Deccan Sultanates: Everything about Post Bahmani Era of Deccan Sultanates

 

Following the disintegration of Bahmani Empire five kingdoms which were founded in Deccan part of India which were Ahmednagar, Bijapur, Golkonda, Bidar and Berar, these kingdoms were called the Deccan sultanates. From the Vindhya Range to the Krishna River was the area in which these kingdoms were located.

A short description of each of these five Deccan Muslim sultanates has been given below:

Ahmednagar sultanate:

Malik Ahmed Shah Bahri, declared independence and established the Nizam Shahi dynasty of Ahmadnagar or Ahmadnagar sultanate, after defeating the Bahmani army led by general Jahangir Khan on May 28, 1490.

The territory of the sultanate situated between the sultanates of Gujarat and Bijapur in the northwestern Deccan. The capital city was initially was Junnar until in 1494, Bahri laid the foundation for the new capital Ahmednagar.

In 1499 after several attempts, Malik Ahmed Shah secured the great fortress of Daulatabad. Berar got annexed in 1574 by Murtaza Shah. Chand Bibi, as a regent of Bahadur, In 1596 Shah Mughal bravely repulsed an attack led by Murad.

Ahmadnagar was conquered and Bahadur Shah imprisoned in 1599 after the death of Change Bibi. In 1600 Murtaza Shah II was declared as the new sultan by Malik Ambar and other Ahmednagar officials who defied the Mughals and also founded a new capital Paranda.

Later, the capital shifted first to Junnar and then to a new city Khadki (later Aurangabad). The Mughal viceroy of Deccan, Aurangzeb in 1636 finally annexed the sultanate to the Mughal Empire.

Berar sultanate:

In 1490 the governor of Berar Fath-ulla Imad-ul-Mulk declared independence and founded the Imad Shahi dynasty of Berar sultanate during the disintegration of Bahmani sultanate.

Achalpur (Ellichpur) was established as the capital. Gavilgad and Narnala also got fortified by him. His successor, Ala-ud-din with the help from Bahadur Shah, sultan of Gujarat resisted the aggression of Ahmadnagar.

Darya the next ruler tried a failed attempt to align with Bijapur to prevent aggression of Ahmadnagar.
Burhan Imad Shah, the last ruler of Imad Shahi dynasty got usurped by Tufal Khan in 1574 and in the same year Mutaza I, sultan of Ahmadnagar annexed it to his sultanate.

Bidar sultanate:

Founder of Barid Shahi dynasty Qasim Barid joined the service of Bahmani ruler Mahmud Shah as a sar-naubat but later became mir-jumla of the Bahmani sultanate.

He curved out Bidar sultanate and declared independence in 1492. The smallest of the five Deccan sultanates was Bidar. Amir Barid Shah III, who was the last ruler of the Bidar sultanate, fell in 1619, and Bijapur Sultanate annexed the sultanate.

Bijapur sultanate:

From 1490 to 1686 the Adil Shahi dynasty ruled the Bijapur sultanate. The Adil Shahis originally reined as provincial rulers of the Bahmani Sultanate. Ismail Adil Shah established an independent sultanate with the breakup of the Bahmani state after 1518, one of the five Deccan sultanates.

The Bijapur sultanate was located in southwestern India, straddling between the Western Ghats range of southern Maharashtra and northern Karnataka. The capital at Bijapur was embellished with numerous monuments by Ismail Adil Shah and his successors.

The empire of Vijayanagar, which lay to the south across the Tungabhadra River who fought the other sultanates as well, got into a tussle against the Adil Shahis. It took combined forces of the Sultanates to deliver a decisive defeat to Vijayanagar in 1565, after which the empire broke up. After that Bijapur seized control of the Raichur Doab from Vijayanagar.

The Adil Shahis conquered the neighboring sultanate of Bidar, incorporating it into their realm in 1619. The Marathas revolted successfully under Shivaji's leadership in the seventeenth century and captured major parts of the Sultanate except Bijapur.

The weakened Sultanate in 1686 was conquered by Aurangzeb and with the fall of Bijapur, bringing the dynasty to an end.

Golkonda sultanate:

The sultanate of Golkonda in southern India was ruled by the Qutb Shahi dynasty. Belonging to a Turkmen tribe from the Turkmenistan-Armenia region they were called the Shia Muslims. Sultan Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk who was this dynasty's founder, migrated to Delhi with some of his relatives and friends in the beginning of the sixteenth century.

Later, he served Bahmani sultan Mohammad Shah when he migrated south to Deccan. He became the Governor of Telangana region in 1518 after conquering Golkonda, after the disintegration of the Bahmani sultanate into the five Deccan sultanates.

Soon after, he took title Qutb Shah and established Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golconda after declaring independence from the Bahmani sultanate. Aurangzeb's army conquered Golkonda in 1687 after filling for 171 years.

Cultural contributions:

In the fields of art, music, literature and architecture the rulers of five Deccan Sultanates had great cultural contributions to their credit. One of most important cultural contribution of the Deccan sultanates was the development of Dakhani language.

Dakhani developed into an independent spoken and literary language after it started growing under the Bahamani rulers, during that period by continuously drawing resources from Arabic-Persian, Marathi, Kannada and Telugu.

To distinguish it from the North Indian Urdu this language later became known as Dakhani Urdu. The Decanis miniature painting, which flourished in the courts of Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, and Golkonda constitutes another major cultural contribution of the Deccan Sultanates.

The architectural splendors of Deccan like Charminar and Gol Gumbaz belong to the period. The religious tolerance displayed by the Nizam Shahi, Adil Shahi, and Qutb Shahi rulers also merit mention.

Ahmadnagar attacked and annexed Berar in 1574 AD. Bijapur conquered Bidar in 1619 AD. The Deccan sultanates were later vanquished by the Mughal Empire. It won Berar from Ahmadnagar in 1596 AD and then conquered Ahmednagar wholly between 1616 AD and 1636 AD. Bijapur and Golkonda met the same fate during Aurangzeb’s 1686-1687 campaign.

Written by: Gourav Chowdhury