PROVINCIAL DYNASTIES OF NORTH INDIA AND THE DECCAN

The disintegration of the Sultanate actually from South India, when the Tughluq governor of Madurai(Mabar) revolted and founded an independent kingdom known as the Sultanate of Madura in 1333-34.

This was followed by the foundation of the historic empire of vijayanagar by Harihara and Bukka in 1336.

Exactly a decade later, the Tughluq Amiran-i-Sadahs in the Deccan founded the Bahmani kingdom in1346.

Foundation of the independent kingdoms of Khandesh, Malwa, Gujarat, Bengal, Jaunpur etc.

But Orissa, throughout the Sultante period, maintained its independent existence

Kashmir, which was outside the purview of the Sultanate, was first captured by the Mongols and finally an independent Muslim dynasty came to rule over it.

In Rajasthan (or Rajputana) numerous independent Rajput dynasties were already ruling long before the decline of the Taghluqs.

Bengal:

In Bengal submission of its conquest by Bakhtiyar Khalji to its complete independence

Sultan Ghiyasuddin Tughluq of Delhi attempted to ensure the loyalty of Bengal by dividing it into three administrative divisions with capitals at Lakhauti(North Bengal), Sonargaon (East Bengal), and Satgaon(South Bengal);but his measures failed.

His successor Muhammad bin Tughluq was unable to assert his authority over Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah(1336-45)declared himself independent and transferred his capital from Lakhnauti to Pandua.

Bengal was finally united under one independent rule by Aluddin’s foster brother, Shasuddin Ilyas Shah(1345-58).

Ilyas’s reign is marked by the development of an impressive coinage and the number of monuments erected.

His successor, Sikandra Shah (1358-90), also sueccessfully defined Firuz’s attempts to subde him.

Ghiyasuddin, Azam Shah (1390-1410), who followed sikander, established diplomatic and cultural relations with China, and the growth of the port of Chittagong stimulated increase in trade with the Far East.

In 1415 Raja Ganesha of Dinajpur(Rajshahi), originally a leading moble of the Ilyas Shahi rulers, assumed royal poet.

At the request of the outraged Bengali Ulema and Sufis, who repudiated a non-Muslim ruler, Ibrahim Shah Sharqui from the neighbouring Muslim state of Jaunpur invaded Bengal.

Peace was soon concluded, however, on the interssion of the leading Bengal Sufi Nur,Qutb-i-Alam, and Ganesha’s twelve-year-old son, Jadu, was converted to Islam and proclaimed king as Jalauddin.

After Ibrahim Sharqi had returned to Jaunpur, Ganesa reappeared in Bengal and ruled in his son’s name until he died in 1418.
Upon his death in 1431, Jalauddin was succeeded by his son, Shamsuddin Ahamad Shah(1431-5).

The ilyas Shahi ruler, Ruknuddin Barbak Shah(1459-74), organized a militia of Ethiopian slaves and recruited Arab soldiers as his palace guards.

One of these, Ismail Shah, conquered Kamrup for his master.

Barbak’s army also invaded regions as far north as Purnea district, and Bengal control over the Jessore-Khulna districts was strengthened.

The Sultan was known as a patron of Bengali literature.

The Chinese were deeply impressed by the wall of Pandua,the well-arranged bazaars, and the imposing royal palace.

In 1487, the Ilyas Shahi dynasty was overthrown by Sultan Shahazada Barak Shah, the commander of the Ethiopian guards.

Bengal was then ruled by Ethiopians until 1494.

They were eventually deposed by an Arab, Alauddin Hussain Shah(1494-1519), who had risen to a high position in their service.

After coming to the throne, Husain replaced the Ethiopian soldiers and administrators with Bengali Hindus and Muslims.

Alauddin Husain Shah(1493-1519) is regarded as the greatest independent Muslim ruler of Bengal.

He gave refuge to Sultan Husian Shah Sharqi of Jaunpur and secured North Bihar through a treaty with Sikander Lodi.

He is also credited with conquests in Orissa.

During his reign Chaitanya preached Vaishnavism in Bengal and Orissa.

Alauddin Husain Shah was a patron of Bengal literature.

The Hindus honoured him as an incarnation of Krishna, Nripati Tilak(Crown of Kings) and Jagat Bhushan(Adornment of the Universe).

Husain Shah’s son Nusrat Shah(1519-32) who succeeded him, kept the Kingdom intact, but his hold on the trans-Gandak region weakened due to the Mughal invasion.

During the reign of his successors,Bengal had to face the invasion of Humayan and later on the kingdom of Bengal lay Suri ended the Husain Shahi dynasty of Bengal.

The state’s properity and Chinese vistors Barbosa tells us of luxury and extravagance among country’s wealth was concentrated.

In the cities they lived in brick-built houses with flat roofs and fights or ornamented steps.
Bathing-tanks were attached to their houses.
The principal features of Husain Shahi rule in Bengal was a tendency towards unity among all classes of Hindus and Muslims.

Assam:

On the eve of Bakhtiya Khaliji’s conquest,Assam was ruled by two important Hindu kingdom.

In the western region was the kingdom of kamata, known as Kamrup in Persian chronicles.

Its capital, on the Brahmaputra, was either Guwahati or in its immediate neighbourhood.

The other kingdom, Ahom, was in the north-east.

There were also many independent chiefs, called bhuyans,who ruled small areas in the region.

At the end of the thirteenth century the Kamata kingdom became independent, but early in the fourthteenth century and then, crossing the Brahmputra, seized sylhet(now in Bangladesh).

Tippera and Chittagong were annexed as well.

Later still Ilyas Shah of Bengal also invaded Assam, and numismatic evidence shows his dominion over it.

Hussain Shah of Bengal subsequently annexed the whole of the Kamata kingdom as far as Barnadi.

In 1515 the Koch tribe established its rule over Kamarupa.

Mounting tensions between the king and his nobility during the 1570s forced him to divide the kingdom into two: Kooch Bihar and Kooch Hajo.

The Ahoms of north-eastern Assam consolidated their kingdom in the early thirteenth century.
They were related to the Shans.

Following Husian Shah’s conquest of Kamata, his son Nusrat Shah(1519-32) attempted to invade the upper Brahmaputra valley but was defeated.

Bengali Sultans launched several naval attacks on the Ahoms but were repulsed.

Then, in 1532, Nusrat Shah was assassinated, and the Bengali attacks on Ahom ceased.

