The Mughal Empire, which ruled large parts of the Indian subcontinent from the early 16th to the mid-19th century, primarily spoke Persian.

The Mughal rulers, who were of Turko-Mongol descent, adopted Persian as the official language of the court and administration. Persian had long been the lingua franca of the region, having been introduced and spread by various Turkic and Persian-speaking dynasties that had ruled parts of the subcontinent prior to the Mughals.

Under Mughal patronage, Persian reached the height of its influence in India, becoming the language of the elite, literature, scholarship, and high culture. While regional languages like Hindi, Bengali, and others continued to be spoken by the general population, Persian was the dominant language used in the Mughal imperial court, among the nobility, and in administrative documentation.

This status of Persian continued even after the decline of the Mughal Empire, persisting until the British colonial rule when English gradually replaced it as the primary language of government and administration in India.