Ali-Asghar Hekmat-e Shirazi ( Persian : علی‌اصغر حکمت شیرازی ; 16 June 1892 – 25 August 1980), or Mirza Ali-Asghar Khan-e Hekmat-e Shirazi ( میرزا علی‌اصغر خان حکمت شیرازی ), was an Iranian politician, diplomat and author who served as the Iranian minister of foreign affairs , minister of justice , and minister of culture during the reigns of Reza Shah and Mohammad Reza Shah . Hekmat was an Iranian ambassador to India and wrote multiple books about Indian history and culture. Following the 1979 Iranian revolution , his books and works were ignored and he was labelled as a Freemason , but one of his books, Persian Inscriptions on Indian Monuments , was reprinted and introduced to Iranians.