Origin Narratives, Legitimacy, and the Practice of Cosmopolitan Language in the Early Modern Deccan, India

The paper discusses the ways in which the sultanates of Aḥmadnagar and Bījāpūr in the Deccan Plateau of peninsular India employed the Persian cosmopolitan language and the associated political idiom to construct the legitimacy of their ruling dynasties. Focusing on origin narratives from around the turn of the seventeenth century, I demonstrate that the narratives contain counterfactual elements while contradicting one other. At the same time, they consisted of stories and tropes that were familiar to the contemporary reader, and adhered to the social and political realities of the time. This enabled the chroniclers to create some degree of reliability, which was important not for the telling of a historically accurate account but rather for the acceptability of the narratives as foundation of legitimacy. This legitimacy was required to secure the support of the elites within the sultanates and to gain assistance from external powers, most notably the Safavids of Iran, support that was necessary considering the weak position of the Deccan Sultanates vis-à-vis the Mughal Empire

The Niẓām Shāhīs

The Niẓām Shāhīs were an Islamic dynasty in the Deccan Plateau, India. Founded by Malik Ḥasan Baḥrī Niẓām al-Mulk, his son Aḥmad established its independence from the Bahmanī Sultanate around 896/1490. The sultanate emerged as one of the most powerful in the Deccan, and their capital Aḥmadnagar became a centre of arts and Islamic learning. Central authority began to decline later in the century, and in 1009/1600 the Mughals conquered Aḥmadnagar. Thereafter, Niẓām Shāhī sultans remained only symbols of sovereignty, whereas actual power passed to magnates and military commanders. The Mughals eliminated the dynasty in 1045/1636

Aḥmadnagar

Aḥmadnagar is a city in Maharashtra, India, on the Deccan Plateau. Established in 899/1494 by Aḥmad Baḥrī Niẓām al-Mulk, the city served as the capital of the Niẓām Shāhī Sultanate. During the tenth/sixteenth century, Aḥmadnagar grew considerably and became a centre of arts and scholarship in Persian and Dakkanī, attracting prominent scholars and literati. Social and political turmoils from the 990s/1580s pushed elite members to leave for other courts, reducing Aḥmadnagar’s cultural output. Following the Mughal conquest (1009/1600), Aḥmadnagar lost its political significance for other cities in Maharashtra, however remained a district centre