Rebel Sultans - Deccan History, Drama & The Game of Thrones

#24- Rebel Sultans is a book that delivers compelling storytelling about four centuries of kingdoms in the Deccan Plateau and the relevance of this history even in Modern Day India

Image Source: The Better India

                                   

How important is learning about history?  A subject dreaded for many during the school days, its popularity is also marred by a boxed curriculum and dull narratives. But history is a pivotal anchor in our lives. Reading history helps make better sense of how we got where we are. The subject’s impact is far richer than just accounting a few dates and events. The subject is a comprehensive study of human behavior. The compelling stories scan the journey of the human spirit, across prosperous times and challenging times. It is a ready reckoner on how communities shaped the discourse in the past. All these learnings equip us to do the rational thing - not repeat the same mistakes. At Least, the hope is that we do the rational thing.

The subject, as taught in schools, also sticks to a limited view- primarily driven by who controlled Delhi. With primary focus on their ascent and decline, the other parts were customary mentions. Even the history of Deccan usually covers the Maratha empire with the ascent of Chatrapati Shivaji. These broad brush strokes of only selective detailing deprive us of absorbing the finer nuances- nuances of cultural confluence, demographic derivations or social structuring.

For example, few of the most illustrious kingdoms find a fleeting mention : Cholas, Chalukyas, The Vijayanagara empire in South. We do not get a detailed account of the kingdoms from the South of Vindhyas. This limiting view of history is a gap, something that historian Manu Pillai successfully fills with his book Rebel Sultans.  

An excerpt from the book’s blurb : 

Deccan was a land that inspired wonder. Its treasures were legendary, and its kings magnificent. It was a horizon of rousing adventure, attracting talent from beyond oceans. 

Diamonds and pearls lay heaped in the Deccan’s bazaars, while in its courts thrived Persians and Marathas, Portuguese & Georgians, presiding over a world of drama and betrayal. A thousand fortunes were made in the Deccan, drawing the formidable envy of generations of Mughal Emperors. 

The book takes up the ambitious task of covering four centuries, starting from the close of thirteenth century to the dawn of eighteenth - from the age of Alauddin Khilji to the ascent of Shivaji. 

What comprises the Deccan and why is it strategic to India?

Deccan plateau is the peninsular part of Indian mainland, south of Narmada river. It lies between the Eastern & Western Ghats. In the current political land formation- it would comprise the 5 southern states. 

The Deccan plateau, with its rich resources of minerals, agricultural lands and dense forests has always caught the fancy of everyone - be it the empires that governed Delhi back in the day or the political parties in our modern day democracy. It is over indexed versus national averages in most economic development metrics. It has been the gateway for marine trade with different countries and civilizations. This encouraged access and exchange of ideas, goods and people leading to increased confluence of resources, skills and cultures. 

Change of ruling empires in the Deccan over centuries

The region saw rise and fall of empires, emergence of heroes and a rich legacy of art, architecture and cultural elements that still find relevant place in our lives. 

The Big Themes of the Book 

There is a lot to unpack in this book. It is extensively researched ( notes & bibliography are 70+  pages). There are so many stories that break down the political, social and economic climate across the four centuries. The drama that unfolded can provide easy inspiration to an Indian Game of Thrones. Reading it can open up hundreds of rabbit holes. But the way I would like to approach it here is to pick a few common themes from the book which hold relevance even today. They form the bedrock of how politics is played out in the country. These stories can provide learnings to make informed choices even now. After all, core tenets of human behavior when holding a position of power have not massively transformed.

Theme 1 - Hindu Muslim Rivalry 

This has possibly been amongst the Top 5 bullet points of Politics 101 in the Indian subcontinent for centuries now. This contrived Achilles heel has been exploited by power centers constantly. Our modern day politics has played out the history of the 13th to 16th century as a period where the Muslim dynasties ( Turks, Mughals) annexed India. Their atrocities gave rise to the Hindu resistance in different parts of the country. This narrative is inaccurate because of its selection bias. 

 In the chapter named ‘Hindu Sultans’ , Manu elaborates on the point. Vijayanagara kingdom is often stated as a kingdom that was founded for Hindus of the south to ‘bid for freedom’. But what’s conveniently left out in this narrative is that the careers of one of the earliest founders of Vijayanagara empire, Harihara, started by serving the Delhi Sultanate. Similarly Muslims occupied senior administrative posts during the rule of Rayas of Vijayangar, whereas Bahmanis had many major military ranks occupied by nobles with Hindu roots. 

