FROM THE INDUS TO PERSEPOLIS: TRACING EARLY CIVILIZATIONAL EXCHANGES BETWEEN INDIA AND IRAN

Abstract

The historical dialogue between India and Iran, traced from the Indus Valley to Persepolis, reveals a deep and enduring interconnection. This study examines the evolution of this relationship, beginning with the third-millennium BCE Indus Civilization, whose seals and beads in Mesopotamian cities like Susa attest to robust trade networks channeled through Iran. This commerce facilitated an early exchange of technologies and concepts. A profound, shared heritage is further illuminated by the linguistic and cosmological parallels between the Indian Rigveda and the Iranian Avesta, pointing to a common Indo-Iranian ancestry. This cultural kinship was later politically cemented by the Achaemenid Empire, which formally integrated the Indus region as the satrapy of Hindush, immortalized in the stone reliefs at Persepolis. Far from being one-sided, this was a reciprocal exchange. Persian imperial models influenced Indian statecraft, while Indian resources and knowledge enriched the Persian world. By synthesizing archaeological and textual evidence, this paper contends that a continuous, mutual exchange—from prehistoric trade to imperial consolidation—fundamentally shaped the foundational character of both civilizations long before the classical era.