Persian language in the Indian subcontinent

Before British colonisation, the Persian language was the lingua franca of the Indian subcontinent and a widely used official language in the northern India. The language was brought into South Asia by various Turco-Persianate and Afghan empires and was preserved and patronized by local Indian dynasties from the 11th century, such as the Sayyid dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Khilji dynasty, Mughal dynasty, Gujarat sultanate, and Bengal sultanate.

Source: Wikipedia — Persian language in the Indian subcontinent (CC BY-SA 4.0)