Sultanate of Ahmednagar | |||||||||
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1490–1636 | |||||||||
Flag | |||||||||
Capital | Junnar (1490–1494; 1610) Ahmednagar (1494–1600) Daulatabad (1499–1636, secondary capital) Paranda (1600–1610) Aurangabad (1610–1636) | ||||||||
Official languages | Persian | ||||||||
Common languages | Marathi Deccani (language of the ruling class) | ||||||||
Religion | Sunni Islam until 1538, [3] Muhammad-Shahi (Mu'mini) Nizari Isma'ili Shi'a Islam 1538 onwards | ||||||||
Government | Monarchy | ||||||||
Sultan | |||||||||
• 1490–1510 | Ahmad Nizam Shah I (first) | ||||||||
• 1633–1636 | Murtaza Nizam Shah III (last) | ||||||||
History | |||||||||
• Established | 28 May 1490 | ||||||||
• Disestablished | 1636 | ||||||||
Currency | Falus [4] | ||||||||
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Today part of | India |
The Sultanate of Ahmednagar or the Nizam Shahi Sultanate was a late medieval Indian Muslim kingdom located in the northwestern Deccan, between the sultanates of Gujarat and Bijapur, ruled by the Nizam Shahi or Bahri dynasty. [5] [6] [7] It was established when Malik Ahmed, the Bahmani governor of Junnar after defeating the Bahmani army led by general Jahangir Khan on 28 May 1490 declared independence and established the Nizam Shahi dynasty of the Sultanate of Ahmednagar. [8]
Initially his capital was in the town of Junnar with its fort, later renamed Shivneri. In 1494, the foundation was laid for the new capital Ahmadnagar. Ahmednagar sultanate was dependent on Koli chieftains for military or soldiers. Koli chieftains often provided the cavalry and infantry for Sultans of Ahmednagar during wartimes. [9] In 1636 Aurangzeb, then Mugal viceroy of Deccan, finally annexed the sultanate to the Mughal Empire.
Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I was the son of Nizam-ul-Mulk Malik Hasan Bahri, originally a Hindu Brahmin from Beejanuggar (or Bijanagar) originally named Timapa. [10] Ahmed's father was made Malik Na'ib on the death of Mahmud Gavan and was appointed prime minister by Mahmood Shah Bahmani II. Soon after, he appointed Ahmed governor of Beed and other districts in the vicinity of Dowlutabad. After the death of his father, Ahmed assumed the titles of Nizam ul-Mulk Bahri from his father, the last signifying a falcon as Hasan had been falconer to the Sultan. [11] Malik Ahmad the Bahmani governor of Junnar defended his province against incursions from the Sultan, successfully defeating a much larger army led by Sheikh Mowullid Arab in a night attack, an army of 18,000 led by Azmut ul-Mulk and an army led by bahmani general Jahangir Khan on 28 May 1490 declared independence and established the Nizam Shahi dynasty rule over the sultanate of Ahmednagar. [8] Initially his capital was in the town of Junnar with its fort, later renamed Shivneri. In 1494, the foundation was laid for the new capital Ahmadnagar. After several attempts, he secured the great fortress of Daulatabad in 1499.
