The Deccan sultanates were five Islamic
late-medieval Indian kingdoms—on the
Deccan Plateau between the
Krishna River and the
Vindhya Range
The Vindhya Range (also known as Vindhyachal) () is a complex, discontinuous chain of mountain ridges, hill ranges, highlands and plateau escarpments in west-central India.
Technically, the Vindhyas do not form a single mountain range in the ...
—that were ruled by Muslim dynasties: namely
Ahmadnagar,
Berar,
Bidar,
Bijapur
Bijapur, officially known as Vijayapura, is the district headquarters of Bijapur district of the Karnataka state of India. It is also the headquarters for Bijapur Taluk. Bijapur city is well known for its historical monuments of architectural ...
, and
Golconda
Fort (Telugu: గోల్కొండ, romanized: ''Gōlkōnḍa'') is a historic fortress and ruined city located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was originally called Mankal. The fort was originally built by Kakatiya ruler Pratāparu ...
.
The sultanates had become independent during the break-up of the
Bahmani Sultanate
The Bahmani Sultanate, or Deccan, was a Persianate Sunni Muslim Indian Kingdom located in the Deccan region. It was the first independent Muslim kingdom of the Deccan, .
In 1490,
Ahmadnagar declared independence, followed by
Bijapur
Bijapur, officially known as Vijayapura, is the district headquarters of Bijapur district of the Karnataka state of India. It is also the headquarters for Bijapur Taluk. Bijapur city is well known for its historical monuments of architectural ...
and
Berar in the same year.
Golconda
Fort (Telugu: గోల్కొండ, romanized: ''Gōlkōnḍa'') is a historic fortress and ruined city located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was originally called Mankal. The fort was originally built by Kakatiya ruler Pratāparu ...
became independent in 1518, and Bidar in 1528.
Although the five sultanates were all ruled by Muslims, their founders were of diverse, and often originally non-Muslim origins: the Ahmadnagar Sultanate was of Hindu-Brahmin origins; the Berar Sultanate by a
Kannadiga Hindu convert;
the Bidar Sultanate was founded by a Georgian slave; the Bijapur Sultanate was founded by a
Georgian slave purchased by
Mahmud Gawan; and the Golconda Sultanate was of
Turkmen
Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to:
Peoples Historical ethnonym
* Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages
Ethnic groups
* Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...
origin.
Although generally rivals, the sultanates did ally with each other against the
Vijayanagara Empire in 1565, permanently weakening Vijayanagara in the
Battle of Talikota. Notably, the alliance destroyed the entire city of
Vijayanagara, with important temples, such as the
Vitthala Temple, being razed to the ground.
In 1574, after a coup in Berar, Ahmadnagar invaded and conquered it. In 1619, Bidar was annexed by Bijapur. The sultanates were later conquered by the
Mughal Empire: Berar was stripped from Ahmadnagar in 1596; Ahmadnagar was completely taken between 1616 and 1636; and Golconda and Bijapur were conquered by
Aurangzeb
Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...
's 1686–87 campaign.
Ahmadnagar Sultanate
The Ahmadnagar Sultanate was founded by
Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I, who was the son of the Nizam ul-Mulk Malik Hasan Bahri, a
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
Brahmin from Beejanuggar (or
Bijanagar
The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana and Maharash ...
) originally named Timapa and converted to Islam.
Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I was the governor of Junnar.
After defeating the Bahmani army led by general Jahangir Khan on 28 May 1490, he declared independence and established dynastic rule over Ahmadnagar. The territory of the sultanate was located in the northwestern Deccan, between the sultanates of Gujarat and Bijapur. Initially, his capital was in
Junnar. In 1494, the foundation was laid for the new capital of Ahmadnagar. Malik Ahmed Shah, after several attempts, secured the fortress of Daulatabad in 1499.
