These interdisciplinary and edited volumes – the first a collection of papers originally presented at a 2008 academic conference and the second an exhibition catalogue also with multiple authors – share the same basic goal: to advance scholarly knowledge and overall awareness of the history and courtly cultures of India's Deccan kingdoms during the early modern period (roughly the fifteenth to early eighteenth centuries, with concentration on the sixteenth and seventeenth), and to underscore the production of Deccani visual arts as distinctive from those of the generally much better-known history of Indian art during the Mughal era. Likewise, the basic issues the two books raise and explore are complimentary: the formulation and development of the Deccan's artistic styles and cultural identities, the relationships among artists and patrons, and the interaction of the Deccan sultanates with Safavid Iran, Mughal India and Europe. Not surprisingly, the publications feature research by many of the same experts in archaeology, art history, anthropology and cognate fields, including a half dozen who also contributed to the proceedings of another 2008 symposium (Navina Najat Haidar and Marika Sardar (eds), Sultans of the South: Arts of India's Deccan Courts, 1323–1687. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2011). Both the 2014 and 2015 publications even begin with a foreword and an opening chapter, respectively, by the eminent historian Richard Eaton. From there, however, the approach differs: the articles in the Parodi book are arranged in four, imaginatively titled and seemingly overlapping, thematic groupings, while the essays and entries in the Haidar and Sardar catalogue (itself with an effusive sub-title) follow the same sequence of Deccan geography and chronology as the actual exhibition installation at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, designed for the general public.

Notwithstanding its broad themes, the content of the 2014 volume is limited, and the majority of its thirteen contributions focus on individual sites, monuments, city and building types, and illustrated manuscripts. The location and origin of the specific works under discussion range across the entire Deccan, however, with emphasis on those created in the major kingdoms of Bijapur and Golconda. Of particular note is the study of a large building in Gulbarga once thought to be a mosque and here convincingly reinterpreted as a Bahmani ceremonial hall (ch. 5), the analysis of the meaning and making of a Qutb Shah manuscript (ch. 8), and the presentation of a previously unpublished Sufi romance attributed to Hyderabad (ch.12). Subjects with either pan-regional or international relevance include a succinct discussion of circular cities (ch. 1), a compelling look at the Eurasian origin and symbolism of animal reliefs on various Deccani buildings (ch. 7), and two fascinating accounts of European artists in Bijapur (ch. 9 and 10). An article re-examining the quintessential art of Bidri ware, particularly hookahs (ch. 11), constitutes the volume's one nod to the Deccan's rich history of three-dimensional objects and techniques. Progress throughout these and other essays, especially for the non-Deccan specialist, is greatly aided by the use of pithy (and sometimes very clever) subheadings, by excellent maps, plans and diagrams, and by many colour reproductions (which, however, are frequently on too small a scale to make out easily the details described in the text).

Given the close correlation of subject matter and the overlap of contributors, it is no surprise that various of the monuments and works of art discussed at length or cited in chapter notes in the 2014 symposium proceedings also appear in the 2015 exhibition publication, sometimes in larger reproductions. Thus, a famous album painting of the Mughal emperor Jahangir shooting the head of Malik ʿAmbar, the Ethiopian-born leader of Ahmadnagar mentioned regularly in the Parodi volume and searchable through the index, is featured as catalogue number 21. Other examples include two portraits of the Bijapur sultan Ibrahim ʿAdil Shah II (2014 volume, fig. nos 9.5 and 10.5; 2015 exhibition, cat. nos 33 and 46) and the illustrated Sufi manuscript from Hyderabad (2014 volume, ch. 12; 2015 exhibition, cat. no. 173). Such recurrence helps to signal the importance and impact of particular works of art, an asset for anyone new to Deccan studies. More to the point is that the catalogue's arrangement, interspersing 16 section essays with over 200 object entries, facilitates efforts to grasp both the complex flow of the Deccan's kingdoms and dynasties, as well as their relations to Mughal India and Europe, and the extensive corpus of artists, patrons and works of art through which the region's visual heritage is here charted. And because this publication accompanies a museum exhibition (even if it is much too hefty to have been carried around the show), it represents the full panoply of Deccan court production, with an impressive range of portable objects such as coins, arms and armour, metal ware (including pieces decorated with silver and gold and others with relief inscriptions, plus many different examples of Bidri ware), stonework, standards (ʿalams), architectural decorations, lacquered penboxes and other containers, carved ivories, carpets, textiles and clothing (with special attention paid to the cloth called kalamkari), pendants and other jewellery made of precious stones, and stunning cut diamonds, as well as bound manuscripts, album leaves, paintings, drawings, decoupage and works on marbled paper (ʿabri). Meanwhile, the built environment and architectural history of the Deccan receives its due here in the section essays, documented with copious views of sites and monuments specially photographed for the occasion.

Both publications are very handsomely produced, and both contain all the appropriate scholarly apparatus to make them valuable as reference works. Each also contains a listing of Deccan rulers and dynasties, although some specific reign dates differ, which will oblige non-specialist researchers (such as this reviewer) to consult a third source. This minor anomaly aside, the two works fulfil their common goal of furthering scholarly research on and increasing general interest in Deccani studies. Thus the subject generally characterized as a sub-field certainly seems to be moving out of the margins and into the mainstream of Indian art history.