Nasir al-Din Khalji, sultan of Malwa

ناصر الدين الخلجي سلطان مالوا

Sultan of Malwa from 1500 to 1511, patron of the illustrated Ni'matnama and Bustan of Sa'di made at Mandu 1.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Gunpowder Empires
Region
South Asia

Arts of the bookPolitics, governance and authority

Overview

Nasir al-Din Khalji was sultan of Malwa from 1500 to 1511, with his capital at Mandu. 1 Welch's catalogue calls him the "second patron" of the illustrated Ni'matnama made at Mandu, meaning that work on it had begun for another and continued for him. 1

Patron of the book

The Bustan of Sa'di now in the National Museum, New Delhi, was written for him by Shahsuvar al-Katib; his name and titles are in the shamsa of folio 1r, and an inspection date of AH 908 (1502-3) on the colophon page shows it was finished early in his reign. 1 Both manuscripts were painted by Haji Mahmud at Mandu, and for Welch the echoes of Bihzad in them show the level of artistic appreciation at his court. 1

Connections

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Commissioned
The Mandu Bustan of Sa'di (ca. 1500-1503), National Museum, New Delhi

People and things also explored

India: Art and Culture 1300-1900· The Mandu Bustan of Sa'di (ca. 1500-1503), National Museum, New Delhi· Diwan al-Insha' (the chancery)· Subh al-A'sha fi Kitabat al-Insha· Agra Fort (Red Fort of Agra)· Abbasid tin-glazed ware· The leader's eight roles and training in general leadership· Ahl al-Diwan (those paid from the state register of soldiers and officers, and the rules of their conditions and distribution)

Sources

  1. Stuart Cary Welch, India: Art and Culture 1300-1900 (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985) , p. 134
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Nasir al-Din Khalji, sultan of Malwa”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/nasir-al-din-khalji-malwa/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-04.

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Related

India: Art and Culture 1300-1900

The catalogue of the INDIA! exhibition held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 1985, written by Stuart Cary Welch, with a long part on the arts of India's Muslim courts from the Sultanate to the Mughals and the Deccani sultans.