Developments in Art, Architecture and Culture

The decline of the imperial Mughals forced talented people to seek the patronage of newly established state courts like Hyderabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Murshidabad, Patna, Kashmir, etc.

At Lucknow, Asaf-ud-Daula built the bada Imambara in 1784. In the first half of the 18th century, Sawai Jai Singh built the pink city of Jaipur and five astronomical observatives at Delhi, Jaipur, Benares, Mathura and Ujjain. He also prepared a set of time-tables called Jij Muhammad-shahi, to help the people in the study of astronomy. In the south, in Kerala, the Padmanabhapuram Palace, famous for its architecture and mural paintings, was constructed.

New schools of painting were born and achieved distinction. The paintings of the Rajputana and Kangra schools became prominent and revealed new vitality and taste.

A distinct feature of the literary life of the 18th century was the growth of Urdu language and poetry. It was the period of Urdu poets like Mir, Sauda, Nazir and Mirza Ghalib (19th century). In south India, Malayalam literature flourished under the patronage of the Travancore rulers. Kanchan Nambiar was a noted Malayalam poet. The Tamil language was enriched by sittar poetry. Tayumanavar (1706-44), one of the best exponents of sittar poetry, protested against the abuses of temple-rule and the caste system. Heer Ranjha, the romantic epic in Punjabi literature, was composed by Warris Shah. In Sindhi literature, Shah Abdul Latif composed Risalo, a collection of poems. These are just some examples of literary works in regional languages.