After Malik Ahmed Shah's death in 1510, his son Burhan, a boy of seven, was installed in his place. Burhan Shah I died in Ahmadnagar in 1553. He left six sons, of whom Hussain succeeded him. After the death of Hussain Shah I in 1565, his son Murtaza (a minor) ascended the throne. While Murtaza was a child, his mother, Khanzada Humayun Sultana, ruled as a regent for several years. Murtaza Shah annexed Berar in 1574. On his death in 1588, his son Miran Hussain ascended the throne; but his reign lasted only a little more than ten months, as he was poisoned. Ismail, a cousin of Miran Hussain was raised to the throne, but the actual power was in the hands of Jamal Khan, the leader of the Deccani group in the court. Jamal Khan was killed in the battle of Rohankhed in 1591; and soon Ismail Shah was also captured and confined by his father Burhan, who ascended the throne as Burhan Shah. After the death of Burhan Shah, his eldest son Ibrahim ascended the throne. Ibrahim Shah died only after a few months in a battle with the Bijapur Sultanate. Soon,
Chand Bibi
Sultana Chand Bibi (1550–1599 CE) was an Indian ruler and warrior. She acted as the Regent of Bijapur Sultanate during the minority of Ibrahim Adil Shah II in 1580-1590, and regent of Ahmednagar Sultanate during the minority of her great nep ...
, the aunt of Ibrahim Shah, proclaimed
Bahadur, the infant son of Ibrahim Shah, as the rightful Sultan; and she became regent. In 1596, a Mughal attack led by
Murad was repulsed by
Chand Bibi
Sultana Chand Bibi (1550–1599 CE) was an Indian ruler and warrior. She acted as the Regent of Bijapur Sultanate during the minority of Ibrahim Adil Shah II in 1580-1590, and regent of Ahmednagar Sultanate during the minority of her great nep ...
.
After the death of Chand Bibi in July 1600, Ahmadnagar was conquered by the Mughals, and Bahadur Shah was imprisoned. But
Malik Ambar, and other Ahmadnagar officials, defied the Mughals and declared
Murtaza Shah II as sultan in 1600 at a new capital, Paranda.
Malik Ambar became prime minister and ''Vakil-us-Saltanat'' of Ahmadnagar. Later, the capital was shifted first to Junnar and then to a new city Khadki (later
Aurangabad). After the death of Malik Ambar, his son Fath Khan surrendered to the Mughals in 1633 and handed over the young Nizam Shahi ruler Hussain Shah, who was sent as a prisoner to the fort of Gwalior. But soon
Shahaji with the assistance of Bijapur, placed an infant scion of the Nizam Shahi dynasty, Murtaza, on the throne but acted as regent. In 1636, Aurangzeb, the Mughal viceroy of Deccan, finally annexed the sultanate to the Mughal empire, after defeating Shahaji.
Rulers
#
Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I (1490–1510)
#
Burhan Nizam Shah I (1510–1553)
#
Hussain Nizam Shah I (1553–1565)
#
Murtaza Nizam Shah I (1565–1588)
# Miran Nizam Hussain (1588–1589)
# Isma'il Nizam Shah (1589–1591)
#
Burhan Nizam Shah II (1591–1595)
# Ibrahim Nizam Shah (1595–1596)
# Ahmad Nizam Shah II (1596)
#
Bahadur Nizam Shah
Bahadur Nizam Shah was the Sultan of Ahmadnagar from 1596 to 1600. Only a small child when he gained the throne, he spent almost his entire reign under the regency of his great-aunt Chand Bibi.
Life
Born in 1593, Bahadur was the only son of Su ...
(1596–1600)
#
Murtaza Nizam Shah II (1600–1610)
# Burhan Nizam Shah III (1610–1631)
# Hussain Nizam Shah II (1631–1633)
#
Murtaza Nizam Shah III (1633–1636).
[Michell, George & Mark Zebrowski. ''Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates'' ('' The New Cambridge History of India'' Vol. I:7), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999, , p.274]
Berar Sultanate
The Berar Sultanate was founded by
Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk, who was born a
Kannadiga Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
, but was captured as a boy by Bahmani forces, which were on an expedition against the Vijayanagara empire, and reared as a Muslim.
In 1490, during the disintegration of the Bahmani Sultanate, Imad-ul-Mulk, then governor of
Berar, declared independence and founded the Imad Shahi dynasty of the Berar Sultanate. He established the capital at
Achalpur
Achalpur, formerly known as Ellichpur and Illychpur, is a city and a municipal council in Amravati District in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the second most populous city in Amravati District after Amravati and seventh most populou ...
(
Ellichpur), and
Gavilgad and
Narnala were also fortified by him.
