Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on garden culture rather than gardens as merely physical sites. It considers the construction by nobles of ‘charitable gardens’ in Qutb Shahi times, in the context of seven specific meritorious acts recommended in Telugu textual traditions which were thought to enhance a noble’s prestige. The book then examines the ways in which the fantastical landscapes of forest wilderness, or the ‘verdurous landscapes’ beyond the garden, provide a crucial counterpoint to the domesticated space of the garden. It also focuses on irrigation technologies used in the gardens of the Bahmani fort at Bidar, likewise emphasises the connections between gardens and the surrounding agricultural landscape, visible from the garden pavilions and mediated through the crucially important water systems which served the needs of both the landscape types.