Delhi and Deccan Sultanates

The art of the sultanates was innovative and eclectic, drawing on sources from across Asia. For some sultanates, the Indian Ocean trade network allowed for the easy mobility of objects and ideas across this vast geography. For others, overland trade and shifting political affiliations would facilitate mobility. Mosques, tombstones, textiles, and murals are only a few examples of the art and architecture created on the Indian subcontinent in the sultanates.  Within the context of Islamic architectural history this term is most often used to refer to a series of Muslim princely states within South Asia (referring to present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Kashmir, Bangladesh and Nepal) that existed between 1206 CE/602-3 AH and c.1700 CE/1111-2 AH. Of these, the Delhi Sultanate, so-called because their capital city was Delhi, at its greatest extent ruled over almost the entire South Asian peninsula. The focus of this entry is the ‘Delhi Sultanate’, a term used to refer to a series of five consecutive but distinct sultanates (the Mamluk (Slaves), Khaljis, Tughluqs, Sayyids, and Lodis) that collectively reigned between 1206 CE/602-3 AH and 1526 CE/932-3 AH.