The Bahmani Kingdom
Of all the independent Muslim kingdoms that arose on the ruins of the Delhi Sultanate, the Bahmani kingdom of the Deccan proved to be the most powerful. It came into existence during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq as a challenge to his authority. The nobles of the Deccan, driven to rebellion by the eccentric policy of the Delhi Sultan, seized the fort of Daulatabad and proclaimed one of themselves, Isma’il Mukh the Afghan, as king of the Deccan under the title of Nasir-ud-din Shah. Isma’il Mukh, being an old and ease-loving man, proved unfit for the office. Soon he voluntarily made room for a more worthy leader, Hasan, entitled Zafar Khan, who was declared king by the nobles on the 3rd August, 1347, under the title of Abul-Muzaffar Ala-ud-din Bahman Shah. The story related by Ferishta about Hasan’s origin, to the effect that he was originally a menial in the service of a Brahmana astrologer of Delhi, Gangu, who enjoyed the favour of Muhammad bin Tughluq, and later on rose to prominence owing to the patronage of his Hindu master, finds no corroboration in the accounts of the later Muslim chroniclers and is also not supported by the evidence of coins and inscriptions. Hasan, in fact, claimed descent from the famous Persian hero Bahman, son of Isfandiyar, and the dynasty that he founded thus came to be known as the Bahmani dynasty.
Soon after his accession, ‘Ala-ud-din Hasan selected Gulbarga as his capital and renamed it as Ahsanabad. But the Hindu rulers of the south, who had not failed to profit by the political disorders in the Deccan at the time of ‘Ala-ud-din Hasan rise, were not disposed to submit to his authority. He therefore launched on a career of conquest, which was marked by success. When he died on the 11th February, 1358, he left a dominion extending from the Wainganga river in the north to the Krishna river in the south and from Daulatabad in the west to Bhongir, in the east. For the administration of his kingdom, he divided it into four tarafs or provinces, Gulbarga, Daulatabad, Berar and Bidar. Each province was placed in charge of a governor, who maintained an army, and made appointments in all civil and military posts under him. The efficiency of administration in the provinces checked the outbreak of rebellions. The author of Burhan-i-Ma’asir has thus praised this Sultan: “Sultan ‘Ali-ud-din I Hasan Shah was a just king and the cherisher of his people and pious. During his reign his subjects and the army used to pass their time in perfect ease and content; and he did much towards propagating the true faith. ”
The next Sultan was Muhammad Shah I, the eldest son of Hasan, who had nominated him as his heir on his death-bed. Soon after his accession, Muhammad Shah organised the different branches of his government, like the ministry, the household troops and the provincial administration. But throughout his reign, he was chiefly engaged in waging wars against the rulers of Warangal and Vijayanagar. Those rulers offered a stubborn resistance, but both were overpowered by the troops of Gulbarga, and had to conclude peace, after immense losses, on humiliating terms.
Muhammad Shah’s mode of life was not unimpeachable. The author of Burhan-i-Ma’asir distinctly states that the Sultan “showed signs of an irreligious manner of living, which threw him on the bed of helplessness”.
After the death of Muhammad Shah I in A.D. 1377, his son, Mujahid Shah, ascended the throne andvijaynagarmap.jpg (38835 bytes) marched in person against Vijayanagar. But he could not capture that city and soon had to return to his capital after making peace with its Raja. He fell a victim to a conspiracy organised by one of his near relatives named Daud khan, who usurped the throne. The usurper was paid back in his own coin by being murdered in May, 1378, by an assassin at the instigation of Mujahid’s foster-sister, Ruh Parwar Agha. The nobles and military officers then raised to the throne Muhammad Shah, son of Mahmud Khan, the fourth son of ‘Ala-ud-din Hasan Bahmani.
Unlike his predecessors, Muhammad Shah II was a lover of peace and devoted to learning; and his reign was not disturbed by foreign wars. He built mosques, established free schools for orphans, and invited learned men from all parts of Asia to his court. But his last days were embittered by the intrigues of his sons, who were eager to get the throne. After his death in April, A.D. 1397, followed the inglorious and troubled reigns of his two sons, Ghiyas-ud-din and Shams-ud-din Daud, lasting for only a few months, till the throne of Gulbarga was seized in November, 1397, by Firuz, a grandson of ‘Ala-ud-din Hasan Bahmani, who assumed the title of Taj-ud-din Firuz Shah.
