Deccan sultanates

The Deccan sultanates is a historiographical term referring to five late medieval to early modern Indian kingdoms on the Deccan Plateau between the Krishna River and the Vindhya Range that were created from the disintegration of the Bahmani Sultanate[1][2] and ruled by Muslim dynasties: namely Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, and Golconda.[3] The five sultanates owed their existence to the declaration of independence of Ahmadnagar in 1490,[4] which was followed by Bijapur and Berar in the same year. Bidar became independent in c. 1492,[5] and Golconda in 1512.[6]

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The Deccan Sultanates and main South Asian polities c. 1525, on the eve of the establishment of the Mughal Empire.[7]

Although the five sultanates were all ruled by Muslims, their founders were of diverse origins: the Nizam Shahi dynasty, the ruling family of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, was founded by Malik Hasan Bahri, a Deccani Muslim of Brahmin origin;[8] the Berar Sultanate by a Kannadiga Hindu Brahmin slave brought up as a Deccani Muslim;[9][10] the Bidar Sultanate was founded by a Georgian slave;[11] the Bijapur Sultanate was founded by a foreigner who may have been a Georgian slave purchased by Mahmud Gawan;[12] and the Golconda Sultanate was of Iranian Turkmen origin.[13][14]

All the Deccan sultanates based their legitimacy as the successor states of the Bahmani Sultanate, and continued to use Bahmanid coins rather than issue their own coins.[15] Although generally rivals, the sultanates did ally with each other against the Vijayanagara Empire in 1565, permanently weakening Vijayanagara in the Battle of Talikota. Notably, the alliance destroyed the entire city of Vijayanagara, with important temples being razed to the ground.

In 1574, after a coup in Berar, Ahmadnagar invaded and conquered it. In 1619, Bidar was annexed by Bijapur. The sultanates were later conquered by the Mughal Empire: Berar was stripped from Ahmadnagar in 1596; Ahmadnagar was completely taken between 1616 and 1636; and Golconda and Bijapur were conquered by Aurangzeb's 1686–87 campaign.[16]

  1. ^ Majumdar 1962, p. 269.
  2. ^ Sen 2013, pp. 117–119.
  3. ^ Sohoni 2018.
  4. ^ Navina Najat Haidar, Marika Sardar (2015). Sultans of Deccan India, 1500–1700. Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 45. ISBN 9780300211108.
  5. ^ Majumdar 1974, p. 412.
  6. ^ Flatt, Emma (2016). "Golconda, history". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_27501. ISSN 1873-9830.
  7. ^ Schwartzberg, Joseph E. (1978). A Historical atlas of South Asia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 39, 147. ISBN 0226742210. Archived from the original on 6 February 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  8. ^ Sakkottai Krishnaswami Aiyangar (1951). Ancient India and South Indian History & Culture. Oriental Book Agency. p. 81.
  9. ^ Thomas Wolseley Haig · (101). Historic Landmarks of the Deccan. Pioneer Press. p. 6.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ferishta was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Bosworth 1996.
  12. ^ I. M. Muthanna (1977). Karnataka, History, Administration & Culture. Lotus Printers. p. 120. Archived from the original on 27 May 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  13. ^ Minorsky, V. (1955). "The Qara-qoyunlu and the Qutb-shāhs (Turkmenica, 10)". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 17 (1). Cambridge University Press: 50–73. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00106342. JSTOR 609229. S2CID 162273460. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  14. ^ Khan, Masud Husain (1996). Mohammad Quli Qutb Shah. Sahitya Akademi. p. 2. ISBN 9788126002337. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  15. ^ Sohoni 2018, p. 59.
  16. ^ "500 years of Deccan history fading away due to neglect". The Times of India. 27 December 2018. Archived from the original on 28 December 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2018.