After the death of Malik Ahmad in 1510, his son Burhan Nizam Shah I, a boy of seven, was installed on the throne. In the initial days of his reign, the control of the kingdom was in the hands of Mukammal Khan, an Ahmadnagar official and his son. Burhan converted to Nizari Isma'ili Shi'i Islam under the tutelage of Shah Tahir, a refugee from Persia and court official who was head of the largest branch of Nizari Shi'ism at that time. [12] Burhan died in Ahmadnagar in 1553. He left six sons, of whom Hussain Nizam Shah I succeeded him. Aliya Rama Raya emperor of vijayanagara made a series of aggressive efforts to maintain hold over Kalyan [13] [lower-alpha 1] and diplomatic dealings with the Sultanates laden with insulting gestures, the four Muslim Sultanates – Hussain Nizam Shah I and Ali Adil Shah I of Ahmadnagar and Bijapur to the west, Ali Barid Shah I of Bidar in the center, and Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah Wali of Golkonda to the east – united in the wake of shrewd marital diplomacy and convened to attack Aliya Rama Raya, in late January 1565 at talikota. Hussain was a leading figurehead of the Deccan Sultanates during the Battle of Talikota.after the battle Rama Raya was beheaded by Sultan Nizam Hussain himself. [14]
After the death of Hussain in 1565, his minor son Murtaza Nizam Shah I ascended the throne. During his minority, his mother Khanzada Humayun Sultana ruled as a regent for several years. Murtaza Shah annexed Berar in 1572. On his death in 1588, his son Miran Hussain ascended the throne. But his reign could last only a little more than ten months as he was poisoned to death. Ismail, a cousin of Miran Hussain was raised to the throne, but the actual power was in the hands of Jamal Khan, the leader of the Deccani/Habshi group in the court. Jamal Khan was killed in the battle of Rohankhed in 1591 and soon Ismail Shah was also captured and confined by his father Burhan, who ascended the throne as Burhan Nizam Shah II. But his sister Chand Bibi fought him. Winning the kingdom, Chand Bibi ascended the throne as regent for the new infant sultan, Bahadur Nizam Shah. She repulsed an invasion by the Mughal Empire with the reinforcements from the Bijapur and Golconda Sultanates. After the death of Chand Bibi in July 1600, Ahmadnagar was conquered by the Mughals and the Sultan was imprisoned.
Although, Ahmadnagar city and its adjoining areas were occupied by the Mughals, an extensive part of the kingdom still remained in possession of the influential officials of the Nizam Shahi dynasty. Malik Ambar and other Ahmadnagar officials defied the Mughals and declared Murtaza Nizam Shah II as sultan in 1600 at a new capital Paranda. Malik Ambar became prime minister and Vakil-us-Saltanat of Ahmadnagar. [15] Later, the capital was shifted first to Junnar and then to a new city Khadki (later Aurangabad).
After the death of Malik Ambar in May 1626, his son Fath Khan surrendered to the Mughals in the Siege of Daulatabad (1633) and handed over the young Nizam Shahi ruler Hussain Shah, who was sent as a prisoner to the fort of Gwalior. But soon, Shahaji with the assistance of Bijapur, placed an infant scion of the Nizam Shahi dynasty, Murtaza Nizam Shah III on the throne and he became the regent. In 1636 Aurangzeb, then Mughal viceroy of Deccan finally annexed the sultanate to the Mughal empire after defeating Shahaji.
The revenue system introduced by Malik Ambar was based on the revenue system introduced in Northern India and some parts of Gujarat and Khandesh subahs by Raja Todarmal. Lands were classified as good or bad according to their fertility and he took a number of years to ascertain accurately the average yield of lands. He abolished the revenue farming. At first, revenue was fixed as two-fifths of the actual produce in kind, but later the cultivators were allowed to pay in cash equivalent to approximately one-third of the yield. Although an average rent was fixed for each plot of land but actual collections depended on the conditions of crops and they varied from year to year. [15]
Under the reigns of successive rulers of the dynasty, architecture and art flourished in the kingdom. The earliest extant school of painting in the Deccan sultanates is from Ahmadnagar. [16] Several palaces, such as the Farah Bakhsh Bagh, [17] the Hasht Bihisht Bagh, Lakkad Mahal were built, as were tombs, mosques and other buildings. [18] Many forts of the Deccan, such as the fort of Junnar (later renamed Shivneri), Paranda, Ausa, Dharur, Lohagad, etc. were greatly improved under their reign. Daulatabad, which was their secondary capital, was also heavily fortified and constructed in their reign. [19] Literature was heavily patronised in the kingdom, as seen through manuscripts such as the Tarif-i Husain Shah Badshah-i Dakan. [20] Sanskrit scholarship was also given a boost under their rule, as demonstrated by the works of Sabaji Pratap [21] and Bhanudatta. [22] The city of Ahmadnagar, founded by the Nizam Shahs, was described as being comparable to Cairo and Baghdad, within a few years of its construction. [23] It was modelled along the great cities of the Persianate world, given the Shi'i leanings of the dynasty. [24]
A number of palaces such as the Farah Bakhsh Bagh, Ahmadnagar Fort, Hasht Bihisht Bagh, and Manjarsumbah are in and around Ahmadnagar city. There exist tombs of nobles like Salabat Khan and Changiz Khan, and also of saints like Shah Sharif and Bava Bangali. [25]
Malik Ambar is credited with the construction of the Janjira Fort in the Murud Area of present-day Maharashtra India. [26] After its construction in 1567 AD, the fort was key to the Sidis withstanding various invasion attempts by the Marathas, Mughals, and Portuguese to capture Janjira. [27]
Farah Bagh (also called as Faria Bagh) is situated in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. It is a palace build by Nizam Shahi rulers in Ahmednagar. [28] [29] [30] Farah Bagh was the centrepiece of a huge palacial complex completed in 1583. It were the special possessions of the royal household and Murtaza Nizam Shah often retired here to play chess with a Delhi singer whom he called Fateh Shah and also built for him a separate mahal called Lakad Mahal in the garden.
