Bahmani Sultanate

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Bahmani Sultanate
1347–1527
Sultanate
Capital
  • Gulbarga
    (1347–1425)
  • Bidar (1425–1527)
Common languages
Kannada
Religion
Sunni Islam[3]
Shia Islam[3][4]
Sufism[5]
GovernmentMonarchy
Sultan 
• 1347–1358
Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah
• 1525–1527
Kalim-Allah Shah
Historical era
Late Medieval
• Established
3 August 1347
• Disestablished
1527
Currency
Taka
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Delhi Sultanate
Musunuri Nayaks
Vijayanagara Empire
Gajapati Empire
Deccan sultanates
Today part ofIndia

The Bahmani Sultanate (Persian: سلطان‌نشین بهمنی) was a Muslim empire that ruled the Deccan Plateau in South India. The Bahmani Sultanate came to power in 1347 during the Rebellion of Ismail Mukh 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, the Vijayanagara Empire.[6]

The Sultanate would begin its decline under the reign of

Deccan.[7][8]

Garden of Fort Bidar.

Origin

Ferishta, his obscurity makes it difficult to track his origin, but he is nonetheless stated as of Afghan birth.[14] Ferishta further writes, Zafar Khan had earlier been a servant of a Brahmin astrologer at Delhi named Gangu (hence the name Hasan Gangu),[15][16] and says that he was from North India.[17] Historians have not found any corroboration for the legend,[18][19] but Barani, who was the court chronicler of Sultan Firuz Shah, as well as some other scholars have also called him as Hasan Gangu.[20] Another theory of origin for Zafar Khan is that he was of Brahman origin,[21] and that Bahman is a corrupted personalized form of Brahman,[22] with Hasan Gangu being Hindu Brahman who became Muslim.[23][21] However this view has been discredited by S.A.Q Husaini, who considers the idea of a Brahmin origin or Zafar Khan originally being a Hindu convert to Islam from Punjab untenable.[24]

History

Barani states that Hasan Gangu was "born in very humble circumstances. For the first thirty years of his life he was nothing more than a field laborer."

Kampili.[29] He made various raids against neighboring Hindus until he could gain influence and wealth and became a powerful military chief.[28]

Rise

Before the establishment of his kingdom, he was Governor of Deccan and a commander on behalf of Tughlaq.

Gulbarga) and all his coins were minted at Hasanabad.[31][36]

With the support of the influential Indian

Shaikhs, he was crowned "Alauddin Bahman Shah Sultan – Founder of the Bahmani Dynasty".[37] They bestowed upon him a robe allegedly worn by the Prophet. The extension of the Sufi's notion of spiritual sovereignty lent legitimacy to the planting of the Sultanate's political authority, where the land, people, and produce of the Deccan were merited state protection, no longer available for plunder with impunity. These Sufis legitimized the transplantation of Indo-Muslim rulership from one region in South Asia to another, converting the land of the Bahmanids into being recognized as Dar ul-Islam, while it was previously considered Dar ul-Harb.[38]

Turkish or Indo-Turkish troops, explorers, saints, and scholars moved from Delhi and North India to the Deccan with the establishment of the Bahmanid sultanate.[3] How many of these were Shi'ites is unclear.[3] Nonetheless, there is enough evidence to demonstrate that a number of nobility at the Bahmani court identified as Shi'ites or had significant Shi'ite inclinations.[a][3]

Alauddin was succeeded by his son Mohammed Shah I.[40] His conflicts with the Vijayanagar empire were singularly savage wars, as according to the historian Ferishta, "the population of the Carnatic was so reduced that it did not recover for several ages."[41] The Bahmanids' aggressive confrontation with the two main Hindu kingdoms of the southern Deccan, Warangal and Vijayanagara in the first Bahmani-Vijayanagar War, made them renowned among Muslims as warriors of the faith.[42]

The Vijayanagara empire and the Bahmanids fought over the control of the Godavari-basin, Tungabadhra Doab, and the Marathwada country, although they seldom required a pretext for declaring war,[43] as military conflicts were almost a regular feature and lasted as long as these kingdoms continued.[44] Military slavery involved captured slaves from Vijayanagara whom were then converted to islam and integrated into the host society, so they could begin military careers within the Bahmanid empire.[45][46]

