The exact origin of the dish is uncertain. In North India, different varieties of biryani flourished in the Muslim centers of

Delhi (Mughlai cuisine), Rampur, Lucknow (Awadhi cuisine) and other small princely states. In South India, where rice is more widely used as

a staple food, there are many different varieties of biryani in Hyderabad Deccan (where some believe the dish originated) as well as

Tamil Nadu ( Ambur, Thanjavur, Chettinad, Salem, Dindigal), originated from Kerala. (Malabar), Telangana and Karnataka (Bhatkal)

where Muslim communities were present.According to historian Lizzie Collingam, modern biryani developed in the royal kitchens of the

Mughal Empire (1526–1857) and is a fusion of spicy rice dishes native to India and Persian pilaf. Indian restaurateur Chris Dhillon

believes that the dish originated in Persia, and was brought to India by the Mughals.Another theory claims that the dish was prepared in

India before the first Mughal emperor Babur conquered India. The 16th-century Mughal treatise Ain-i-Akbari makes no distinction between

biryani and pilaf (or pulao): it states that the word "biryani" is of older usage in India. A similar theory, that Biryani came to India

with Timur's invasion, appears to be incorrect, as there is no record of biryani being in his native land during that period.According

to Pratibha Karan, who wrote the book Biryani, biryani is of South Indian origin, derived from pilaf varieties brought to the Indian

subcontinent by Arab traders. She speculates that pulao was an army dish in medieval India. Armies would prepare a pot dish of rice with