Published 2020-03-01
“…Engaging an ethnohistorical approach, this essay examines how the Qutb Shahi
sultans represented themselves locally and regionally through the use of built
space, sponsorship of ritual and innovation of material practices that enabled
diverse constituents of the realm to participate in and remember the martyrdom
of the third Shi'i Imam Husain at the battle of Karbala, Iraq in 680 CE in ways
that made Shiʿism an
Indian religion. I use a case study engaging material
culture and built space in imperial Hyderabad to demonstrate how the Qutb Shahi
sultans became Deccani, using Shiʿism as both an expression of their identity
and a polyvalent religio-cultural mediation with the Hindu majority communities
over which they ruled. …”
Get full text
Article