سلطنة بهمني تاريخ وأهم الحكام واقتصاد وانحدار.
الكلمات الرئيسية: تاريخ سلطنة بهمني، حكام سلطنة بهمني، عمارة سلطنة بهمني، ثقافة سلطنة بهمني, سلطنة ديكان، سلالة سلطنة بهمني، إنجازات سلطنة بهمني، عملة سلطنة بهمني، خريطة سلطنة بهمني، اقتصاد سلطنة بهمني
THE BAHMANI KINGDOM
1.
THE ORIGIN OF BAHMAN SHAH.
Reference has been made above to the successful revolt in the Deccan, in A.D. 1345, during the reign of Muhammad Tughluq, and the accession, two years later, of an amir, named Hasan Gangũ bearing the title Zafar Khan, to the throne at Daulatābād as Abu-'l Muzaffar 'Ala-ud-din Bahman Shäh.
As
usually happens, various stories were current regarding the early life and
family history of the parvenu king. Even at the time when Firishta wrote, there
were too many of them and the one that he gives as the most credible may be
summarised as follows:
"Hasan, a native of Delhi, was a servant of a Brahman named Gangū. Once Hasan, while tilling the field, chanced to discover a copper pot full of gold coins, which he carried to his master. Im- pressed by his honesty, the Brahman brought the fact to the notice of the Sultan, who appointed him to the command of one hundred horse. The Brahman, who was an astrologer, prophesied his future greatness, and made him promise that if he ever became a king he would assume the title Gangu."
Tabātabā
and Nizam-ud-din, the authors respectively of Burhan- i-Ma'asir and
Tabaqat-i-Akbari, both of whom wrote carlier than Firishta, give credit to the
story that Hasan was descended froni the hero Bahman, son of Isfandiyar, and
therefore the dynasty is called Bahmani. Firishta disbelieves the story and
makes an empha- tic assertion to the following effect: "It has been
asserted that he was descended from Bahmun, one of the ancient kings of Persia,
and I, the author, have even seen a pedigree of him so derived, in the royal
library at Ahmudnuggur; but it was probably only framed, after his accession to
the throne, by flatterers and poets, for I believe his origin was too obscure
to admit of being traced. The appellation of Bahmuny he certainly took out of
compliment to his master, Gungoo, the bramin, a word often pronounced balımun.
The King himself was by birth an Afghan." It is to be noted that though
neither Tabätabā nor Nizam-ud-din refers to the Brahman episode, the latter as
well as Yahya, an earlier authority, calls the king Hasan Gangũ or Kanku. The
attempt to explain away Kanku as a scribe's corruption of Kaikaus is hardly
satisfactory.2 The story given by Firishta, therefore, cannot be dismissed
off-hand as 'absurd', nor is it incompatible with epigraphic and numismatic
evidence, as many have held. The title Bahman Shah is mentioned in the Gulbarga
Mosque Inscription and is also found on the coins of the dynasty. It seems to
be the most appropriate appellation which the courtiers of 'Ala-ud-din could
suggest to him, taking into consideration the king's sense of gratitude to the
Brahman, Gangū, and the identity of the Persianized form, Bahman, of the caste
name Brahman, with the name of the great Persian King Bahman, son of
Isfandiyar. In Gulbarga there is, to this day, a street called Baihmanipura,
where the majority of the residents are Brahmans, and some of them describe
themselves as descendants of Gangu. On the whole, it seems much safer to leave
open the question of the origin and early history of Hasan and the real
significance of the dynastic appella- tion Bahmani. The story of Firishta
cannot be set aside or even regarded as less probable than the descent from an
ancient Persian hero. In any case we may reasonably hold that Hasan was born in
humble life and was by his own efforts elevated to the throne.
The
dynasty he founded became famous in history as the Bahmani dynasty and it ruled
the Deccan for the next two hundred years.
2.
THE GULBARGA PERIOD (1347-1422).
Soon
after the ceremony at Daulatābād, Bahman Shah selected Gulbarga as his capital.
It remained the seat of the Bahmani government till about 1425 when, during the
reign of Ahmad Shah Vali (1422-1436), the capital was shifted to Bidar. A great
city grew in place of the old provincial town of Gulbarga with palaces for the
Sultan and the grandees of his court, mosques, bazars and other public
buildings. Situated centrally in the new kingdom, Gulbarga was able to command
its Marathi, Kannada and Telugu areas effectively.
The
first task of Bahman Shah was to impose his sovereignty over the many dissident
elements that had grown up in the Deccan during the period of upheaval
preceding his elevation to the throne. He sent his first expedition towards the
Näsik area to drive out the remnants of the Tughluq army in the Deccan and to
show the flag of the new dynasty to the Hindu chiefs of Baglana. His armies are
said to have gone as far as the Dangs4 beyond Baglana. Another expedition was
directed to places near the capital, such as Akalkot, Bhum and Mundargi.
"Each of the zamindārs of that district (Mundargi) who submitted to his
rule he left in undisturbed posses- sion of his feudal lands..... but any who
disputed his authority, their country and goods were plundered, and they and
those under them put to death". Isma'il Mukh, who had abdicated in favour
of Bahman Shāh, was given a jāgīr near Jamkhandi in the hope that he would
subdue that area and bring it under submission. But Nārāyaṇa, a Hindu chieftain
of this area, succeeded in turning Isma'il against his king. This disaffection
was shortlived, as, soon after, Isma'il was poisoned by the Hindu chief. The
vigorous mea- sures taken by Bahman Shāh for the punishment of Nārāyaṇa also
enabled him to consolidate his rule in the present Bijapur district. The Sultan
then turned his attention towards Karhad and Kolhapur and the passes leading to
the Konkan ports of Dabhol and Khare- patan. It may be noted that the ports on
the Konkan coast and the roads and passes leading to them were controlled by
Gulbarga, and that much of the Konkan territory did not come into Bahmanī
possession till Mahmud Gävän organized campaigns for this purpose in the next
century. In the north-east, the territory up to Mahür (19° 49' N and 77° 58' E)
was brought under Bahmani sway, and in the south, portions of western Telingana
including the strong fortress of Bhongir (17° 31' N and 78° 53' E) were
occupied. These expedi- tions also resulted in considerable material benefit by
way of tri- butes in cash, jewellery and elephants and helped the Sultan in
building a strong army. Thus was the newly created kingdom consolidated.
Bahman
Shah's dominion had two Hindu neighbours, which, like itself, had emerged on
the break-up of the Tughluq empire. One was Warangal, under Kapaya Nayaka,7 on
the south and south- east, and the other, Vijayanagara, a more modern but more
powerful State than Warangal, on the south and south-west. This proximity of
two powerful Hindu kingdoms to an equally powerful Muslim kingdom explains the
chronic warfare of the next hundred years that characterizes the history of the
Deccan. The Bahmani kingdom was determined to advance as far south as Madura,
the limit of the Tughluq empire, and the Hindu kingdoms were as determined to
prevent this advance.
