Khunza Humayun Begum also known as Kurja Sultana, [1] Khanzada Humayun Sultana and Khunzah Humayun (fl. 1571), was the regent of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate between 1565 and 1571, during the minority of her son sultan Murtaza Nizam Shah I. [2] [3] [4]
Khunza Humayun Begum also known as Kurja Sultana, [1] Khanzada Humayun Sultana and Khunzah Humayun (fl. 1571), was the regent of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate between 1565 and 1571, during the minority of her son sultan Murtaza Nizam Shah I. [2] [3] [4]
Khunza Humayun Begum was married to sultan Hussain Nizam Shah I. She became the mother of Murtaza Nizam Shah I.
In 1565, she was widowed, and her son ascended to the throne. As her son was a minor, a regency was appointed to rule, and she became his regent. She was described as a distinguished person of ability, talent and virtues. She appointed first Qasim Beg Tabrezi, then Maulana Inayatullah to the post of Wakil and Peshwa, but they could not come to terms with her, and she finally appointed her three brothers Taj Khan, Ain -ul-Mulk and Itibar Khan to share the office.
She conducted a war against Bijapur in alliance with Venkatadari of Penukonda and Ibrahim Qutb Shah, which however ended in defeat. She conducted a second war in alliance with Tufal Khan against Bijapur, which also ended in defeat.
Her rule was unpopular because of her military failures and her favoritism of her relations. Her unpopularity came to a crucial point when the kingdom was invaded by Ali Adil Shah in 1569, who conquered Kondana and established the fort Dharur there. In 1569, there was a first attempt to have her deposed from regency and her son declared of legal majority. Her son's Quran tutor Maulana Husain Tabrezi convinced her son to allow him to hire ruffians seize and depose her. However, her son changed his mind and alerted his mother, and the conspirators, among them Khwaja Mirak Dabir and Sayyid Murtaza, fled to Alia Adil Shah. She later pardoned them.
She and her son left for an expedition to inspect the encroachments of Kishwar Khan Lari. Two Nizam Shahi officers convinced her son to send Habsh Khan to inform his mother that "it was his pleasure that she should no longer engage in public affairs", and that she should retire to purdah like the other princesses. As a response, she mounted a horse and armed herself with a bow and sword and dagger arrest the conspirators. She was however defeated by Habsh Khan, who succeeded in having her arrested. Her brothers fled to avoid being arrested by Khwaja Mirak. She was deposed in a coup by her son, who declared himself of majority with the support of the Nizam Shahi nobility. She was imprisoned in the Shivaner Fortress. [5]
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, which was followed by Bijapur and Berar in the same year. Bidar became independent in c. 1492, and Golconda in 1512.
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 Kingdom 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 Kingdom. 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 in 1686 under Aurangzeb.
Ibrahim Adil Shah II was Sultan of the Sultanate of Bijapur and a member of the Adil Shahi dynasty. Under his reign the sultanate had its greatest period as he extended its frontier as far south as Mysore. He was a skilful administrator, artist, poet and a generous patron of the arts. He reverted to the Sunni orthodoxy of Islam, but remained tolerant of other religions, including Christianity. However, during his reign high-ranking Shiite immigrants became unwelcome and in 1590, he ordered the confinement of criers who read the khutba in the Shia form. The Adil Shahis under his rule left a tradition of cosmopolitan culture and artistic patronage whose architectural remains are to be seen in the capital city of Bijapur.
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.
Ismail Adil Shah was the Sultan of Bijapur who spent most of his time extending his territory. His reign helped the dynasty establish a stronghold in the Deccan.
The Berar sultanate was an early modern Indian kingdom in the Deccan, ruled by the Imad Shahi dynasty. It was one of the Deccan sultanates, and was established in 1490 following the disintegration of the Bahmani Sultanate by Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk. It was annexed by the Ahmadnagar Sultanate in 1574 following an invasion.
Sultana Chand Bibi was the regent of the Bijapur Sultanate during the minority of Ibrahim Adil Shah II in 1580–1590, and the regent of the Ahmednagar Sultanate during the minority of her great nephew Bahadur Shah in 1595–1600. Chand Bibi is best known for defending Ahmednagar against the Mughal forces of Emperor Akbar in 1595.
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.
The Sultanate of Ahmednagar was a late medieval Indian Muslim kingdom located in the northwestern Deccan, between the sultanates of Gujarat and Bijapur, ruled by the Nizam Shahi dynasty. 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 Ahmadnagar Sultanate.
Burhan Nizam Shah I was ruler of the Ahmednagar Sultanate, in Central India. He ascended the throne on the death of his father Ahmad Nizam Shah I in 1508 or 1510 when he was seven years old. He died in 1553 and was succeeded by Hussain Nizam Shah I.
Murtaza Nizam Shah III, was a Nizam Shahi boy prince who in the year 1633 became the nominal Sultan of Ahmednagar. He was subjected to the authority of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan.
Daniyal Mirza was the shahzada of the Mughal Empire who served as the Viceroy of the Deccan. He was the third son of Emperor Akbar and the half-brother of Emperor Jahangir.
Burhan Nizam Shah II was the ruler of Ahmadnagar Sultanate in the Deccan. He was the second son of Hussain Nizam Shah I and Khunza Humayun Begum.
The Deccan sultanates were five early modern kingdoms, namely Bijapur, Golkonda, Ahmadnagar, Bidar, and Berar, which ruled the Deccan Plateau for part of the 15th, and the majority of the 16th–17th centuries. Their architecture was a regional variant of Indo-Islamic architecture, and 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.
Hussain Nizam Shah I was the preeminent ruler of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate and the leading figure of the coalition of the Deccan Sultanates during the Battle of Talikota. Notably, Hussain Nizam Shah was responsible for taking prisoner and beheading Rama Raya of Vijayanagara after the Battle of Talikota.
Murtaza Nizam Shah I, the eldest son of Hussain Nizam Shah I, succeeded him in 1565 after his death.
Deccan painting or Deccani painting is the form of Indian miniature painting produced in the Deccan region of Central India, in the various Muslim capitals of the Deccan sultanates that emerged from the break-up of the Bahmani Sultanate by 1520. These were Bijapur, Golkonda, Ahmadnagar, Bidar, and Berar. The main period was between the late 16th century and the mid-17th, with something of a revival in the mid-18th century, by then centred on Hyderabad.
Murtaza Nizam Shah II was the Sultan of Ahmadnagar from 1600 to 1610. His rule was dominated by the powerful regent Malik Ambar, under whom he was an effective puppet ruler.
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.
Kitab-i Tarif-i Husain Shah Padshah-i Dakan, generally known as Tarif-i Husain Shahi or Tarif-i Husain Shah is a 16th-century illustrated manuscript compiled in the Ahmadnagar Sultanate.