Finally the great Ahom ruler Suhungmung (1497-1539)crushed the Nagas of the north-eastern hills and made the Ahom kingdom very powerfull.

Orissa:

Threatended in Ghiyasuddin Tughluq’s reign, while Firuz Tughluq’s invasion saw the desecration of the famous Jagannath temple at puri.

Bhanudeva III(1352-78) of Orissa submitted to Firuz, promising to send an annual tribute of elephants.

Until 1435 the Later Ganga kings ruled over Orissa.

During the reign of the last Ganga ruler Bhanudeva IV,one of his ministers Kapilendra seized the throme and founded the Suryavansi Gujapati dynasty.

He successfully fought against the Sultans of Bengal, the Bahmani Sultans and the Vijayanagar kingdom.

The reign of his successor Purshottama Gujapati(1467-97) was marked by the continuance of stuggle against the neighbouring kingdoms.

The last great ruler of his dynasty was Prataprudra Gajapati(1497-1540) who sufferd defeat at the hands of the Vijayanagar to whom prataprudra ceded the territory south of the Krishna and gave his daughter in marriage.

Not long after Prataparudra’s death, his dynasty was supplanted by Govinda Vijayadhara of the Bhoi dynasty.

Kashmir:

Attacked even by Muhammad bin Qasim, the conqueror of sind, but neither he nor other Arab invaders succeeded in conquering it.

Mahmud of Ghazni’s attempt to capture Kashmir also failed.

Muslim families began to move to the Kashmir Valley, where they obtained employment under its Hindu rulers.

One of the settlers was Shah Mir, who arrived apparently from Swat with his family in 1313.

Seven years later the Mongal invaders callously slaughtered most of the Kashmiri population and shook the foundations of Hindu rule.

After the invaders had left the valley, Rinchana of the Ladakh ruling family, who served the commander-in-chief of Suhadeva, the Hindu ruler of Kashmir, seized the throne.

Because he was a Tibetan Buddhist, Rinchana did not get much cooperation from the local Hindu noblemen.

The rising wave of Mongal conversions to Islam in Iran and Transoxiana seems eventually to have prompted him to became a Muslim, al- through Shah Mir played an important part in this decision.

He adopted the name Sadruddin.

After his death in 1323,Hindu rule was re-established in Kashmir.

Shah Mir retained his influence and became very popular when his followers repulsed a second Mongol invasion.

Imprisoned the widow of the Hindu raja, Kota Rani, whom he subsequently married; and became king in 1339 under the title Shamsuddin.

Thus the Shah Mir dynasty of Kashmir was founded.

Sham-suddin fixed the land tax at 17 per cent of the gross produce and abolished a considerable number of imposts.

Sixteen more members of the Shah Mir dynasty ruled Kashmir between 1342 and 1561.
One of them, Alauddin(1343-54), transferred his capital from Indrakot to Alauddinpur (Srinagar).

Sultan Shihabuddin(1354-73) loved fighting.

He conquered Pakhli, invaded Gilgit, Ladakh and then Nagarkot.

Regions from Kashmir to Jammu were also consquered by him.

His successor, Sultan Qutbuddin(1373-89), consquered Punch.

During the reign of his son Sikander was able to save Kashmir by diplomatic negotiations with the invaders.

Sikander also sent a successful expedition against the ruler of Qhind.

During his reign a considerable number of Muslims, who had been displaced by Timur’s invasions, migrated from Iran and Transoxiana to Srinagar.

The process had already of Mir Sayyid Ali Hamdani and his followers.
Sikander’s prime minister, Suha Bhatta, who had embraced Islam, strove to Islamise the country with the efficiency of a new broom.

The Kashmiri Brahmins were dismissed from top positions.

Important temples, were desecreated and destroyed.

For the first time jeziya was imposed on the Hindus.

Before his death, however,conscious of the problems resulting from his persecution of the Brahmins, the Sultan “fixed with some difficulty a limit to the advance of the great of Yavans(Muslims) and abolished turushkadanda(jeziya).

Sikander’s policy was completely reversed by his successor, Sultan Zainul Abidin(1420-70).

He rebuilt some of the temples destroyed by Silkander and encouraged the Brahmins who had left Kashmir to return to their homeland.

Cremation tax on Hindus was abolished, and cow slaughter ws prohibited.

Even the custom of sati, which Sikander had abolished, was permitted.

Patron of education

He founded Muslim schools in Srinagar, staffed them with famous scholars.

He established a department to translate Sanskrit works into Persian and vice versa.

The translation of the Mahabharata and Kalhans’s Rajatarangini into Persian was its most outstanding achievement.

Jonaraja, who continued the Rajatarangini and brought it up to 1458, as also Srivara, who continued
Jonaraja’s work, enjoyed his patronage.
Interested in developing crafts.

Paper had previously been imported into Kashmir from Samarqand, but the Sultan sent his own artisans there to learn paper-making and book-binding.

Power for fireworks was also manufactured in Kashmir.

Crafts such as stone polishing stone cutting, bottle making, window cutting, and gold beating developed in
Kashmir because of Sultan Zainul Abidin’s patronage.

Forstered the development of agriculture; a number of new canals and tanks weredug, and dams were constucted.

Forced regions such as Ladakh and Baltistan to reacknowledge the suzerainty of the Kashmir Sultans.

Friendly relations were established with the Timurid rulers of Khurasan and Transoxiana, the kings of Gilan and Egypt, and the sheriffs of Mecca.

Many independent Hindu and Muslim rulers also exchanged envoys with him.

The Kashmiris gave Sultan Zainul Abidin, the titleBudshsh(the Great King).

Eventually the weakers rulers fell under the domination of adventures.

In 1540 Mirza Haidar Dughlat, whose mother was the sister of Babur’s mother, captured Kashmir with the help fo disloyal Kashmiris.

The Mirza began to rule in the name of Nazuk Shsh of the Shsh Mir dynasty.

Although he streamlined the administration and built many new monuments, he was unable to command the loyalty of the Kashmiri upper classes and in October 1551 he was killed whilst quelling a rebellion.

Three rulers of the Shsh Mir family succeded a new dynasty and provided the next six rulers until 1588, when Akbar annexed Kashmir to the Mughal empire.

Jaunpur:

Sharqis of Jaunpur, north of Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh).

Founded by Malik Sarwar, a eunuch belonging to Sultan Firuz Tughluq.

Malik Sarwar’s remarkably rapid rise to power was due largely to younger son, Muhammad Shah(1390-93) eventually conferred the title Sultanus-Sharq(Ruler of the Eastern Kingdom)upon him and made him his wazir.