Bahman
Shah led his first campaign against Warangal in 1350 when he compelled its
ruler Käpaya Nayaka to cede to him the fortress of Kaulas (18° 50′N and 77°
80′E) as the price of peace, and imposed on him an annual tribute.
Henceforward, all wars bet- ween the Bahmanis and Warangal can be traced either
to Kāpaya's neglect to pay the stipulated tribute or to his demands for the
resto- ration of Kaulas. According to Firishta, Bahman Shah invaded the
Carnatic, but it is doubtful whether it brought him into conflict with
Vijayanagara itself. But the war certainly began in the next reign.
Bahman
Shah created an aristocracy by bestowing titles like Khan and Malik on the
majority of his officers, while the more in- fluential and powerful among them
were decorated with special distinctions like Qutb-ul-Mulk, Khvāja Jahān etc.
The highest title was Amir-ul-Umara' and this was given to Isma'il Mukh in
recog- nition of the royal position he had occupied. The dignity of a royal
court and royal palace also demanded many officials or diwāns, and so positions
of treasurer (khazan), superintendent of elephants (shahnah-i-fil), keeper of
the seals (dawāt-dār), lord chamberlain (sayyid-ul-hujjāb), royal taster
(chāshnīgir) etc. were created and bestowed on trusted servants.8 Two other
positions were the royal secretary (dabir) and constable of the city
(hājib-i-qasabah) which in course of time were conferred upon persons with the
rank of a minister rather than upon ordinary court officials.
The
Sultan found a ready-made pattern of administration which he could adopt. Two
years before the Deccan became indepen- dent, Muhammad Tughluq had divided it
into four shiqs. Bahman Shah accepted this idea and continued to have four
divisions to each of which he appointed a governor with an appropriate title.
He, however, discontinued the term shiq for these divisions.9
"'Ala-ud-din
Hasan Bahman Shah died in A.D. 1358 at the age of 67 and was succeeded by his
son Muhammad Shah.
The
reign of Muhammad Shah saw the beginning of that long- drawn struggle with
Vijayanagara which continued, with intervals, till the final breakdown of the
latter kingdom. According to Firishta, the king's father, ‘Ala-ud-din Hasan,
"sent a considerable force into the Carnatic" which returned with a rich
booty exacted from “several rājas". In the absence of any specific
reference to Vijayanagara, it can only mean a successful raid into the
borderland between the two kingdoms. The actual war between the two newly
founded succession states of the Sultanate broke out in the reign of Muham- mad
Shah. It was a defensive war which Muhammad had to wage against the combination
of the two Hindu States of Vijayanagara and Telingana. It may be pointed out
that the rivalry between the Bahmani kingdom and Vijayanagara was primarily due
to those political and economic factors which led, even in the Hindu period, to
age-long struggles between the powers who occupied the two sides of the
Krishna-Tungabhadra line such as the Chalukyas and the Pallavas, the
Rashtrakutas and the Cholas, etc.
"The
ruler of Telingana, Käpaya Nayaka, formally demanded the fortress of Kaulas
which 'Alä-ud-din Hasan had wrested from him; while Bukka, the king of
Vijayanagara demanded the Krishna- Tungabhadrã-doāb, presumably on the ground
that it had always belonged to the southern State. As these two demands were
presented almost simultaneously, there was hardly any doubt in the mind of
Muhammad, that the two Hindu Stales had entered into an alli- ance against him,
and this was really the case.
After
temporizing for some time, Muhammad Shah not only refused the demands but made
counter-demands upon the two Hindu kings. Thereupon Kāpaya sent his son
Vinayaka Deva with a large army to seize the fortress of Kaulas, while Bukka
sent twenty thousand men to his help and invaded the Raichur doāb (A.D. 1362).
The allied force was defeated near Kaulās and Kāpaya, being pursued up to
Warangal, was forced to buy peace by offering a large amount of money and over
twenty-five elephants. Soon after this agree- ment was reached, quarrel broke
out again and Muhammad Shah, by a surprise attack on Palampet, seized the young
prince Vināyaka and put him to death with barbarous cruelty. In course of his
re- turn, the Sultan suffered a great deal from the guerilla tactics of the enemy.
He was himself wounded and of his 4,000 soldiers only. 1,500 returned with him.
Next year Muhammad Shah received a report from the secret service, instituted
by him at Delhi, that Kāpaya, enraged at the death of his son, had approached
Firüz Tughluq for assistance against him. He immediately invaded Telin- gāna
(A.D. 1363) with a large army. Kapaya was unable to with- stand the force and
concluded a treaty by paying a large amount of money and ceding Golconda which
was fixed as the perpetual boundary between the two kingdoms. Kāpaya also
presented a turquoise throne which henceforth was used as the royal throne of
the Bahmanis. This account is based almost entirely upon Firishita, and it is
difficult to say whether we may accept it as unvarnished truth. As will be
shown later, in the chapter on Vijayanagara, Firishta gives a similar account
of the successive victories won by Muhammad Shah against that kingdom. But the
terms of the treaty which ended the war clearly indicate that Muhammad Shāh had
to concede all the major demands of Bukka. The cession by Kapaya of the
fortress of Golconda is an undoubted fact, and indicates his discomfiture in
the war. On the other hand, according to Firishla himself, when Muhammad Shah
began the campaign he was "resolved on the entire conquest of
Telingana", 9" and yet he con- cluded a treaty, fixing Golconda as
the perpetual boundary between the Bahmani kingdom and Telingana. This
certainly indicates that perhaps the small Hindu principality of Telingana did
not fare as badly as Firishta would have us believe. Equally doubtful is
Firishta's statement, that being reproached by the ambassadors of Vijayanagara
for indiscriminate massacre of Hindu women and children, Muhammad Shah
"took an oath, that he would not, hereafter, put to death a single enemy
after a victory and would bind his successors to observe the same line of
conduct". But Firishta exceeds all limits when he observes: "From
that time to this, it has been the general custom in the Deccan to spare the
lives of prisoners in war, and not to shed the blood of an enemy's unarmed
subjects". The account of Firishta himself gives a direct lie to this
statement.
The
last campaign in Telingana lasted for about two years and was immediately
followed by a protracted war with Vijayanagara which will be described in the
next chapter. After this campaign was over Muhammad Shāh reigned in peace and
prosperity. He turned his attention to the improvement of administration and
consolidation of authority over his extensive kingdom till his death in A.D.