Ghiyasuddin succeeded his father Muhammad II at the age of seventeen, but was blinded and imprisoned by a Turkic slave called Taghalchin,[47][48] who had held a grudge on the Sultan for the latter's refusal to appoint him as a governor. He had lured the Sultan into putting himself in the former's power, using the beauty of his daughter, who was accomplished in music and arts, and had introduced her to the Sultan at a feast.[49][50] He was succeeded by Shamsuddin, who was a puppet king under Taghalchin. Firuz and Ahmed, the sons of the fourth sultan Daud, marched to Gulbarga to avenge Ghiyasuddin. Firuz declared himself the sultan, and defeated Taghalchin's forces. Taghalchin was killed and Shamsuddin was blinded.[51]

Dakhani Horseman

Deva Raya
's daughter.

Firuz Shah expanded the nobility by enabling Hindus and granting them high office.[53] In his reign, Sufis such as Gesudaraz, a Chishti saint who had immigrated from Dehli to Daulatabad, were prominent in court and daily life.[54] He was the first author to write in the Dakhni dialect of Urdu.[55] The Dakhni language became widespread, practised by various milieus from the court to the Sufis. It was established as a lingua franca of the Muslims of the Deccan, as not only the aspect of a dominant urban elite, but an expression of the regional religious identity.[56]

Firuz Shah was succeeded by his younger brother Ahmad Shah I Wali. Following the establishment of Bidar as capital of the sultanate in 1429,[57] Ahmad Shah I converted to Shi'ism.[3] Ahmad Shah's reign was marked by relentless military campaigns and expansionism. He imposed destruction and slaughter on Vijayanagara and finally captured the remnants of Warangal.[58]

Coinage of Ala al-Din Ahmad Shah II, who reigned from 1435 to 1458

Alauddin Ahmad II succeeded his father to the throne in 1436.[59] He ordered the construction of the Chand Minar. For the first half-century after the establishment of the Bahmanids, the original North Indian colonists and their sons had administered the empire quite independent of either the non-Muslim Hindus, or the Muslim foreign immigrants.

However, the later Bahmani Sultans, mainly starting from his father Ahmad Shah Wali I, began to recruit foreigners from overseas, whether because of depletion among the ranks of the original settlers, or the feelings of dependency upon the Persian courtly model, or both.[60] This resulted in factional strife that first became acute in the reign of his son Alauddin Ahmad Shah II.[61] In 1446, the powerful Dakhani nobles persuaded the Sultan that the Persians were responsible for the failure of the Konkan invasion.[62]

The Sultan, drunk, condoned a terrible massacre of Persian Shi'a

Abyssinian slaves.[63] A few survivors escaped the massacre dressed in women's clothing and convinced the Sultan of their innocence.[64] Ashamed of his own folly, the Sultan punished the Dakhani leaders who were responsible for the massacre, putting them to death or throwing them in prison, and reduced their families to beggary.[65] It is noteworthy that the accounts of the violent events included exaggerations as it came from the pen of the chroniclers who were themselves mainly foreigners and products of Safavid Persia.[66]

Mahmud Gawan Madrasa was built by Mahmud Gawan, the Wazir of the Bahmani Sultanate as the centre of religious as well as secular education.[67]

The eldest sons of Humayun Shah, Nizam-Ud-Din Ahmad III and Muhammad Shah III Lashkari ascended the throne successively, while they were young boys. The vizier Mahmud Gawan ruled as regent during this period, until Muhammad Shah reached age. Mahmud Gawan is known for setting up the Mahmud Gawan Madrasa, a center of religious as well as secular education.[67] Gawan was considered a great statesman, and a poet of repute.

