Professor Sunil Sharma, Director of the Boston University Center for the Study of Asia (BUCSA) and a leading scholar of Persianate literary and cultural history, recently returned from the prestigious Bahari Visiting Fellowship in the Persian Arts of the Book at the Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, where he is conducting ongoing research on the transmission and reception of Persian literary texts across South Asia, Central Asia, and Iran.

The fellowship spans three months, with Sharma completing two months of research at Oxford this year and planning to return for a final month in 2027. Founded in 1602, the Bodleian Library houses one of the world’s most significant collections of Persian and Indian literary manuscripts. Sharma said. “Having sustained access to this collection and intellectual exchanges with several curators and scholars at Oxford enriched my experience and allowed me to dive deeper into several connected research projects.”

Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford. Courtesy of Professor Sharma.

During the fellowship, Sharma focused primarily on a project titled “Mapping the Reception of Amir Khusraw’s Works.” The research examines more than thirty manuscripts of the celebrated medieval Indo-Persian poet’s writings held in the Bodleian collection.

Produced between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, the manuscripts reveal how Khusraw’s poetry and prose circulated across diverse regions and communities. Some were lavishly illustrated volumes commissioned by royalty, while others were heavily annotated copies used by students or British colonial officials learning Persian.

Through this work, Sharma seeks to better understand who was reading, copying, and preserving Persian literary texts over time. By tracing patterns of readership across centuries and geographies, the project sheds light on the intellectual networks that connected Persianate societies throughout Asia.

Ms. S. Digby Or. 30. Courtesy of Professor Sharma.

The Oxford fellowship builds upon a larger research initiative Sharma began at the British Library several years ago. By incorporating materials from major manuscript collections across the United Kingdom, he hopes to develop a fuller picture of how medieval Persian poets were received and studied into the early modern period. The research aligns closely with Sharma’s broader scholarly interests in cross-cultural encounters, intellectual exchange, and literary innovation across the Persianate world, themes that have defined his distinguished career as a scholar and author.

Looking ahead, Sharma plans to use the final month of his fellowship to conduct comparative research on other influential Persian poets, including Nizami and Jami, examining how the reception of their works compares with that of Amir Khusraw.

Ms. Elliot 189. Courtesy of Professor Sharma.

He also uncovered several unpublished and understudied texts during his time in the Bodleian archives, discoveries that are expected to inspire future research projects.

A prolific scholar whose publications include Mughal Arcadia: Persian Poetry in an Indian Court and Amir Khusraw: The Poet of Sultans and Sufis, Sharma continues to advance understanding of the cultural and intellectual exchanges that shaped Persianate societies across South Asia and beyond. His Oxford fellowship represents another important step in uncovering the rich histories preserved within the world’s great manuscript collections.

To read about Sharma’s work, visit his faculty profile.