1375. Muhammad Shah indulged in wine and other vices, but a story is told how
in deference to the wishes of a pious shaikh, Muhammad Shah abjured the use of
wine in public and ordered the closure of distilleries in the kingdom. This enforced
temperance proved to be a shortlived reform and seems to have passed away
towards the close of the Sultan's reign. The reign of Muhammad. Shah marks the
beginning of an independent Deccan architecture to which reference will be made
later. He was also the first to organize the artillery and to use it in fights
against Vijayanagara.
Muhammad I was succeeded by his son 'Ala-ud-din Mujahid (1375) whose short reign is chiefly remembered for his Gargantuan appetite and physical prowess which earned him the sobriquet of 'balawant'. The chief event of his short reign of about three years was his campaign against Vijayanagara as will be related later. While returning from this campaign, Mujahid was murdered by his cousin Daud9 (1378) who then ascended the throne. Within about a month, however, Mujahid's partisans avenged his death by assassinating Daud, and setting on the throne Däud's brother, Muhammad II, in preference to Daud's son, Sanjar, who was blinded.
The
king of Vijayanagara took advantage of these political troubles to wrest a
large slice of territory on the western coast, in- cluding the port of Goa. But
barring this, the long reign of Muham- mad II was on the whole peaceful, and he
put an end to palace and court intrigues and the regicide atmosphere that had
grown in the capital. The Sultan was, however, no match for his rival, the king
of Vijayanagara, who consolidated his authority in the eastern regions in
defiance of him, as well be related later. Muhammad Shah II was essentially a
man of culture, and he tried to attract to his kingdom men of piety and
erudition. He made Faizullah Anjü, one of the learned divines of the time,
Sadr-i-Jahän or Chief Justice and Minister for Religious Endowments, and
invited the great Hafiz to his court. But the poet, on being caught in a storm
on embarka- tion at Ormuz, decided to abandon his voyage. He sent an ode to the
king instead, for which a rich present was returned to him by the royal patron.
The Sultan himself was a very learned man and was nick-named Aristotle by his
subjects. With learning he com- bined an abiding interest in the welfare of his
subjects. When his kingdom was ravaged by a famine he made prompt and efficient
arrangement for the transport of grain from Gujarat and Malwa and its distribution
among Muslims only at cheap rates. He established orphanages in various centres
in the kingdom two of which were at the Konkan ports of Chaul and Dabhol.10
Muhammad
II died in April 1397, and was succeeded by Ghiyās. ud-din. Malik Saif-ud-din
Ghūri, the powerful and able Bahmani minister who had rendered distinguished
and loyal services to the new dynasty since the reign of its founder and had a
large share in setting up the Bahmani administrative machinery, died the very
next day after Muhammad II. A Turkish faction now raised its head in Gulbarga
under the leadership of Taghalchin, an unscrupul- ous adventurer. The king had
incurred Taghalchin's wrath by rc- fusing to appoint him to the governorship of
Gulbarga and to the position of Vakil-us-saltanat rendered vacant by the death
of Saif- ud-din Ghūri. Unfortunately, the king, infatuated by the beauty of
Taghalchin's daughter, put himself in his power and was seized, while alone,
and blinded (June 1397). Taghalchin then raised to the throne Ghiyas-ud-din's
younger half-brother as Shams-ud-din Dāūd Shāh. He had won over to his cause
the young king's mother, who had been a maid-servant of Ghiyās-ud-din's mother,
and with her support he became the regent of the kingdom. This degradation of
the royal family and the dominance which the upstart Taghalchin had acquired,
excited the wrath of the late king's cousins Firuz and Ahmad, who were married
to his sisters, daughters of Muhammad 11. In the palace revolution that now
followed Taghalchin was over- powered, Shams-ud-din was deposed, and Firüz Khan
ascended the throne as Sultan Taj-ud-din Firuz Shah on November 16, 1397.
Ghiyas-ud-din, the blinded and deposed king, who had been kept in confinement
at Sägar, was brought to Gulbarga, and Taghalchin was produced before the
monarch whom he had so basely treated. The blind Ghiyas-ud-din with a sword
struck at Taghalchin und slew him.11
*Firuz
Shah had an eventful reign of twenty-five years (1397- 1422). It was marked by
three distinct campaigns against Vijaya- nagara in 1398, 1406 and 1417. In
spite of Firishta's grandiloquent description of the brilliant successes of
Firuz in his first campaign culminating in the siege of Vijayanagara, the
silence of other Muslim chroniclers seems to indicate that Fīrüz did not probably
invade the Raichur doab, far less advance up to the capital city Vijayanagara.
The campaign does not seem to have brought any conspicuous suc- cess on either
side, as will be related later.
'But
far more important were the two subsidiary campaigns waged by Firuz. The first
was against the Gond Rājā Narsing Rai of Kherla, about four miles north of
Betul in Madhya Pradesh. According to Firishta, he had invaded Berar at the
instigation of the neighbouring Muslim rulers of Malwa and Khandesh, and on the
advice of the Rājā of Vijayanagara. After concluding treaty with Vijayanagara,
Firüz proceeded against Narsing who offered a stub- born resistance but not
having received any help from outside, as he hoped, offered submission.
*Far
different was the state of affairs in Telingana where the two rival factions,
the Vemas and Velamas, were actively supported, respectively, by the rulers of
Vijayanagara and the Bahmanī king- dom. Here, again, Firishta speaks of the
uniform success of Firüz, but in reality he could achieve very little. At first
when the main army of Firüz was occupied on the banks of the Krishna fighting
against Vijayanagara, the forces of the latter won complete victory in
Telingana. After the conclusion of treaty with Vijayanagara and the submission
of Kherla, Firūz advanced in full force to Telingāna. He obtained some
successes at first, but was forced to retreat when Kāṭaya Vema's lieutenant,
Allāḍa Reddi, defeated the Bahmani com- mander, 'Ali Khan.
*Firishta's
account of the second Bahmani campaign against Vijayanagara begins with a
romantic love episode of Devaraya, and ends with his daughter's marriage with
the Muslim Sultān, which was a unique event in those days. But the omission of
all reference to this marriage by Nizam-ud-din, and a very different account of
the whole campaign by a still earlier author throw doubt on the entire account
of Firishta about the success of Firüz.
The
third campaign (A.D. 1417-20) centred round the siege of the fort of Pangal by
Firuz and ended in his total discomfiture by the army of Vijayanagara. Firüz,
being defeated, escaped from the field, and his territory was laid waste with
fire and sword. Thus the net result of the long-drawn struggle between the
Bahmanī king- dom and Vijayanagara was a stalemate. The status quo was main-
tained and the Raichur doab, the bone of contention, remained in possession of
Vijayanagara.