Upon his death in 1504, Imad-ul-Mulk was succeeded by his eldest son, Ala-ud-din. In 1528, Ala-ud-din resisted the aggression of Ahmadnagar with help from Bahadur Shah, Sultan of Gujarat. The next ruler of Berar, Darya, first tried to ally with Bijapur, to prevent the aggression of Ahmadnagar, but was unsuccessful. Later, he helped Ahmednagar on three occasions against Bijapur. After his death in 1562, his infant son Burhan succeeded him; but in 1574 Tufal Khan, one of Burhan's ministers, usurped the throne. In the same year, Murtaza I, Sultan of Ahmadnagar, annexed Berar to his sultanate. Burhan, Tufal Khan, and Khan's son Shamshir-ul-Mulk, were taken to Ahmadnagar and confined to a fortress where all of them subsequently died.
[Majumdar, R. C. (ed.) (2007). ''The Mughul Empire'', Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, , pp. 463–466]
Rulers
#
Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk (1490–1504)
#
Aladdin Imad Shah
Aladdin Imad Shah ( fa, ) was the second Sultan of Berar. He reigned between 1504 and 1529.
Family
In 1528, Aladdin Imad Shah married Khadija Sultana, the sister of Ismail Adil Shah.Thomas William Beale, Henry George Keene , ''An Oriental Bio ...
(1504–1530)
#
Darya Imad Shah (1530–1562)
#
Burhan Imad Shah (1562–1574)
# Tufal Khan (usurper) (1574)
Bidar Sultanate
Bidar was the smallest of the five Deccan sultanates. The Sultanate was founded by
Qasim Barid I, who was
Georgian enslaved by Turks. He joined the service of Bahmani ruler Mahmud Shah Bahmani () as a ''sar-naubat'' (commander), and later became a ''mir-jumla'' (governor) of the Bahmani Sultanate. In 1492, he became de facto ruler of Bahmani, although Sultan Mahmud Shah Bahmani remained as the nominal ruler.
After Mahmud Shah Bahmani's death in 1504, his son Amir Barid controlled the administration of the Bahmani Sultanate. In 1528, with the flight of the last Bahmani ruler, Kalimullah, from Bidar, Amir Barid became practically an independent ruler. Amir Barid was succeeded by his son Ali Barid, who was the first to assume the title of ''shah''. Ali Barid participated in the Battle of Talikota and was fond of poetry and calligraphy.
The last ruler of the Bidar Sultanate, Amir Barid Shah III, was defeated in 1619, and the sultanate was annexed to the Bijapur Sultanate.
[Majumdar, R. C. (ed., 2007). ''The Mughul Empire'', Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, , pp.466–468]
Rulers
#
Qasim Barid I (1492–1504)
#
Amir Barid I (1504–1542)
#
Ali Barid Shah I (1542–1580)
# Ibrahim Barid Shah (1580–1587)
# Qasim Barid Shah II (1587–1591)
# Ali Barid Shah II (1591)
# Amir Barid Shah II (1591–1600)
# Mirza Ali Barid Shah III (1600–1609)
# Amir Barid Shah III (1609–1619)
Bijapur Sultanate
Located in southwestern India, straddling the
Western Ghats range of southern
Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
and northern
Karnataka, the Bijapur Sultanate was ruled by the Adil Shahi dynasty from 1490 to 1686. The founder of the dynasty, Yusuf Adil Shah, may have been a
Georgian slave
who was purchased by
Mahmud Gawan from Iran. The Adil Shahis were originally provincial governors of the
Bahmani Sultanate
The Bahmani Sultanate, or Deccan, was a Persianate Sunni Muslim Indian Kingdom located in the Deccan region. It was the first independent Muslim kingdom of the Deccan, ; but with the break-up of the Bahmani state after 1518, Ismail Adil Shah established an independent sultanate. Ismail Adil Shah and his successors embellished the capital at Bijapur with numerous monuments.
The Adil Shahis fought the
Vijayanagara Empire, which lay to the south, across the
Tungabhadra River, but fought the other Deccan sultanates as well. However, four of the five sultanates combined forces to decisively defeat Vijayanagar at the
Battle of Talikota in 1565, after which the empire broke up, Bijapur seizing control of the
Raichur Doab. In 1619, the Adil Shahis conquered the neighbouring sultanate of
Bidar, which was incorporated into their realm.