In 1394 appointed governor of Jaunpur, where he firmly crushed uprisings by the Hindu chiefs of Avadh and Bihar.

When Timur left Delhi, Sarwar proclaimed himself the independent ruler of Jaunpur.

Before his death in November 1399 the western boundary of his kingdom had been extended to Kol(modern Aligarh), Sambhal (Muradabad)and Rapri(Mainpuri district).
His eastern borders now ran along Bihar and Tirhut.

Although Sultan-us-Sharq was succeeded by his adopted son Malik Mubarak Qaranfal (1399-1401), it was his younger brother , Ibrahim Shah Sharqi(1401-40), who made Janupur a powerful kingdom.

He made an alliance with Kirti Singh of Tirhut.

Invaded Bengal to ramove the Hindu ruler Ganesha from the throne and annexed the petty independent sultanate of Kalpi to his kingdom.

He invaded Delhi too, forcing the Saiyid sultan there, Muhammad Shah (1435-46), to make peace with him and secled the alliance with a marriage between his son and the Sultan’s daughter.

Ibrahim’s son,Muhmud Shah Sharqi(1440-57), was also an ambitious ruler.

In 1542 he captured Delhi but lost it through the treachery of his Afghan commander, Darya Khan, who supported Delhi’s first Afgan ruler, Bahlul Lodi.

Bahlul Lodi(1451-89) consolidated the eastern boundaries of the Delhi Sultanate from Etawa to Shamsabad.

In Jaunpur, Mahmuds’successor, Muhmmad, was deposed after a few months because of his excessive cruelty.

The next ruler, Husain Shah Sharqi, made peace with Behlul, strengthened the army, and forced Orissa and Gwalior to submit to him.

In 1469 he invaded Delhi but was driven away before he could cross the Jamuna.

In retaliation the Delhi Sultan Bahlul, not content with Etawa and Shamsabad as his eastern boundary, attacked
Janupur.

In 1481-82 he sustained a crushing defeat near Kanauj.

Bahlul reached Janupur in a series of forced marches and seized it, issuing coins there in 1483-84.

Husain made four more successive efforts to expel Bahlul’s governor from Janupur, but Bahlul defeated Husian and forced him to seek refuge in Bihar.

The Rajputs, particularly the Bachgoties, were Husian’s staunch supporters and helped him to establish his rule over an area between Chunar and Bihar.

In 1494 he suffered another crushing defeat at the hands of Bahlul’s successor, Sultan Sikander Lodi, near Benares.

Sikander seized the Bihar fort, while Husian Shah(1493-1518) of Bengal.

Sikander stayed at Janupur for six months, demolishing the Sharqi monuments in order to demonstrate his control of the district.

Only the mosques were spared.

Husian Shah died in 1505.

Malwa:

Founded by Husian Ghuri, whom Firuz Tughluq had made a noble, giving him the title Dilawar Khan.

In 1390-91 Firuz’s son, Sultan Nasiruddin Muhammad, appointed Dilawar governor of Malwa.

After Timur’s departure from India, Dilawar proclaimed himself the independent ruler of Malwa with his capital at Dhar.

His son, Alp Khan, reinforced the defences by completing the fortification of Mandu.
Rajputs and other Hindus friendly to him.

He even settled Rajputs in his newly acquired territory of Nimar.

Dilwar extended his kingdom by snatching Saugor and Demoh from the Delhi Sultanate and making the ruler of Chanderi accept his overlordship.

After his death in 1406-7 his son, Alp Khan, became the Sultan of Malwa with the title Hushang Shah(1406-35).

Almost immediately Sultan Muzaffar Shah of Gujarat invaded Malwa, defeating Hushang and taking him captive.

Nusrat, Muzaffar’s brother, who was appointed the governor of Malwa, was unable to control it and returned to Gujarat.

Mazaffar intended to crush the popular uprising in Malwa by force but good sense prevailed and he restored the throne to Hushang.

Hushing transferred capital to Mandu.

He then invaded Raj Narsingh Kherla’s kingdom in the southern part of Gondwana in order to obtain military assistance and a supply of elephants.

Profiting from Hushang’s absence, Ahmad I of Gujarat besieged Mandu, but Hushang, eluding the invading army, Hushang then seized Gagraun.

His subsequent invasion of Gwalior, however, failed because Mubarak Shah of Delhi relieved the besieged fort.
Rajputs

The Jains also supported him and proved as asset to the promotion of trade and commerce in Malwa.

Hushang founded a new town, Hushangabad, on the river Narmada.

His son and heir, Muhammad Shah, was an ineffectual ruler and was deposed by one of his nobles, who ascended the throne in 1436, with the title Mahmud Khaiji(1436-69).

He crushed Ghurid resistance and established the Khalji dynasty.

In 1442 he invaded Delhi, but the invasion of Malwa by Ahmad Shah of Gujart forced him to make peace and return on Mandu.

In 1443 Mahmud attacked Chittor, but finding the fort impregnable, retreated.

Mahmud next captured the Gagraun and Mandalgarh forts on the Malwa border and later, in 1457, marched once more against Chittor, unsuccessfully.

Thrice Mahmud’s efforts to seize parts of the Bahmani territory failed because the ruler received timely assistance from Sultan of Gujarat.

Mahmud was at length forced to make a treaty with the Bahmanis, cementing good neighbourly relations.

He actively promoted the development of agriculture and trade, established centres of Islamic learning and encouraged scholars from other parts of India to move to Mandu.

The hospital he founded ther was a large establishment with provision for free medicines.

The reign of Mahmud’s successor, Ghiyas Shah(1469-1501), saw a period of peace and prosperity.

In 1482 he marched to the assistance of Rawal Jai Singh, the raja of Champan, when he was invaded by the Sultan of Gujarat.

Ghiyas Shah collected about 16,000 slave girls in his palace, including the daughters of many Hindu chieftains.
Formed to act as gurds.

Another 500 damsels were trained in state business, and a bazaar run by women was opened in the place.

His elder son, Abdul Qadir Nasir Shah, whom he appointed his successor, had a very aggressive nature.

He beheade his younger brother and, although his father was still living, proclaimed himself king.

Ghiyas abdicated, dying possibly from poisoning, four months after surrendering the throne.

Nasir Shah’s despotic charcter and heavy drinking disgusted his nobles.

His rule ended in 1510.

