Structure:

• Introduction: (upto 30 words) brief introduction about deccan sultans
• Body: (upto 100 words) describe their major contributions to culture
• Conclusion: (upto 30 words) bear a testimony to the distinct cultural traditions regional and Islamic cultural fusion à deserving UNESCO heritage tag

Supporting Points:

• The Deccan Sultanates were the five different Muslim-ruled dynasties of the medieval period that ruled in Golconda, Bijapur, Bidar, Ahmednagar and Berar of South-Central India.
• These 5 kingdoms were situated between the Vindhya Ranges and the Krishna River in the Deccan Plateau which later became independent states during the disintegration of the Bahmani Sultanates.

Cultural Contribution:

• The Deccani states had a number of cultural contributions to their credit. Architectural splendors of Deccan such as Charminar and Gol Gumbaz belong to this period.
• An important contribution was the development of the Dakhani language, which, having started development under the Bahamani rulers, developed into an independent spoken and literary language during this period by continuously borrowing from Arabic-Persian, Marathi, Kannada, and Telugu. Dakhani later became known as Dakhani Urdu to distinguish it from North Indian Urdu.
• Deccani miniature painting—which flourished in the courts of Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, and Golconda—is another major cultural contribution of the Deccan sultanates
• The religious tolerance displayed by the Nizam Shahi, Adil Shahi, and Qutb Shahi rulers is also worthy of mention.

Major contributions are:

• Adil Shah was very fond of organizing discussions with Hindu and Muslim saints.
• Adil Shah invited Catholic missionaries to his court, much before Akbar had done so. He had an excellent library to which he appointed the well-known Sanskrit scholar, Vaman pandit. Patronage of Sanskrit and Marathi was continued by his successors.
• Ibrahim Adil Shah II (1580-1627), the successor of Adil Shah, ascended the throne (of Bijapur) at the age of nine. He was very attentive of the poor, and had the title of abla baba, or Friend of the Poor.
• Adil Shah II was very fond of music; he composed a book namely Kitab-e-Navras (Book of Nine Rasas). In this book, he set various musical modes or togas. In his songs, he freely prayed the goddess of music and learning, Saraswati. Due to his broad approach, he came to be called as Jagat Guru.
• Adil Shah II, further, built a new capital, Nauraspur; where he invited a large number of musicians (to settle). He offered patronage to all, including Hindu saints and temples. This included grants to Pandharpur, the center of the worship of Vithoba, which became the center of the Bhakti movement in Maharashtra.
• Qutb Shah employed both Hindus and Muslims people in his military, administrative, and diplomatic departments.
• Golconda was the popular intellectual resort for the literary men. Sultan Muhammad Qutb Shah (who was a contemporary of Akbar) was very fond of both literature and architecture.
• Sultan Muhammad Qutb Shah wrote in Dakhini Urdu, Persian, and Telugu and left an extensive collection. He was the first who introduced a secular note in poetry
• Qutb Shah not only wrote about God and the Prophet (their praise), but he also wrote about nature, love, and the social life of his time.
• The successors of Qutb Shah and many other poets and writers of his time adopted Urdu as a literary language. In addition to Urdu language, Persian, Hindi, and Telugu were also significant for the idioms and vocabulary.
• Urdu gradually percolate to north India from the Deccan by the eighteenth century.
• In 1591-92, Quli Qutb Shah founded the city Hyderabad, he also constructed many buildings, the most famous of which is the Char Minar.
• The Gol Gumbaz (the mausoleum of Mohammed Adil Shah, Sultan of Bijapur) which was built in 1656 has the largest single dome ever constructed. The architect of Gol Gumbaz was Yaqut of Dabul.

Conclusion:

            The  Deccan sultanates cultural contribution, especially their architecture helps us understand the  evolution, development of provincial/regional fusions with Islamic architecture. They bear a testimony to the distinct cultural traditions of the sultanate kingdoms within the context of both Indian and Middle Eastern cultural traditions and their influence on art, music, languages and literature. In South Asia, Islamic architecture of the 14-18th centuries are so dominated by Moghul architecture that other provincial interpretations, such as the Deccan Sultanate provide an important counter narrative. Thus, Karnataka government has nominated the forts and monuments of the Deccan Sultanate for a global Heritage tag of UNESCO.