Later in the 17th century, the
Marathas revolted successfully under Shivaji's leadership, captured major parts of the sultanate, and its capital, Bijapur. The weakened sultanate was conquered by
Aurangzeb
Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...
in 1686 with the fall of Bijapur, bringing the dynasty to an end.
Rulers
#
Yusuf Adil Shah (1490–1510)
#
Ismail Adil Shah (1510–1534)
#
Mallu Adil Shah (1534–1535)
#
Ibrahim Adil Shah I (1535–1558)
#
Ali Adil Shah I
Ali Adil Shah I ( fa, ; 1558–1579) was the fifth Sultan of Bijapur Sultanate.
On the day of his coronation Ali abandoned the Sunni practices and reintroduced the Shi’ah Khutbah and other practices. The Persian doctors of religion were gra ...
(1558–1580)
#
Ibrahim Adil Shah II (1580–1627)
#
Mohammed Adil Shah (1627–1656)
#
Ali Adil Shah II (1656–1672)
#
Sikandar Adil Shah (1672–1686)
Golconda Sultanate
The dynasty's founder, Sultan Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk, migrated to Delhi from
Persia with some of his relatives and friends in the beginning of the 16th century. Later he migrated south to the Deccan and served the
Bahmani Sultan Mohammed Shah I. Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk conquered Golconda and became the governor of the Telangana region in 1518, after the disintegration of the Bahmani sultanate. Soon after, he declared his independence and took the title of ''Qutb Shah''.
The dynasty ruled for 171 years, until the Mughal emperor
Aurangzeb
Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...
's army
besieged and conquered Golconda in 1687.
Rulers
#
Sultan Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk
Sultan Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk, more often though less correctly referred to in English as Quli Qutb Shah (1485–1543), was the founder of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, which ruled the Sultanate of Golconda in southern India from 1518 to 1687. Of Turkmen or ...
(1518–1543)
#
Jamsheed Quli Qutb Shah (1543–1550)
#
Subhan Quli Qutb Shah
Subhan Quli Qutb Shah (1543–1550) was 7 years old, when he became Sultan of Golconda, after the death of his father Jamsheed Quli Qutb Shah, in 1550. Saif Khan, also known as ''Ainul Mulk'', was sent from Ahmednagar for the performance o ...
(1550)
#
Ibrahim Quli Qutub Shah (1550–1580)
#
Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah (1580–1611)
#
Sultan Muhammad Qutb Shah (1611–1626)
#
Abdullah Qutb Shah
Abdullah Qutb Shah (also transliterated in different ways) was the seventh ruler of the kingdom of Golconda in southern India under the Qutb Shahi dynasty. He ruled from 1626 to 1672.
Abdullah, son of Sultan Muhammad Qutb Shah, was a polyglot, a ...
(1626–1672)
#
Abul Hasan Qutb Shah (1672–1687)
[Michell, George & Mark Zebrowski. ''Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates'' (''The New Cambridge History of India'' Vol. I:7), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1999, , p.275]
Decline
The dynasty ruled for 171 years, until the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb's army besieged and conquered Golconda in the
siege of Golconda in 1687.
Cultural contributions
The rulers of the Deccan sultanates made a number of cultural contributions in the fields of literature, art, architecture, and music.
An important contribution was the development of the
Dakhani language, which, having started development under the
Bahamani rulers, developed into an independent spoken and literary language during this period by continuously borrowing from Arabic-Persian, Marathi, Kannada, and Telugu. Dakhani later became known as Dakhani Urdu to distinguish it from North Indian
Urdu.
Deccani miniature painting—which flourished in the courts of Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, and Golconda—is another major cultural contribution of the Deccan sultanates.
Architectural splendors of the Deccan such as
Charminar and
Gol Gumbaz belong to this period. A number of monuments built by the Deccan Sultanates are on a tentative list for nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The religious tolerance displayed by the Nizam Shahi, Adil Shahi, and Qutb Shahi rulers is also worthy of mention.
