The Bahmani kingdom and the Deccan Sultanates

It is tempting to jump straight from the Yadavas to Shivaji Maharaj, as many summaries do. But that skips the period that made Shivaji's achievement possible. For about 250 years, the Deccan was governed by Muslim sultanates that relied heavily on Maratha nobles, soldiers and revenue officials. It was in the service of these sultanates that families such as the Bhosales gained land, experience and military skill.

The Bahmani Sultanate (1347–c.1527)

In the 1340s, nobles in the Deccan rebelled against Muhammad bin Tughlaq. In 1347, Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah (also known as Hasan Gangu) founded an independent kingdom.

• First capital: Gulbarga (Kalaburagi, Karnataka).
• Later capital: Bidar, from the reign of Ahmad Shah Wali in the 1420s.
• The kingdom covered large parts of present-day Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana.

Conflict with Vijayanagara

The Bahmanis fought a long series of wars with the Vijayanagara empire to the south, especially over the fertile Raichur doab between the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers.

Mahmud Gawan

The most famous Bahmani statesman was Mahmud Gawan, a Persian merchant who became prime minister in the late fifteenth century.

• He reorganised the provinces (tarafs), reducing the power of provincial governors by dividing large provinces.
• He introduced measures to survey land and fix revenue.
• He built a famous madrasa at Bidar, a centre of learning.
• He conquered Goa and parts of the Konkan.

Court factionalism — between the Deccanis (local Muslims) and the Afaqis or Pardesis (newcomers from Persia and Central Asia) — led to his execution in 1481 on forged charges. The kingdom declined rapidly after his death.

The five Deccan Sultanates

By the early sixteenth century, provincial governors had become independent. Five kingdoms emerged:

Two of these — Ahmadnagar and Berar — had their capitals in present-day Maharashtra, and Bijapur controlled much of south-western Maharashtra, including the Pune region and the Konkan at various times.

The Battle of Talikota (1565)

In 1565, four Deccan sultanates — Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golconda and Bidar — combined to defeat Vijayanagara at the battle known as Talikota (or Rakshasa-Tangadi). The Vijayanagara capital, Hampi, was sacked. Having removed their common enemy, the sultanates soon resumed fighting among themselves.

Ahmadnagar: Chand Bibi and Malik Ambar

The Nizam Shahi kingdom of Ahmadnagar is especially important for Maharashtra.

Chand Bibi

When the Mughals under Akbar attacked Ahmadnagar in 1595, Chand Bibi, a Nizam Shahi princess and dowager queen of Bijapur, led the defence of the fort. She secured a treaty, but the Mughals returned, and Ahmadnagar fort fell in 1600.

Malik Ambar

The Nizam Shahi state survived under Malik Ambar, an Ethiopian (Habshi) who rose from slavery to become its regent and military leader.

• Guerrilla warfare: he used light cavalry — including large numbers of Maratha soldiers — to harass the Mughals, a technique the Marathas would later perfect.
• Revenue system: he introduced a land survey and assessment system that fixed revenue in cash based on the quality of land and average produce. Historians see his system as influential in the Deccan, and it is often mentioned in connection with the later Maratha revenue administration.
• Khadki: he founded the town of Khadki, later renamed Aurangabad (now Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar).

After his death in 1626, the kingdom weakened. Shahaji Bhosale, Shivaji's father, tried to keep the Nizam Shahi state alive by installing a puppet ruler, but the Mughals and Bijapur jointly ended it in 1636. Shahaji then entered Bijapur's service and was posted to the south, at Bangalore.

Marathas in Sultanate service

The Deccan sultanates depended on local Maratha families for military and administrative roles. These families held jagirs, deshmukhis and watans (hereditary rights).

• The Bhosales, Jadhavs (of Sindkhed, the family of Jijabai), Nimbalkars, Ghorpades and Mores were among these families.
• They gained experience in cavalry warfare, fort management and revenue administration.
• Marathi was used widely in local administration, alongside Persian at the higher levels.

This is the background against which Shivaji Maharaj began building an independent state from his father's jagir of Pune, Supe and Chakan in the 1640s.

Culture and architecture

The Deccan sultanates developed a distinctive culture that blended Persian, Turkish and local traditions.

• Architecture: the Gol Gumbaz at Bijapur (the tomb of Muhammad Adil Shah, with one of the largest domes in the world); the Ibrahim Rauza at Bijapur; the Bahmani tombs at Bidar; the Farah Bagh at Ahmadnagar.
• Painting: the Deccani school of miniature painting flourished at Bijapur, Ahmadnagar and Golconda.
• Language: Dakhni, an early form of Urdu, developed as a literary language.

The end of the sultanates

The Mughals steadily advanced into the Deccan:

• Ahmadnagar — partly annexed in 1600, ended in 1636.
• Bijapur — annexed by Aurangzeb in 1686.
• Golconda — annexed in 1687.

By then, however, the Maratha state founded by Shivaji Maharaj had become the main challenge to Mughal power in the Deccan.

Questions to practise

Prelims-style:

1. Who founded the Bahmani kingdom, and where was its first capital?
2. Which Bahmani minister built a madrasa at Bidar?
3. Which Deccan Sultanate had its capital at Achalpur?
4. What town did Malik Ambar found, and what is it called today?
5. Which four sultanates fought at Talikota?

Mains-style:

• Examine the contribution of Malik Ambar to the administration and military tradition of the Deccan.
• "The Deccan sultanates prepared the ground for the rise of Maratha power." Discuss.

Seen this way, the sultanate period is not a gap before Shivaji — it is the school in which the Maratha state learned its first lessons.