The
defeat and discomfiture of Firuz weighed so heavily on his mind, and undermined
his prestige to such an extent that the forces of unrest once again reared up
their head. Added to this was the rift between him and the famous Khvāja Gīsū
Daraz, the saint openly declaring that the Sultan's brother, Ahmad, should be
the next ruler instead of Hasan, the son of Firüz. Attempts were made by two courtiers
of Firuz to imprison Ahmad Khan, but the partisan- ship shown towards him by
the saint influenced the army which declared for Ahmad. The royal force was
defeated by Ahmad and he besieged the capital. The old and sick Firüz was
carried into the battlefield, but he swooned, and the citadel surrendered.
Firüz realized his position and wisely offered the throne to his brother,
himself abdicating. Ahmad ascended the throne at Gulbarga on September 22,
1422, and on October 2, Firuz died.
Firuz
was an enlightened ruler, but not a rigid Muslim. Though fond of wine and
music, he delighted in holding learned discourses with philosophers, poets,
historians and other learned men whom he gathered round him. He encouraged the
pursuit of astronomy and built an observatory near Daulatābād. He construct- ed
the new city of Firūzābād on the Bhima and occasionally used it as his capital.
He devoted much attention to the two principal ports of his kingdom, Chaul and
Dabhol, which attracted trading ships from the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, and
poured into the king- dom articles of necessity and luxury not only from
Persia, Arabia and the African coast, but also from Europe. It is said that he
was an accomplished linguist and a good calligrapher, and that he used to copy sixteen
pages of the Qur'an every four days. Though nomi- nally an orthodox Sunnī, he
was not averse to make use of the license, given by later theologians, for
contracting many temporary marriages. He thus collected a large harem
consisting of women of many nationalities and it was his boast that he could
speak to each of them in her own tongue.
3.
BAHMANI ADMINISTRATION.
The
reign of Firuz Shah Bahmani saw the end of the Gulbarga period of the dynasty.
In spite of regicides and internal troubles this was a period of expansion,
consolidation and struggle against external powers which began soon after Zafar
Khän had founded the Bahmani kingdom. The Bahmani administrative system was
modelled on the Islamic pattern. The king was the supreme power in the State.
He was ruler, judge, administrator, military leader, sometimes even preacher
and leader of public worship. His duties were as all-embracing as his
authority. The king was the shadow of God on earth. But only Mujahid Shah
Bahmani (1375-78) sccms. to have claimed this distinction. 12
Bahman
Shah, the founder of the dynasty, was content to acknowledge the theoretical
supremacy of the 'Abbasid Caliphate; he had a black canopy over his throne in
the 'Abbasid fashion13 and on his coins he styled himself as "right hand
of the Caliphate". 14
Though
in theory the king's authority was unlimited, in practice he depended on the
advice of his ministers in deciding questions of State policy. The chief duty
of the ministers was, of course, implicit obedience to the king's wishes. They
were responsible to him in the smallest matters and held office during his
pleasure.
The
chief minister was called vakil-us-sultanat. All orders issued by the king
passed through him and bore his seal. The minister for finance was the amir-i-jumla.
The wazir-i-ashraf was in charge of external affairs. Two other ministers were
the wazîr-i- kull and the peshwa with somewhat undefined duties. The sadr-i-
jahan was the chief judicial authority and was in charge of reli- gious matters
and religious endowments. 15 There were various other junior ministers like the
nazir and the kotwäl16 on the civil side and qür beg-i-maisarah (commander of
the left wing) and the qur beg-i-maimanah (commander of the right wing) on the
military side, 17
The
provincial administrative system of the Bahmanis owes its origin to the founder
of the kingdom. 'Ala-ud-din Bahman Shāh had divided his kingdom into four
divisions, each of which was en- trusted to an officer. During the reign of his
son Muhammad, these divisions were named tarafs, and the officers in charge of
them, called tarafdars, 18 These provincial governors were supreme in their
res- pective divisions. "They collected the revenue, raised and com-
manded the army and made all appointments both civil and military, in their
provinces".19 Naturally they tended to become powerful. But during the
early days of the Bahmanis, they were held in check by the strong personality
of the king himself, who, every year, spent some time in touring the various
divisions and in supervising the administration of his officers. Moreover the
tarafdārs could be, and were indeed, transferred from one province to another.
20 The Bahmani kingdom slowly grew in extent and in the reign of Muhammad Shāh
III (Lashkari) reached its furthest limits. Mah- mūd Gāvān, the famous minister
of Muhammad Shah Lashkarī, re- divided the kingdom into eight
sarlashkarships.21 This arrange- ment and the system of transfers were intended
to control the power of the tarafdars. But they failed to cure the evils which
were further accentuated by civil war.
Usually
one, and some time more, of these tarafdars were also ministers at the Bahmani
court. Mahmûd Gāvān was the vakil-us sultanat to Humayun Shah (1458-1461) and
also tarafdar of the Bijapur division. Similarly during the succeeding reign,
Khvāja Jahan, who was vakil to Nizām Shāh Bahmani (1461-1463), was also the
governor of Telingana; and Mahmud Gāvăn, who was made both amir-i-jumla and
vazir-i-kull, was retained in charge of Bijapur.2/ Each of the tarafdars was,
ipso facto, a military officer and held the rank of a commander of 2,000
horse.23
The
sub-division of a taraf was known as sarkar, which in its turn was further
divided into parganas. A pargana consisted of a certain number of villages, the
village being the smallest unit of administration.
4.
THE BIDAR PERIOD (1422-1538).
Ahmad
Shah Bahmani, the successor of Firuz and famous in history as the Vali or
saint, seems to have shifted the Bahmanī capital from Gulbarga to Bidar some
time about 1425,24 After the conquest of Warangal, the Bahmani kingdom extended
in the east and Bidar was the most central point for this augmented dominion.
The three linguistic areas of the kingdom converged on this city; it had
moreover a far better climate than Gulbarga and strategi- cally a far stronger
situation. But there was perhaps a political motive behind this change to which
reference will be made in the chapter on Vijayanagara.
Almost immediately after his accession, Ahmad Shāh decided to carry out the unfulfilled wishes of his brother, and declared war on Devaraya II of Vijayanagara. Firishta, in his usual manner, describes how the Bahmani king forced Devaraya II to sue for peace by laying his country waste and besieging his capital. The Rājā of Warangal, who had joined Devaraya II and then deserted him, soon paid the penalty for his folly. After the close of his campaign. against Vijayanagara, Ahmad Shah marched towards Warangal in 1425. The Raja was defeated and slain, and Warangal was finally annexed to the Bahmani kingdom.