Image Source: New Indian Express

 Similarly there are ample examples of Bahmanis getting into Hindu alliances - Telugu Reddy & Velama chiefs worked with them to confront the Hindus of Vijayanagar empire. 

Just some fact checking tells us that allegiances were formed purely on how the political winds were. They didn’t emerge necessarily due to religious predispositions. So this grand narrative of parenthesizing religion of oppression & religion of resistance is not factual in Indian history. This is why history is so crucial to be learnt and made more mainstream.

Theme 2 - Oppression of the weak & leaders of resistance

An unfortunate reality that continues to live with us is the ease with which we divide people on grounds of caste, religion, gender identity. We bracket their identity by institutionalizing in a box. In addition to this, we symbolized a few boxes as holding higher moral superiority and some as weaker sections that should be marginalized. Their oppression was real. 

The book gives a detailed account of a form of control that has thankfully become extinct in the modern world - slavery. Our mainstream history does not refer a lot to the prominence of slave trade in India. There were legions of men absorbed by Sultanates from Africa - as part of their armies or service staff. They held great physical prowess, multiple abilities and were conditioned to operate with minimal emotional ties. This led to breeding loyalty.

Image Source : BBC

                              

One fascinating chapter in the book covers the journey of one such slave, who was commercially purchased, but over the years went on to become a huge source of torment for the top bosses at the Mughal Sultanate. This Bahubalishque character was a Habashi (Persian word for Abyssinnian bought as slaves ). He was the Ethiopian Kingmaker - Malik Ambar. The following lines from the book show how his presence intimidated even his most powerful rivals. 

“The hero of the Deccan had skin the color of coal. Emperors snarled at him from afar, while enemies at home quaked in fear when he marched into their neighborhoods. Many were those who despised him, but many more still were the masses who discerned in him a champion. When at last he died, the Mughals admitted that this enemy was an able man.”

Over the years, he managed to mobilize multiracial, multi-ethnic forces, all united with regional identity to confront the Mughals. He kept increasing his power and empire in the Deccan, much to the chagrin of the Mughals and their emperor Jehangir. His guerrilla warfare technique saw tremendous success. This was something the Marathas later went on to perfect. 

Jehangir could never beat him on the battlefield. But the hate was so prominent that he had commissioned a painting where he featured shooting an arrow at Malik Ambar and winning. This was far from the truth. It was possibly one of the earliest known commissioned memes, a Public Relations exercise. 

Theme 3 - Leverage information centers to praise the establishment 

In the last theme, we saw how Jehangir commissioned a painting that showed him as a brave warrior killing Malik Ambar, something that never happened in reality.  History is full of kings indulging in commissioning panegyric art or songs that celebrate their greatness. The popular culture of the time was manipulated to capture the divinity of the emperor. People were fed the narrative as to how presence is a blessing for the common people. Jehangir did that to visualize his dream of defeating Malik Ambar. Similarly Bukka, one of the Hindu founders of Vijayanagar, was celebrated as  ‘Krishna reborn to deliver the world when it was overpowered by Mlenchchas ( Muslims)’.  

Fancy this paean written about him “ When his sword began to dance on the battlefield, the faces of the Turushkas shriveled up, Konkana Sankaparya was filled with fear, Andhras ran into caves, Gurjaras lost the use of their limbs.”

The funniest part - This paean was practically a mirror image of Sultan Balban’s inscription from the previous century in faraway Delhi. The plagiarized paeans feel like a whatsapp forward becoming breaking news on prime time television. 

This entire practice continues to be used in Modern India. Different establishments  use media machinery to transmit their version of the narrative to the citizens. Also the leaders are celebrated through glorifying metaphors. 

The Final Take Away - The importance of unity

The book Rebel Sultans is full of incredible stories about the four centuries in Deccan history. The region was driven by politics and the avarice of kingdoms to conquer more. The region had prosperous agricultural resources and held an economic advantage due to the access to ports. Thus, it was always strategic to occupy the entire Deccan. 

But the region also teaches us the biggest lesson. A lesson that’s relevant even now. Deccan history teaches us the repercussions of not being united. The region was marred with constant suspicion and inter-fighting. For most periods in history, they could not unite, even when faced with prominent enemies like the Mughals. The constant pillaging and annexations of each other’s empires for centuries led to the decline of so many empires. 

We saw earlier in the article that religion was not the reason for this interfighting - it was just pure politics. It is for us to learn from the past and identify patterns in the present. This is a message that should not be so difficult to understand. All it needs is objective openness to absorb , interpret and build an informed perspective

The book ‘Rebel Sultans’ is definitely a good step in the direction of building this informed perspective.