Mahmud Gawan was caught in a struggle between a rivalry between two groups of nobles, the Dakhanis and the Afaqis. The Dakhanis made the indigenous Muslim elite of the Bahmanid dynasty, being descendants of Sunni immigrants from Northern India, while the Afaqis were foreign newcomers from the West such as Gawan, who were mostly Shi'is.[68][69] The Dakhanis believed that the privileges, patronage and positions of power in the Sultanate should have been reserved solely for them.[70]

The divisions included sectarian religious divisions where the Afaqis were looked upon heretics by the Sunnis as the former were Shi'as,[71] while Eaton cites a linguistic divide where the Dakhanis spoke Dakhni while the Afaqis favored the Persian language.[72] Although Mahmud Gawan was a foreigner, he attempted to reconcile the factions and strengthen the Sultanate by allotting offices to the Dakhanis.

Nonetheless, Mahmud Gawan found it difficult to win their confidence; the party strife could not be stopped and his opponents eventually managed to poison the ears of the Sultan.[73] Mahmud Gawan was executed by Muhammad Shah III, an act that the latter regretted until he died in 1482.[74] Upon his death, Nizam-ul-Mulk Bahri, the father of the founder of the Nizam Shahi dynasty became the regent of the king.[75] Nizam-ul-Mulk, as leader of the Dakhani party, led a cold-blooded massacre of Iranian Georgians and Turkmens in the capital of Bidar.[76][77]

The sultanate included parts of the modern states of

Gulbarga) between 1347 and 1425, when it was moved to Muhammadabad (Bidar). The sultanate reached the peak of its power during the vizierate (1466–1481) of Mahmud Gawan.[78]

Later rulers and decline

Muhammad Shah II was succeeded by his son Mahmood Shah Bahmani II, the last Bahmani ruler to have real power.[79] In 1501, Mahmud Shah Bahmani united his amirs and wazirs in an agreement to wage annual Jihad against Vijayanagara. The expeditions were financially ruinous.[80]

The independent Nizam Shahi Sultanate was founded by the son of the regent of Muhammad Shah II, Nizam-ul-Mulk Bahri

The last Bahmani Sultans were puppet monarchs under their

Deccan Sultanates".[7]

Historiography

Modern scholars like Sherwani, and Eaton have based their accounts of the Bahmani dynasty mainly upon the medieval chronicles of Firishta, and Syed Ali Tabatabai. Other contemporary works were Sivatatva Chintamani and Guru Charitra. Afanasy Nikitin traveled this kingdom. He contrasts the huge "wealth of the nobility with the wretchedness of the peasantry and the frugality of the Hindus".[81]

Culture

Taj ud-Din Firuz Shah of the Bahmani Sultanate's Firman.

The dynasty patronized Indo-Muslim and Persian culture from Northern India and the Middle East.[82] However, the society of the Bahmnanis were dominated prominently by Iranians, Afghans, and Turks.[83] They also had considerable and social influence such as with the celebration of Nowruz by Bahmani rulers.[83] This also comes as Mohammed Shah I ascended the throne on Nowruz.[84] According to Khafi Khan and Ferishta, musicians flocked to the court from Lahore, Delhi, Persia and Khorasan.[85]

The Bahmani Sultans were patrons of the Persian language, culture and literature, and some members of the dynasty became well-versed in that language and composed its literature in that language.[86]

The first sultan,

Alauddin Bahman Shah is noted to have captured 1,000 singing and dancing girls from Hindu temples after he battled the northern Carnatic chieftains. The later Bahmanis also enslaved civilian women and children in wars; many of them were converted to Islam in captivity.[87][88]

The craftspersons of Bidar were so famed for their inlay work on copper and silver that it came to be known as Bidri.[89] Firuz Shah, having a passion for languages, married a large number of Indians of various ethnicities, Georgians, Iranians and Arabs, to practise speaking their languages with them. In addition he was known for speaking several Indian languages.[90][91]

Bidriware Hookah

Bidriware is a metal

Geographical Indications (GI) registry on 3 January 2006.[93]

Turquoise Throne

The Turquoise Throne (

Musunuri Kapaya Nayaka, then king of the Telangana region.[94]: 77–78  It was mentioned by Firishta that on 23 March 1363,[b] this throne replaced an earlier silver throne that the first Bahmani sultan Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah
used.

