Origin and devlopment of deccan school …

Deccani painting denotes broadly the miniature paintings rendered from the 16th to the 19th century at Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golkonda and Hyderabad, the former states that formed the region known as Deccan. Besides a distinct geographical identity, Deccan had its own distinction in art, culture, dramatics, linguistics, social values, costumes, religious beliefs, thoughts and ideas. The style and themes in Deccani miniatures, are an amalgamation of various art elements and influences, especially the elements of early indigenous art traditions of the Deccan and the Islamic idiom of Iran, Persia and Turkey.
This Deccani art had three distinguishable phases. The early phase evolved at the Adil Shahi court of Bijapur in the beginning of the 16th century. In 1489-90, an Iranian immigrant, Yusuf Adil Shah, a soldier rising to the height of a Shah, founded at Bijapur the Adil Shahi rule. On his invitation several Irani, Persian and Turkish painters, calligraphers and scholars came to his court. Adept in Islamic art style, these immigrating artists rendered paintings on pure Islamic themes and in a pure Islamic idiom. It was Indian art only to the extent that it was rendered on Indian soil. The art of these Islamic painters was confined to text illumination.