Book contents
- The Courts of the Deccan Sultanates
- The Courts of the Deccan Sultanates
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Transliteration
- Chronology of the Deccan Sultanate Rulers
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Courtly Society
- 1 Courtly Disposition
- 2 Networks, Patrons and Friends
- 3 Courts, Merchants and Commodities
- Part II Courtly Skills
- Concluding Remarks
- Select Bibliography of Primary Sources
- Index
3 - Courts, Merchants and Commodities
from Part I - Courtly Society
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2019
- The Courts of the Deccan Sultanates
- The Courts of the Deccan Sultanates
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Transliteration
- Chronology of the Deccan Sultanate Rulers
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I Courtly Society
- 1 Courtly Disposition
- 2 Networks, Patrons and Friends
- 3 Courts, Merchants and Commodities
- Part II Courtly Skills
- Concluding Remarks
- Select Bibliography of Primary Sources
- Index
Summary
The political and geographical peculiarities of the medieval Deccan meant that trade, together with military and revenue-collection duties, formed a crucial component of both the financial resources and the administrative responsibilities of the courtly elite. In this chapter, through an examination of the biographies of three individuals who combined trade and statecraft, and an analysis of the mercantile language in the cultural products of the Deccani courts, I discuss how these strikingly mercantile aspects of courtly society demonstrate that as an ethic, courtliness had both a practical, mundane aspect as well as an internal, spiritual aspect.
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- Information
- The Courts of the Deccan SultanatesLiving Well in the Persian Cosmopolis, pp. 120 - 164Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019