GunPowder Artillery & Firearms

The Bahmani Sultanate was the first empire to invent and utilize

Yuan Dynasty and the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt.The first recorded use of firearms in South Asia was at the Battle of Adoni in 1368. In the Deccans, the Bahmani sultanate led by Mohammed Shah I used a train of artillery against the Vijayanagara Empire under Harihara II.[95]

 A Bahmani's era Cannon Located at Bidar Fort

Architecture

Entrance of Bidar Fort
Garden of Fort Bidar
Mahmud Gawan Madrasa'
Daulatabad fort
complex
Haft Gumbaz, tomb of Taj-ud-Din Firuz Shah in Kalaburagi
The triple moat of Bidar fort.
Tombs of Bahmani & Bidar Shahi kings at Barid Shahi Park in Bidar[96]

The Bahmani Sultanate is renowned for its architecture, although much of it has been destroyed. Below are some ruins showcasing the masterpieces of their architectural legacy.[96] The

Jama Masjid in Gulbarga, Bidar Fort and Madrasa Mahmud Gawan[67]
in Bidar, are the major architectural contributions.

The later rulers are buried in an elaborate tomb complex, known as the Bahmani Tombs.[97] The exterior of one of the tombs is decorated with coloured tiles. Arabic, Persian and Urdu inscriptions are inscribed inside the tombs.[97][98]

The Bahmani rulers made some beautiful tombs and mosques in Bidar and Gulbarga. They also built many forts at Daulatabad, Golconda and Raichur. The architecture was highly influenced by Persian architecture. They invited architects from Persia, Turkey and Arabia. Some of the magnificent structures built by the Bahmanis were the Jami Masjid at Gulbarga, Chandand Minar and the Mahmud Gawan Madrasa at Bidar.[citation needed]

The Persianate Indo-Islamic style of architecture developed during this period was later adopted by the Deccan Sultanates as well.


Gallery

Family tree and List of rulers

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Stephen F. Dale refers to the Bahmani as Shi'i Muslims.[39]
  2. ^ Firishta mentioned that Sultan Bahman Shah first sat on the new throne (i.e. the Takht-e-Firoza) on Nowruz, the Persian new year, following the autumnal solstice in 764 AH.[94]: 102 