His third son, who came to the throne as Mahmud II(1511-31), appointed Medini Raj, the Rajput chief of Chanderi, as his wazir

Medini Rai filled all the important positions with his own supporters.

He also ordered that Muslim women be trained as dancing girls, in retaliation for Ghiyas’s treatment of Hindu women.

The Sultan ultimately began to hate Medini Raj who escaped to Gujarat.

Early in January 1518 he returned with Sultan Muzaffar Shah of Gujarat, and captured Mandu.

Medini then seized Gangraun.

Mahmud besieged to relieve Mandu.

Rana Sanga captured the Sultan and took him to Chittor, but when his wounds had healed the Rana sent him back to Mandu and restored him to his throne.

Medina Raj seized Chanderi, while his associate Silahadi occupied Bhilsa and Raisen.

Rana Sanga invaded Mandasor.

Harauti, Khichiwara, and Satwas also became independent.

Then Mahmud offended the Sultan of Gujarat by sheltering his rebellious brother.

In March 1531Bahadur Shah of Gujarat captured Mandu.

Mahmud and his sons were sent as captives to Champanir but were killed on the way.

For six years Malwa remained under the control of Gujarat but after Bahadur Shah’s death in 1537 it regined its independence.

Malwa’s new sultan was Mallu Khan, who adopted the title Qadir Shah.

He was a far-sighted ruler, making peace with Silahdi’s sons, who ruled over Raisen, and improving relations with the Rajput chieftains.

Sher Shah, the Sur ruler of Delhi.

Conquered Malwa and installed Afghan governors there.

Gujarat:

Independent kingdom of Gujarat was founded by Zafer Khan, son of Sadharan, a Jat convert to Islam.

Sadharan’s sister was married to Firuz Tughluq.

Zafar Khan was appointed governor of Gujarat in 1391, with the title Muzaffar Khan.

He remained loyal to the Delhi Sultanate, even after Timur left India and anarchy prevailed there.

In 1403-4 he was deposed by his son, Tater Khan; but his uncle, Shams Khan Dandani, then poisoned Tatar Khan, and Zafer was restored to the throne.

In 1407 Muzaffer declared his independence as Muzaffer Shah..

He died in 1411 and was succeede by Shihabuddin Ahmad Shah(1411-42), the son of the dead Tatar Khan.

Ahmad Shah’s rule of thirty-one years was a period of relentless warfare but also saw the consolidation of the Gujarat Sultanate.

Two years later Ahmad invaded Malwa, bringing home to Hushang that Malwa was no match to Gujarat.
Atruce was signed in 1419.

Hushang subsequently invaded Jajnagar to obtain more elephants.

His absence prompted Sultan Ahmad to make forced marches to Mandu, but the garrison there stoutly defended the fort.

Ahmad was still unable to capture Mandu fort, returning to Gujarat in May 1423.

After 1425 Gujarat entered upon an era of intermittent warfare with the Rajput raja of Idear.

Muslim historians praise Ahmad Shah for his devotion to Sufis and for his determination to destroy idols.

Terracial marriages gave rise to a mixed religious group in Gujarat.

The soldiers in his army drew half from land tax assignments.

Ahmad’s successor, Muhammad Shah(1442-51), was amild ruler, as was the next Sultan, Qutubuddin Ahmad Shah II(1451-59).

Fath Khan, who ascended the throne at the age of thirteen as Mahmud Shah(1459-1511), was the greatest Muslim ruler of Gujarat.

The ruler of Khandesh sought his assistance in repelling an invasion by Mahmud Khaji.

In 1461 Mahmud defeated the Muslim ruler of Jalor in south Rajasthan and made him his protégé.

He then seized the port of Daman

Initially, in 1466, Girnar(Jungarh)but four years later he annexed Girnar to his Sultanate, thereby gaining control of the flourishing port of Veraval.

Mahmud founded a new town at the foot of the Girnar hills, Mustaphabad, where he settled members of the Muslim religious classes and elite.

Muhmud’s supremacy was threatened only by the Portuguese.

After the arrival of Vasco da Gama in Calicut in 1498, the Portuguese became a serious threat to the trade of Cambay and other Gujarat ports.

In the battle of Chaul in January 1508 the governor of Junagarh and the Egyptian fleet sent by the Mamluk Sultan were victorious, but the Egyptian and Gujarati fleets were routed by the portuguese in February 1509.

Mahmud realized that the Portuguese were invincible at sea and opened negotiations for peace with Governor Albuquerque.

In November 1510 the portuguese conquest of Goa, which belonged to the Adilshahi ruler of Bijapur, so greatly enhanced Portuguese power that Mahmud unconditionally releasd his Portuguese hostages, and the Egyptian-Gujarat confederacy was broken.

Mahmud died in November 1511.
According to the Italian adventurer Ludovico de Varthema, Mahmud’s beard reached his girdle, and he tied his inorodinately long moustaches behind his head.

According to Barbosa, he had been regularly fed on some poison since childhood, with the result that “if a fly settled on his hand it fell dead”.

His amounts of food.

His title Begarha was a constant reminder of both his conquest of the two forts, Jungarh and Champanir, and his moustaches, for theGujarati word vegara means a bullock with sweepintg horns.

Mahmud’s successor, Muzaffar II(1511-26).

He refused to allow the Portuguese to build a fortress at Diu; instead he strengthened its defenced and foiled
two successive Portuguese attempts to seize it.

He also helped Mahmud Khalzi of Malwa without any motives of personal gain.

His death in 1526 was followed by the brief reigns of two imcompetent rulers.

Then Bahadur Shah(1526-37)ascended the throne.

He was the last of the energetic Gujarat rulers.

Early in 1531 his navy, in collaboration with the Turkish fleet, defeated the Portuguese fleet which took shelter in Goa.

He annexed Malwa to his kingdom and then arrested Silahdi, the ruler of Raisen, Sarangpur, and Bhilsa, when Silahdi visited the Sultan in his camp to conclude a treaty.

Bahadur then seized Raisen and gave it to a Lodi chief from Kalpi, whom the Emperor Humayun had expelled from his territory.

In Marcy 1535 the use of artillery belonging to the Turkish gunner Rami Khan made the Sultan master of Chittor.

Rumi Khan, however, disappointed at the Sultan’s refusal to make him governor of Chittor, decided to betray him.

The opportunity arose before long, when Humayan, in pursuit of Bahadur, reached Mandasor.

Rumi Khan urged the Sultan first to strengthen his defences and then to make short work of Humayun by using his superior artillery.

