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 Bahmani Kingdom or the Bahmani Sultanate was a late medieval kingdom that ruled the Deccan plateau in India. The first independent Muslim sultanate of the Deccan, the Bahmani Kingdom came to power in 1347 during the rebellion of Ismail Mukh against Muhammad bin Tughlaq, the Sultan of Delhi. Ismail Mukh then abdicated in favour of Zafar Khan, who established the Bahmani Sultanate.
Krishnadevaraya was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire reigning from 1509 to 1529. He was the third monarch of the Tuluva dynasty, and is considered to be one of the greatest rulers in Indian history. He ruled the largest empire in India after the fall of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate. Presiding over the empire at its zenith, he is regarded as an icon by many Indians. Krishnadevaraya earned the titles Andhra Bhoja, Karnatakaratna Simhasanadeeshwara, Yavana Rajya Pratistapanacharya, Kannada Rajya Rama Ramana, Gaubrahmana Pratipalaka and Mooru Rayara Ganda. He became the dominant ruler of the peninsula by defeating the sultans of Bijapur, Golconda, the Bahmani Sultanate and the Gajapatis of Odisha, and was one of the most powerful Hindu rulers in India.
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.
Sultan Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk, more often though less correctly referred to in English as Quli Qutb Shah, was the founder of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, which ruled the Sultanate of Golconda in southern India from 1518 to 1687. Of Turkoman origin and born in Persia, he originally served the Bahmani sultan, and was awarded the title Qutb-ul-Mulk as military chief; he eventually took control of Golconda.
Rama Raya, popularly known as "Aliya" Rama Raya, was a statesman of the Vijayanagara Empire, the son-in-law of Emperor Krishna Deva Raya and the progenitor of the Aravidu dynasty of Vijayanagara Empire, the fourth and last dynasty of the empire. As a regent, he was the de facto ruler of the empire from 1542 to 1565, although legally the emperor during this period was Sadasiva Raya, who was merely a puppet ruler. Rama Raya was killed at the Battle of Talikota, after which the Vijayanagara Empire got fragmented into several semi-independent principalities paying only nominal allegiance to the empire.
Yusuf Adil Shah, referred as Yusuf Adil Khan or Hidalcão by the Portuguese, was the founder of the Adil Shahi dynasty that ruled the Sultanate of Bijapur for nearly two centuries. As the founder of the Adil Shahi dynasty, Yusuf Adil Shah is credited with developing the town of Bijapur and elevating it to significant status.
Ismail Adil Shah was the Sultan of Bijapur who spent most of his time extending his territory. His short-lived reign helped the dynasty establish a stronghold in the Deccan.
The Sultanate of Bidar was an early modern Indian polity that ruled a territory in the central Deccan centred at Bidar. As one of the Deccan sultanates, the sultanate's initial territory corresponded to that of one of the five provinces of the Bahmani Sultanate, and under the rule of Qasim Barid I in 1492 assumed de facto control of state affairs of the Bahmani Sultanate. Leadership passed to his sons; Amir Barid I in 1504 and Ali Barid Shah I in 1542. Starting from the 1580s as a result of Ali's death, a wave of successions occurred in the rulership of the dynasty which ended in 1609 under the last sultan, Amir Barid III. He was eventually defeated in 1619 by Ibrahim Adil Shah II of the Sultanate of Bijapur, who annexed the territory of the Bidar Sultanate into his realm.
Tuluva Narasa Nayaka was an Indian general and later an imperial regent who founded the Tuluva dynasty of the Vijayanagara Empire. He was the father of the emperors Viranarasimha Raya, Krishnadevaraya and Achyuta Deva Raya.
Vira Narasimha Raya became the Emperor of Vijayanagara after the death of his predecessor Narasimha Raya II. He was the older half-brother of Krishnadevaraya.
The Battle of Raichur was fought between the Vijayanagara Empire and the Sultanate of Bijapur in 1520 in the town of Raichur, India. It resulted in a decisive victory for Vijayanagara forces, and the Bijapur ruler was defeated and pushed across the river Krishna.
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.
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.
Mahmud Gawan (1411–1481) was a Persian statesman who served as the chief minister, or Peshwa of the Bahmani Sultanate from 1458 and de facto ruler as prime minister from 1466 until his death in 1481. Mahmud Gawan, from the village of Gawan in Persia, was well-versed in Islamic theology, Persian, and the sciences and was a poet and a prose writer of repute.
Ali Barid Shah I was the third ruler of the Barid Shahi dynasty at Bidar. He succeeded his father in 1540, and ruled until his death in 1580. He was considered a man of letters, and invited scholars and craftsmen from all over the Indian subcontinent to his capital. He is also known to have played a key logistical role in the Battle of Talikota.
The Deccanis or Deccani people are an Indo-Aryan ethno-religious community of Deccani-speaking Muslims who inhabit or are from the Deccan region of South India. The community traces its origins to the shifting of the Delhi Sultanate's capital from Delhi to Daulatabad in 1327 during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq. Further ancestry can also be traced from immigrant Muslims referred to as Afaqis, also known as Pardesis who came from Central Asia, Iraq and Iran and had settled in the Deccan region during the Bahmani Sultanate (1347). The migration of Muslim Hindavi-speaking people to the Deccan and intermarriage with the local Hindus who converted to Islam, led to the creation of a new community of Hindustani-speaking Muslims, known as the Deccani, who would come to play an important role in the politics of the Deccan. Their language, Deccani, emerged as a language of linguistic prestige and culture during the Bahmani Sultanate, further evolving in the Deccan Sultanates.
Mahmood Shah or Shihab-Ud-Din Mahmud was the sultan of the Bahmani Sultanate from 1482 until his death in 1518. His long rule is noted for the disintegration of the sultanate and the creation of the independent Deccan sultanates.
The Deccani–Vijayanagar wars were a series of conflicts between the Deccan Sultanates and the Vijayanagar Empire that took place from 1495 to 1678.
Malik Hasan Bahri or Nizam-ul-Mulk Bahri was a noble of the Bahmani Sultanate in India who served as the prime minister from 1481 until his murder in 1486. He was the father of Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I, founder of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, one of the secessionist kingdoms from the Bahmani Sultanate, and its ruling dynasty's primogenitor.