Ahmadnagar
The Nizam Shahi rulers of Ahmadnagar enthusiastically patronised miniature painting, the earliest surviving of which are found as the illustrations of the manuscript ''Tarif-i-Hussain Shahi'' (c. 1565), which is now in the
Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, Pune. A miniature painting of Murtaza Nizam Shah (c. 1575) is in the
Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris, while another one is in the
Raza Library in Rampur. The ''Running Elephant'' is in an American private collection, the ''Royal Picnic'' is in the
India Office Library
The India Office Records are a very large collection of documents relating to the administration of India from 1600 to 1947, the period spanning Company and British rule in India. The archive is held in London by the British Library and is public ...
in London, and the ''Young Prince Embraced by a Small Girl'', most likely belonging to the Burhan Nizam Shah II period, is in the Edwin Binney 3rd Collection of South Asian Works in the
San Diego Museum of Art.
The earliest notable architecture of the Nizam Shahi rulers of
Ahmadnagar is the tomb of Ahmad Shah I Bahri (1509), at the centre of Bagh Rouza, a garden complex. The Jami Masjid also belongs to the same period. The Mecca Masjid, built in 1525 by Rumi Khan, a Turkish artillery officer of Burhan Nizam Shah I, is original in its design. The Kotla complex was constructed in 1537 as a religious educational institution. The impressive Farah Bagh was the centrepiece of a large palatial complex completed in 1583. Other monuments in Ahmednagar of the Nizam Shahi period are the Do Boti Chira (tomb of Sharja Khan, 1562), Damri Masjid (1568), and the tomb of Rumi Khan (1568). The Jami Masjid (1615) in Khirki (
Aurangabad) and the Chini Mahal inside the Daulatabad fort were constructed during the late Nizam Shahi period (1600–1636). The tomb of Malik Ambar in Khuldabad (1626) is another impressive monument of this period. The Kali Masjid of
Jalna (1578) and the tomb of Dilawar Khan (1613) in
Rajgurunagar also belong to this period.
During the reign of Ahmad Shah I Bahri, his keeper of imperial records, Dalapati, wrote an encyclopedic work, the ''Nrisimha Prasada'', where he mentioned his overlord as ''Nizamsaha''. It is a notable instance of the religious tolerance of the Nizam Shahi rulers.
Berar
The ruined palace of ''Hauz Katora'', west of
Achalpur
Achalpur, formerly known as Ellichpur and Illychpur, is a city and a municipal council in Amravati District in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the second most populous city in Amravati District after Amravati and seventh most populou ...
, is the only notable surviving Imad Shahi monument.
Bidar
The main architectural activities for the Barid Shahi rulers were building garden tombs. The tomb of Ali Barid Shah (1577) is the most notable monument in
Bidar. The tomb consists of a lofty domed chamber, open on four sides, located in the middle of a Persian four-square garden. The ''Rangin Mahal'' in Bidar, built during the reign of Ali Barid Shah, is a complete and exquisitely decorated courtly structure. Other important monuments in Bidar from this period are the tomb of Qasim II and the Kali Masjid.
An important class of metalwork known as
Bidriware
Bidriware is a metal handicraft from the city of Bidar in southern India. It was developed in the 14th century C.E. during the rule of the Bahmani Sultans. The term "bidriware" originates from the township of Bidar, which is still the chief cen ...
originated in Bidar. This metalwork consists of a black metal, usually a zinc alloy, inlaid with intricate designs in silver, brass, and sometimes copper.
Bijapur
The Adil Shahi rulers contributed greatly to architecture, art, literature, and music, as
Bijapur
Bijapur, officially known as Vijayapura, is the district headquarters of Bijapur district of the Karnataka state of India. It is also the headquarters for Bijapur Taluk. Bijapur city is well known for its historical monuments of architectural ...
developed into a cosmopolitan city under their rule and attracted many scholars, artists, musicians, and Sufi saints from Rome, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Turkestan. The Adil Shahi kings were known for their tolerance towards Hindus and non-interference in their religious matters. They employed Hindus to high posts, especially as officers overseeing accounts and administration, whose documents were maintained in Marathi.
Amongst the major architectural works in the Bijapur Sultanate, one of the earliest is the unfinished
Jami Masjid
A congregational mosque or Friday mosque (, ''masjid jāmi‘'', or simply: , ''jāmi‘''; ), or sometimes great mosque or grand mosque (, ''jāmi‘ kabir''; ), is a mosque for hosting the Friday noon prayers known as '' jumu'ah''.*
*
*
*
*
*
...
