Concept of copyright in the perspective of historical Indo-Iran relations

Abstract

Historical relations between Iran and India seem to have begun in prehistoric times although it is very difficult to determine the date. India is one of the well-known toponyms in the Avestan, Royal Inscriptions of Achaemenid Kings and in Middle Persian documents. Under Khosrow Anoshirvan, some known Indic texts were translated into Pahlavi and later into Arabic by Indo-Iranian scholars.In Medieval period, Arabo-Persian texts have preserved valuable data about India. In this article, a tale has been referred which is being studied here from the point of view of copyright. The tale is about bringing Kalilava Demna (Pañcatantra), part of collection of India’s king to Iran. It is   interesting to note that India’s king clearly tells Borzuyeh, the envoy of king of Iran, that: “you can read the book but you can’t copy it.”