2017 Yarshater Lectures - Lecture 1: The Deccan Frontier in the Time of the Sultanates

2017 Yarshater Lectures
Lecture 1: The Deccan Frontier in the Time of the Sultanates,
April 25, 2017
This lecture will examine Iranian relations with the Deccan, beginning from the time of the later Bahmanid dynasty, and then extending into the time of the Sultanates of Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golkonda. A particular focus will be on the presence of Iranian migrants in the Deccan, some of whom belonged to elite groups such as Sayyids, but who also included far more humble military specialists from Larestan, who used migration as a means to social mobility. A central figure whose career is examined will be that of As'ad Khan Lari in Bijapur (d. 1543), who also features in contemporary Portuguese sources.
Sponsored by the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale, Ehsan Yarshater Persian Heritage Fund at Yale, The Yale Program in Iranian Studies, The Council on Middle East Studies at Yale.