BOOKSin review
B
Ythe late15thcentury,
the Bahmani kingdom
thathadruledmuchof the
Deccansinceits establish-
mentin 1347wasimplod-
ingbecauseof internecine
differencesamongits no-
bility.Westerners,or the
“Afaqis”—immigrants
fromPersia and Central
Asia—haddifferenceswith
thenatives,or the“Dec-
canis”,an eclecticgroupof
nobles that consisted of
descendants of the early
Delhisultanatemigrants,
local converts to Islam,
Habshis (Africans) and
Marathas.Theweakening
of the kingdom wasaccom-
paniedby ambitiouspro-
vincialgovernors declaring
independence oneafterthe
other,leading to the emer-
genceoffive separateprin-
cipalities,or sultanates.
Theearliest to break
awayandproclaimhimself
sultanwasAhmedNizam
ShahI, whowasthegov-
ernor of the north-west
province of the Deccan,
later to be known as
Ahmednagar, after the
nameof thecityhe would
buildanddesignate as cap-
ital of the sultanate. Of the
fourothersultanates that
wouldcleaveawaychunks
of theBahmanikingdom,
pendentstate for more
than 100 years.
During this time, it
carvedoutadistinctiden-
tity in statecraft apartfrom
leavingbehindafairly rich
architecturallegacy,which
is the subjectof studyof the
bookunder review.With
thisclearlydefinedambi-
tion,PushkarSohoni,who
is an architectural histor-
ian,hasturnedthe spot-
lightonthesultanate of
Ahmednagarandpresen-
tedamethodby whichar-
chitectural explorationcan
providedeepinsightsinto
thepoliticalhistory of a
geographicalregion.
Theart andarchitec-
tureof theDeccan sultan-
ateswasthe focusofmanyscholarsin the past.In pre-
independent India,the re-
gion’s architecture was
studiedas an addendumto
the Islamicarchitectureof
northern India (for ex-
ample,thesecond volume
of PercyBrown’sseminal
workon Indianarchitec-
ture,1942).More recently,
the studyofthe Deccanas
an independentareahas
comeinto its own,with
scholars such as George
Michell and Mark
Zebrowski(Architecture
andArt of the DeccanSul-
tanates,1999)publishing
detailedstudies.
Amongexhaustively
edited volumes on the
sametheme,afew stand
out in recent times,includ-
ing Silent Splendour:
Palaces of the Deccan,
14th-19thCenturiesedited
by HelenPhilon(2010)
andSultansof the South:
Art of India’s Deccan
Courts, 1323-168 7 edited
by Navina NajatHaidar
andMarikaSardar(2011).
Richard Eaton and
Phillip B. Wagonerhave
published abooktitled
Power,Memory,Architec-
ture:ContestedSiteson In-
dia’s Deccan Plateau,
1300-1600 (2014) that
looksindetailatsecondary
urban centresof theBah-
mani andDeccanSultan-
ateerasuchas Kalyana,
RaichurandWarangal.
Comingto the scholar-
shipon individual sultan-
ates:PramodB. Gadrehas
studied Ahmednagar in
somedetail(TheCultural
Archaeology of Ahmad-
nagar duringNizam
Shahi Period, 1494-1 632 ,
1986); Deborah Hutton
haslookedcarefullyat the
artof Bijapur(Artat the
Courtof Bijapur,2006);Bijapur andGolconda
werethe largeandimport-
ant onesto emerge.
Ahmednagar survived
as arobustShiite polityfor
morethanacentury,until
1600,andthenin afeebler
formuntil 1636 beforethe
Mughals,with their un-
ceasing imperial ambi-
tions,completelyswamped
thecity.It took50 more
yearsfortheMughalsto
subjugate all the kingdoms
of theDeccanwhenAur-
angzebfinallydefeatedthe
sultanates of Bijapurand
Golcondain 1686and1687
respectively.Eventhough
it wasthefirst sultanateto
fall to the Mughalsbecause
of its location, Ahmed-
nagarsurvivedas an inde-Deccan
architecture
Architecturalexplorationin thesultanateof
Ahmednagarcanprovidedeepinsightsintothe
politicalhistoryof theDeccan.BYVIKHARAHMEDSAYEED
TheArchitectureofa
DeccanSultanate
CourtlyPracticeand
RoyalAuthorityin
LateMedievalIndia
ByPushkarSohoni
I.B. Tauris&Co. Ltd,
London, 2018
Price:Rs.5,646
Pages:xviii +289