New Delhi, June 14 -- In the 1360s, the Bahmani sultan of the Deccan received from a rajah the present of a throne. Reportedly six cubits long and two broad, "the frame was of ebony, covered with plates of pure gold, inlaid with precious stones of great value", and with "sky-blue" enamelling. The sultan was delighted-his old silver perch was retired, and this new artefact, the Takht-i-Feroza (Turquoise Throne) became the Bahmani seat of power. For the next century and a half, his successors added gems to the frame, the value of which was said to total one crore gold hoons. It was all meant to advertise monarchical power, of course, but eventually ended up as a fixed deposit of sorts for weaker sultans. For by the 1500s, the last heirs of ...