Islamic Architecture of Deccan India

by George Michell, Helen Philon, Antonio Martinelli (Photographer)

The buildings erected in the Deccan region of India belonged to a number of pre-Mughal kingdoms that reigned in the Deccan from the middle of the 14th century onwards. The monuments testify to a culture where local and imported ideas, vernacular and pan-Islamic traditions fused and re-interpreted, to create a majestic architectural heritage with exceptional buildings on the edge of the Islamic world. Many are still standing - yet outside this region of peninsular India, they remain largely unknown. General publications on Indian Islamic architecture usually devote a single chapter to the Deccan. Even specialist monographs can only cover a portion of the region, due to the sheer number of sites. While it is impossible to encompass the full breadth of the subject in a single volume, this book aims to embrace the visual diversity of the Deccan without sacrificing the rigor of academic study. Structures of historical or architectural significance are placed in their context, as the authors discuss building typologies, civic facilities and ornamental techniques, from plaster and carved stone to glazed tiles and mural painting. A chapter is dedicated to each principal Deccan site, interweaving the rise and fall of these cities with a pictorial journey through their ruins, and each building is accompanied by an overhead plan view.

Introduction; Historical Maps; Background; Cities & Citadels; Palaces; Mosques; Tombs; Decoration; Daulatabad & Khuldabad; Gulbarga & Firuzabad; Bidar; Ahmadnagar; Burhanpur; Frontier Strongholds; Bijapur; Golconda & Hyderabad; Aurangabad; Credits For Maps & Plans; Glossary; Bibliography; Index Of Cities, Sites & Monuments; Index Of Names.

416 pages, Hardcover

Published April 4, 2018

About the author

George Michell is a world authority on South Asian architecture, and a founder-trustee of the Deccan Heritage Foundation. He is amongst the most distinguished architectural scholars produced by the University of Melbourne.

He was born in Australia and received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from this university in 1968. He then turned his attention to India and obtained his PhD in 1974 from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, for his dissertation on Early Chalukya temple architecture. In 1976 he played a pivotal role in the ‘Arts of Islam’ exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London. During the 1970s he directed courses on Asian architecture at the Architectural Association, London, as well as coediting Art and Archaeology Research Papers (AARP), a journal specialising in architecture and art of the Islamic and Indian worlds. In 1978 he edited Architecture of the Islamic World: its History and Social Meaning (republished in 1995).

George lives in London with his partner and splits his time between research trips to the Deccan and writing about its ancient architecture, at home.

Reviews

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 / 5.0
INTRODUCTION WAS A BIT DRY AND HARD TO FOLLOW DUE TO NUMEROUS REFERENCES TO LATER GRAPHICS AS EXAMPLES OF TOPIC UNDER DISCUSSION. MAPS, PICTURES AND SCHEMATICS ARE PRESENTED INFORMATIVELY. WOULD HAVE ENJOYED MAP OF SITES ON INDIA. SURPRISED BY NUMBER OF TAJ MAHAL QUALITY SITES.