This Special Issue focused on the “Courts of North India and the Deccan (c. 1347–1562)”, is guest edited by Daud Ali and Ayesha Sheth. The papers discuss ideas of region and regional polity in north India and the Deccan, and has five contributions with an introduction by Daud Ali.
Jha examines the notion of region in literary texts of medieval and early modern north India across Indian language archives. Sohoni shows how sixteenth-century Deccan rules fashioned a notional region, creating their own world, fashioning a socio-cultural region that was not defined solely on the basis of politics. Sheth examines the strategies used by the Baghel kingdom to consolidate its territorial and political control within a palimpsest of warring polities in early-modern North India. Balachandran looks at the role of intra-, inter-, and trans-regional networks in the making of distinctive regional formalities in the long fifteenth century. Singh examines the inscription of a stepwell founded by Rajmati, and gives insights into the practices of place-making, patronage and performance through a female entertainer. Gupta writes about how Shadiyabadi’s translation, “Wonders of Mechanics” distances itself from al-Jazari’s fascinating book, “Compendium of Theory and Useful Practice for the Fabrication of Machines”.
This issue also contains two papers from our regular submissions.
– SAS Editor