The Architectural Heritage as a Projection of Competition and Negotiation Shared Muslim-Vīraśaiva Sacred Sites in Northern Karnataka. A Preliminary Approach.

Recent studies have reported that the mausoleum of Ahmad Shāh I Bahmanī (r. 1422-1436), in Ashtur (Karnataka), is frequented by both Muslims and Vīraśaivas. Now, setting out from the pilgrimage performed on the occasion of the sovereign’surs, the aim of the present contribution is to analyze some of the architectural sites that are touched by the pilgrimage, and to examine how their spaces are understood and perceived by the devotees. The paper aims to shed light on the coexistence of these two religious groups and on the way in which certain forms of competition and negotiation have come to be transposed onto the cultural and historical landscape.