Dekkan
The Dekkan (or Deccan) Plateau, in Sanskrit Dakshin (meaning "south"), is a triangular plateau covering central India, at an average elevation of 450 to 600 meters, with a gentle sloping toward the east, which drains several major rivers in that direction. The northern boundary is the Vindhya range or the Narmada Valley, while to the south it reaches to the Kaveri River, the Malabar Coast, and the Coromandel Coast, tapering off in the plains of Tamil Nadu. A more restricted use of the term Dekkan applies to the land between the Narmada and the Kistna rivers. In its broad usage Dekkan has been contrasted with Hindustan, an old term for the Indo-Gangetic Plain to the north. In the Puranas and other Sanskrit texts the region was referred to as Dakshinapathi or Dakshinatya.
Between the mid-fourteenth and the late-seventeenth centuries, six Indo-Islamic sultanates were established in several parts of the region, each evolving a distinctive art style and culture, and all known collectively as the Deccan Sultanates. Otherwise the Dekkan has historically been a Hindu preserve for the most part. Today the region encompasses most of the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Karnataka. Three major inland cities are Hyderabad, Pune, and Bangalore; and the main agricultural produce includes cotton, sugarcane, and food grains.
Further Reading
Yazdani, Ghulam, ed. (1960). The Early History of the Deccan. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. 2 vols.
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