday, March 03, 2012) a conference opened in India on Persian Biography Writing.

IBNA: According to the public relations office of the National Library and Archives Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the opening session of the conference was held in the presence of Eshagh Salahi, head of Irans national library, chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University in Indian and a number of Persian-speaking university students from India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Bangladesh and Iran at the Persian studies center of Aligarh Muslim University.

In his address, Salahi remarked Persian language and literature as the strongest means to linking civilizations of Iran and India and said, "Literature has been the strongest string linking Iranian and Indian cultures together in the past 2,000 years."

He asserted that the arrival of Iranian student in India expands Islamic principles in the country. "Arabs have never managed to transfer Islamic principles to India like Persian speakers and the Persian language has been the most powerful toll for the transfer of Iranian Islam to India," he added.

He further remarked the proximity of Iranian and Indian cultures after the emergence of Islam. "Chairs and research centers should be established to maintain and strengthen the proximity of the two cultures more that before."

He went on to say that writing biographies on poets in the past 100 years has provided a palatable ground for registration of their compositions. "The biographies helped institutionalize Iranian-Islamic culture in the Indian peninsula and treated many Persian poets."

The conference will be held until March 5 at the Persian research center of the Aligarh Muslim University of India.