It
was during Ahmad Shah's reign (1422-1436) that the Bahmani kingdom first came
into conflict with the kingdoms of Malwa and Gujarat which like itself had
risen out of the Tughluq empire. In the conflict against Malwa, Ahmad Shah
carried the victorious Bahmani flag into that dominion and overawed it with his
might so that during the rest of his reign there was no further trouble bet-
ween the two kingdoms.
Ahmad's
conflict against Gujarat was of his own seeking. He took sides with a Hindu
chieftain of the Gujarat kingdom who had risen in revolt against his overlord,
the Sultan of Gujarat, and had come to Ahmad Shah Vali via Khandesh. In A.D.
1429, Bahmani troops were sent to help the rebel and they raided the Nandurbar
district of the Gujarāt dominion only to be expelled from there and to be
driven out of Khandesh back into Bahmani territory. Next year (1430) another
Bahmanī army, under Khalaf Hasan Basri, was sent to occupy the island of
Salsette. It encamped on the Mahim creek with the Gujarat army facing it on the
opposite (Bandra) side. But this attempt to occupy Gujarāt territory also
proved futile. In this campaign we see the beginning of the Deccani-pardesī
rivalry. The Deccani officers under Khalaf Hasan treacherously quitted his camp
with the result that the Gujarātis were able to gain an easy victory over
Khalaf Hasan. It was most probably in this campaign that the islands of Mahim
and some territory south of it were annexed to the Gujarat kingdom. The
hostilities against Gujarāt made Ahmad seek the alliance of Khandesh which was
achieved by the marriage of the Sultan's son, 'Ala-ud-din, with the daughter of
Nasir Khan Farruqi.
After
the death of Ahmad Shah Vali his son, ‘Alä-ud-din Ahmad, who succeeded him,
built a magnificent dome over the grave of his father on the outskirts of the
new capital. The ceiling and walls of this tomb were decorated with paintings
composed of calligraphic devices or floral designs. The colours of these
paintings, especially of those on the ceiling, are still fresh and bright as if
they were done only a few years ago. These paintings are considered unique in
India for their beauty and elegance. From one of the inscriptions in the tomb
we get the correct date of Ahmad Shah's death, 29th Ramzan, 839 (April 17,
1436). A very interesting practice connect- ed with this tomb is that an annual
fair is held near it, in honour of the Vali, by the priests of the Lingayat
sect, a ceremony which, legend claims, started when the tomb was built.
The
reign of 'Ala-ud-din Ahmad (1436-1458) opened with a campaign against
Vijayanagara, and there was another struggle in A.D. 1443-4. Both were confined
to the Raichur doub and will be described later. 'Ala-ud-din Ahmad subdued the
chiefs of the Konkan region. In the year of his accession an army was sent
against the Raja of Sangamesvar (17° 16' N and 73° 33′ E) who not only offered
submission but gave his beautiful daughter in marriage to the Sultan. This
lady, known to history as Pari-chehra or Zībā- chehra (Fairy face), was the
Sultan's favourite queen, and the cause of much jealousy and annoyance to the
first queen, the daughter of Nasir Khan of Khandesh, Nasir Khan, partly
instigated by his daughter and partly encouraged by the Sultāns of Gujarāt and
Malwa, declared hostilities against his son-in-law and marched with an army
into his dominion. Khalaf Hasan Basri was once again entrusted with the charge
of the Bahmani army which consisted exclusively of pardesis. With the defeat at
Mahim due to the treachery of the Deccanis, still fresh in his mind, Khalaf
Hasan was able to persuade the king and the Deccani Vakil-us-Sultanat Miyān
Minullah to agree to such a step. He inflicted a defeat on the Khandeshis on
the battlefields of Berar and drove them back into their territory. But this
new policy of exclusion rankled in the minds of the Deccanis, and finally led
to the massacre of the pardesis at Chakan, as will be described in the next
section.
The
last years of 'Ala-ud-din Ahmad's reign were marked by the rebellion of his
brother-in-law, Jalal Khan, who proclaimed him- self as king of Telingāna
(1455). The Sultan himself marched against the rebel who took refuge in the
fortress of Nalgonda (17° 3' N and 79° 16′E) and sent his son, Sikandar,
towards Malwa to beseech the help of that kingdom. Sikandar gained support of
Mahmud Khalji of Malwa by representing that 'Ala-ud-din Ahmad was dead and
disorder had broken out in the Bahmani dominion. 'Ala-ud-din at this juncture
placed Mahmûd Gävän in charge of the siege of Nalgonda, and proceeded to the
north to meet the danger created by the conduct of Sikandar. Mahmud Khalji,
finding that he had been misled by false information about the death of the
Bahmani Sultan, relinquished his campaign and retired to his kingdom. Mahmud
Gāvān secured royal pardon both for Jalāl Khân and his son and their rebellion
was over. This is the first occasion when Mahmud Gavan, the great Bahmani
minister and one of the greatest figures of medieval India, comes first into
notice. He had arrived at Dabhol in 1453 as a merchant and finding his way to
Bidar and attracting royal notice, had been enrolled in Bahmani service and
entrusted with the siege of Nal- gonda. In this very first task Gāvān had
acquitted himself credit- ably; his rise henceforth at the Bahmani court was
rapid.
'Ala-ud-din
Ahmad's reign is notable for the large hospital he established in his capital
early during his reign. A number of vil- lages were endowed to this institution
from the revenues of which were paid the cost of medicine and food of the
patients and possibly also the salaries of the staff. Both Hindu and Muslim
physicians were employed in this hospital25 and it can be inferred from this
that it was open to patients irrespective of caste and religion. In this
connection it may be mentioned that for about the last four years of his life
the Sultan suffered from a fostering wound in one of his shins, and, if the
account of the Marâțhî Gurucharitra written in c. A.D. 1550 is to be believed,
the Sultan got some relief from the ministrations of Nrisimha Sarasvati, famous
in his time as a saintly person and revered by people to this day. It is said
that the Sultan, despairing of cure for his ills, as a last resort went to the
Svāmī who himself visited the royal patient in his capital and cured him. Some
of the present day scholars attribute the death of the king to his wound, but
neither Firishta nor Tabātabā make any state- ment to that effect, and the
latter merely states that the Sultān died in Jamadi 1, 862 A.H. (April, 1458).
