The Deccan sultanates were five

early modern The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

kingdoms, namely

Bijapur Bijapur (officially 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 importa ...

Golkonda Golconda is a fortified citadel and ruined city located on the western outskirts of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The fort was originally built by Kakatiya ruler Pratāparudra in the 11th century out of mud walls. It was ceded to the Bahmani ...

Ahmadnagar Ahmednagar, officially Ahilyanagar, is a city in, and the headquarters of, the Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India. Ahmednagar has several dozen buildings and sites from the Nizam Shahi period. Ahmednagar Fort, once considered almost imp ...

Bidar Bidar ( ) is a city and headquarters of the Bidar district in Karnataka state of India. Bidar is a prominent place on the archaeological map of India, it is well known for architectural, historical religious and rich heritage sites. Pictures ...

, and

Berar Berar may refer to: *Vidarbha, the eastern region of Maharashtra, India, historically known as Berar * Berar Sultanate (1490–1596), one of the Deccan sultanates *Berar Subah (1596–1724), a subah (province) of the Mughal Empire *Berar Province ( ...

, which ruled the

Deccan Plateau The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura Range, Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound ...

for part of the 15th, and the majority of the 16th–17th centuries. Their architecture was a regional variant of

Indo-Islamic architecture Indo-Islamic architecture is the architecture of the Indian subcontinent produced by and for Islamic patrons and purposes. Despite an initial Arab presence in Sindh, the development of Indo-Islamic architecture began in earnest with the establi ...

, and influenced by the styles of the

Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate or the Sultanate of Delhi was a Medieval India, late medieval empire primarily based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for more than three centuries.

and later

Mughal architecture Mughal architecture is the style of architecture developed in the Mughal Empire in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries throughout the ever-changing extent of their empire in the Indian subcontinent. It developed from the architectural styles of ea ...

, but sometimes also influenced from

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

,though

Hindu temple architecture Hindu temple architecture as the main form of Hindu architecture has many different styles, though the basic nature of the Hindu temple remains the same, with the essential feature an inner sanctum, the ''Garbhagriha, garbha griha'' or womb-ch ...

in the same areas had very different styles. The rulers of the five Deccan sultanates had a number of cultural contributions in the fields of art, music, literature and architecture, as the

and

Golconda Golconda is a fortified citadel and ruined city located on the western outskirts of Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The fort was originally built by Kakatiya ruler Pratāparudra in the 11th century out of mud walls. It was ceded to the Bahmani ...

forts are examples of the architecture and military planning of the sultanates. Apart from forts, they also constructed many tombs,

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

s and

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , ), sometimes Romanization of Arabic, romanized as madrasah or madrassa, is the Arabic word for any Educational institution, type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whet ...

Gol Gumbaz Gol Gumbaz (), also written Gol Gumbad, is a 17th-century mausoleum located in Bijapur, a city in Karnataka, India. It houses the remains of Mohammad Adil Shah, seventh sultan of the Adil Shahi dynasty, and some of his relatives. Begun in the ...

(tomb of Mohammed Adil Shah), was the second largest dome in the world. In 2014,

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

put a group of buildings on its "tentative list" to become a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

under the name "Monuments and Forts of the Deccan Sultanate" (despite there being multiple sultanates), which include Bahmani and Barid Shahi Monuments at

in Karnataka, Adil Shahi Monuments at

in Karnataka, and Qutb Shahi Monuments at

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

in Telangana.

Ahmadnagar Sultanate

During Ahmadnagar rule, multiple palaces were constructed, and their ruins lay in and around Ahmadnagar city. They also built tombs of nobles such as Salabat Khan and Changiz Khan, and saints such as Shah Sharif and Bava Bangali. Malik Ambar is credited with the construction of the Janjira Fort in the Murud Area of present-day

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

India. After its construction in 1567 AD, the fort was key to the Sidis withstanding various invasion attempts by the Marathas, Mughals, and Portuguese to capture Janjira. The Farah Bagh palace (also called Faria Bagh) is situated in

Ahmednagar Ahmednagar, officially Ahilyanagar, is a city in, and the headquarters of, the Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India. Ahmednagar has several dozen buildings and sites from the Nizam Shahi period. Ahmednagar Fort, once considered almost impre ...

. It was built by Nizam Shahi rulers in Ahmednagar. Farah Bagh was the centrepiece of a palatial complex completed in 1583. It belonged to the royal household and Murtaza

Nizam Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I ...

Shah often retired here to play chess with a Delhi singer he called Fateh Shah. He also built the singer a separate palace called Lakad Mahal in the garden.

Bijapur Sultanate

Prominent monuments in

are the Gagan Mahal,

Bijapur Fort The Bijapur Fort (Vijapur kote) is located in the Bijapur city in Bijapur District of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bijapur fort has a plethora of historical monuments of architectural importance built during the rule of Adil Shahi dynasty. ...

and Ibrahim Rauza. Gol Gumbaz is the tomb of Mohammed Adil Shah and it contains the second-largest dome in the world constructed before the modern age. The external diameter of the hemispherical dome is 44 m. Ibrahim Rouza is the tomb for

Ibrahim Adil Shah II Ibrahim Adil Shah II (1570 – 12 September 1627) was Sultan of the Sultanate of Bijapur and a member of the Adil Shahi dynasty. Under his reign the sultanate had its greatest period as he extended its frontier as far south as Mysore. He ...

and it is one of the most beautiful monuments in Bijapur. The

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''.See: * * * * ...

is one of the largest mosques in India having a courtyard of 11,000 square feet. Other architectural works of this period in Bijapur are the Chini Mahal,

Jal Mandir The Jal Mandir or Water Temple is situated in Pawapuri (also known as Apapapuri which means a town without sins), in the Indian state of Bihar. It is dedicated to Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara (religious preacher of Jainism), which marks the pla ...

, Sat Manzil, Gagan Mahal, Anand Mahal and the Asar Mahal (1646).

Golconda Sultanate

Golkonda fort, built by the Qutb Shahi dynasty, is one of the most impregnable forts in India, known for its acoustic features and water management. The Jami Masjid (1518) built by Quli Qutb Mulk is a notable mosque in Golkonda, and the tombs of Qutb Shahis are a mausoleum complex, a royal necropolis of 30 tombs of the royal family, erected from 1543 to 1672. Char Minar, in the heart of

, was completed in 1591, having four minarets with heights of 56 m, while the construction of the Makkah Masjid was started in 1617 during the reign of Muhammad Qutb Shah but completed only in 1693.

References

Sources

* * {{cite book , url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.279710/page/n1 , title=Bidar, Its History and Monuments , last=Yazdani , first=Ghulam , publisher=

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, year=1947 , location=London , author-link=Ghulam Yazdani

External links

Monuments of Deccan Sultanates and other Islamic Monuments of India
– Frontline Monuments and memorials in Telangana Buildings and structures in Bijapur district Monuments and memorials in Karnataka Buildings and structures in Telangana Tourist attractions in Telangana Buildings and structures in Bidar district Tourist attractions in Bidar district Architecture in India Deccan sultanates