Looking at many Indian historical documents, it is perhaps striking that many of them are in a Persian dialect. This Indian Persian dialect was based upon the Tajik dialect, which was further Arabized and influenced by Indian languages. This language was spoken even by many Hindus, due to the Mughals integrating Hindus substantially into the imperial bureaucracy. Though it fell into a decline with the Mughal Empire, it persisted in the various successor states. Even early British India continued Persian as one of the official languages of the puppet Mughal Empire, until abolishing it entirely as part of a campaign of Anglicizing India. Indeed, English neatly replaced Persian as one of the two official languages of India, and the one generally spoken by the elite. This was so successful that today, Persian is dead in India except in historical contexts. So, how do we get it to survive?
The easiest way is to get the Mughal Empire to survive as a powerful construct. Of course, with such an early POD, you could even keep Hindustani from emerging as an important Indian language outside of the Hindu Belt, and thus ensure that Persian remain the sole lingua franca of the Empire. This, of course, is the very best scenario for Persian that you're going to get
Going for a later POD, save the Sikh Empire. From what I've read, Persian was the high-level language there, taught in their higher institutions, while Punjabi was generally taught in lower-level institutions. The Sikh Empire had an impressive literacy rate, and so if this increases, the result is a Persian-speaking Punjab. But this is not assured, as some sort of switch to Punjabi (if a Persianized register) could easily occur and result in Persian declining in here as well.
If we are to go for a POD that still results in a British India, we need a British India that allies with the Muslims, or rather the Persianized elite (which consisted of both Hindus and Persians - a legacy of the Mughals), and so it naturally supports retaining Persian as an Indian language, even expanding it somewhat. One way of doing this is having the Marathis or the Rajputs rebel a lot more than OTL, through boring dynastic politics exploding in the faces of the British, or something else. This means that Britain is naturally brought closer to the Persianized elites, in opposition to these Hindu rebels. Also, the puppet Mughal Emperor needs to be retained, as his very existence is a giant endorsement of Persianized culture and the Persian language. Here, Persian here won't be the only main language of India. Rather, it'll be one of the two main languages of India, holding English's status as an elite language. But that's clearly survival.
Thoughts?
The easiest way is to get the Mughal Empire to survive as a powerful construct. Of course, with such an early POD, you could even keep Hindustani from emerging as an important Indian language outside of the Hindu Belt, and thus ensure that Persian remain the sole lingua franca of the Empire. This, of course, is the very best scenario for Persian that you're going to get
Going for a later POD, save the Sikh Empire. From what I've read, Persian was the high-level language there, taught in their higher institutions, while Punjabi was generally taught in lower-level institutions. The Sikh Empire had an impressive literacy rate, and so if this increases, the result is a Persian-speaking Punjab. But this is not assured, as some sort of switch to Punjabi (if a Persianized register) could easily occur and result in Persian declining in here as well.
If we are to go for a POD that still results in a British India, we need a British India that allies with the Muslims, or rather the Persianized elite (which consisted of both Hindus and Persians - a legacy of the Mughals), and so it naturally supports retaining Persian as an Indian language, even expanding it somewhat. One way of doing this is having the Marathis or the Rajputs rebel a lot more than OTL, through boring dynastic politics exploding in the faces of the British, or something else. This means that Britain is naturally brought closer to the Persianized elites, in opposition to these Hindu rebels. Also, the puppet Mughal Emperor needs to be retained, as his very existence is a giant endorsement of Persianized culture and the Persian language. Here, Persian here won't be the only main language of India. Rather, it'll be one of the two main languages of India, holding English's status as an elite language. But that's clearly survival.
Thoughts?