The Deccan Sultanates were five late-medieval Indian kingdoms—on the Deccan Plateau between the Krishna River and the Vindhya Range—that were ruled by Muslim dynasties: namely Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, and Golconda. The sultanates had become independent during the break-up of the Bahmani Sultanate. 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.
The Bahmani Sultanate was a late medieval Muslim empire that ruled the Deccan Plateau in South India. The Bahmani Sultanate came to power in 1347 during the Rebellion of Ismail Mukh against the Tughlaq dynasty of Delhi after Ismail Mukh abdicated in favour of Zafar Khan, who would establish the Bahmani Sultanate. The Bahmani Sultanate was in perpetual war with its neighbors, including its rival to the south, the Vijayanagara Empire.
The Adil Shahi or Adilshahi, was a Shia, and later Sunni Muslim, dynasty founded by Yusuf Adil Shah, that ruled the Sultanate of Bijapur, centred on present-day Bijapur district, Karnataka in India, in the Western area of the Deccan region of Southern India from 1489 to 1686. Bijapur had been a province of the Bahmani Sultanate (1347–1518), and member of the Deccan Sultanates, before its political decline in the last quarter of the 15th century and eventual break-up in 1518. The Bijapur Sultanate was fully absorbed into the Mughal Empire on 12 September 1686, after its conquest by the Emperor Aurangzeb.
Sultan Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk, more often though less correctly referred to in English as Quli Qutb Shah (1485–1543), 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 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.
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.
Berar Sultanate, also known as the Imad Shahi Sultanate was an early modern Indian kingdom in the Deccan peninsula. It was one of the Deccan sultanates and established in 1490 following the disintegration of the Bahmani Sultanate, and was annexed by Ahmadnagar in the 1572 invasion.
The Sultanate of Bidar was one of the Deccan sultanates of late medieval India. The sultanate emerged under the rule of Qasim Barid I in 1492 and leadership passed to his sons. Starting from the 1580s, a wave of successions occurred in the rulership of the dynasty which ended in 1609 under the last Sultan Amir Barid III who was eventually defeated in 1619 by the Bijapur sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II. Bidar became annexed into the Bijapur Sultanate.
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.
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.
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. 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.
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 heavily influenced by the styles of the Delhi Sultanate and later Mughal architecture, but sometimes also directly influenced from Persia and Central Asia.
Fathullah Imad-ul-mulk was the founder of the Imad Shahi Dynasty and the Berar Sultanate. Originally a Hindu captive from Vijayanagara, Fathullah was brought up as a Deccani Muslim and rose to command the army of Berar under the Bahmani Sultanate. In 1490, he declared himself Sultan of Berar, which he ruled until his death in 1504. He was succeeded by his son Aladdin Imad Shah.
Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah was the founder of the Nizam Shahi dynasty and the Ahmadnagar Sultanate.
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.
The Deccan Sultanates-Vijayanagara Conflicts were a prolonged period of military conflict lasting from 1495 to 1614 This series of battles pitted the rival powers of the Deccan Sultanates against the Vijayanagara Empire. Over the course of approximately 120 years, these two entities engaged in a series of wars and skirmishes that were marked by significant displays of military strength and strategic maneuvering.
The Krishnadevaraya's Bahamani Expedition was a pivotal event in the history of the Bahmani dynasty and the Vijayanagara Empire. It marked a significant escalation in tensions between the two powers.