The suggestion seemed reasonable, but Bahadur’s loyal commanders rightly rejected it.

They believed that the victorious Gujarati army’s best interest lay in an immediate assault;While the defence were being strengthened, Humayan, naturally seized the opportunity to cut off supplies to Bahadur’s camp, and his army starved.

Rami Khan deserted to Humayan at the end of April 1535, and Bahadur had no alternative but to retreat to Mandu.

Chased by Humayan, Bahadur fled from Mandu to Champanir.

From there he sent extremely valuble presents to the Ottoman Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-66),in the unrealistic hope of obtaining his help.

Humayan’s pursuit was relentless; Bahadur had to flee to Cambay.

There he burnt his fleet of one hundred warship in order to prevent their falling into Humayun’s hands, and sailed to Diu.

In the despairing hope of obtaining assistance from the Portuguese, Bahadur granted them permission to erect a fort at Diu, which he had until then refused.

Humayun conquered Champanir and then Ahmadabad.

He marched on to Diu but then had to abandon the pursuit of Bahadur in order to deal with Sher Khan’s threat to his throne.

Bahadur took the opportunity to leave Diu and, reassembling his army, regained his lost kingdom.

Now regretting his concessions to the Portuguese, Bahadur marched to Gogha near Diu, but was outwitted by the Portuguese and slain on 13 February 1537 while returning from negotiations aboard their flagship.

Rajasthan:

For more than a century- from the occupation of Ajmer by Qutbuddin Aibak after the victory at Tarain (1192) to the occupation of Chittor by Alauddin Khlji(1303)-the princes of Rajasthan had resisted invasions from Delhi with some success.

After he annexation of Gujarat(1297) and Malwa(1305) by Alauddin, Rajasthan was encircled by territories under the rule of Delhi.

The fall of theChahamans marked the end of the old order in Rajasthan and prepared the ground for the emergence of two new powers:Mewar and Marwar.

Mewar:An old principality of minor importance under the rule of the Guhilot dynasty, with its capital at Nagada.

Jaitra Simha(1213-61) successfully resisted an invasion from Delhi under Iltutmish, but Nagda was destroyed and Chittor had to be made the seat of government.

Alauddin’s capture was lost and there was a change in the line of rulers.

Ratnasimha, the ruling prince at the time of the invasion, belonged to the elder branch of the Guhilot dynsty.

He was over thrown and replaced by a member of the Sisodia branch- a junior branch- of the dynasty.

Chittor remained under Delhi’s control till its recovery by the Sisodia prince Hammir(c.1314-78).
This incident probably took place in the reign of Muhamad bin Tughluq after th great rebellions had begun.

The first great of medieval Mewar was Kumbha.

Some contemporary inscriptions and a literary work(Ekalingamahatmya) speak eloquently of his military success against neighbouring Rajput princes.

He is said to have been proficient in the Vedas, Smritis, Mimamsa, Upanishads, Vyakarna, politics and literature.

He wrote commentaries on Jayadeva’s Gitagovinda and on Chandistakam.

The greatest architectural monument of his reign was the Kirtistambha built by him at Chittor.

Kumbha was murdered by his son.

Reign of Sangram Singh(1509-28) during which the power of Mewar reached its zenith.

He was generally successful in his wars against the sultan if Malwa(Mahamud Khalji II) and the sultan of
Gujarat (Muzaffar Shah II).

He was involved in hostilities with sultan Ibrahim Lodi of Delhi and was able to secure victories.

Babur in his autobiography places him next only to the King of Vijayanagar among the Hindu princes of India.

But Sangram Singh’s attempt to defeat Babur, after the latter’s victory over Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat (1526), resulted in his disastrous defeat at Khanua(1527).

Marwar:

The Rathors of Marwar were desenended from the Gahadavalas of Kanauj or the Rashtrakutas.

A person of obscure antecedents, Rathada Sinha, established himself in the area round Pali about the middle of the thirteenth century and died in 1273.

During the period of the decline of the Delhi Sultanate, Chunda(1384-1423) established his power at Mandor.

His grandson Jodha(1438-89) founded a new city(called Jodhpur after him) in 1459, within thirteen kilometers of Mandor.

The modern history of Marwar really beigns in his reign.

He fought against Mewar as an ally of the Sultan of Gujarat.

Marwar reached the zenith of its power under Maldo(1532-62), the antagonist of Sher Shah.

Minor Dynasties of Rajasthan:

The Rathor dynasty of Bikaner was founded by Rao Bika(1465-1504)in the northern part of Rajasthan.

He was also the founder of the city of Bikaner which was his capital.

Under his successors Rao Nara and Rao Lumakarna, Rathors of Bikaner became a formidable power.

The Bhatis of Jaisalmer were a very old dynasty.

They built various takes and templs.

Of the Chauhan dynasties of Rajasthan, the Chauhans of Ranthambhor, who were the descendants of prithviraj Chauhan III, were most well known.

Hummirdeva (1283-1301) earned lasting glory for this dynasty.

The Kachhwaha dynasty of Dhundhar, who ruled over the principality of Jaipur and Shekawati, was founded by Dullah Rai.

His son Kakildeva capturned the fort of Amber c.A.D. 1037 from the Minas and made it his capital.

By establishing matrimonial alliance with Akbar, the Kachhwahas became the closest allies of the Mughals.

The Western Coast:

Ibn Batuta, who visited the western coast of India in 1343-44, mentioned several Hindu principalities which ruled between Sandapur(Goa) and Quilon.

A sizeable community of Muslim ruler, merchants lived there comfortably and their Muslim ruler, Jamaluddin Muhammad of Hinawar(Honnavar),owed suzerainty to the Hindu Hoysala king.

The Hindu King of Calicut was the most powerful ruler on the coast.

He was called Samutiru in Malayalam, but Samuri(meaning sea-king)by the Arabs and Zamorin by the Portuguese.

The Arabs, who exercised a monopoly of the trade between Malabar and the Red Sea, enjoyed considerable repect at the Zamorin court.

On 17 May 1498 Vasco da Gama, who had left Lisbon with three vessels on 8 July 1497, touched land thirteen kilometers north of Calicut.

The Zamorin welcomed the Portuguese, but the Muslims were alarmed.

The Indian and Arab ships could not withstand cyclones and typhoons and sailed from Gujarat to Aden and Basra, from Bengal to Malacca, and from Malabar to Malacca.

Vasco da Gama returned to Lisbon in August 1499 with a cargo of spices collected at Calicut.