The
short reign of Humayun (1458-1461) was marred by con- stant unrest and
rebellions in the kingdom and among its Hindu vassals. The stern and ruthless
attempts of the Sultan to put down these forces of disorder seem to have earned
for him the sobriquet Zālim (cruel) at the hands of Firishta. This chronicler
records the most horrid deeds of cruelty perpetrated by Humayun.2 Nor does the
author of the Burhān-i-Ma'āsir spare the king. But the picture of his reign as
given by both these chroniclers appears to be overdrawn, when we read the
sentiments of the minister Mahmud Gāvān towards his royal master as expressed
in his letters.26
Humayun's
son and successor, Nizam Shah Bahmani, a boy of eight years, also had a short
reign of about two years during which the administration of the kingdom
remained in the hands of a council of three consisting of the Queen-mother,
assisted by two of the ablest men in the Bahmani Court, Mahmud Gävän and Khvāja
Jahan Turk. The Queen-mother herself was one of the few remark- able women that
have appeared in the ruling dynasties of medieval India. Though she did not
appear in public, she kept herself in close and constant touch with her
colleagues of the council from whom and from her personal agents she received
daily reports of the affairs of the kingdom. She directed that her son, the boy
king, should sit every day in the hall of audience and preside over the royal
darbar so that he should gain full knowledge of current affairs and familiarity
with the details of administration. The Council of Regency also declared a
general amnesty in favour of those who had been imprisoned during the harsh
rule of Humāyün, a wise measure, the credit for which goes mainly to Mahmud
Gävän.
While
the internal condition of the kingdom was being thus strengthened by the
Council of Regency, the king of Orissa, Kapi- lendra, in the belief that a
State ruled by a child was likely to prove weak in war, made an alliance with
the king of Telingana and marched against the Bahmani kingdom. He made his way
to the very outskirts of the capital Bidar, but the military leadership of
Mahmud Gävän and Khvāja Jahan triumphed and the invaders were repulsed. Hardly
had this affair ended when Malwa made war on the Bahmani kingdom. Mahmud
Khalji, the Sultan of Malwa, marched through the northern territories of
Bahmani dominion and occupied Bidar from which the king had been removed to
Firūzābād. In this distress Mahmud Gāvān appealed to Gujarāt for help and
Mahmud Begarha marched with an army to the Deccan. The com- bined efforts of
the Bahmani forces and the Gujarat allies resulted in the enemy withdrawing
towards Mālwa. Next year (1463) Mahmud Khalji again invaded the Bahmani
dominion, but retreated when he heard that Gujarāt was ready once again to help
the Deccan kingdom.
Young
Nizam Shah Bahmani died on July 30, 1463, on the very day of his marriage, and
was succeeded by his younger brother Muhammad Shah III (1463-82). The Council
of Regency, which had guided the affairs of the Bahmani kingdom during the
earlier reign, continued to function till 1466. Khvāja Jahan Turk had about
this time come under suspicion of disloyalty, and in that year the Queen-
mother contrived his murder in open court. Mahmûd Gavān was now appointed
Vakil-us-Sultanat (Deputy of the kingdom) or the Prime Minister, and he remained
in supreme authority till his murder in 1481. During the fifteen years that
Mahmud Gavan was at the helm of administration, he successfully fought against
Orissa and Vijayanagara and enlarged the boundaries of the kingdom from Orissa
to Goa. His most important military achievements were the conquest of Hubli,
Belgaum and Bagalkot which brought the whole of the former Bombay-Karnatak
under Bahmani sway, the com- plete subjugation and consolidation of the Konkan,
and the occu- pation of the important port of Goa. This port, which was
jealous- ly guarded by the Vijayanagara kings, had for long been coveted by the
Bahmanis, and is described by Gävän himself as "the envy of the islands
and ports of India". The Sultan himself showed great military leadership
in all these campaigns which earned for him the title Lashkari.
These
new conquests enriched the resources of the kingdom and Athanasius Nikitin, the
Russian traveller who visited Bidar about 1470, describes it as "the chief
town of the whole of Muhammadan Hindustan". The nobles and people of the
city and its buildings gave him an impression of great luxury, well-being and
wealth. Nikitin describes the royal palace as wonderful to behold, and on an
'Id day he saw the Sultan in a dress studded with precious stones and with a
large diamond in his head-dress, riding on a charger with a golden saddle. To
this wealth of the city, Gävän added the dig- nity of scholarship by founding a
madrasah or school equipped with a library and housed in a glittering building
with glazed tiles on its outside. But Gävän and his administrative reforms had
excited the envy and jealousy of the Deccanis which finally culminated in his
murder. Before proceeding further it is necessary to discuss fully the causes
and results of this base and melancholy tragedy.
5.
PARTY STRIFE IN THE BAHMANĪ KINGDOM.
As
stated above, Hasan, the founder of the Bahmani dynasty, had divided his
kingdom into four provinces, which, under his successors, were known as tarafs
and were placed under governors known as tarafdārs. These provincial governors
enjoyed great powers. In their respective dominions they were supreme. The
tarafdārī system worked smoothly as long as it had behind it the momentum of a
strong personality,-either of the king himself, or of an able minister like
Mahmûd Gāvān. But when it became rigid and the tarafdārs acquired local
prestige, it became difficult to cope with its separatist tendencies.
The progress of these centrifugal forces was further accentuated by the fact that, about the middle of the fifteenth century, the ruling Muslim aristocracy had split itself into two rival groups, the Deccanis and the pardesis or foreigners'. The Deccanis were the domiciled Muslims. No doubt they had originally come from out- side the Deccan, but a stay in the Deccan extending over gene- rations had changed their manners, ways of living and outlook on life, and had even altered their complexion. The descendants of the Muslims whom Hasan, the first Bahmanī king, entertained in his service, had also, a century later, become natives of the country, and had no longer any extra-territorial interests. Many of them had native blood in their veins, for a number of Muslim invaders ori- ginally coming into the Deccan had married women belonging to the country. This class also contained Hindu converts to Islam. Fathullah 'Imad Shah, the founder of the 'Imad Shāhī dynasty of Berar, and Ahmad Nizam Shah, who established the Sultanate of Ahmadnagar, were both originally Brahmans. Naturally, there- fore, the Deccanis looked upon their native land as their particular preserve, and viewed with suspicion every foreigner entering the Deccan as a future rival and a possible competitor for a position at court and a place in the king's favour.
The
pardesis, as their name implied, were not natives of the Deccan; year by year
they came into the country from abroad in increasing numbers. The Bahmani kings
made it a matter of policy to employ these pardesi adventurers freely in their
army, and a continuous supply of foreigners, mostly soldiers, poured into the
country. A number of pardesis came for trade and, like the traders of a later
age, found it to their advantage to take part in the politics of the country.
To those soldiers of fortune from Persia, Turkey, Central Asia, Arabia and
Afghanistan, the Deccan in those days was the land of adventure and promise, a
land where valour was recognized and statesmanship rewarded.
