The Delhi sultans' failure to hold securely…

The Delhi sultans' failure to hold securely the Deccan and South India results in the rise of competing southern dynasties: the Muslim Bahmani Sultanate (1347-1527) and the Hindu Vijayanagar Empire (1336-1565).

Zafar Khan, a former provincial governor under the Tughluqs, had revolted against his Turkic overlord and proclaimed himself sultan, taking the title Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah in 1347.

The Bahmani Sultanate, located in the northern Deccan, lasts for almost two centuries, until it fragments into five smaller states in 1527.

The Bahmani Sultanate adopts the patterns established by the Delhi overlords in tax collection and administration, but its downfall is caused in large measure by the competition and hatred between deccani (domiciled Muslim immigrants and local converts) and paradesi (foreigners or officials in temporary service).

The Bahmani Sultanate initiates a process of cultural synthesis visible in Hyderabad, where cultural flowering is still expressed in vigorous schools of deccani architecture and painting.