Islamic Architecture of the Deccan

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The present study covers a span of nearly three hundred years Le from the establishment of the Bahmani rule in the Deccan to the end of Modem hegemony in the region. The region covered is broadly known as the Deccan. It comprise all the tract of land south of the river Narmada and north of the river Krishna, excluding the territories governed by the Faroquis of Khandesh To the cast and west, the hilly ranges and the coastal strips) do not come into the picture as much as the central plateau does Not all the architectural monuments are taken note of, only those erected by the Bahmanis and their political and cultural successors, the five Sultanates of the Deccan, have been examined. These are, naturally, concentrated largely in and around the capital cities of the various rulers.

These monuments have been surveyed and described by various students. As such the subject of the paper is not a fresh one. It does not touch an untrodden field The Archaeological Survey of India have surveyed and recorded the architecture of Bijapur and its environs -the capital of the Adil Shahis. The results have been published by COUSENS in his monumental work. Brandabilectural reman A great deal of work about medieval Moslem monuments has been done by the Archaeological Department of the former Niram State. The texal Reports of that Department record information regarding most of the structures of the period. These Reports attain great importance due to the fact that a large part of the Bahmani Kingdom was within the boundaries of the Hyderabad State A very significant phase of Islamic architecture of the area, viz. the one seen at Bidar has received special attention from G YAZDANI Journals like Islamic Culture and the Journal of the Hyderabad Archaeological Society 'have taken notice of venal typical monuments These were primarily efforts at data collection. All available material was carefully gathered and recorded. However, it would be idle to suppose that authorities like COUSENS, MARSHALL, YAZDANI would remain satisfied with a sort of recording operation. They have devoted equal or more attention to the interpretative aspect as well. And it is the line of argumentation emerging from the studies of these and other recognized students that are towed by later students.

The question naturally arises, whether after all the aforesaid work has been done, there was any necessity to undertake a further probe. The author had an opportunity of studying, in an entirely different context, these works and the monuments under discussion, and he came to the conclusion that something still more can be said.

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