The following is the list of the Nizam Shahi rulers of Ahmadnagar: [16]
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The Deccan sultanates is a historiographical term referring to five late medieval to early modern Indian kingdoms on the Deccan Plateau between the Krishna River and the Vindhya Range that were created from the disintegration of the Bahmani Sultanate and ruled by Muslim dynasties: namely Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, and Golconda. The five sultanates owed their existence to the declaration of independence of Ahmadnagar in 1490, followed by Bijapur and Berar in the same year. Golconda became independent in 1518, and Bidar in 1528.
DaulatabadFort originally DeogiriFort, is a historic fortified citadel located in Daulatabad village near Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. It was the capital of the Yadavas, for a brief time the capital of the Delhi Sultanate (1327–1334), and later a secondary capital of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate (1499–1636).
The Sultanate of Bijapur was an early modern kingdom in the western Deccan and South India, ruled by the Adil Shahi or Adilshahi dynasty. Bijapur had been a taraf (province) of the Bahmani Sultanate prior to its independence in 1490 and before the former's political decline in the last quarter of the 15th century. It was one of the Deccan sultanates, the collective name of the five successor states of the Bahmani Sultanate. At its peak, the Sultanate of Bijapur was one of the most powerful states in South Asia, second to the Mughal Empire, which conquered it on 12 September 1686 under Aurangzeb.
Shahaji Bhonsale was a 17th century Indian military leader who served the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, the Bijapur Sultanate, and the Mughal Empire at various points in his career. As a member of the Bhonsle dynasty, Shahaji inherited the Pune and Supe jagirs (fiefs) from his father Maloji, who previously served the Ahmadnagar Sultanate. During the Mughal invasion of the Deccan, Shahaji joined the Mughal forces and served under Emperor Shah Jahan for a short period. After being deprived of his jagirs, he defected to the Bijapur Sultanate in 1632 and regained control over Pune and Supe. In 1638, he received the jagir of Bangalore after Bijapur's invasion of Kempe Gowda III's territories. Afterwards, he became the chief general of Bijapur and oversaw its expansion.
Malik Ambar was a military leader and statesman who served as the Peshwa of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate and its de facto ruler from 1600 until his death in 1626.
Khuldabad is a city and a Taluka of Aurangabad district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is known as the Valley of Saints, or the Abode of Eternity, because in the 14th century, several Sufi saints chose to reside here. The Bhadra Maruti Temple and Dargah of Zar Zari Zar Baksh, Shaikh Burhan ud-din Gharib Chisti and Shaikh Zain-ud-din Shirazi, along with the tomb of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and his trusted General Asif Jah I, the first Nizam of Hyderabad, are located in this town. It is a holy and spiritual city of Islamic saints.
The Farooqi dynasty or the Farooq Shahi was the ruling dynasty of the Khandesh Sultanate from its inception in 1382 till its annexation by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1601. The founder of the dynasty, Malik Ahmad participated in a rebellion against the Bahmani ruler Muhmmad Shah I in his early years. When he was compelled to flee from Deccan, he established in Thalner on the Tapti River. After receiving the grant of the fiefdoms of Thalner and Karanda from Firuz Shah Tughluq in 1370, he conquered the region around Thalner, which later became known as Khandesh. By 1382, he started ruling independently.
Qasim Barid I was prime-minister of the Bahmani sultanate and the founder of the Bidar Sultanate, one of the five late medieval Indian kingdoms together known as the Deccan sultanates.
