TEHRAN — A field study by an Iranian cultural heritage researcher has shed new light on the centuries-old relationship between the family of Persian Sufi master Shah Nematollah Vali and the rulers of the Deccan region of India, highlighting a remarkable collection of Persian inscriptions that have survived for nearly 600 years in the city of Bidar.
Mortaza Rezvanfar, a faculty member at the Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, examined historical documents and architectural remains during field research in India, tracing how the Bahmani sultans supported and honored the descendants of Shah Nematollah Vali and contributed to the preservation of Persian literary and artistic traditions in the Indian subcontinent.
The study focuses particularly on the Persian inscriptions found in Bidar, a historic city in present-day Karnataka that served as one of the major political and cultural centers of the Deccan sultanates. The inscriptions, written in Persian and Arabic, remain on mausoleums, royal monuments and religious buildings, offering evidence of the deep cultural connections between Iran and India during the medieval period.
According to Rezvanfar’s research, Sultan Ahmad Shah Wali Bahmani (r. 825–838 AH), one of the most influential rulers of the Bahmani dynasty, developed a deep admiration for Shah Nematollah Vali and invited the renowned mystic from Mahan in Kerman to migrate to India.
Although Shah Nematollah Vali declined the invitation, he later sent his grandson, Mirza Nourollah, son of his son Khalilollah, to the Deccan. Historical accounts say Sultan Ahmad Shah personally welcomed Mirza Nourollah along with princes and senior officials, ordered the construction of a mosque and settlement at the site of the reception, and named the area “Nematabad.”
The ruler granted Mirza Nourollah the title “Malek al-Mashayekh” (Master of Sheikhs) and strengthened the relationship by arranging his marriage to his daughter.
Following the death of Shah Nematollah Vali in Kerman, Sultan Ahmad Shah commissioned the construction of a grand dome and shrine over his tomb in Mahan. The inscription on the monument, which records details of its construction and historical date, has survived for around six centuries and remains an important example of Persian epigraphy in Iran.
Shah Nematollah Vali’s son Khalilollah later moved to India during the reign of Ala al-Din Bahmani, the son of Sultan Ahmad Shah. He died in Bidar in 860 AH and was buried in the Khaliliyeh complex in the Deccan city.
His mausoleum contains an elegant Persian inscription created by the renowned calligrapher Moghith Shirazi. The monument is among a wider group of historic inscriptions in Bidar that represent some of the finest examples of Persian calligraphy in India.