Description
Book SynopsisEmma J. Flatt shows the centrality of courtliness in the political and cultural life of the Deccan in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. She argues that a shared courtly disposition facilitated travel, knowledge acquisition and encounters in the Persian-speaking world. This became a route to employment, worldly success and ethical refinement.
Trade Review'The Courts of the Deccan Sultanates shifts the spotlight from South Asian kingship and rulers to the courtly environments they inhabited. Challenging Orientalist stereotypes of Indo-Muslim courts as mired in luxury and decadence, the book examines the courts of the early modern Deccan on their own terms, showing how the syncretic sensibilities and skills they cultivated accommodated the wide range of peoples who served in them. A marvellous achievement and a convincing exploration in historical anthropology.' Richard Eaton, University of Arizona
'In this magisterial work, Emma J. Flatt skillfully opens up for us the 'black box' of Persianate court culture. Always recognized as important but never before theorized or understood in any detail, the social networks and bodily practices of Persianate courtly culture now stand illuminated in all their fascinating complexity.' Phillip B. Wagoner, Wesleyan University, Connecticut
Table of ContentsIntroduction: cosmopolitanism, courtliness and ethics in the Deccani Sultanates; Part I. Courtly Society: 1. Courtly disposition; 2. Networks, patrons and friends; 3. Courts, merchants and commodities; Part II. Courtly Skills: 4. Scribal skills; 5. Esoteric skills; 6. Martial skills; Concluding remarks.