, which was begun by Ali Adil Shah I in 1576. It has an arcaded prayer hall, with fine aisles, and has an impressive dome supported by massive piers. One of the most impressive monuments built during the reign of Ibrahim II was the
Ibrahim Rouza
Ibrahim ( ar, إبراهيم, links=no ') is the Arabic name for Abraham, a Biblical patriarch and prophet in Islam.
For the Islamic view of Ibrahim, see Abraham in Islam.
Ibrahim may also refer to:
* Ibrahim (name), a name (and list of people w ...
which was originally planned as a tomb for queen Taj Sultana, but was later converted into the tomb for Ibrahim Adil Shah II and his family. This complex, completed in 1626, consists of a paired tomb and mosque. Ibrahim II also planned to construct a new twin city to Bijapur,
Nauraspur, whose construction began in 1599 but was never completed. The greatest monument in Bijapur is the
Gol Gumbaz, the mausoleum of Muhammad Adil Shah, which was completed in 1656, and whose hemispherical dome measures across. The other important architectural works from this period are the ''Chini Mahal'', the ''Jal Mandir'', the ''Sat Manzil'', the ''Gagan Mahal'', the ''Anand Mahal'', and the ''Asar Mahal'' (1646), all in Bijapur, as well as the ''Kummatgi'' ( from Bijapur), the
Panhala Fort ( from
Kolhapur), and
Naldurg Fort ( from
Solapur).
Persian artists of the Adil Shahi court have left a rare treasure of miniature paintings, some of which are well preserved in Europe's museums. The earliest miniature paintings are ascribed to the period of Ali Adil Shah I. The most significant of them are the paintings in the manuscript of ''
Nujum-ul-Ulum
Nujum-ul-Ulum ('Stars of the Sciences', c. 1570 CE), is a manuscript commissioned during the Adil Shahi rulers of Bijapur, India. The manuscript is described as an illustrated encyclopedia about ancient Indian astrology and astral magic. The book ...
'' (Stars of Science) (1570), kept in the
Chester Beatty Library in Dublin, which contains about 400 miniature paintings. Two other illustrated manuscripts from the period of Ali Adil Shah I are ''Jawahir-al Musiqat-i-Muhammadi'' in the British Library, which contains 48 paintings, and a Marathi commentary of
Sarangadeva's ''
Sangita Ratnakara'' kept in the museum of
City Palace, Jaipur, which contains 4 paintings. But the most miniature paintings come from the time of Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II. One of the most celebrated painters of his court was Maulana Farrukh Hussain. The miniature paintings of this period are preserved in the Bikaner Palace, the
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
in Oxford, the British Museum and
Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the
Muśee Guimet in Paris, the
Academy of Sciences in St. Petersberg, and the
Náprstek Museum in Prague.
Under the Adil Shahi rulers many literary works were published in Dakhani. Ibrahim Adil Shah II himself wrote a book of songs, ''
Kitab-i-Nauras'', in Dakhani. This book contains a number of songs whose tunes are set to different ''ragas'' and ''raginis''. In his songs, he praised the Hindu goddess Sarasvati along with Muhammad and Sufi saint Khwaja Banda Nawaz Gesudaraz. A unique ''tambur'' (lute) known as Moti Khan was in his possession. The famous Persian poet laureate
Muhammad Zuhuri
Nūr al-Dīn Muḥammad Ẓuhūrī (d. AH 1025/CE 1616) was a Persian poet born around 1537. Ẓuhūrī states that he was born in Qāʾin, but tradition identifies his birthplace as a village in the district of Turshiz, thus his often used nisb ...
was his court poet. The ''Mushaira'' (poetic symposium) was born in the Bijapur court and later travelled north.
Golconda
Qutb Shahi rulers appointed Hindus in important administrative posts. Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah appointed Murari Rao as ''Peshwa'', second to only ''Mir Jumla'' (prime minister).
One of the earliest architectural achievements of the Qutb Shahi dynasty is the
fortified city of Golconda, which is now in ruins. The nearby
Qutb Shahi tombs are also noteworthy.