Citations

  1. ^ "Schwartzberg Atlas — Digital South Asia Library". dsal.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
  2. ^ Ansari 1988, pp. 494–499.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Khalidi, Umar (1990). "The Shiʿites of the Deccan: An Introduction". Rivista degli studi orientali. 64, Fasc. 1/2, SGUARDI SULLA CULTURA A SCIITA NEL DECCAN GLANCES ON SHI'ITE DECCAN CULTURE: 5.
  4. .
  5. ^ Eaton, Richard Maxwell (1978). The Sufis of Bijapur, 1300–1700: Social Roles of Sufis in Medieval India. Princeton University Press. p. 49.
  6. .
  7. ^ a b Haig, 1925, pp. 425–426.
  8. ^ history of the decan. Mittal Publications. 1990. p. 15.
  9. . Zafar Khan alias Alauddin Hasan Gangu ('Ala al-Din Hasan Bahman Shah), an Afghan or a Turk soldier, revolted against Delhi and established the Muslim Kingdom of Bahmani on August 3 in the South (Madura) and ruled as Sultan Alauddin Bahman Shah.
  10. . The Bahmani sultanate of the Deccan Soon after Muhammad Tughluq left Daulatabad, the city was conquered by Zafar Khan, a Turkish or Afghan officer of unknown descent, had earlier participated in a mutiny of troops in Gujarat.
  11. . Finally, and more importantly, the independent Bahmani dynasty of the Deccan was founded in 1348 by Zafar Khan, probably an Afghan who broke away from Delhi with the support of Afghan and Mongol "New Muslims"
  12. . In the early fourteenth century, the Muslim Bahmani kingdom of the Deccan emerged following Alauddin's conquest of the south. Zafar Khan, an Afghan general and governor appointed by Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq, was victorious against the troops of the Delhi Sultanate, establishing the Bahmani kingdom with its capital at Ahsanabad (modern-day Gulbarga).
  13. ^ "ḤASAN GĀNGU". Encyclopædia Iranica.
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  15. ^ Bhattacharya, Sachchidananada. A Dictionary of Indian History (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1972) p. 100
  16. ^ Cathal J. Nolan (2006). The Age of Wars of Religion, 1000-1650: An Encyclopedia of Global ..., Volym 1. pp. 437.
  17. ^ Chopdar (1951). The History and Culture of the Indian People: The Delhi sultanate. p. 248.
  18. ^ Chandra 2004, p. 177.
  19. ^ Majumdar 1967, p. 248.
  20. ^ Chopdar (27 February 1967). History and Culture of the Indian People, Volume 06,The Delhi Sultanate. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. p. 248.
  21. ^ a b Jayanta Gaḍakarī (2000). Hindu Muslim Communalism. p. 140.
  22. .
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  29. .
  30. .
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  33. ^ Thomas Wolseley Haig (1919). Historic landmarks of the Deccan. Pioneer Press.
  34. .
  35. ^ Ibrahim Khan (1960). Anecdotes from Islam. M. Ashraf.
  36. .
  37. .
  38. .
  39. ^ Dale, Stephen F. (2009). The Muslim Empires of the Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals. Cambridge University Press. p. 31. ...may have contributed to the decision by a group of Shi'i Muslims from the Deccan, the Bahmani, to proclaim the new Muslim Sultanate there.
  40. ^ Prasad 1933, p. 417.
  41. ^ Abraham Elahy (2015). the Age of Wrath:A History of the Delhi Sultanate. Penguin Books Limited.
  42. ISBN 0300064659.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
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  43. .
  44. ^ MEDIEVAL INDIA UPSC PREPARATION BOOKS HISTORY SERIES. Mocktime Publication. 2011.
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  46. .
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  53. .
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  56. .
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  58. .
  59. .
  60. .
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  62. .
  63. .
  64. .
  65. ^ Journal of the Research Society of Pakistan: Volumes 2-3, Issues 1-2. Research Society of Pakistan. 1965. p. 10.
  66. JSTOR 41880628
    . Firishta and Tabatabai, presents a very grim picture of the locals and refer to them as permanent enemies of the Sadat. There is some exaggeration in their account but one must not forget that these accounts of unfortunate affairs are all from the pen of the aliens, who are the products of Safavid Persia.
  67. ^ a b c Yazdani, 1947, pp. 91–98.
  68. .
  69. .
  70. .
  71. .
  72. .
  73. .
  74. ^ Yazdani, 1947, pp. 10.
  75. .
  76. .
  77. ^ Pran Nath Chopra, T. K. Ravindran, N. Subrahmanian (1979). History of South India: Medieval period. S. Chand. p. 75.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  78. ^ A Textbook of History Grade 7. Macmillan.
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  88. ^ Sewell, Robert. A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar) pp.57-58.
  89. ^ a b "Proving their mettle in metal craft". The Times of India. 2 January 2012. Archived from the original on 8 May 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2012.
  90. ^ (N. H. Ansari) (24 August 2011). Encyclopaedia Iranica: BAHMANID DYNASTY.
  91. .
  92. ^ a b "Karnataka tableau to feature Bidriware". The Hindu. 11 January 2011. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  93. ^ "Innovative designs help revive Bidriware". The Hindu. 26 March 2008. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
  94. ^ a b Haroon Khan Sherwani (1946). "The Bahmanis Of The Deccan-An Objective Study". Krishnavas International Printers, Hyderabad Deccan.
  95. ^ "The Official Home Page of the Indian Army". www.indianarmy.nic.in. Archived from the original on 26 June 2017. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  96. ^ a b Datta, Rangan (6 June 2023). "Bidar Fort in Karnataka: A treasure trove of south Indian heritage". The Telegraph. My Kolkata. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  97. ^ a b Yazdani, 1947, pp. 114–142.
  98. .

Sources

External links