From
the very beginning of the Bahmani kingdom, the 'foreigners' wielded
considerable influence in the politics of the country. Bahman Shah himself had
persuaded many Afghän and Mughul amirs--fresh recruits in the Tughluq service
from abroad- to join his standard. This policy was continued by his successors,
who, by their patronage, attracted and ensured a continuous supply of
'foreigners'. Mujahid Shah Bahmani (1375-78), in particular, showed a
conspicuous preference to Persians and Turks.27 It was this policy of
preference and exclusion that created in the Deccanis a feeling of grievance
and ill-usage.
At
first the 'foreigners' were few in number and the Deccanis did not feel their
competition. But with the lapse of time the former gained in strength and
formed a distinct party. This also checked the process of assimilation. When,
at first, the pardesis were few in number, they intermarried with the native
Deccanis and were soon merged into the bigger community. But with the growth of
the pardesi party the 'foreigners' became conscious of their separate entity
and this hindered the process of assimilation. Thus came into being the two
distinct parties-the Deccanis and pardesīs. As a rule the pardesis were more
energetic and enterprising than the native- born Deccanis. They were employed
in preference to their less ac- tive and hardy rivals, and seldom failed to
acquit themselves well. Many rose to the highest offices in the State to the
great annoyance of the native Deccanis, who found themselves surpassed in the
battle- field as well as in the council chamber. This resulted in recrimina-
tions and quarrels, and ultimately brought about the internecine struggle which
followed and weakened the power of the Bahmanî kingdom, and ultimately led to
its dissolution.
Moreover,
the ill-feeling between the parties created by oppos- ing interests was
complicated by religious differences. A majority of the 'foreigners' were
Shiahs, while most of the Deccanis were Sunnis. Ahmad Shah Vali showed
preference for the Shiah creed, donated money to Shiah holy places, and invited
Shiah saints to his court. 28 Yusuf 'Adil Khan and Sultan Quli, two of the
pardesi provincial governors, who in the later Bahmanī period declared their
independence, were Shiahs, whereas their two Deccani colleagues, Fathullah
'Imad-ul-Mulk and Ahmad Nizam-ul-Mulk, were Sunnis. The religious factor brought
to the side of the Deccanis one class of foreigners, the Abyssinians, who were
mostly Sunnis. In compe- tition with the fair, handsome, cultured pardesis from
Persia, Turkey, etc. the dark-skinned, illiterate, unprepossessing Abyssinians
were at a great disadvantage and were treated with contempt by the fair
pardesis. The religious factor and the contempt shown towards them by the other
foreigners had the effect of throwing the Abyssinians into the arms of the
Deccanis. Thus, in the feuds that followed between the Deccanis and pardesis,
the former party con- sisted of the Deccanis and Abyssinians, while the latter
was composed of Turks, Mughuls, Persians and Arabs.
Towards
the close of the fourteenth century, the Deccanis rea- lized that they were
being gradually displaced from power and place by their successful rivals, the
pardesis, and waited for an opportunity to gain the upper hand at the Bahmani
court. This came during the latter half of the reign of Ahmad Shah Vali
(1422-36) when the king suffered a decline alike in his mental and in his
physical powers. By well-calculated flattery, judicious self-praise, and subtle
insinua- tion against their rivals, the Deccanis manoeuvred themselves into the
Sultan's favour. During A.D. 1430-31, the Bahmani army was defeated on three
successive occasions by the Gujarātis. Khalaf Hasan, the pardesi minister who
had been honoured with the title of Malik-ut-Tujjār29 by Ahmad Shah, attributed
these reverses to the cowardice and treachery of the Deccanis. But the latter
seems to have convinced the king of the incompetence of his pardesi adviser.
The result was that the Deccanis were raised to power, and the administration
of government was entrusted to a member of their faction, Miyan Minullāh
Dakhānī, who was invested with the title of Nizam-ul-Mulk.30
On
coming to power, the Deccanis openly manifested their de sire to suppress the
foreigners, and in 1446 treacherously massacred a large number of them. In that
year an army of Deccanis and pardesis was sent against Rājā Sankar Rao Shirke,
a chieftain with his headquarters at Khelna in south Konkan. The Rājā of Sanga-
meśvar, who earlier had professed submission to the Bahmani Sultan, made common
cause with the Shirke. These two stalwarts once again showed that the spirit of
the Konkan was yet unsubdued. The invaders, lured by them into the fastnesses
of the hilly tracts of this region, suffered a crushing defeat with the result
that the survivors retreated to the fort of Chakan (18° 45′ N and 73° 32′′E).
"Taking advantage of this, the Deccanis, "who from olden times had
been deadly enemies of the foreigners", misrepresented this affair to the
Sultan, ‘Alā-ud-din Ahmad Shah, and ascribed the defeat to the treacherous and
inefficient conduct of the Konkan campaign by Khalaf Hasan and his pardesi
colleagues. The only punishment for the foreigners, the Deccanis averred, was
extirpation. The Sultan, not knowing the perfidy, concurred with the nobles
that the surviving foreigners should be put to death.31 The unfortunate pardesis
were lured out of Chakan and slaughtered, victims of their rivals' jealousy.
After
the massacre of Chakan, a few foreigners, who, with great difficulty, effected
their escape, represented to the king the decep- tion which had been practised
on him and gave him the correct. version of what had taken place. Inquiries
were set on foot which exposed the duplicity of the Deccanis and their desire
for the extermination of the foreigners, with the result that they werc
severely punished and degraded in the court and the 'foreigners' re- gained
their ascendancy.3
6.
MURDER OF MAHMŪD GĀVĀN: THE DISSOLUTION OF THE BAHMANĪ KINGDOM.
The
massacre of Chakan had set the final seal on the bitter mutual hatred between
the Deccanis and the pardesis that had been steadily increasing for fifty
years. Matters at length had gone too far; compromise was now unthinkable, and
each party wanted to destroy and uproot the other. In 1481, by a perfidy
reminiscent of the massacre of Chakan, the Deccani party contrived the murder of
one of the greatest statesmen in the history of India, Khvāja Mahmud Gävän, the
pardesi minister of Muhammad Shāh Bahmani III (Lashkari). The false accusation
and violent death of this upright minister constitute one of the tragedics of
medieval India.
The
Khvāja, who in the reign of Muhammad Shah III (1463- 1482) had risen to the
highest office in the State, was by birth a Persian. He was honoured by the
king with the title of Malik ut-Tujjar, and he and his followers were permitted
to take preced- ence at court over Hasan Nizām-ul-Mulk Bahri, the leader of the
Deccani party and tarafdär of Telingana. With the welfare of the kingdom at
heart and with a strict sense of justice, Gāvān tried to maintain the balance
between the Deccanis and pardesis by an equal division of offices between the
rival parties. But Hasan Nizam-ul-Mulk was jealous of the position of Gävän and
was wait.. ing for an opportunity to overthrow the popular minister.