In the 16th century,
Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah decided to shift the capital to
Hyderabad, east of Golconda. Here, he constructed the most original monument in the Deccan, the
Charminar, in the heart of the new city.
This monument, completed in 1591, has four minarets, each . The construction of the
Mecca Masjid, located immediately south of the Charminar, was started in 1617, during the reign of Muhammad Qutb Shah, but completed only in 1693. The other important monuments of this period are the
Toli Masjid,
Shaikpet Sarai,
Khairtabad Mosque,
Taramati Baradari,
Hayat Bakshi Mosque, and the Jama Masjid at
Gandikota.
The Qutb Shahi rulers invited many Persian artists, such as Shaykh Abbasi and Muhammad Zaman, to their court, whose art made a profound impact on the miniature paintings of this period. The earliest miniature paintings were the 126 illustrations in the manuscript of ''Anwar-i-Suhayli'' (c. 1550–1560) in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The illustrations ''
Sindbad Namah'' in the India Office Library and ''Shirin and Khusrau'' in the
Khudabaksh Library in Patna most probably belong to the reign of Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah. The 5 illustrations in a manuscript of the ''Diwan-i-Hafiz'' (c. 1630) in the British Museum, London, belong to the reign of Abdullah Qutb Shah. The most outstanding surviving Golconda painting probably is the ''Procession of Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah Riding an Elephant'' (c. 1650) in the Saltykov-Shtshedrine State Public Library in St. Petersberg. Their painting style lasted even after the dynasty was extinct and evolved into the Hyderabad style.
The Qutb Shahi rulers were great patrons of literature and invited many scholars, poets, historians and
Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
saints from Iran to settle in their sultanate. The sultans patronized literature in
Persian as well as
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
, the local language. However, the most important contribution of the Golconda Sultanate in the field of literature is the development of the
Dakhani language.
Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah was not only a great patron of art and literature but also a poet of a high order. He wrote in Dakhani, Persian, and Telugu and left an extensive ''Diwan'' (collection of poetry) in
Dakhani, known as ''Kulliyat-i-Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah''. Apart from the praise of God and the Prophet, he also wrote on nature, love and contemporary social life.
Kshetrayya and
Bhadrachala Ramadasu
Kancharla Gopanna ( te, కంచర్ల గోపన్న) ( – 1688), popularly known as Bhakta Ramadasu or Bhadrachala Ramadasu ( te, భద్రాచల రామదాసు), was a 17th-century devotee of the Hindu god Rama, a sain ...
are some notable Telugu poets of this period.
The Qutb Shahi rulers were much more liberal than their other Muslim counterparts. During the reign of
Abdullah Qutb Shah
Abdullah Qutb Shah (also transliterated in different ways) was the seventh ruler of the kingdom of Golconda in southern India under the Qutb Shahi dynasty. He ruled from 1626 to 1672.
Abdullah, son of Sultan Muhammad Qutb Shah, was a polyglot, a ...
, in 1634, the ancient Indian sex manual
Koka Shastra was translated into
Persian and named ''Lazzat-un-Nisa'' (Flavors of the Woman).
See also
*
Malwa Sultanate
*
Khandesh Sultanate
The Farooqi dynasty (also spelt Farooqui, Faruqi) was the ruling dynasty of the Khandesh Sultanate (named after the Khandesh region) from its inception in 1382 till its annexation by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1601. The founder of the dynasty, Ma ...
*
Bengal Sultanate
The Sultanate of Bengal ( Middle Bengali: শাহী বাঙ্গালা ''Shahī Baṅgala'', Classical Persian: ''Saltanat-e-Bangālah'') was an empire based in Bengal for much of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. It was the dominan ...
*
Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent
Citations
References
# Chopra, R.M., ''The Rise, Growth And Decline of Indo-Persian Literature'', 2012, Iran Culture House, New Delhi. Revised edition published in 2013.
#
#
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# Rehaman Patel, ''Islamic Art of North Karnataka, Art & Architecture'', May, 2015
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#
External links
A website on Bijapur Sultanate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Deccan sultanates
States and territories established in 1527
History of Maharashtra
Former sultanates
Medieval India
Medieval Karnataka
History of Andhra Pradesh
History of Telangana
Deccan Plateau