Modern debates over the merits of the so-called Indian Style (Sabk-e Hendi) in Persian literature, which was dominant from the late sixteenth to early nineteenth centuries, have been based on problematic assumptions about how literary style is tied to place. Scholars have often therefore interpreted the Persian literary criticism of the first half of the eighteenth century as a contest between Indians who praised Persian texts written in India and Iranians who asserted their privilege as native speakers to denigrate them. A more nuanced reading suggests that the debates mainly addressed stylistic temporality, namely the value of the writing styles of the “Ancients” (motaqaddemin) versus the innovative style of the “Moderns” (motaʾakhkherin). In the thought of the Indian critic Serāj al-Din ʿAli Khān Ārzu (d. 1756), there is clear evidence of a perceived rupture in literary culture that we can call a “crisis of authority.” Ārzu was concerned because Persian poetry had been judged according to “sanad” or precedent, but poets—both Indian and Iranian—were composing in a relatively new style (tāza-guʾi, literally “fresh speech”) that routinely went beyond the available precedents. All poets who know Persian well, he argued, including Indians, are allowed to innovate. While there was obvious rivalry between Persian-knowing Indians and the many Central Asians and Iranians settled in India, the contemporary terms of the debate have little in common with the later nationalism-tinged framing familiar to us.

现代的关于波斯文学中所谓的印度风格（Sabk-e Hendi）的优点的争论，是在关于文学风格如何与地方联系在一起的有争议的假设的基础上进行的，这种风格从16世纪末到19世纪初一直占主导地位。因此，学者们经常将波斯对18世纪上半叶的文学批评解释为赞美印度撰写的波斯文字的印度人与宣称以其以母语为母语的人Iran毁伊朗的伊朗人之间的较量。更为细微的解读表明，辩论主要针对风格的时间性，即“古代人”（motaqaddemin）的写作风格的价值与“现代人”（motaʾakhkherin）的创新风格的价值）。在印度评论家塞拉伊·丁·阿里·汗·祖尔（Serājal-DinʿAliKhānĀrzu）（卒于1756年）的思想中，有明显的证据表明文学文化中的一种被称为“权威危机”的破裂。Ārzu很担心，因为波斯诗歌是根据“萨纳德”或先例来评判的，但印度和伊朗的诗人都以相对较新的风格（tāza-guʾi，字面意思是“新鲜的言语”）作曲，这通常超出了可用的先例。他认为，所有认识波斯语的诗人，包括印第安人，都可以进行创新。尽管波斯语的印第安人与定居在印度的许多中亚人和伊朗人之间存在明显的竞争，但辩论的当代意义与后来我们所熟悉的民族主义色彩的框架并没有什么共通之处。