Deccani Painting

The Deccani painting style, though miniature, was not entirely similar to the Mughal dominated north, but assimilated influences from Iran, Europe and Turkey through the sea trade routes with the Indian style (largely from Vijaynagar) to evolve a more elaborate, and decorative style i.e. more opulence and less technique. One of the earliest recorded amongst these Deccani miniatures are the illustrations for the Persian epic Tarif i Hussain Shahi. Here the style and execution were deeply influenced by the Deccan and resembled the illustrations of a famed cookery book Nimat Nama (Book of Delicacies), an earlier manuscript from Central India.

The most magnificent and unparalleled artistic creation of the historic miniature are the famous Ragmala series of paintings. Several of these are reported to have originated at Bijapur during Ibrahim Adil Shah’s reign. Ibrahim Adil Shah himself was an accomplished painter and supposedly a patron of music too.

Among the architectural relics of this region from the 16th century is the Bijapur Gol Gumbaz (erected about AD1656) in the memory of Mohammad Adil Shah, which though not very majestic on account of being unfinished, is one of the worlds largest domed spaces.