In March 1500 the king of Portugal sent a larger fleet of thirteen vessels carrying 1,200 men, under pedro Alvarez Cabral, to destroy their Muslim enemies.

Seven ships were lost on the way to Calicut, but the journey took only a few days more than six months.

The Zamorin welcomed but did not help them.

War then broke out between the Portuguese and the Muslims.

Cabral then sailed to the neighbouring port of Cochin, where the raja gave him full support against the Mulims.

The Rajas of Cannanore and Quilon became Portuguese allies; Cochin, was transformed into the Portuguese trading headquarters.

Portuguese king to dispatch Vasco da Gama again in 1502, not only to destroy Arab trade but also to plant Christianity in India.

The zamorin’s attemted invasions of Cochin were easily repelled, and a war fleet, consisting of 200 or 300vessels sent to the Red Sea by the Zamorin and the Arabs, was destroyed by four Portuguese ships.

In 1505 the Portuguese king introduced a scheme of appointing a viceroy to reside in India for three years.

The first viceory was Franciso de Almeida.

His successor, Alfonso d’ Albuquerque conquered Goa in March 1510, encouraged the Portuguese to marry Indian women and allotted them ladn and cattle.

In 1511 Albuquerque conquered Malacca.

A year later he foiled a Bijapuri commander’s attempts to regain Goa.

Albuquerque died in December 1515 and was buried in the church he had built in Goa.

The next Portuguese objective in India was control of the Gujarat port of Diu.

Unfortunately for them Malik lyaz, governor of Diu until his death in 1522, was a formidable adversary.

After lyaz’s death, interest in protecting the Gujarati ports was stepped up by sultan Bahadur, who built a fleet of some 160 vessels.

Khandesh :

Khandesh, situated in the Tapti valley, was founded by Malik Raja Faruqi who declared independence after the death of Firuz Shah Tughluq.

He strengthened himself by a matrimonial alliance with the sultan of Malwa and suffered defeats at the hands of the sultan of Gujarat.

His son and successor, Nasir Khan (1399-1437), captured the strong fortress called Asirgarh from a Hindu chieftain.

As his successors used the title of Khan, their territory came to be known as Khan-desh(desh or country of the Khans).

Adil Khan II(1457-1503) established his suzerainty on the Hindu rulers of Gondwana and Garha-mandla.

He strengthened the fort of Asirgarh and built the citadel of Burhanpur.
Akbar annexed Khandesh to the Mughal empire in 1601.

The Deccan:

In the twelfth century, the Chalukyas of Kalyani and the Cholas of Tanjavur were the two great ruling dynasties of south India.

Following their decline in the thirteenth century, four provincial kingdoms took their place.

These were the Yadavas of Devagiri(Maharashtra), the kaktiyas of Warangal(Andhra Pradesh), the Hoysalas of
Dwarasamudra (Karnataka) and the pandyas of Madurai(Tamil Nadu).

Till the first invasions of Alauddin Khalji against free from Turkish invasions.

Alauddin Khalji sent Malik Kafur as the Commander of the Khalji troops for the conquest of these states.
Malik Kafur’s Devagiri was annexed to the sultanate of Delhi.

The Khalji and the Hoysalas accepted the suzerainty of the Khalijis.

Pandyan kingdom of Madurai was plundered.

Ghiyasuddin Tughluq deputed his son Jauna Khan (later on known as Muhammad bin Tughluq) for conquest of south India in 1321, kingdoms to the sultanate of Delhi, and he Hoysalas became tributary of the Tughluqs.

Muhammad bin Tughluq transferred his capital to Devadiri which he named as Daulatabad.

In 1333-34, Jalaluddin Ahsan, independence and founded the sultanate.

The Hoysalas also threw off the yoke of Tughluq suzerainty.

In Andhra, the Reddis became powerful.

In 1336, the empire of Vijayanagar was founded, which annexed the sultanate of Madurai Taking advantage of this situation, the Tughluq Amiran-i-Sadahs revolted at Daulatabad and founded the Bahmani kingdom with its capital at Gulbarga in 1346.

In the fourteenth century, two powerful kingdoms emerged in the south-the Vijayanagar and the Bahmani.

The Bahmani Kingdom:

Came into existence

As a result of the rebellion of the Amiran-i-Sadahs in the Deccan.

After success of the rebellion they elected Ismail Mikh as the sultan.

He assumed the title of Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah(1347-58) and established his capital at Gulbarga which remained the seat of the Bahmani government till 1424, when it was shifted to Bidar.

History of the Bahmani history hingers around the struggle with the empire of Vijayanagar, mostly in the region between the Krishna and Tungabhadra-known as the Raichur Doab.
In the Gulbarga phase, Tajuddin Firuj(1397-1422) was the greatest sultan who invited a large number of afaqis or foreigners or West Asians to settle down in the Bahmani kingdom, leading to a sharp division of the Bahmani nobility into Afaqi and Deccani groups which ultimately led to decline and disintegration of the Bahmani kingdom.

Sultan Ahmad Shah I(1422-36) transferred the capital from Gulbarga to Bidar.

In the Bidar phase, the period of the Bahmani Prime Minister Mahmud Gawan (1463-81) who was also the regent of the Bahmani Sultan Muhmud Shah III(1463-82), was the most glorious of Bahmani history.

A Persian by birth, Muhmud Gawan came into prominence during the reign of Alauddin Ahmad Shah II, although he was a ‘newcomer’(afaqi).

Under Humayun he became chief minister as also governor of Bijapur.

During the minority of Nizamuddin Ahmad Shah III he was one of the two ministers who ruled the kingdom under the direction of Nargis Begum.

During the reign of Muhammad Shah III he was the de facto ruler of the kingdom for about twenty-four years.

The final annexation of the Konkan and Goa extended its frontier to the western sea, and the annexation of the Godavari- Krishna Doab brought it to the coast of the eastern sea.

In the south, the Bahmani power reahed Kanchi.

He was executed (1481) on the sultan’s order on the charge of treason which was false.

From the early years of the fifteenth century thr ruling Muslim aristocracy in the Bahmani kingdom had split itself into two rival groups.

The old immigrants who had permanently settled in the Deccan were known as Deccanis.

Among them were some Hindu converts- the founders of the Imad Shahi and Nizam Shahi dynasties, for instance.

Immigrants, who came year after year from foreign countries in search of fortune, were called new-comers(afaqis) or foreigners(pardesis).

Alauddin Bahman Shah took many officers of the Tughluqs into his service.