Mahmud Gāvān initiated many reforms. He subdivided each of the four main divisions into two and framed regulations for their government which curtailed the powers of the provincial governors.33 These excellent reforms were made for administrative efficiency, but became extremely unpopular among the Deccanis and caused widespread resentment against their originator. The crafty and unscrupulous Hasan instigated his followers to put an end to the author of these reforms. So a number of Deccanis, although they owed their high offices entirely to Gāvān, entered into a conspiracy against their patron and hatched a nefarious plot for his destruc- tion. Yusuf 'Adil Khan, the right-hand man of Gävän, having been dispatched on an expedition to Telingana, the field was left clear for the conspirators. A forged letter with the minister's seal, pur- porting to invite the King of Orissa to invade the kingdom, was suddenly unearthed, and Mahmud Gāvān, thus falsely accused, was put to death by the order of Muhammad Shāh34 (April 5, 1481). This great crime was the immediate cause of the dissolution of the Bahmani kingdom. The pardesi amīrs refused to stay in the capital, and returned to their provinces without the formality of obtaining the king's permission. Even responsible members of the Deccani party openly expressed their disapproval of the conspirators and joined the camp of Yusuf 'Adil Khan. Deserted by the foreigners and some of the Deccanis, the king was forced to throw himself into the arms of the conspirators. Hasan Nizām-ul-Mulk was exalted to the dignity of Malik Naib and all the affairs of the king- dom were placed in his hands. But Muhammad Shāh could not forget that he had shed innocent blood; he tried to drown his re- morse in wine and died from its effects within a year of his minister's death, crying with his last breath that Gävän was tearing out his heart.
Muhammad's
son and successor Mahmud (1482-1518) being a minor, authority remained in the
hands of Malik Naib. On the eve of the coronation ceremony, when all the amirs
had gathered in the capital, the crafty Deccani formed a plot to assassinate
Yusuf ‘Adil Khan and to extirpate his followers. But the foreigners were put on
their guard by some of their well-wishers in the opposite camp. For no less
than twenty days Bidar was a scene of conflict between the rival factions and
when peace was restored, Yusuf 'Adil Khän agreed to retire to Bijapur and Malik
Naib was left at the helm of affairs in the Bahmani capital.35
The
regency of Malik Naib did not last long. He was disliked by some of his
followers for his share in the murder of Mahmüd Gāvān, and his subsequent
policy towards the foreigners made him intensely hated by a section of the
Deccanis. The usual intrigues followed and Malik Naib, fleeing for safety, was
put to death by the Abyssinian governor of Bidar.36 Thus the Deccani minister
shared the fate of the great pardeşi noble whose death he had so basely
contrived.
Once
again the swing of the pendulum brought the pardesis to power. Once again their
rivals conspired to destroy the influence which they still possessed, going to
the length, this time, of form- ing a conspiracy to murder the king and to
place another prince of the royal family on the throne. They suddenly attacked
the royal palace one night in October 1487, but were repulsed by the valour of
the Turki guard. The king assembled his foreign troops and next morning ordered
the conspirators to be put to death. The slaughter lasted for three days and
the foreigners took a terrible retribution on the Deccanis for the wrong they
had suffered.
After
these events, Mahmud Shah took no interest in the affairs of State and the
responsibility of government passed into the hands of Qasim Barīd, a Turki amir
of Sunni persuasion. The power and prestige of the Bahmani kingdom were gone
for ever, and the provincial governors refused to acknowledge the authority of
Qasim Barid. The defection of Malik Ahmad Nizam-ul-Mulk, the son of Malik Näib,
started the process of disintegration. Two expeditions were sent against him,
but they were of no avail. He had the full sympathy of Yusuf 'Adil Khan of
Bijapur and Fathullah 'Imäd-ul- Mulk of Berar. In June 1490, Ahmad assumed
independence in the city of Ahmadnagar founded by and named after him.38 His
col- leagues, 'Imad-ul-Mulk and Yusuf 'Adil, soon followed suit, with the
result that by the end of that year the Bahmanī king had defi- nitely lost his
sovereignty in reality, if not in name. For the three governors, though
exercising full autonomy, still kept up the pretence of nominal allegiance to
the phantom Sultan, and did not exercise the sovereign's prerogatives of
issuing coins and reading the Khutba in their own names.
Mahmud
Shah Bahmani continued to reign as a nominal sovereign till A.D. 1518. Even in
this helpless state he rallied round him all the amirs of the kingdom with a
view to prosecuting the war against the "infidels" of Vijayanagara.
In the year 907 A.H. (A.D. 1501), it was resolved at Bidar that "once in
each year the whole of the amirs and wazirs should come to the royal court, and
join in a jihad against the idolators of Vijayanagar, and, hoisting the
standards of Islam, should use their utmost endeavours to eradi- cate the
infidels and tyrants".39 In pursuance of this resolution, Mahmud Shah
exhausted the resources of the decaying Bahmani kingdom by launching
expeditions against Vijayanagara, and brought repeated disasters upon it, as
will be related in the chapter on Vijayanagara.
*The
sentiments of unity or fellow-feeling among the nobility of the Bahmanī kingdom
did not, however, extend beyond the com- mon desire to extirpate the idolators
of Vijayanagara. There were continual dissensions and struggles among themselves
which were mostly caused by the desire to get hold of the person of the nominal
sovereign. The Bijapur forces captured Gulbarga and drove away its governor,
who fled to Bidar. Qasim Barid received him cordially and led an army
accompanied by the Sultan against Bijapur. But the royal army was routed and
the Sultan was taken prisoner by Kamal Khan, the de facto ruler of Bijapur. The
Sultan was confined to his palace and a Bijapuri noble was appointed to keep
close guard over him. But this enhancement of the power of Bijapur brought
about a combination of other nobles against that principality. There were also
factions and dissensions in the Bijapur court as a result of which Kamal Khan
was assassinated.
'These
forces of disintegration were at full work when Mahmūd Shah died in A.D. 1518.
He was succeeded by four kings who were kings in name but really puppets in the
hands of Amir Barid, son of Qasim Barid, who was in control of the Bahmani
capital. With the death of Kalimullah, the last of these titular kings, some
time in A.D. 1538, the Bahmani dynasty came to an end, and the kingdom was
split into five independent Sultanates, namely, the 'Adil Shāhi of Bijapur, the
Qutb Shahi of Golconda, the Nizam Shāhi of Ahmadnagar, the Barid Shāhi of
Bidar, and the 'Imād Shahi of Berar.
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