The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c30.s1.49.6

v3.c30.s1.49.6

Anyone familiar with the military architecture of mediaeval Europe will perceive at once the close resemblances between it and the system of fortification described above, which is followed not only in these but in many other Deccan forts of the period. So striking, indeed, are these resemblances that there can be no doubt but that the works in the Deccan were directly imitated from the European, and, though nothing is known of the engineers responsible for this imitation, it may be assumed that men well capable of planning such fortifications would not be difficult to find among the Turkish and other foreign mercenaries in the armies of the Bahmanī Sultans and their successors, by whom these fortresses were largely added to and improved. This adoption of western principles of military engineering must not, however, be taken to imply that western influence also accounts for the architectural style of these forts. With a few notable exceptions, that style belongs essentially to the Deccan. It is a style which combines sincerity of purpose with an innate sense for the decorative.