SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

The Hoopoe and the Eagle: Rhetoric and Resistance in the Early Modern Deccan

Modern historiography of the early modern world tends to focus on empires as the main analytical framework for the period. While this framework contributes much to our understanding of historical processes in South Asia, the Muslim world, and on a global scale, it undermines the role of polities that cannot be analyzed as empires due to their limited territories, non-hierarchical and non-centralized structure, or the lack of imperial ideology. In the South Asian context, the Deccan sultanates are a notable example for such polities. It seems that the local rulers were fully aware of what constituted an empire at that time. Nevertheless, they did not contemplate an imperial future for themselves, nor were they willing to bow down before an imperial master. Rather, they preferred to present a claim for sovereignty which was more limited and localized. This position was most visible in their interaction and conflict with imperial powers, in particular the Mughal Empire. This paper examines the terms in which rulers of the non-imperial Deccan sultanates expressed their position vis-à-vis the Mughals in such conflict in the early 1630s, when the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan launched a major campaign into the region. Examining letters exchanged between Shah Jahan and Muhammad ‘Adil Shah of Bijapur as well as a speech delivered by ‘Abdullah Qutb Shah of Golkonda, I argue that the sultans of the Deccan understood the imperial vision of the Mughals but rejected it. Employing the very same political language, the sultans presented a worldview that left a place for their independent existence beside the Mughals as equally legitimate sovereigns.