AHC: Create An Enduring Indo-Iranian State

Rishi

Banned
Create a state populated by native speakers of Indo-Iranian languages consisting of Pre-Partition India, Afghanistan, Nepal, the Maldives, Iran and Sri Lanka and ensure that this state survives to the present day.
 
Do the Mughals count? If so, I think all you need to do is to keep them from overextending themselves by trying to conquer the south.
 
Mughals might have best changes for this but I bit doubt that they can take all Indo-Iranian peoples to their control.

Another option might be that Achaemenids conquer India instead Middle East. But I don't know how this empire could survive.
 
Do the Mughals count? If so, I think all you need to do is to keep them from overextending themselves by trying to conquer the south.

The tricky bit is that the OP wants to include the Sinhala, which either means conquering all of South India to get to Ceylon, or having the naval ability to leapfrog directly down to Ceylon (while ignoring everything in between for some reason)
 
I'm actually working on a timeline where something like this happens. I'm dubious that an Indo-Iranian empire could practically hold South India and Sri Lanka though - conquering South India was a prime factor in undermining the Mughal Empire. It just took more treasure than it was worth.

For those curious, my PoD is that Nader Shah dies from the malaria he caught in India. The earlier death means Iran misses out on his worst tyrannies and he has a strong successor in his son Reza. So without Iran breaking up into civil war, it has the energies to fully compete for India.

I reckon such an empire might look like Safavid Iran at it's height plus the Mughal empire at its height (but minus Southern India).

fasquardon
 
Wasn't this the case with the Persianate World in the first place? Sure, the dynasties kept changing but, generally speaking, you had one very large area of land where the Persian culture and language were dominant and officially sanctioned by the ruling governments.
 

GdwnsnHo

Banned
Why not the Saffarids?

After reuniting Persia they could take their veteran forces into India, and rule from Sistan - you just need it to survive Ya'qub's death!

I'd be tempted to suggest that if stable, and ruling from Sistan, they could go to conquer the Arabian Peninsula, but it require them becoming a significant naval power.

Regardless, if they had significant naval power, they could take advantage of the now-islamisising indian ocean, and better control their farthest Indian territories without moving their capital into the Subcontinent.

If Persian becomes the language of government over the various subcontinental languages, and (somehow) handles the religious problem - the stability, strength, and communication by sea could leave them well placed to protect themselves from potential naval interlopers. Especially if they sought to dominate the trade anyway.

Persian Zanzibar/Madagascar/Andamans? :D
 
If any Persian based dynasty happens to rule over the subcontinent they might have to shift their Capital to the subcontinent, to Punjab at least. It will not be easy in ancient period to control an area with more population and wealth from a distant corner. The early Mughals hated the hot climate of the Indo-Gangetic Plain and would have preferred to stay in Kashmir or similar places. But they had to put up their Capitals in Delhi and Agra for effective control of the Empire.
 
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