Alauddin Mujahid Shah showed a distinct preference for the Persians and the Turks.

Ahmad Shah Iextended his patronage to scholars from Persia.

Most of the Deccanis, as also most of the Abyssinians, were Sunnis; a majority of the pardesis were Shias.

During the reign of Ahmad Shah Ithe Bahmani forces were defeated on three successive occasions by the Gujarati army.

The minister Mahmud Gawan, who was a pardesi, attributed this humiliation to the cowardice and treachery of the Deccanis who, in their trun, attributed it to ministe’s incompetence.
The Sultan then raised the Deccanis to power.

In the reign of Ahauddin Ahmad Shah II they massacred many pardesis at Chakan(1446)with the Sultan’s permission for a military reverse.

The bitter natred between the two parties was accentuated by this incident.

Its culmination was the execution of Mahmud Gawan.

Muhammad Shah III died within a year of Mahmud Gawan’s excution and his minor son, Shihabuddin
Mahmud Shah(1482-1518), succeeded to the throne.

The disiteghration of the kingdom began with the appointment of Qusim Barid, a Pardesi,as the Prime Minister and de facto ruler of the kingdom.

Three of them asserted their independence, founding the Sultanates of Berar, Ahmadnagar and Bijapur.

This was followed some years later by the establishment of the Sultanate of Golcunda.

Meanwhile Qasim Barid died and his position was inherited by his son, Amir Barid.

The puppet Sultan, Shihabuddin Mahamud Shah, died in 1518.

He was succeeded by four puppet Sultans, one after another,but Amir Barid remained in power in Bidar.

The last of them, Kalimullah, died in 1538 and the Bahmani dynasty came to an end.

Bahmani Succession States:

Qasim Barids appointments as prime minister by Shihabuddin Mahmud Shah, the Bahmani kingdom broke up into the five kingdoms of (a) Bidar, (b)Berar,(C)Ahmadnagar,(D)Bijapur and (e)Golcunda.
(a) Bidar:

Qasim Barid was the founder of the Baridshahi kingdom.

As prime minister of the Bahmanis, he usurped Bidar and made the Bahmani Sultan his puppet in the beginning and subsequently his prisoner.

Qasim died in 1504

Succeede to the post by his son, Amir Ali Barid.

Bahmani monarchy had become to powerless that Amir Ali Barid was able to act as king-maker
Amir Ali Barid died in 1542, and was succeeded by his son Ali Barid Shah.

He was an artist and a man of letters, and he distinguished himself by commanding the left wing of the allied armies which shattered the Vijayanagar forces in the battle of the Krishna.
Ali Barid Shah died in 1579.

His mausoleum at Bidar is one of the most magnificent edifices in the city today.

He was succeeded by his son Ibrahim.

Adil Shah II invaded Bidar and annexed the kingdom to Bijapur in 1619.

(b)Berar:

The Bahmani succession state which had the shortest span of life was Berar with its shifting capitals at Ellichpur and Gawilgarh.

A kind of buffer between Malwa, Khandesh and the Deccan.

Founder Fathullah Imadul Mulk, a Brahmin of Vijayanagar converted to islam.

He was made governor of Gawilgarh by portion of Berar as well and thus consolidated the whole of the rich
black cotton tract under his rule.

Fathullah died in 1504 and was succeeded by Alauddin who assumed the title of Imad Shah.

Alauddin died in 1529 and was succeeded by his son Darya

After Darya his infant son Burhan was placed on the throne in 1562.

But it was the minister Tufal Khan who became the real ruler, and he confined Burhan to the Narnal fort.

This was an open challenge to Murtad nizam shah who was related by marriage to the imad shahi dynasty.

In 1572, murtada sent an ultimatum to tufal Khan to relase Burhan at once.

On receiving an unsatisfactiory answer he invaded Berar, and after a sharp struggle tool both Tufal and Burhan prisoners and annexed Berar(1574).

(c)Ahmadnagar:

The founder of the Nizam Shahi dynasty was Ahmad, son of Hassan Nizamul Mulk, prime minister of the
Bahmani kingdom after Mahmud Gawan’s execution.

Ahmad succeede to his father’s title and was appointed to the governorship of Daulatabad.

In 1494, he founded the city of Ahmadanagar and shifted his capital there from Junnar.

He died in 1510 was succeede by his son Burhan, then seven years old.

He had an able minister in the person of Mukammal Khan Dakhini.

Burhan was the first of the line to assume the title of Nizam Shah.

During his reign Ahmadnagar was in turn the ally and then the enemy of Bijapur, died in 1553, and was succeeded by his son Husain.

Although Husian lived a short life of just over twenty five years, his reign is a landmark in the history of the Deccan.
He had inherited a bitter feud with Bijapur, and the joint armies of Ali Adil Shah, Ibrahim Qutb Shah and Rama Raya of Vijayanagar, a coalition of which Rama Raya was the strongest party, invaded the Ahmadnagar territories(1562).

Husian successful in forming the Muslim Confederacy against Vijayanagar in 1565.

Husian died a few months after the battle of Krishna and was succeeded by his son Murtada(1565-88).

His reign saw the first invasion by the Mughals, and the annexation of Berar, But the Sultan’s mental faculty gave way after 1574 and he began to consider his own son Miran Husian to be his deadly enemy.
Miran, in his trun, conspired against his father his suffocated to death was followed by Ismail(1589-91), whose reign was mostly up by the struggle for power between the Mahdawi sect and the Shias.

The King’s father Burthan, a fungitive at the court of Akbar, returned and after defeating his son’s army ascended the throne.

Burhan’s reign (1591-95) was marked by a series of defeats at the hands of Ibrahim Adil Shah II and by his failure to recover Chaul from the Portuguese.

In the context of historical literature, his reign saw the compilation of Burhan-i-Ma’athir.

He was succeeded by his son Ibrahim who reigned for barely four months.

There was now confusion in the capital, with four claimants to the ruling aristocracy.

One of these was supported by Miyan Manjhu and another by Chand Bibi, princess of Ahmadnagar and widow of Ali Adil Shah of Bijapur.

When Miyan Manjhu saw that the cause of his nominee, Ahmad, was in danger of being foiled, he sent a message to Akbar’s son, prince Murad, beseeching his help.

Murad responded by marching towards Ahmadnagar.

When the capital was under siege, the intrepid Chnad Bibi took over the command of the fort and defended the battlements as long as she could, but in the end she had to make peace with the Mughals, ceding Berar as its price.

