Reflecting Iranian religion, history, politics, and culture in Deccan Qutbshahian horoscope

Problem Definition: 

The era of the Qutb Shahi dynasty in the Deccan is one of the top periods of Iranian culture outside its geographical borders. Due to being of Iranian origin and Shiite, the Qutb Shahi dynasty had a notable tendency towards Iranian culture, and a large number of Iranian immigrants and brokers (agents) in the Deccan added to the prosperity of Iranian culture in their territory. With the support of Iranian culture, many artistic and literary works were formed, comprising a magnificent cultural interaction between the culture of South India and Iran. One of these works is an illustrated Falnama (Book of Omens) prepared in Golconda. This Falnama includes 37 paintings with different themes, each of which can be somehow related to Iranian culture, politics, and religion. Therefore, the problem of this research is "to what extent it is possible to read out different aspects of Iranian culture and its influence in Qutb Shahi court culture through the different themes of the paintings in this book".

 The aim of this research is to know more about the influence of Iranian culture in the Indian subcontinent, especially in the Deccan region.

 Using a descriptive-analytical method and concerning historical documents, the influence of different cultural aspects in Deccan is analyzed.

 Khalili Falnama's paintings are a mixture of religious and Islamic themes focused on Shiism. In addition to these themes, several paintings deal with the literary issues, and ancient history of Iran and one painting of this manuscript covers the contemporary history of that time by addressing Shah Tahmasp. Scrutiny in the paintings shows that in all of them and various forms, different cultural and even political aspects of Iran are witnessed, from the formal culture to the public culture, which indicates the closeness of these two cultures.