Bahmani Sultanate

Bahmani Sultanate
1347–1527
The Bahmani Sultanate at its greatest extent in 1470 under regent Mahmud Gawan[1][2]
Status	Sultanate
Capital	Gulbarga (1347–1425) Bidar (1425–1527)
Common languages	Persian (official)[3] Marathi Deccani Urdu Telugu Kannada
Religion	Sunni Islam[4] Shia Islam[4][5] Sufism[6]
Government	Monarchy
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 Bijapur Sultanate Golconda Sultanate Ahmadnagar Sultanate Berar Sultanate Bidar Sultanate
Today part of	India

The Bahmani Sultanate (Persian: سلطان‌نشین بهمنی) was a late medieval empire that ruled the Deccan Plateau in India. The first independent Muslim kingdom of the Deccan,^[7] 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.

The Bahmani Sultanate was in perpetual war with its neighbors, including its rival to the south, the Vijayanagara Empire, which would outlast the Sultanate.^[8] The Bahmani Sultans also patronized architectural works. The Mahmud Gawan Madrasa was created by Mahmud Gawan, the vizier regent who was Prime minister of the Sultanate from 1466 until his execution in 1481 during a conflict between the foreign (Afaqis) and local (Deccanis) nobility. The Bidar Fort was constructed by Ahmad Shah I (r. 1422–36), who relocated the capital to the city of Bidar. Ahmad Shah would lead campaigns against Vijayanagar and the Sultanates of Malwa and Gujarat. His campaign against Vijayanagar in 1423 would lead to their capital's siege, which would result in the expansion of the Sultanate. Mahmud Gawan would later lead campaigns during his rule against Malwa, Vijayanagar, and the Gajapatis, and would extend the Sultanate to its maximum extent.

The Sultanate would begin its decline under the reign of Mahmood Shah. Through a combination of factional strife and the revolt of five provincial governors (tarafdars), the Bahmani Sultanate would split up into five states, known as the Deccan Sultanates. The initial revolts of Yusuf Adil Shah, Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I, and Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk in 1490 and Qasim Barid I in 1492 would see the end of any real Bahmani power, and the last independent Sultanate, that of Golkonda in 1518, would end the Bahmani's 180 year rule over the Deccan. The last four Bahmani rulers would be puppet monarchs under Amir Barid I of the Bidar Sultanate, and the kingdom formally dissolved in 1527.^[9][10]