Bahmani, Sultanate of

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.

The empire of Vijayanagar (named for its capital Vijayanagar, "City of Victory," in present-day Karnataka), founded in 1336, had expanded rapidly toward Madurai in the south and Goa in the west and exerts intermittent control over the east coast and the extreme southwest.

Vijayanagar rulers closely follow Chola precedents, especially in collecting agricultural and trade revenues, in giving encouragement to commercial guilds, and in honoring temples with lavish endowments.

Added revenue needed for waging war against the Bahmani sultans is raised by introducing a set of taxes on commercial enterprises, professions, and industries.

Political rivalry between the Bahmani and the Vijayanagar rulers involves control over the Krishna-Tunghabadhra river basin, which shifts hands depending on whose military is superior at any given time.

The Vijayanagar rulers' capacity for gaining victory over their enemies is contingent on ensuring a constant supply of horses—initially through Arab traders but later through the Portuguese—and maintaining internal roads and communication networks.

Merchant guilds enjoy a wide sphere of operation and are able to offset the power of landlords and Brahmans in court politics.

Commerce and shipping eventually pass largely into the hands of foreigners, and special facilities and tax concessions are provided for them by the ruler.

Arabs and Portuguese compete for influence and control of west coast ports, and, in 1510, Goa passes into Portuguese possession.

Shihab-ud-Din Mahmud, also known as Mahmud Shah and Shihab-Ud-Din Mahmud, the twelve-year-old son of Muhammad Shah III, succeeds to the sultanate of Bahmani in 1482.

A regency council is formed with hai mother the Queen as president.

Under Mahmud, sectarian rivals begin to tear apart the large sultanate, as Shiites from Afgnanistan and Persia, relative newcomers in his administration, operate at cross-purposes to the established Turkish nobles of the essentially Sunni sultanate.

The long reign of Mahmud Shah will see a period of gradual weakening of the state.

The King is highly self-indulgent, spending so lavishly that he has to extract many jewels from the Turquoise throne at the instigation of councilor Qasim Barid, who compels Mahmud to make him Prime Minister of the kingdom.

The sultan’s orders begin to be ignored; military missions, ineffective to begin with, eventually cease; and, in 1490, dissident nobles and provincial governors in the regions of Bijapur, Berar, and Ahmadnagar become semi-independent.

Bahmani governor Malik Ahmad, the son of Nizam-ul-Mulk Malik Hasan Bahri, has assumed the appellation of his father afterr his death and from this the dynasty founded by him is known as the Nizam Shahi dynasty.

he declares independence fter defeating the Bahmani army led by general Jahangir Khan on May 28, 1490.

Initially his capital is in the town of Junnar with its fort, later renamed Shivneri.

The death of Vijayanagara’s capable ruler Tuluva Narasa Nayaka in 1503 had resulted in feudatories rising in rebellion throughout the empire.

Tuluva Narasa Nayaka’s eldest son, rules two years before being assassinated.

Vira Narasimha Raya, the next eldest son, succeeds his brother in 1505 and spends all of his four year reign fighting rebel warlords.

Following his death, apparently from illness, his younger half-brother Krishna Deva Raya is crowned on July 26, 1509, the date that the birth of the Hindu God Krishna is celebrated.

The rule of Krishna Deva Raya marks a period of much military success in Vijayanagara history.

On occasion, the king is known to change battle plans abruptly and turn a losing battle into victory.

The first decade of his rule is one of long sieges, bloody conquests and victories.

He reorganizes the army and recruits troops from several south Indian communities in order to make his cavalry more efficient.

His main enemies are the Bahmani Sultans (who, though divided into five small kingdoms, remain a constant threat), the Gajapatis of Odisha, who have been involved in constant conflict since the rule of Vijayanarara emperor Saluva Narasimha Deva Raya, and the Portuguese, a rising maritime power that is rapidly gaining control of much of the sea trade.

The feudal chiefs of Ummattur, the Reddys of Kondavidu and the Velaas of Bhuvanagiri, who have rebelled against Vijayanagar rule are conquered and subdued.

The annual raid and plunder of Vijayanagar towns and villages by the Deccan sultanates will come to an end during the Raya's rule.

He defeats the last remnant of the Bahmani Sultanate, precipitating its collapse.

In 1509 Krishnadevaraya's armies clash with the Sultan of Bijapur at Diwani and the Sultan Mahmud is severely injured and defeated.

Yusuf Adil Shah is killed and the fertile Raichur Doab triangle is annexed.

Taking advantage of the victory and the disunity of the Bahamani Sultans, the Raya invades Bidar, Gulbarga and Bijapur and earns the title "founder of the Yavana kingdom" when he releases Sultan Mahmud and makes him de facto ruler.

The title advertises the boast that he is now the political arbiter of all the Deccan.

The Sultan of Golconda, Sultan Quli Qutb Shah, is defeated by Timmarusu, Krishna Deva Raya’s prime minister.