Narnala Fort or Narnala Qila Sarkar, also known as Shahnoor Fort, is a hill fortress in the Satpura Range of Vidarbh, Maharashtra, India, named after the Rajput Solanki Chaulukya Ruler, Raja Narnal Singh, also known as Narnal Singh Swami. It was renamed as "Shahnoor" by Islamic rulers but again acquired, rebuilt and got its name "Narnala" by ruler Rao Rana Narnal Singh Solanki, who migrated from Patan in Gujarat.
Deccani architecture, particularly the architecture of the Bahmani and Deccan Sultanates, is the architecture of the Deccan Plateau, and is a regional variant of Indo-Islamic architecture. It was influenced by the styles of the Delhi Sultanate and later Mughal architecture, but sometimes also influenced from Persia and Central Asia. Hindu temple architecture in the same areas had very different styles.
Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah was the founder of the Nizam Shahi dynasty and the Ahmadnagar Sultanate.
Pushkar Sohoni is an architect, and an architectural and cultural historian. He is an associate professor in the department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune. He was Chair of the department from 2019 to 2024.
The Battle of Bhatvadi was fought in 1624, near modern Bhatodi Pargaon village in Maharashtra, India. The Ahmadnagar army led by Malik Ambar defeated a combined Mughal-Bijapur force led by the Bijapuri general Mullah Muhammad Lari.
Sabaji Koli was the commander-in-chief of the army of Ahmednagar Sultanate. Sultan Burhan Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar conferred the title of Parvat Rai on Sabaji Koli. After the Sultan's death, Koli fought against the Vijayanagara Empire during the reign of the new Sultan Husain Nizam Shah. Burhan Nizam Shah also used to call Sabaji Koli Prataparaja, Parashurampratap and Narasimha Pratap.
The Architecture of a Deccan Sultanate: Courtly Practice and Royal Authority in Late Medieval India is a book by the architectural and art historian Pushkar Sohoni, published in 2018 by I.B. Tauris. It is one of the most comprehensive works on the architecture and urban settlements of the Nizam Shahs of Ahmadnagar, who ruled in the sixteenth century.
Khunza Humayun Begum also known as Kurja Sultana, Khanzada Humayun Sultana and Khunzah Humayun, was the regent of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate between 1565 and 1571, during the minority of her son sultan Murtaza Nizam Shah I.
Burhan Nizam Shah III was the ruler of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate from 1610 until his death in 1631.
The Tomb of Malik Ambar is a mausoleum located in Khuldabad, in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the burial place of Malik Ambar, a military leader who served as the prime minister of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate. Ambar built the tomb for himself, and was interred here upon his death in 1626. It is listed as a monument of national importance.
The Siege of Daulatabad (1633) was a conflict between the Mughal Empire and the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, wherein the fort-city of Daulatabad was besieged by a Mughal force for several months and successfully captured. The Bijapur Sultanate also participated in the conflict against the Mughals, sending a large army to the aid of the fort's garrison. The conflict took place after several Mughal victories securing other minor forts in Ahmadnagar control, but was distinguished by the political significance of Daulatabad to the Ahmadnagar Sultanate. This event marked Mughal victory in the ongoing war between the Mughals and the Ahmadnagar Sultanate; it ended the Nizam Shahi dynasty and concluded the Sultanate, marking another step in the Mughal advance over the Deccan region. The victory did not fully quell resistance in the Western Deccan; a year later, Maratha commander Shahji Bhonsle attempted a bid for power using a puppet ruler of the Nizam Shahi house.
Fath Khan, also written as Fateh Khan, was a 17th-century political figure of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, a historical principality spanning the Western Deccan region in the Indian subcontinent. He was the eldest son of Malik Ambar, the Peshwa of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate. He succeeded his father as the Sultanate's de facto ruler after the latter's death in 1626, and served as Peshwa until his imprisonment in 1633. His tenure, lasting less than a decade, spanned the eclipse days of the kingdom; it was characterised by internal strife and political pressure from the Mughal Empire. He played a key role in the kingdom's collapse by defecting to the Mughal Empire, and killed the ruler Burhan Nizam Shah III in the name of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. His political career came to an end with the Siege of Daulatabad, after which he submitted to the Mughal emperor and became his pensioner.
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