We are told by the author of Burhan-i-Ma’asir that Firuz Shah “was an impetuous and a mighty monarch, and expended all his ability and energy in eradicating and destroying tyranny and heresy, and he took much pleasure in the society of the Shekhs, learned men and hermits”. But after a few years’ rule, he became addicted to the common vices of his time, which even Ferishta has noted. He was conversant with various languages and could talk freely with his wives of diverse nationalities in their own tongues. He followed the traditional policy of his dynasty in waging wars against the Rayas of Vijayanagar and some other Hindu rulers of the Deccan. He gained success in his two expeditions against Vijayanagar in 1398 and 1406, exacted heavy indemnity from its Raya and even compelled him to surrender a princess of Vijayanagar for his harem. But his third attack in 1420 resulted in his defeat at Pangul, to the north of the Krishna, and his retreat from the field after his commander-in-chief, Mir Fazl-ullah Inju, had been killed. The Vijayanagar troops soon occupied the southern and eastern districts of the Bahmani kingdom. This defeat told heavily on the SuItan’s mind and body, and he left the administration in the hands of his slaves, Hushyar ‘Ain-ul-mulk and Nizam Bidar-ul-mulk. He was ultimately forced to abdicate the throne in favour of his brother Ahmad, who, according to the author of Burhan-i-Ma’asir, did away with Firuz Shah in September, 1422, though some writers believe, on the authority of Ferishta, that Firuz Shah died a natural death.
To avenge the losses sustained by the Bahmani troops in his brother’s reign, Ahmad Shah carried on a terrible war against Vijayanagar. The siege of Vijayanagar by the Bahmani troops reduced it to great distress and compelled its Raya to conclude peace by paying a heavy indemnity. This was conveyed to Ahmad’s camp, on elephants, by the Raya’s son, who was received there honourably; and the invaders then returned to their country. In 1424 or 1425 Ahmad Shah’s general, Khan-i-‘Azam, attacked the Hindu kingdom of Warangal and succeeded in capturing its fortress, with immense treasures, and in killing its ruler. The independence of Warangal was thus extinguished. Ahmad Shah also waged war against Malwa. The Sultan of Malwa, Hushang Shah, was defeated with great losses in men and money. Ahmad’s war with the Sultan of Gujarat, Ahmad Shah I, ended in failure, and peace was at last concluded through the intervention of theologians and learned men of both sides. The Hindu chiefs of the Konkan also felt the weight of Bahmani arms during his reign, but this pressure was removed after his death from illness in February, 1435.
Ahmad Shah transferred the capital of his kingdom from Gulbarga to Bidar, which was beautifully situated and had a salubrious climate. Though not endowed with much learning, he bestowed favours on some Muslim scholars. The poet, Shaikh Azari of Isfarayin in Khurasan, who came to his court, received a huge amount of money for composing two verses in praise of his palace at Bidar; and Maulana Sharf-ud-din Mazandarani was also rewarded with 12,000 tankas for inscribing in beautiful handwriting two verses on the door of that place.
In the meanwhile, baronial intrigues for position and influence, often resulting in pitched battles and massacres, had begun to affect the homogeneity of the Bahmani kingdom. There were perpetual feuds between the Deccani nobles with their allies, the Africans and the Muwallads (issue of African fathers and Indian mothers) on the one side, and, on the other, the foreign nobles, composed of the Turks, the Arabs, the Persians and the Mughuls. Many of the latter had been elevated to high offices the State, for their hardy and active habits, in preference to the children of the soil, who grew jealous of them. This jealousy was accentuated by religious differences for while most of the Deccanis were Sunnis the majority of the rival party consisted of Shiahs. Thus the history of the later Bahmanids is a dreary tale of conspiracies and strife, which sucked the life-blood of the kingdom till it finally disintegrated.
