ABSTRACT
In this chapter the author focuses on the palace and garden complex of Bidar under the Bahmanis, who arose at the time of the Mongol khanate in Central Asia, and the Delhi Sultanate of the Tughluqs in northern India. The sultanates of the Deccan saw themselves as making their palaces, mosques and tombs into ‘paradises’ on earth. Palaces in South Asia and the Middle-East were typically divided into a men’s quarter or outer palace, and a women’s quarter or inner palace. The author argues that the palace complex of the citadel at Bidar was also so divided, though the division is not obvious on first sight because of alterations. Beyond that lay the sultan’s or inner palace of the men’s quarter, called the Takht Mahal; its main feature was an inner audience hall. Outside the palace but close to the suite of rooms next to the inner audience hall was the sultan’s pavilion.