It was during this second attack that Chand Bibi lost her life(1600).

The last scene in the drama of the struggle of Ahmadnagar for independence was its gallant defence by Malik Ambar, the thrice manumitted Abyssinian slave, who would not bow before the Mughal might and proclaimed MurtazaII king with his capital at Parenda.

From that centre he raided the Mughal territory by means of guerrilla tacties.

Malik Ambar’s stubborn resistamce continued over a long period but he was defeated by prince Khurram first in 1617 and again in 1621.

His death in 1626 finally sealed the fate of the Nizam Shahi kingdom.

Its last ruler Murtada IIIwas captured by Shah Jahan in 1636 and the Nizam Shahi territories were parceled out among the Mughals and the ruler of Bijpur.

(d) Bijapur:

The founder of the Adil Shahi dynasty, Yusuf Adil Khan, ruled Bijapur until 1510, claimed desent from a scion of th Ottoman dynsty.

A protégé of Mahmud Gawan, he was one of the most eminent figures of the last days of the Bahmani kingdom.

A great patron of art and lilterature, he was married to a Maratha, Bubuji Khanam.

Yusuf died in 1510, was succeeded by his 13-years-old Ismail.

A great loss incurred by the state was the capture of Goa by the Portuguese.

He could not, however, withstand the invasion of Krishnadeva Raya of Vijayanagar and had to cede Raichur to the victor.

Ismail was succeeded by his son Mallu(1534)

Entirely incapable of governing the state.

Deposed after reigning for a little over six months, and his younger brother Ibrahim was put on the throne.

Ibrahim (1534-58)was the first Bijapur ruler to adopt the title of shsh, and he not only replaced Persian by ‘Hindvi’ (Dakhini Urdu) as the official language but gave numerous employments to the Hindus.

He supported the party opposed to Rama Raya at Vijayanagar, and although he was defeated by Rama Raya’s forces he recouped and was able to take Adoni in 1535.

Ibrahim was succeeded by his son Ali (1558-80). There was the eternal quarrel with Ahmadnagar for the procession of Sholapur, and in order to strengthen his own hands he made an alliance with Rama Raya.

The allied armies now invaded the Nizam Shahi territories and ultimately forced Husain Nizam Shah to flee to Junnar.

But the conduct of Vijayanagar army estranged all the Bahmani succession states and even disgusted Ali himself who was led to make a matrimonial alliance with Ahmadnagar by marriying Husain’s daughter, Chand Bibi.

It was this alliance which became the pivot of the league that shttered the power of Vijaynagar.
Ali was murdered in 1580, and was succeeded by his nephew Ibrahmim II.

Ibrahim II, who reigned until 1627, was a great patron of learning and was affectionately called Jagadguru by
his subjects.

It was the king’s aunt, Chand Bibi, who was the real ruler of Bijapur during Ibrahim’s reign.

When things were taking a nasty turn at Ahmadnagar, Chand Bibi went to the city of her birth and faced the Mughals right up to her last breath.

Ibrahim gave his daughter in marriage to Prince Daniyal.

Ibrahim was the author of the famous book of Hindi songs, the Nawras-Namah and it was in his reign that the Tarikh-i-Firishta was completed.

Ibrahim II was succeed by his son Muhammad (1627-57).

Muhammad lies buried in the magnificient tomb, the Gol Gumbad, which is one of the wonders of architecture.

He was succeeded by Ali II (1657-72).

Emperor Shah Jahan refused to recognize Ali II as the lawful king and ordered prince Aurangazeb to march against Bijapur.

Aurangazeb’s return to the north to figth the battle of succession at Samugarh.

In the south, Shivaji sprang to eminence and the episode of the Bijapur general Afzal Khan and his murder is well known.

Ali’s court was full of literateurs of note, and his half-finished mausoleum by Sikander, the last of the line.
Shivaji was crowned as Chhatrapati at Raigarh in 1674, while in 1681, Aurangazeb moved to the Deccan never to return, Bijapur was invested, and the city opened its gates to the Mughals on 12 September 1686.

(e) Golcunda:

This state, with its capital first at rock-citadel of Golcunda and then at Hyderabad, was named Tilang after the Bahmani province of the name, and was placed incharge of Sultan Quli Hamadani in 1494.

The Bahmani ruler granted him the title of Qutbul Malik, a title which gave its name to the dynasty. He assumed independence in 1512.

The period of his govt was filled with his struggle with VN and his attempts to reach the natural frontiers of the Andhra country.

Sultan Quli, at the age of 98, was assassinated (1543) by his son Jamshid, who was tired of waiting for the throne.

Jamshid’s reign of 7 years was by no means peaceful.

Forced his brother Ibrahim to seek asylum in VN.

Jamshid was succeeded by his young son Subhan.

Discontented people invited Ibrahim who entered the capital in triumph in july 1550.

Ibrahim’s reign (1550-80) was a landmark in the history of Golcunda.

Ibrahim was the first in the line to assume the title of Shah.

In the beginning of his reign he had close contacts with VN, but the inordinate vanity of Rama Raya estranged him and he also joined the league which defeated the VN army.
Irbrahim died in 1580, and was succeeded by his son Muhammad Quli.

As the founder of the city of Hyderabad, as the author of the first Diwan or collection of poems in Dakhini Urdu, and as a patron of both Telugu and Urdu, he holds a notable place in the history of Golcunda.

Muhammad Quli died in 1612 and was succeeded by his nephew Muhammad.

He was succeeded by by his 12-year old son Abdullah.

During the king’s minority the state was governed by his able mother Hayat Bakhst Begum.

When Abdullah grew up, he indulged in a life of pleasure and proved incapable of defending the kingdom against the Mughals.

The treason of Mir Jumla, who went over to the Mughals, helped them to tighten their hold considerably, resulting in their occupation of Hyderabad in January 1656.

On Abdullah’s death (1672) the question of succession arose since the king had no male issue, and the throne passed to his son-in-law, Abul Hasan, surnamed Tana Shah.

A deep rift grew between Abul Hasan and emperor Aurangazeb, who himself arrived in the Deccan in 1682.

The Mughals again occupied the capital (October 1685) and the king had to seek refuge in Golcunda fort.
With the fall of Bijapur in September 1686 there was nothing to keep the Mughals back.

Golcunda was invested in February 1687 and in September the citadel opened its gates.

The Qutb Shahi King was sent to Daulatabad as a prisoner and the last Bahmani succession state became a part of the Mughal empire.