The Role of the Safavids in the Spread and Institutionalization of the Nastaʿliq Script

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Abstract The development of calligraphy during the Safavid period was tied closely to the emergence of a new religious and national identity. Nastaʿliq, which had emerged in association with Persian literature and culture during the Il-khanid period, became increasingly popular for both artistic and administrative purposes under Safavid patronage, at which time nastaʿliq became the favored script for transcribing not only Persian literary manuscripts, but also Shiʿi literature. Its privileged position in Safavid political historiography, manuscript illumination, and epigraphy, both in an architectural context and elsewhere, attests to the fact that nastaʿliq was institutionalized in Safavid Persia with respect to both Persian and Shiʿi aspects. The present study reveals that the material and spiritual support of the Safavids was instrumental in effectively integrating nastaʿliq into Persian culture and identity. However, nastaʿliq’s influence extended beyond Iran, as it became a distinguishing feature of Persian calligraphy and was widely used in other territories, including Mughal India and the Ottoman Empire, to transcribe inscriptions and manuscripts as a distinctively Persian art.