Abdur-Razzaq Samarqandi, the Iranian ambassador to the Deccan (Southern India)

Compiled By: Syed Ali Shahbaz
On 12th of the Islamic month of Sha’ban in 847 AH, Abdur-Razzaq Samarqandi, the Iranian ambassador to the Deccan (southern India) ended his year-long stay in Hampi at the court of the Raja of Vijaynagar. He was sent from the then Iranian capital, Herat (presently in Afghanistan), by the ruler Shahrukh (son and successor of the fearsome Turkic conqueror Amir Timur), on a three-year mission, mostly to the court of the Zamorin of Calicut (Kozikhode in Kerala).
The major Muslim power in the Deccan at that time was the Bahmani Empire founded by a family of Iranian origin. Abdur-Razzaq Samarqandi wrote an account of his mission and travels in the famous Persian book “Matla us-Sa’dain wa Majma’ ul-Bahrain”. The book details the culture of southern India and the influence of Persian on the people and their different arts, as well as the presence of tens of thousands of Iranians in the various kingdoms of the Deccan, including Muslim and Hindu.