The Bahmani Sultanate was a late medieval empire that ruled the Deccan Plateau in India. The first independent Muslim kingdom of the Deccan, the Bahmani Sultanate came to power in 1347 during the rebellion of Ismail Mukh against Muhammad bin Tughlaq, the Sultan of the Tughlaq dynasty of Delhi. Ismail Mukh then abdicated in favour of Zafar Khan, who would establish the Bahmani Sultanate.
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.
Ahmed Shah Al Wali Bahamani was the ruler of the Bahmani Sultanate from 1 October 1422 to 17 April 1436, and was a great patron of arts and culture. He brought Persian artisans from Iran, including the metal-worker Abdulla-bin-Kaiser, who was the master of Bidriware, the inlaying of zinc alloy with silver and gold.
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.
Ala-ud-Din Hasan Bahman Shah whose original name was Zafar Khan or Hasan Gangu, was the founder of the Bahmani Sultanate.
Mohammed Shah I was the second ruler of the Bahmani Sultanate, a late medieval kingdom of India. He succeeded his father Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah. He initiated the Bahmani–Vijayanagar War with two neighboring kingdoms, the Vijayanagara and the Warangal under Kapaya Nayaka, and successfully subjugated them. He was succeeded by his son Alauddin Mujahid Shah.
Mahmud Gawan (1411–1481) was a Persian statesman who served as the chief minister, or Peshwa from 1458 and de facto ruler of the Bahmani Sultanate 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.
Taj ud-Din Firoz Shah, also known as Firoz Shah Bahmani, was the ruler of the Bahmani Sultanate from 16 November 1397 to 22 September 1422. Firuz Shah is considered an important ruler of the Bahamani Sultanate. He expanded his kingdom and even succeeded in conquering the Raichur Doab from Vijaynagara kingdoms.
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 Western and Southern 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 whom 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.
Around 1308, the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji sent a large army led by his general Malik Kafur to Devagiri, the capital of the Yadava king Ramachandra.
During 1310–1311, the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji sent an army led by his slave-general Malik Kafur to the southernmost kingdoms of India. After subjugating the Hoysalas, Malik Kafur invaded the Pandya kingdom in present-day Tamil Nadu, taking advantage of a war of succession between the Pandya brothers Vira and Sundara. During March–April 1311, he raided several places in the Pandya territory, including their capital Madurai. He was unable to make the Pandya king a tributary to the Delhi Sultanate, but obtained huge quantities of plunder, including elephants, horses, gold and precious stones.
The Turquoise Throne or Takht-i-Firoza was a famous jewel-studded royal throne of the Bahmani Sultans of Deccan in India. It was a gift by Musunuri Kapaya Nayaka, then king of Warangal, during the Bahmani-Vijayanagar War, where the Bahmanis defeated the latter. Over some time, this throne became one of the most important icons of the Bahmani royalty and heritage.
Alau’d-din Ahmad Shah was the tenth sultan of the Bahmani Sultanate. He was considered a benevolent ruler, albeit weak in administration. His reign is marked by rebellions.
The Bahmani–Vijayanagar war, also known as the First Bahmani–Vijayanagar War, spanning from 1362 to 1367, was a significant period of conflict between the Bahmani Sultanate and the Vijayanagar empire in Deccan India during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It began due to disputes over the acceptance of coins in both states, with Bahmani ruler Muhammed Shah I banning Vijayanagar coins in his dominions. This move prompted Vijayanagar's Bukka Raya I to forge an alliance with Musunuri Nayakas, the then rulers of Warangal, Kanhayya, and local bankers, resulting in the destruction of Bahmani coins and the escalation of tensions leading to outright war. This was the first war in India where the Europeans fought at the Deccan and the infantry is used.
The Deccani–Vijayanagar wars were a series of wars between 1495 to 1678 that pitted the rival powers of the Deccan Sultanates against the Vijayanagar 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 Bahmani–Vijayanagar War (1398) of 1398 marked the military conflicts between the Bahmani Sultanate under Tajuddin Firuz Shah and the Vijayanagar empire under Harihara II. After the initial Bahmani-Vijayanagar War in 1367, the two kingdoms enjoyed a period of peace for thirty years. However, in the late fourteenth century, they once again found themselves engaged in major warfare in the Deccan region.
The War of the Goldsmith's Daughter or the Bahmani–Vijayanagar War of 1406 was a significant conflict between the Bahmani Sultanate and the Vijayanagar Empire, the two primary powers in the Deccan region of thirteenth and fourteenth century India, occurring in 1406. Led by Tajuddin Firuz Shah, the Bahmani forces, supported by Velama chiefs and the Reddis, launched multiple attacks on the Vijayanagar empire under the rule of Deva Raya I. Despite his initial resistance, Deva Raya suffered heavy casualties, ultimately leading to the acceptance of the terms imposed by the Bahmanis, ending the war.
The Siege of Vijayanagar was a military campaign by the Bahmani Sultanate, led by Ahmad Shah I Wali, against the Vijayanagar empire, ruled by Vira Vijaya Bukka Raya III, beginning in 1423 in present-day Karnataka. The campaign resulted in a victory for the Bahmanis, leading to the recapture of all territories that had fallen into the hands of Vijayanagar during the war of 1420.
The Bahmani–Vijayanagar War of 1443 marked as the last war between the Bahmani Sultanate and the Vijayanagara empire in the peninsular India. It commenced between the Bahmanis under Alauddin Ahmad Shah and the Vijayanagar under Deva Raya II, taking place in present-day Mudgal, Karnataka. During the course of two months, three battles unfolded, with the Vijayanagara forces initially securing victory, followed by two subsequent wins by the Bahmanis. These defeats compelled the Vijayanagara ruler to seek peace, agreeing to pay tribute to the Bahmanis.
During the 1370s, the Vijayanagara Empire, under the reign of Bukka Raya I, faced renewed conflict with the Bahmani Sultanate, stemming from past territorial disputes. After a period of relative calm following previous military campaigns, tensions resurfaced when Mujahid, the Sultan of Gulbarga, demanded the surrender of forts and territories in the Doab region. Bukka, unwilling to concede, asserted his claim over the disputed territories.
