Look beyond the visible grandeur of monuments like the Charminar and engage with the deeper ideological and cultural currents that defined the Qutb Shahi era in the Deccan, said historian Salma A. Farooqui while delivering a lecture at the Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad on Monday.

Framing her talk around both material and ideological contributions, Ms.Farooqui argued that the legacy of the Qutb Shahis cannot be reduced to architecture, manuscripts or paintings alone. While these remain visible markers, she said the true cultural transformation lay in the philosophical and social processes that shaped a uniquely syncretic Deccani identity.